Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business Postlo3w stories *LATEST UPDATE 13 AUGUST*

Yeah,, hi, I'm back for more and looking forward to getting stuck in. Am writing as I'm reading this so here goes:

Really glad to see you're kicking off with Cham and while his attempt at subterfuge, listening in and figuring out his surroundings without giving away that he was awake was smart it was the throwaway line how his antennae operated on a subconscious level that was the winner - it's something I contemplated writing about but my version was a lot more convoluted and you've offered up an elegant solution, nicely done!

Baldaar doesn't have birdlife - and why should it, really? Again, a very simple answer that works well as it casually creates a bit more world building. Nice!

I'm confused by Glorith's motivation, other than being a psycho of course - but we knew that as anyone who wears those shoulder pads is probably a bit unhinged. Still, she's just Greenified her own homeworld... surely that would be the seat of her empire? Looking forward very much to finding out where you are going with this Raz.

"Oh thank the stars, Iron-Butt Imra's not here yet...I was sure I was gonna be late!" haha, we've all been there. I'm sad to see Jazmin leave, she's one of my fave characters. I have to try very hard not to write her into all of my stories haha. Enigma Lass? The Dominator that 89 freed? That's my initial guess though looking forward to seeing where you take this. And, great silver age plot, a mystery hero! Fab! And where's Chemical Kid? Your Hadru is a lot more heroic that the version I had (while still being a snot) so I actually kind of enjoyed reading his input into your stories.

Yay! Dogstar! I do adore him

What's the Golden Perfect?

Okay, after looking through the list some applicants would be more effective than others I think... Nice - Nightstone and the Bina Nawoti Foundation - great to see it again so quickly after introducing it. Giant slug? Oh... um, okay. And made of metal? What sort of slime trail do they leave behind? I always think that there should always be at least one Tamaranean Legionnaire so fingers crossed for that applicant - Queen Kori'ander? So she made it to the throne then? Nice way to casually drop in history to these characters that's news to us. And from your description I kind of picture her like Kory dressing up as Gypsy

Quiz Queen, she's just not going to make it, is she? I sort of hope she does just because she is so entitled and annoying, haha.

The Fatal Five? That'll be the test begun then, yay, let's go...

The Golden Perfect - Wonder woman's lasso? Ah, okay.

Truth Girl seems to be on top of this - can she tell it's a simulation? I'm assuming it is, anyway. "there's a time for being a hero and there's a time when being a hero just gets you killed. Believe me, I know." good line from Gia!

Nce use of teleportation, swapping the axe for the eye! I really like Sheranee already, she appears really upbeat and positive, as well as useful in a fight Though will she get a code name? And good use of Sizzle. Even under the pressure of the situation she figured out how to take out Tharok. "That big nerd Magno..." haha. Okay, good limit to Transposition Lad, he swaps things rather than just moves them. His name now makes perfect sense, I thought you were just using it as Teleport would be too literal Nice switch with Sarya and Dogstar. Sheranee helping Dogstar up - great little moment, I really like her. Slug speaking in 3rd person is a nice little touch. Mirage Master - fail!

So before I get to the reveal, I think Transposition Lad, Slug, Truth Girl, Sheranee, Sizzle and Truth Girl all proved themselves and if you want to induct a large group they'll all make it as all showed adaptability, focus and fighting spirit when the chips were down. Six new members? Fabbo, that's a lot to fit into your already quite large team Raz!

And I called it Great bunch to add to your team, nice mix of powers, personalities and lots of potential new stories spinning out from them. "...we're going to be fighting to protect time itself." Typical Nura, when it isn't about her she has to bring the mood down

To pick up on something IB said, I don't think there's too many similarities between Lexikon and Sheranee, as in my head canon Lexi is driven by duty not to have an adventure as I assume Sheranee appears to be. If you go back through the little bits I've dripped into Lexi's story she's pretty depressive really, feeling lonely as she does the job she's been sent to do. That's how I see her anyway.

I think you should hold off on the profiles until after you've established them a bit more.

Oh, and there's more! Double yay!!

And triple yay as it involves Strut! I love their every line, it's gold

Slug's obsession with Rokk and Pol is cute, though strut;s line about Lydda not sharing was great Hilarious that Neon and Strut don't know the team's history - they are the two most self-absorbed members so that makes sense.

Mysa and Xao against a gang of Khunds? Wow, that was unexpected and sounds like it'll be fun.

You have given Berta a strong character, both kind and kick-ass, which is great. The acknowledgement that there's mre to Grava than the superficial was sweet, and her and Ral's reactions to Ivy's actions hasve been on point. "For what it's worth, I think you're both doing an amazing job." - well said Berta, nicely written Raz. So, Tinya knows what Ivy and Glorith are up to - ace, so will you tell us now? Of course not. You do tease very well Raz.

I do love your Academy student class, they are brats, just like most classes probably (As someone involved in education I absolutely deny being serious there ) Marya is quite harsh, deciding who is Hardu's friend and who isn't, though nice to see her being cut down to size there. That's another storyline I'm hooked on to then.

This has been a great morning's read through Raz, other than I probably don't now have time to get to GLs fic today I've thoroughly enjoyed it. You are a master at carrying stories along without losing focus or tempo, bravo!

As ever, I'm waiting eagerly for more, more, more!

Glad you're up to date, Harbi! Lemme address some of your points -

- Glorith's actions have been a bit weird, haven't they? The next couple of instalments should help with that mystery though

- Enigma Lass will also be...well, an enigma I guess...for the time being, but she is going to bring about a bit of a change in dynamic with the Academy kids that I am looking forward to writing out!

- looking back on it I probably should have made it more clear, but Slug is permanently in inertron form (so we're spared the probably gross question of what happens with their slime trail, as they no longer have one)

- admittedly I find Quiz Queen fun to write, so I'm sure she will pop up again sooner or later

- good work on picking the new recruits!

- your comparison of Lexikon and Sheranee is very on the mark, and there are some other major differences that will come out as we get to explore Sheranee's background more - hopefully in the next one or two instalments I should get to address the codename question too! I was inspired by Lexikon to have someone of Tamaranean descent in the team, but I didn't want to just do a carbon copy character either

Thanks for this, I do worry sometimes that I have got too many plates spinning - especially when it's involving homemade characters or stuff that comes out of my own series continuity...a lot of plot threads are gonna be drawing to a close soon and then I think maybe it'll be time for another leadership election after that!

Looking forward to the Glorith storyline continuing and finding out what she's up to Raz, your villains are always fun.

I'm sure you'll drop loads of hints regarding Enigma Lass, and your student gang are always a treat so I'm along for that!

Quiz Queen, yeah fun but you don't want to spoil us too much now, do you? Haha, she really was so entitled and annoying.

I noticed that I guessed Truth Girl twice and did t mention Dogstar in my guess above, so 5 out of 6 isn't bad. I kind of assume Truth Girl will be an Amazon, or that mortal sub-set with the double barrelled name that I can't remember?

And Tamaranean Legionnaires should be obligatory really, shouldn't they? And gorilla's though as you've a canary, insectoid, and now a giant slug and a dogman in your team, and an octopus (kinda) at the academy you're doing okay for your animal quota really

Spin those plates Raz, please keep them going. I'm always impressed how you do it and it always leaves me wanting more, more, more!

I suspected you meant Dogstar instead of two Truth Girls, who wouldn't want a warm glowy Krypto on their team?

Bana-Mighdall and Themyscira are both good guesses for someone carrying Wonder Woman's lasso around!

And I love a good gorilla but I don't think I could top Solar Gorilla or Laser Ape!

PHLON
The estate of Fil and Hadru Jamik

ROLL CALL
Legion Academy
Amp aka Ming Sul: amplification of any power or characteristic
Dragonwing aka Marya Pai: acid venom, fire breath
Enigma Lass: abilities unknown
Key Kid aka Miqui Ver: ability to bypass any man-made lock or barrier
Lullabye Lad aka Waiane Wentim: Zwennite physiology, narcoleptic induction
Sojurn aka S'jn: interdimensional cephalopod; teleportation, telekinesis, telepathy
Variable Lad aka Oaa Tseldor: abilities change with each manifestation

A flash of orange light heralded the arrival of the students of the Legion Academy to the sprawling estate where Hadru Jamik lived with his father Fil. At least on this part of Phlon it was sunset, and the sky was a brilliant indigo and red gradient above the students. Perfectly maintained Phlonian blue lawns sloped upwards gently to the left to a cliffside view of one of the planet's great oceans, and to the right sat the stylish glass-enclosed Jamik residence.

Key Kid exhaled a long whistle of air. "Chemical Kid's family must be loaded, huh? Real estate like this would go for bazillions of credits back on Lallor!"

"Hadru's dad is some big shot scientist," Lullabye Lad explained. "Mr Jamik was the one who gave Hadru his Chemical Kid powers in the first place."

"Thanks for the lift, Sojurn." Dragonwing took a step away from the brightly colored cephalopod who'd teleported them all here. "Waiane, Oaa; you two are with me. Let's go see if Hadru's home."

<Dragonwing, what actions do you require next from Amp, Enigma Lass, Key Kid and myself?> Sojurn asked telepathically.

"Just sit tight," Marya replied.

"Are you kidding me?" Amp protested. "We didn't travel whole star systems away to sit tight!"

"Look, we want Chemical Kid to open up to us," Dragonwing explained. "To tell us why he quit the Academy without even saying goodye...he's gonna feel more comfortable talking to me and Lullabye Lad and Variable Lad than he is the whole class; sprock, he doesn't even know Enigma Lass."

"I...don't want to cause a fuss," Enigma Lass spoke cautiously, her face hidden beneath her yawning hood.

"See?" Marya Pai shrugged. "She gets it! Just stay out here and enjoy the view, we'll come find you again once we've softened him up a bit!"

"Whatever." Amp folded her arms across her chest crossly. "We're not going to just stand around here and wait forever though, so hurry up."

"Yeah yeah, keep your latex on." Dragonwing gathered Lullabye Lad and Variable Lad to her and the three made their way toward Chemical Kid's extravagant home.

With so much of the house's exterior made of glass, Hadru saw them coming long before they even reached the swimming pool outside his back door. Curious, he walked out to the back porch to meet the trio who'd recently been his schoolmates. "What are you guys doing here?" he greeted his friends, slapping his palm into each of theirs. Though he was wearing a casual outfit, even Hadru Jamik's regular style evoked the costume he'd worn until weeks ago as Chemical Kid. His signature holospecs were perched as ever on the bridge of his nose.

"Sure, it's good to see you too!" Lullabye Lad poked his tongue out.

"I hope we are not disturbing you, Hadru." Variable Lad's disproportionately large head wore a self-conscious expression. "Saturn Girl told us that you weren't coming back to the Legion Academy, and Marya thought--"

"What the sprock, you batjerk?!" Dragonwing punched Hadru in the arm. "You weren't even gonna tell us you left?"

Hadru rubbed his arm with a mild pout. "Maybe I was trying to avoid this! Grife...save it for the bad guys, Marya."

"No, but seriously," Dragonwing persisted, "We deserve better than that! Gravity Kid and Kent; they made it to the Legion. But after what happened to Fire Lass and Glorith...and with Kid Quantum back on Xanthu...the four of us right here are all that's left of our class, you know? I can't believe you just abandoned us."

Hadru Jamik sighed. "Things got too real, Marya. I...I don't really wanna talk about it, but I don't think I belong at that school anymore. After Xerox..."

A crashing noise from inside the house somewhere accompanied by a yelp of surprise caught the attention of the four neophyte heroes. Variable Lad glanced up toward where they'd left their other classmates, but even in the brief time it had taken them to walk down here it had become too dark to see the others back where they'd been left to wait. "Marya..?" Oaa Tseldor asked uneasily.

"My dad must have had some dumb accident," Hadru rolled his eyes. "He's the only other one here; come on, I might as well introduce you now you've come all this way."

Lullabye Lad followed Variable Lad's gaze into the night, and he was about to say something when Dragonwing interrupted him.

"Yeah...yeah Hadru, let's meet your dad." Marya Pai wasn't sure what instinct it was that bade her to keep the presence of the others a secret but she was glad of it when she, Oaa and Waiane followed Hadru through his immaculate home to the entrance hall at the front of the building. For there to meet them was a massive orange-skinned bruiser who looked like a Durlan on steroids, a muscular bald human man with an oversized mace clutched in one hand while Hadru's unconscious father Fil dangled unceremoniously from the other, and finally a young woman with predatory black eyes and a shock of bright blue hair exploding back from her scalp behind a red headband.

The young woman gave the shocked teens a smile as though she were sizing up her next meal, then her beady black eyes came to focus on Hadru Jamik.

"Well well well...if it isn't just who I came here to see..."

**********

DISPUTED TERRITORIES
Kraken of the Void Tavern

Since the Sisterhood of Sin had hospitalised and murdered a room full of people here recently, this filthy bar on the asteroid-heavy border of the Khund Empire had been consistently empty. So it was that the woman named Scorn found herself one of only five other people here, and one of those other people was currently passed out in a booth by the front door.

Scorn didn't react when she heard the door of the dimly lit tavern open, but she took the opportunity to catch the attention of the tattooed Khund bartender with a raise of her glass.

"Another one," she barked at the muscular yellow-skinned man, then she drained her glass as he poured her a new one.

"You're slamming those down," the bartender gave her a greasy smile. "I like a woman with a good appetite."

"Don't flatter yourself," Scorn retorted with almost a sneer. "You wouldn't survive my appetites."

The bar's newest patron perched herself on the stool nearest Scorn. "Not a fan of beer myself, I'll have a Sklarrian Gin and Tonic. You have Sklarrian Gin in this dive, I take it?"

Scorn instantly recognised the newcomer's voice and turned to face her while the bartender slammed the second drink on the bar and muttered something about undeserving women.

"What are you doing here, Vista? I thought the debacle with those two Legionnaires would have been enough humiliation for you."

Vista ignored Scorn's question. "You know, this is where the Sisterhood recruited Veilmist! What a coincidence to find you here as well!"

"My patience will not last as long as this ale," Scorn scowled at the much smaller woman. "Out with it."

"That's what I respect about you, Scorn." Vista sipped her beverage and screwed her nose up at the taste. "You're straight to the point. Listen, I know that we all decided to part ways after finding out we missed our chance to slay Harlack but I've considered the matter at length, and...there's something I need to tell you, something that we perhaps could have shared earlier. We never told you why we wanted to kill Harlack."

"Yes, you did." Scorn frowned. "You told me that you, Nimbus and White Bat hail from the future, that Harlack will be...was...Demon Mother, how I hate time travel...that in the future you come from, Harlack opposes the Sisterhood of Sin."

"There's more to it than that," Vista answered. "Scorn, in the future that we come from...you recruited us into the Sisterhood of Sin. You and Veilmist convinced us very easily to join you in a quest to summon an all-powerful Khund deity who would have granted each of us anything we could desire. Harlack somehow found out about this quest, and he murdered us before we could complete it. Well, he murdered Nimbus, White Bat and myself at least...I have no idea how you or Veilmist came out of our encounter."

"That tale is nonsensical," Scorn said. "How could you have died then when you're here in front of me now?"

"Because Earth-Man plucked us from moments before our death to join his Judgement League. And if it were just the three of us, then perhaps I wouldn't have been so eager to believe his story about our demise but every person he recruited for that group was also saved from their own doom. Why should the three of us be any different? Knowing that, we thought that rather than waiting decades for you to come round to the idea perhaps we could recruit you and Veilmist this time around and kill Harlack in the here and now before he gained the experience to really be a threat to our plans." Vista paused to take another sip of her drink, shuddering involuntarily; she really couldn't get used to how bad this bar's gin was. "The news of Harlack's death shook us because...well obviously this changes our timeline dramatically, perhaps even destroys it. But once we had a chance to think about it....we were going to kill him ourselves anyway, this just means we can go look for your god now without any opposition at all!"

"Therein lies the other flaw in your story." Scorn finished her beer, belched and stood to leave. "There are no Khund gods, woman. There is only the Demon Mother. Do not waste your new lease on life tracking me down again."

"Is that so?" Vista asked calmly, watching Scorn walk away. "Something tells me your Demon Mother didn't birth her children through the wonders of reproductive technology, so it seems to me that a Demon Father must have been in the mix at some stage...and the Scorn I knew had spent the last three decades of her life searching for him before she ever founded the Sisterhood of Sin."

Scorn stopped in her tracks, and a devious smile found its way to Vista's lips...

**********

KHUND SPACE
The Major Challenge Court of Khur'kliin

ROLL CALL
Dragonmage aka Xao Jin: dragon magic
Mysa Marvel aka Mysa Nal: magically enhanced strength, invulnerability, speed, flight, stamina, wisdom and courage

Xao Jin was oddly grateful for the presence of the Khund warrior Flederweb beside him. Flederweb was technically his enemy, and Xao didn't overly appreciate the man's dry fatalism, but everybody else in this crowded arena was at least twice Dragonmage's size and many times more intimidating.

Khur'kliin was one of the smaller worlds of the Khund Empire, and only a few Challenge Courts dotted the world's sparsely populated continents. Even so, there were easily more than a hundred Khunds gathered around this flat arena, most of them scarred from their own battles and carrying various weapons if they weren't cybernetically enhanced for combat themselves. A roar rose up among the crowd as one of their own champions struck a blow against today's enemy, and Dragonmage involuntarily flinched.

"You're a mousy one for a superhero," Flederweb spoke in a bleak voice from behind his full facemask. Flederweb had been the first one to fall in combat today, perhaps a little too readily against an opponent he knew he had no hope against. Flederweb was sure that Firefist would take that out on him later, but for now he found dark contentment watching his opponent humble the rest of his team.

Dragonmage took a moment to frame his words in a way that wouldn't cause offence. "It's just that...where I come from, violence is something to be carried out when there's no other option. I understand that your culture views that differently, it's just a little jarring to experience."

Flederweb gave a hollow chuckle. "It's not my culture, witch boy. Besides....I don't think your friend finds this as jarring as you do, hmmm? Nutrient pack?" His thin bony fingers extended a plastic pack with an attached straw toward Dragonmage.

Xao watched Flederweb insert his own straw into a specialised port in his facemask and the teen sorceror tried to hide his revulsion at the ghastly slurping sound which came next. "Uhh, thank you very much...but no. Thank you." The crowd around him bellowed its disapproval this time, and Dragonmage turned back to see Bloodclaw sprawled out on his rear end in the middle of the arena thanks to his teammate Mysa Marvel. It seemed strange to admit it, but he thought Flederweb might have a point...

...Mysa really didn't seem to be having a bad time out there at all.

**********

Mysa Marvel had been prepared for this confrontation since before she'd even started her journey.

The Legion of Superheroes' Manager of Diplomacy Marte Allon had arranged for Mysa Marvel and Dragonmage's safe passage through Khund space to Harlack's homeworld Khur'kliin, but there was a price to be paid. The Khunds had heard about Mysa Nal's recent transformation, and they wanted the chance to test their finest warriors against her and gain some familiarity with her capabilities in the process. Marte had expected it to be a hard sell with the little she remembered about Mysa from her time as the White Witch, but Mysa hadn't taken any convincing at all...and now that Mysa Marvel was here in combat against the Demon's Claw, she was surprised to discover just how much she was enjoying herself.

Bloodclaw recovered quickly enough from Mysa's last punch, and he came charging at her with his vibro-claws flashing in the artificial lights of the Challenge Court. At the same time, the Demon Claw's newest member Strongarm came up behind Mysa with surprising speed and used all four cybernetic arms to grip Mysa's own arms. Strongarm was a hulk of a man, and his fists almost engulfed Mysa's whole arms. He was leaving Mysa unable to protect herself from Bloodclaw's strike and it would have been a good tactic if he'd not underestimated her strength. She needed to actually exert a little effort this time around; Strongarm was almost as strong as a Daxamite. But with a satisfied grunt, Mysa crossed her arms down before herself and ducked forward, throwing the massive cyborg overhead to bowl him into his oncoming teammate.

A barrage of bullets and plasma came next, the team's leader Firefist blasting Mysa with everything he had. He'd been the first to attack Mysa when their battle had started, and he'd already seen that he didn't have the raw power to hurt her. Mysa knew that there must be some other reason he was opening fire once more, but before the wisdom of Solomon could determine that reason she found out in a much more painful way. As loud as Firefist's armaments were, the blue-garbed Echo now used his own power to amplify that sound in a directed sonic assault straight at Mysa Marvel. The wall of vibratory force staggered her and left her ears ringing for a moment.

Firefist didn't miss a beat. He'd been cycling through his payloads while Echo acted, and now he unleashed a grenade-like capsule at the distracted heroine. The thin casing shattered against her invulnerable skin, and Mysa found herself surrounded in a cloud of sickly green gas. Mysa dropped to one knee, and for one promising moment the Demon's Claw thought they might actually be able to beat this accursed woman.

That hope was dashed when Mysa slammed both fists into the surface of the arena. The shockwave rippled outwards, knocking the Khunds off their feet and leaving both Firefist and Echo dazed. She dashed to Firefist's side while Bloodclaw and Strongarm were climbing to their feet, and in a flash of motion she ripped off and discarded every external weapon Firefist had attached to himself. "Perhaps you should ask your team to stand down?" Mysa asked sweetly, holding the bearded man up in one hand where her grip deformed his chestplate. "Or shall I start on the more securely attached components next?"

Firefist growled his assent, and the mob of Khund spectators were deafening in their protest. Mysa quickly made eye contact with Dragonmage to make sure he was okay, then she lowered Firefist to the ground and he grudgingly shook her hand.

Mysa was gracious in her victory, but inside she was ecstatic. She definitely wasn't having a bad time at all...

**********

PHLON
The estate of Fil and Hadru Jamik

ROLL CALL
Amp aka Ming Sul: amplification of any power or characteristic
Enigma Lass: abilities unknown
Key Kid aka Miqui Ver: ability to bypass any man-made lock or barrier
Sojurn aka S'jn: interdimensional cephalopod; teleportation, telekinesis, telepathy

In no time at all Amp, Key Kid, Sojurn and Enigma Lass had lost interest in waiting for their fellow classmates to return (the impatience was mainly Amp's to be honest), and they'd followed the sounds of crashing waves to a clifftop nearby.

Amp and Enigma Lass sat on the edge of the grassy cliff while Sojurn hovered nearby. Key Kid stood a couple feet behind them all; he admired the silvery sea as much as any of them, but after his recent experience on Vavalla he was happy keeping his distance from it as well.

"Phlon is so beautiful!" Enigma Lass exclaimed breathlessly, craning her neck up to watch the planet's three moons overhead before she cast her gaze over the vastness of the sea below. "I have not seen the ocean until now...and so many moons!"

"You haven't seen an ocean before?" Key Kid pulled a face. "Where are you from that there's no oceans??"

"Don't be rude," Amp chided the boy she thought of as a little brother. "It's not like we'd ever seen an ocean in real life till we joined the Heroes of Lallor, Miqui."

Behind her featureless mask Enigma Lass struggled for an answer, and she was quietly grateful when Key Kid found a new interest almost immediately.

"Does this make you homesick, Sojurn?" Miqui Ver asked. "Seeing the ocean, I mean?"

<I fear I do not understand this expression> the blue and yellow octopus answered, <Is it normal for indigenous species here to become unwell away from their homes?>

Key Kid leaned back laughing, though there was no malice in it. "No no, homesick doesn't mean you're actually sick, it's...help me out here, Ming!"

"Homesickness is like..." Ming Sul thought of the homeworld from which she'd been exiled, and a pang of homesickness hit her as she spoke. "It's like when somewhere reminds you of the place you feel is your home and you remember that you miss it."

<Is this what you feel right now?> Sojurn asked her. <A sort of wistful sensation emanates from you, Amp>

"A little, yeah." Her expression tight, Amp looked away from the extradimensional alien. She knew that it wasn't Sojurn's fault they picked up on strong psionic emanations, it was just the way they communicated...it still felt a little invasive sometimes though. "Hey!" she changed the subject rapidly, hoping that Sojurn hadn't picked up on that last thought. "What's taking those nassheads so long anyway? I think we should go find them, what do you guys say?"

"It is starting to cool down a little..." Key Kid hugged himself.

"Settled! Sojurn, can you take us around the front of Chemical Kid's house though? We don't know his dad, I don't want to just barge on in."

Sojurn agreed, and once the other three had taken hold of a tentacle they all disappeared in a flash of orange light.

Once stars stopped exploding in their eyes, they saw that they'd arrived in an immaculately maintained front garden. Straight away they knew that something was very wrong though; the charred remains of a security device was still smoking where it had been attached to the roof, and the front door to the house had been shattered inwards with debris littering the polished entrance hall.

"This doesn't look good, guys." Key Kid surveyed the damage, his eyes wide as saucers. Automated flood lighting activated, and they all suddenly felt very vulnerable.

"This way!" Amp hissed. She led them all behind a dense hedge, confident that even a floating yellow octopus covered in blue diamond-shaped markings could remain hidden here for a little while at least. "Sojurn, can you reach out to the others?" she asked. "Find out if they're okay?"

<I apologise> Sojurn responded. <My telepathy is extremely limited compared to that of Saturn Girl or Tellus. I have not the range to communicate with anybody outside of my immediate area, Amp>

"Well then," Amp gave Sojurn a cheeky grin, though it occurred to her as she did it that a being without a face might not even recognise the expression. "Lucky you've got someone here who can help with that, huh?"

**********

Fil Jamik was indeed what Lullabye Lad had referred to as "some big shot scientist". He had a basement laboratory that was almost as large as the home above it, and it was on the floor of this lab where Fil was restrained alongside Dragonwing, Variable Lad and Lullabye Lad right now. Fil's son Hadru Jamik, the once and former Chemical Kid, was strapped into a contraption nearby where a daunting number of syringes hovered waiting to be fed into his helpless form. They had been rendered unconscious so they could all be brought down here, but they'd come around by now and they were all listening to the blue-haired woman they'd come to know as Alchemical Girl gloat. Her goons were named Black Mace and Shagrek, and the two of them had apparently once been members of something called the Taurus Gang. This meant nothing to any of the kids, a fact which Marya was pleased to notice annoyed the men greatly.

"So I guess you've all figured it out by now, but little Hadru wasn't the only one to benefit from his daddy's talents with genetic engineering," Alchemical Girl monologued. "Hadru ran off to join the Legion Anklebiter Brigade as Chemical Kid, and when Dr Jamik here racked himself up some nasty gambling debts it occurred to him that he could recover some of that money by selling those same powers to the highest bidder; yours truly. I love my new powers, I really do, but I'd love them much more if they were enhanced with Chemical Kid's. Imagine...I could affect whole crowds of people, depower Science Police squads in one fell swoop! I had planned on bringing these two big bruisers with me to force Dr Jamik to summon his kid home, so imagine my surprise when we get here and Chemical Kid's already waiting for us served up on a platter!"

"Don't you touch my dad again--" Hadru began.

"Or what?" Alchemical Girl gave a sharp laugh. "You won't have any powers left soon to do anything about it, kiddo. And if your daddy here doesn't do exactly what I want, I'll just kill you. It's not like he needed that loser Chemical King alive to give both of us his powers, right?" Black Mace had a sinister sneer at this, and Shagrek barked an ugly laugh.

Dragonwing was about to lose her temper when she suddenly heard Sojurn's voice in her head. From the look on Lullabye Lad and Variable Lad's faces, she thought they'd heard it too. Fortunately, the villains all seemed too focused on Chemical Kid and his father to notice any change in anybody else's expression. <Amp is amplifying my ability to communicate telepathically> Sojurn explained. <What has transpired, fellow students? We have seen the damage to the Hadrik family's residence>

Bad guys have taken Hadru's dad hostage! Marya projected.

And beat all of us up and put us in these manacles! Lullabye Lad added.

And one of them has the same powers as Chemical Kid and wants to steal Hadru's powers to augment her own! came Variable Lad's thoughts.

There was a minute of silence that felt far longer than it actually was, and then Sojurn was in their skulls again. <Amp has asked me to enquire; do you think that all of us combined have the necessary combination of powers and skills to defeat these "bad guys" and rescue Chemical Kid's progenitor?>

We could have done it ourselves if we weren't taken by surprise! Marya returned. There are only three of them!

<Very well> came Sojurn's placid reply. <We have a plan>

What is it? Dragonwing thought. Sojurn? What's your plan? Sojurn??

The alien's presence was unmistakably not there anymore though, and Dragonwing found herself frustrated to be the one waiting for someone else's scheme to come to fruition for once.

The sound of a crashing window upstairs abruptly caught everyone's attention, and Alchemical Girl made her way toward the stairs. "Black Mace, Shagrek, come on; bring Dr Jamik with you."

"I can go investigate that," Black Mace volunteered. "You and Shagrek should stay here with the brats. I don't think it's a good idea to leave them all down here on their own."

"I'm not paying you the exorbitant amounts of credits that I am for you to have ideas," Alchemical Girl countered coolly. "They won't do anything while we've got the life of Chemical Kid's father in our hands, and if the Legion have come to rescue their babies then we can use him as a hostage to get out of here in one piece. Now come on, both of you."

Black Mace and Shagrek exchanged a dissatisfied glare, but they fell into line and soon the teens were on their own down here.

Soon after, Sojurn's telltale orange light filled the laboratory and Sojurn arrived along with Amp and Key Kid.

"That sprocking flash!" Dragonwing hissed under her breath. "You're never gonna make the Legion Espionage Squad, Sojurn!"

"You're welcome for the save," Amp said dryly. She and Key Kid had covered their eyes this time around to protect themselves from exactly this side effect, and they now set to freeing their classmates. Amp saw Key Kid going for Lullabye Lad and stopped him. "No, Miqui - Sojurn's telekinesis and my amplified strength can handle everyone else's manacles, you figure out how to get Chemical Kid out of that weird contraption!"

"Done!" Key Kid cracked his knuckles and wiggled his fingers as he approached Chemical Kid's restraints.

"What was that crashing noise?" Dragonwing demanded as Amp's enhanced strength ripped her bonds apart. "Where's Enigma Lass?"

"Who's Enigma Lass?" Hadru asked.

"That noise was Enigma Lass!" Amp replied. "She's buying us some time to rescue you guys!"

"Who's Enigma Lass??" Hadru repeated as voices were raised upstairs.

"You left Enigma Lass out there alone?!" Variable Lad gasped.

"Those guys will kill her, she's tiny!" Lullabye Lad chimed in.

"Who the sprock is Enigma Lass?!" Hadru shouted.

Amp shushed Chemical Kid as she and Sojurn finished freeing Variable Lad and Lullabye Lad. "You'll meet her soon! She's a new student and this whole thing was her idea, she said she'd be able to keep those supervillains distracted while Sojurn brought the rest of us here."

"She was almost right." A gruff voice came from the stairs, and everyone looked to see Black Mace, Shagrek and Alchemical Girl re-enter the room with Fil Jamik in tow. "You ain't gonna get to meet her though, kid. She was a stubborn little fem, but we got her in the end."

Shagrek gave Alchemical Girl a filthy look. "We should have stayed here, Black Mace was right! This is your fault!"

"Oh, calm down." Alchemical Girl sighed. "They're children, just kill them like you did the one outside. We only need Jamik and his son; actually, maybe save one of the others...it never hurts to have another hostage."

Chemical Kid only had his legs free, but with the way he was tilted he could still see everything that was happening in the room. Sojurn! he mentally shouted as loud as he could. Get my dad out of here as soon as you can!

<I understand> Sojurn replied, before turning their thoughts to the best way to reach Fil Jamik with three supervillains in their way.

"You better not really have killed Enigma Lass!" Amp snarled. Her strength was still enhanced and she charged straight at Black Mace, emitting a surprised yelp when she bounced off of his barrel chest and ungraciously knocked over a table full of scientific instruments on her way down.

"Kid, I've fought Timber Wolf one on one. I dunno what you thought you were gonna do." Black Mace held his signature weapon overhead to bring it down on Amp but before he could swing it forward, Dragonwing hacked a nasty green spitball at the weapon's shaft and dissolved it with her acid venom. The head of the mace thumped its master's bald head and then hit the ground with a loud thunk. Even now, Black Mace looked more angry than hurt though.

"How sprockin' tough is this guy?" Marya complained.

"It doesn't matter," Lullabye Lad said. "I didn't get a chance to do this before that batjerk clobbered me before, but even tough guys gotta sleep." Waiane Wentim brought his own power to bear, and Black Mace collapsed like a sack of wheat.

While all this was going on, Shagrek and Variable Lad had engaged one another in combat. The grotesque villain's twin antennae blasted destructive energy beams, but Oaa Tseldor had taken on a form which looked something like an elongated man made of aluminium foil. Oaa reflected Shagrek's energy beams back at the villain while simultaneously wrapping himself around the orange brute. Never the brightest spark, Shagrek continued blasting as he roared in impotent fury. He was somewhat resistant to his own power so he only suffered burns rather than disintegration, but it didn't take long for him to zap the fight out of himself. He fell limp in Variable Lad's arms, and Oaa lowered him to the ground while still keeping a watch on his deadly antennae.

Sojurn had seen their chance to fulfill their own assigned task while Black Mace and Shagrek were occupied with the other students, and though Alchemical Girl tried to stop Sojurn her power was all but useless against an opponent whose physiology was completely foreign to her. She was reduced to beating her fists against Sojurn while their orange glow intensified and delivered themself and Fil Jamik from danger.

"That's it!" Alchemical Girl screeched. "I am done with you annoying snot-nosed little punks! I'll release so much damn adrenalin into your systems your hearts will explode! Wait! Why isn't it working?!"

"We've got the same power," Chemical Kid answered her now that Key Kid had freed him from the machine, "But you haven't been trained by the Legion of Superheroes in using it. I'm countering you..and now, if I can step on Lullabye Lad's toes for a nano, time for you to go nighty-night." Hadru refocused his concentration, and seconds later Alchemical Girl's metabolism slowed to the point that she simply passed out from exhaustion.

"I'm glad that's over!" Hadru released a long whistling exhalation. "And believe me, I'm gonna have words with my dad about this Alchemical Girl fem! But that other girl you mentioned, Enigma Lass...do you think she's really..."

"...I am fine, thank you." Enigma Lass appeared at the bottom of the stairwell. She seemed utterly unharmed, and even her costume was more or less intact. "You must be Chemical Kid, I am pleased to meet you." Two male Science Police officers came downstairs alongside Enigma Lass, several more SP droids in tow.

The verbal barrage began immediately.
"Enigma Lass, are you hurt?"
"Why did they think you were dead?"
"What did they do to you?"
"How did you keep those guys distracted outside before?"
"Is your costume repairing itself? That's so cool!"
"How did you get the SP here so quick?"

"Woah woah, kids..." The lead Science Police officer held up his hands. "One at a time, huh? We were already on our way here after surveillance picked up the damage to Dr Hadrik's property, your pal Enigma Lass here just met us out the front and filled us in as much as she could. I don't know exactly what happened before we got here, but it's a war zone up there. The SP will take care of these creeps now though, don't you worry about that." As the droids moved to place restraints on the unconscious villains, the two officers started taking statements from the gathered teens.

While the SP were still occupied with Amp and Key Kid, Dragonwing took Chemical Kid aside. "...So you're coming back with us, right? I mean you just saved all of us from Fashion Victim Lass over there!"

Chemical Kid glanced away. "No, Marya. I...I'm staying here with my dad. I told you, I don't belong at that school anymore."

"What the sprock are you talking about?" Marya raved. "Why wouldn't you belong there??"

"Because...because Lightning Lad was right, don't you get it? He was so mad at me for making a mockery of Chemical King's legacy and he said I was gonna get me and my friends killed, and I nearly did!"

"He was mad at you because he was possessed by that anger demon or whatever those Seven Sins are," Dragonwing countered. "Polar Boy wanted to sell me into slavery, I'm pretty sure those Legionnaires weren't saying stuff they meant, Hadru."

"Maybe, maybe not..." Chemical Kid shrugged. "...But he wasn't wrong either. I have treated being in the Academy like it's a game. I've acted like I'm too good for the Legion's rules. Chemical King sacrificed himself to save Earth, and here I am using his powers to sober us up quicker when we sneak out to get drunk! I don't deserve to be at that Academy, Marya."

"You're probably right." Dragonwing agreed so easily that Hadru was a little put out despite himself. "Neither of us have been star pupils, Hadru. But I'm not gonna let that define me moving forward. The Legion thought I was good enough to let me into the Academy in the first place, and Tellus told me...well it doesn't matter what Tellus told me. The point is, we've both been screw-ups but I for one plan on living up to my potential from now on. Are you with me or not, Jamik?"

"Do you really think--"

"Grife, just say yes already!!" Dragonwing exploded.

Hadru gave her a reluctant smirk. "I suppose I would miss the patented Marya Pai temper tantrums every day...okay Dragonwing, you got a deal.

Chemical Kid is back!"

**********

CVIK-III
15000 feet above ground level

ROLL CALL
Dogstar aka Rufus Remulus: Daxamite-level flight, strength, speed, durability, stamina, senses; solar vision
Truth Girl aka Oliv Hollowai: truth sense, carries the Golden Perfect
Ultra Boy aka Jo Nah: ultra-energy which can be directed into any one of strength, speed, flight, invulnerability, flash vision, penetra-vision at a time

Ultra Boy had been slowly scanning the green carpet of Cvik-III's surface from north to south for the past couple of minutes, but he stopped that now to address two of the Legion of Superheroes' newest recruits. "My penetra-vision's not seeing anything out of the ordinary, how about you two?"

"I suspect my vision isn't as impressive as that of yourself or Mon-El," Dogstar replied, "But I'm fortunate enough to be gifted in my senses of smell and hearing; and I must agree, I'm not picking anything up here that I wouldn't expect to be."

"We're miles up!" Truth Girl's jaw dropped. "You can really hear and smell stuff down there? That's amazing, Dogstar!"

"Thank you, Truth Girl." Dogstar nodded politely at his gold-garbed teammate. "No less so than your own abilities, however."

"Speaking of which," Truth Girl took on a more professional tone, "I know Phantom Girl thought my ability to sense the truth might be able to tell if Glorith was using magic to hide something here but I'm afraid nothing feels out of the ordinary to me either. I mean, other than the fact that a planet that was 80% desert yesterday is now covered in plant life."

"It was worth a try," Jo shrugged. "I can't believe Glorith and Verdant were able to green a whole new world before we even got here...and I don't know why they chose this place. The natives of Cvik-III destroyed their own biosphere in a war decades ago, any survivors have long since been taken off-planet and integrated into the larger UP. I suppose we better head back to the others and see if they've come up with any more of an answer to this weirdness than we've been able to."

As they headed back toward the ground, Ultra Boy caught Truth Girl's attention. "I gotta say, TG...nobody would pick that this is your first time in the field with a flight ring! People usually take a couple weeks to stop wobbling around like a drunk baby but you're a natural!"

"Oh! Thank you, Ultra Boy!" A broad grin lit up the young woman's face. "It was as much a surprise to me as you...but then I thought about it some more and it makes sense actually; the Golden Perfect gave me the combat prowess of Wonder Woman along with my ability to sense truth, and Wonder Woman could fight in the air as well as she could anywhere else. I guess it's just something I've never thought about before because I've only ever been Truth Girl on the ground!"

"I would like to find out more about this Wonder Woman some time," Dogstar joined in. "I have heard you mention her name several times and my homeworld did after all ask me to join the Legion of Superheroes to help us learn more about the United Planets and its culture!"

"History is kind of my thing," Truth Girl said to the dog-faced hero. "And Wonder Woman is a big part of Earth's history! I can give you some good holos when we get back to base if you like, Dogstar."

They'd gotten within visual range of their other teammates now; two Legion cruisers hovered above the never-ending forest canopy while 25 Legionnaires milled about below on an enormous gleaming platform that Crystal Kid had erected above the treetops. Ultra Boy left the new recruits in conversation and zipped down to land at his lover's side. He wrapped an arm around Phantom Girl's waist, where she was standing off in a small group comprised of herself, Evolvo Lad, Chlorophyll Kid and Comet Queen.

"--and that's the thing I find so infuriating," Chlorophyll Kid finished saying while Jo landed. "What's the point in me being able to sense Ivy when none of us can get to her in time? Even Dawnstar's speed is useless against a sorceress who can just teleport from world to world!" Chlor was wearing his plated wooden armour, but the faceplate was retracted and the strain of recent events was evident on his face.

"I share your frustration, Chlorophyll Kid." In his hyperevolved form, Evolvo Lad's always calm voice was at odds with his words. "We know of three worlds now where Glorith has teleported Verdant to bring plant life to prominence. None of these worlds have a thing in common, and they are wildly distant from one another. There could be other worlds affected of course, but I cannot help but feel we'd have come to know of at least some of them if this had happened more often. There must be some design, some pattern, but we just do not have enough data to perceive what that pattern might be."

"We're all speeding for escape velocity, starshine!" Comet Queen lay a golden hand upon Evolvo Lad's bony shoulder. "Don't feel--"

"That's it!" Small and beady as Evolvo Lad's eyes were in this form, they nonetheless widened. For a moment, even his voice displayed a slight rise in pitch. "Comet Queen, I believe you have just given us the answer!" Without another word, he darted off toward the nearest cruiser and the others followed. More Legionnaires saw them departing and they too ascended to the vessel floating above them.

A dozen more Legionnaires had entered the cruiser by the time Evolvo Lad had seated himself at a console and pulled up a holographic starchart. He soon had highlighted Cvik-III, Mardru and Apiaton in the vast cloud of galactic bodies that floated before everyone, but his long fingers were still tapping away at two hardlight panels. Most of the Legionnaires were confounded by this burst of activity from the normally sedate hero, but Gas Girl had known Evolvo Lad since childhood. "Sev..?" she leaned over his shoulder. "What are you seeing that we're not?"

"My apologies." Evolvo Lad sat upright and swivelled hardlight consoles around with him so he could face the rest of the group. "When Comet Queen called me starshine, it sparked something within me...perhaps this would be more obvious with a two-dimensional map." At his command, the hologram flattened.

Everyone just stared dumbly at it until Phantom Girl finally spoke up. "Evolvo Lad, I think you're just going to have to tell us..."

"Of course," Evolvo Lad replied. "Neither Mardru, Apiaton nor Cvik-III have any similarity to one another that they don't share with any number of other worlds. So we can confidently rule out some unique quality of the planets themselves...and all of these worlds are several light years away from one another. It is extremely time-consuming to travel from one to the other without teleportation, and they have no diplomatic relations with one another. So the pattern connecting them must be something else...and my mistake has been in overcomplicating that pattern. The pattern isn't something that an occasional 14th level intellect might concoct, it's something that a sorceress with a 6th level intellect would."

"Sev," Gas Girl spoke up again. "I know you think you're dumbing this down for us--"

Without saying anything, Evolvo Lad drew a straight line from Mardru to Apiaton, then from Apiaton to Cvik-III. A giant V was superimposed over the starchart with one of the planets at each point.

"It's a weird triangle..?" Nightwind ventured.

"It is not a triangle." Evolvo Lad drew three more connective lines and turned the V into a five-pointed star.

"Starshine, it's a...star?" Comet Queen cocked her head to one side like a puzzled dog.

"If I am correct..." This gravelly voice belonged to Blok, standing at the rear. "...It is not a star. It is a pentagram."

"Exactly," Evolvo Lad concurred.

"That wisdom of Solomon comes in handy sometimes, huh Pebblehead?" Timber Wolf teased Blok.

"My friend, I befriended the White Witch long before I ever heard of the power of Shazam," Blok answered dryly.

"So Glorith and Ivy are making a pentagram on a cosmic scale." Phantom Girl thought this through out loud. "I'm gonna assume they haven't finished making it yet because I suspect we'll know when that happens. I'm also gonna assume that whatever it's for is not gonna be good for anyone who isn't Glorith or Ivy.

Most importantly though...if Evolvo Lad's right, and I'm betting he is, then we have three worlds down already. There's only two more worlds they could possibly be going to from here to complete the pentagram, which means we've got them cornered.

Legion....it's time we finished this."


NEXT: THE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES VS GLORITH AND VERDANT!!!


**********

EDITOR'S NOTES:

* In my series, Earth-Man absorbed the powers of the Infinite Man and used them to summon a whole bunch of recruits from the timestream to help him fight the Legion as part of his Judgement League. All of the new recruits were people who were fated to have died without ever really making a mark on history and so they felt obliged to join him, as he'd pulled them away from certain death

* Strongarm is actually a character from the comics, though as far as I remember he was never given a name. When Bloodclaw was murdered in the comics, a huge four-armed Khund cyborg popped up the next time Firefist and crew appeared

* Key Kid's hesitation about the ocean is of course related to Sojurn accidentally teleporting most of the class into the middle of a Vavallan ocean where they nearly drowned

More fun stuff, raz!

I dislike Marya’s street smarts and good thinking. Easy to forget because she’s so often brash

Enigma Lass seems a bit shy. I wonder… could she be Glorith…? Or that Dominator child rescued from Revenant?

Lol at the characteristic and different reactions form all three who went to meet Hadru

Loving Marya’s good instincts AND her telling Hadru like it is - they do deserve better, at least a proper goodbye!

Ooh sisterhood parted ways… and also time travel paradoxes. I like the glimpse into this alternative future too

Yikes at Vista’s good logic!

Ah, cool to see Marte’s hand in safe passage, and I like the logic for Mysa being in the challenge courts. And her new more aggressive outlook

Also like that the Khunds, while overpowered, had good tactics

Really liking Amp’s leadership and good sense too - can see her as a future Legionnaire, like in your segment with Yera and Gim’s demon child
Also really liking Amp’s caution in assessing the situation before charging in!


Love the Chemicals’ powers being limited by their knowledge


Enigma Lass’ costume repairing itself? Can’t be our Kinetix though, personality is so different

And nice pep talk from Marya to Hadru!

Ah, cool that Truth Girl also gets some of Wonder Woman’s combat skills - also like her insight re how and why!

Wow! Liking the pentagram reasoning with Evolvo Lad. Also like that having a team of this size means we can get half the team (25 Idd) just milling around

Super eager to read the next bit!!!

Hi IB!

I am liking all these Enigma Lass guesses, keep em coming!

I wanted to show in the fight between the Demon's Claw and Mysa that even though the Khunds were outmatched, they're still excellent fighters...ideally it should come across that things wouldn't have to be all that different for them to conceivably be able to pull off a victory against her.

Speaking of Khunds! Something funny that I haven't been able to bring up till now, but I think you mentioned a couple of posts ago how it made sense that Firefist would be coming after Veilmist...it honestly never even occurred to me that I just happened to be using Firefist and Veilmist in two separate storylines at the same time, and when I read that I was like oh yeah obviously people would make that connection! An accidental red herring!

If Amp does end up in the Legion, let's hope she has a better fate than what happened in that particular story!

The next instalment is gonna have more than 25 Legionnaires, but not a lot of milling about! And at least one of the newbies is gonna do something pretty cool!

Lots of action coming up in the next few instalments actually, and a huge amount of guest stars coming up as well!

Yay guest stars!!! And lots of Legionnaires!!

Haha yeah, I realise now that Firefist’s latest appearance has nothing to do with Veilmist.. yet… unless the Demon Father search maybe…?

Raz, hi,

Great that you're starting off with the academy kids, they're always fun. The visual with the orange flash then the setting sun painting colours across the sky and blue lawns underneath perfectly set the tone that Phlon - this part of it anyway - is orderly and calm, usually anyway.

Marya taking charge fits her perfectly, though her rough approach won't win her any eager followers. And ger directness with Hadru was perfect, she's annoyed that one of her chums isn't playing with her anymore

Yay, the Taurus Gang! Nice cliffhanger Raz.

Corn, yay, I think she's one of my fave of your OC's, and her attitude towards the barman was great - "You wouldn't survive my appetities" indeed!

So, we're getting the reason for the Sisterhood of sin going after Harlak! Or at least we're getting the story that Vista want's to share, whether or not it's 100% accurate is a different matter, she's a ticky one so I'm sceptical of her real motives here.

A Demon Father? Well, that's a definite twist I never considered, nice one! And without Harlack to stop them now, and Mysa losing her magical abilities and Glorith being... well, messed up, that doesn't leave many hardcore mystics to deal with the threat.

I like your Flederweb. The original in canon was pretty rubbish, I thought, so it's nice to see you flesh him out a little bit and give him a definite personality. And Xao being reassured by him was great as it's obvious why the environment would be pretty intimidating.

Though I noticed you called hm DragonWING in one part - "Dragonwing took a moment to frame his words in a way that wouldn't cause offence. " - these Dragon Legionnaires are such an inconvenience having virtually the same names, aren't they?

Mysa must love the physicality of her new powerset, it must be such a thrill for her, especially after she lost her magical abilities.

Marte Allon is such a goood choice as diplomatic liason, don't know if I said that before but wanted you to know that I really wish I'd thought of that first

The Demon Claw are all pretty powerful in their own rights but a Marvel is a notch above most so it was fun to see they gave her a... well, not easy fight. Still, a Marvel, they really don't stand a chance do they?

Yay, back to the students! Loving how you cut between storylines Raz.

So, Enigma Lass has never seen an ocean before? Okay, that's a clue, thanks.

Limiting Sojurn's telepathy is a good move, they are already ridiculously powerful. Though, lucky Amp was there

This meant nothing to any of the kids, a fact which Marya was pleased to notice annoyed the men greatly - haha, I do love your Marya! Nice thinking from Amp getting Key Kid to free Chemical Kid. She's not stupid is she? I like the kinda competition between her and Marya btw.

Amp and Marya are both cocky, aren't they? Taking on Black Mace in a physical fight? Nah, not their cleverest move. Oaa taking on Shagrek was fun, his changing abilities can make him undefeatable though his self-consciousness and timid nature stop that from happening mostly. Nice save from Hadru, and good to acknowledge that it's the training from the Legion Academy that gives him the edge. And Enigma Lass lives - so why did the Taurus Gang think she was dead? Unless she made them think that - is she Mentalla? Or even Projectra? The unknown Legionnaire trope is such a good one when used properly and I love how you are dropping clues but it's still open to guess who she might be.

"Grife, just say yes already!!" Dragonwing exploded - haha, nice banter between the two, and also good that Marya can accept that she needs to focus and grow.

And, I'm glad you brought Hadru back into the fold, he's too snotty and annoying to leave out for long

And we're onto the Glorith/Verdant story - I'm loving these spinning plates Raz! Nice that you are immediately using your new Legionnaires. is Cvill iii in canon?

Truth girl having Wonder woman's fighting skills is a nice addition to her skilllset.

I'm enjoying you using Evolvo to take the role Brainiac 5 would.

The pattern isn't something that an occasional 14th level intellect might concoct, it's something that a sorceress with a 6th level intellect would - uh, yes, good point, haha how funny that he was overcomplicating it and really just needed to dumb himself down to figure it out. A cosmic pentagram - oh very nice! That was a surprise but totally made sense when Iread it Iwondered why I hadn't guessed it already - guess I'm not even 6th level This is great Raz, you have continued to up the ante and I'm really looking forward to seeing what you have planned next.

More, more, more!

Hi Harbi!

Scorn and the Sisterhood of Sin are going to be my next focus villain-wise after Glorith and Verdant have their time in the spotlight, so we'll get to see how tricky Vista is before too long!

Flederweb was my favourite Khund Legionnaire next to Veilmist actually....not so much power-wise as he doesn't really bring anything new to the table but I like his morbid fatalism about everything

Good pickup on accidentally calling Xao Dragonwing, thanks! I have corrected it now, I always stress about doing that when the two of them are in the same post...to be honest, it's the main reason I steered away from calling Staq anything with dragon in it after I upgraded his powers; having two dragons is already hard enough to keep track of

re: Marte Allon, I actually have a story or two in mind which will feature her more strongly in her role but we probably won't see those for a while. It seems like a natural fit for her though and I'm happy to have found an excuse to keep her around

I love writing the Academy kids and like I said to IB, I am really digging the guesses on Enigma Lass's identity! There will definitely be some more clues on the way before it all comes out in the open! Amp and Marya make a fun pair of frenemies, and while I thought about dragging the Hadru storyline out longer I like him being a part of the class too much

Cvik-III is made up by me, I thought it might be a bit too on the nose if every one of the pentagram worlds just happened to coincidentally be an actual DC world...and I feel like the pentagram thing might work better in a visual medium where you can track the worlds being targeted, but that's why Evolvo Lad has the big brain I guess

Next up: after chasing their tails all this time, the Legion finally confront Glorith and Verdant! Also....an unexpected couple of villains are going to show their faces!

Yay, more Sisterhood of sin soon - you do love your bad girls don't you Raz

Flederweb's personality did differentiate him, now you mention it, and hopefully his and Xao's conversation was the start of a friendship... nah that's too much, perhaps an alliance though? Be interesting to see where you could take him.

I had a thought about Enigma Lass - who was that character you had from Cadmu that could grant wishes? Actually, was it wish Girl? Well, it's a leftfield option

Looking forward to everything you have coming up, and am definitely here for more, more, more "

I grew up reading a LOT of Chris Claremont comics

Friends might be a bit much, but if I ever get around to doing my Flederweb/Elastic Lad buddy comedy Xao might make a good middle man

Wish Girl would make sense as to why she doesn't want anybody to know what her powers are....I may be inspired to do an Enigma Lass poll before I reveal her identity with all these guesses!

Thanks Harbi!

Oh gosh, now I want a team with confusingly similar names! Dragonmage, Dragonwing, Staq (codename Dragonsfire), maybe a few others. A martial artist named Dragonfist? (A new name for Myg!) One of those far future winged flying aliens (Reniians, from the 1996 annual) from the far-future team* led by Wildfire named Dragonflight? A whole Dragon Legion!

Jo can reprise his role as the Green Dragon, let Vi tame a space dragon and they can all fight Karate Kid's dad Black Dragon who it turns out wasn't as dead as Val thought...ALL DRAGONS ALL THE TIME!

KHUND SPACE
Khur'kliin, the village of Kh'gokonos

ROLL CALL
Dragonmage aka Xao Jin: dragon magic
Mysa Marvel aka Mysa Nal: magically enhanced strength, invulnerability, speed, flight, stamina, wisdom and courage

Dragonmage and Mysa Marvel stood at the lip of a six foot pit that had been excavated by luminescent dragonforms composed of mystical energy.

Kh'gokonos was a small village on the backwater Khund world named Khur'kliin, and under any normal circumstances if two outworlders had come here digging holes then half the village would be out gawking at them and challenging them to combat. The presence of the Khund superteam known as the Demon's Claw kept curious citizens at bay however, something for which the two Legionnaires were grateful (though it made them uncomfortable to acknowledge the obvious power dynamic in play).

"I think that should be deep enough. Thank you, Xao."

"You're welcome, Mysa." Xao Jin relaxed his posture and his dragonforms dissipated into the air. "I know that you could have done this yourself, faster than me really...but I wanted to help, and this way you don't need to mess up your outfit."

Mysa looked herself up and down with half a smile. "Dirt; the true enemy of anyone with a predominantly white costume. Very gracious of you, Mr Jin."

"This has been a very interesting journey," Xao mused. "I'm glad to have been a part of it."

Mysa had descended into the makeshift grave, where the strength of Hercules now helped her pat Harlack's last remaining Bel'yana Stone deep beneath the soil. As she levitated back up to the surface, she continued speaking.

"Xao, do you remember back on Xerox when you asked me if I ever missed having my magic? I will admit that at times like this, I do. I've just committed the last tangible part of my friend's soul to Khur'kliin. I know that his essence is going to infuse his homeworld with a little more wonder, it's going to make it that much easier for the next young Khund who feels the summon of the fantastic to recognise their calling and follow it. But I only know all of this intellectually; if I were the White Witch or the Black Witch, I'd be able to sense the sacred power of Harlack's Bel'yana Stone myself. As it is, no matter how powerful I am, there's always going to be a part of the universe which is forever shut off from me now. I don't regret any of my choices and I'm happy with who I am...but yes, I do still miss it sometimes."

Xao remained silent and Mysa hovered above the hole in the ground silently for a moment, wondering what Harlack would think if he could see her now.

He'd been the White Witch's peer, the Black Witch's student, and Mysa Nal's protector.

Mystic senses or no, she was confident that Harlack could see her now, and she was confident that he too was happy with who he saw.

Her thoughts remained with Harlack, and Mysa Marvel's eyes grew wet as she heaped the first pile of dirt upon what was left of her friend.

**********

BAALDUR
Homeworld of the sorceress Glorith

ROLL CALL
Comet Queen aka Grava: flight, gas generation
Crystal Kid aka Bobb Cohan: crystal construct creation
Dawnstar: translightspeed flight, interstellar tracking
Dogstar aka Rufus Remulus: Daxamite-level flight, strength, speed, durability, stamina, senses; solar vision
Elastic Lad aka Jams-Ols 5: super-elongation
Evolvo Lad aka Sev Tcheru: Legion ally; hyperevolution/devolution
Gas Girl aka Tal Nahii: can transform into any gas
King Canary aka K'rk T'wiiu III: sonic generation
Nightwind aka Berta Skye Haris: deputy leader, wind control
Polar Boy aka Brek Bannin: cryokinesis
Sheranee Shah: enhanced physical characteristics, night vision, solar-fuelled starbolts, tactile language absorption, animal empathy
Supergirl II aka Laurel Kent: invulnerability
Truth Girl aka Oliv Hollowai: truth sense, carries the Golden Perfect
Wildfire aka Drake Burroughs: anti-energy being

Propelled by either flight ring or innate power, fourteen Legionnaires flew above an endless canopy of green treetops and beneath equally endless blue skies. Were it not for the serious nature of their mission, this would actually have been a pleasant experience.

"I still say this is a waste of time," Polar Boy huffed. "When Evolvo Lad identified the last two planets to make up Glorith's weird space pentagram it was a good idea to investigate both of them, but we obviously drew the short straw! Glorith and Verdant are already done with this world, the whole planet's covered in plants! We should be rejoining Phantom Girl's team!"

"Dogstar said he picked up people's scents here and we're going to find them, Polar Boy." A note of annoyance was beginning to creep in to Nightwind's voice. "This world's not a part of the UP and we couldn't be here to help them when they needed us most...if nothing else, we can at least rescue whoever those two have left in their wake."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence, Nightwind." Dogstar and Nightwind together had taken the lead, their allies following close behind. "And thank you also for your assistance with the air currents, it makes it much easier to track scents when I'm always downwind of them."

Wildfire's bootjets gave an explosive burst of speed to allow him to catch up with Dogstar and Nightwind. "You got a good nose, Krypto! And kid, you got good instincts." Nightwind was suddenly glad her artificial skin pigmentation made blushing impossible. "Look!" The two of them followed Wildfire's outstretched arm to see what seemed to be an enormous marble palace overlooking this green world.

"It's the only intact manmade structure we've seen since we arrived on this world," Dogstar pondered out loud. "It's where all these scents lead, and I can hear masses of people inside, all of whom sound ill or in pain."

"Sounds worth investigating to me." Nightwind allowed the others to catch up before continuing. "Dogstar, Wildfire...you're our resident powerhouses, you wanna take point?"

"Happily," Dogstar nodded, his golden glowing form darting out ahead.

"Hey, wait up! You're part of a team now, Krypto!" Wildfire poured on the speed to catch up to the canine hero, and was surprised when Dogstar abruptly stopped in his tracks. Wildfire was about to comment on his new teammate's cooperative nature when Drake Burroughs and everybody else heard the growing rumble ahead of them which had already pricked Dogstar's ears up. Before their eyes, four golems as tall as the palace itself rose from the greenery. Arcane sigils burned in the space where their faces should be, and each of the beings was made of the same pink marble as the building that they were clearly here to protect.

Curious as to how strong the monstrous defenders were, Dogstar allowed the nearest one to grab him. Its grip was surprisingly close to his own enhanced strength, and Dogstar used his solar vision to shear the gigantic fist away from the arm it was attached to.

Not one to be outdone so easily by a new recruit, Wildfire waited for the second golem to open its palm toward him and then Drake Burroughs flipped his helmet's visor. An explosive arc of anti-energy shattered the unliving creature's hand and forearm into so much rubble.

"Nightwind?" This was Evolvo Lad; Berta was still sometimes taken aback by how utterly normal Sev Tcheru seemed in his default form. "I don't think you're going to need all of us to destroy these things, do you mind if I try a more subtle approach toward the palace?"

"That's a great idea!" Berta waved Laurel Kent over as she spoke. "Grab a few of the others and keep in touch! Meanwhile, Supergirl and I are gonna show these giant stone jerks that boys aren't the only ones who can break stuff!"

"Missile Launch?" Supergirl asked.

"Missile launch," Nightwind replied with a sly grin.

Berta summoned a wind to whisk Laurel high up above everyone else, then she gave Laurel's flight ring a furious boost of speed and the two girls targeted the third golem's shoulder. The indestructible teen was tiny compared to the giant she was attacking, but at the speed she was moving she went straight through the golem like a bullet. Hairline fractures spread out from the hole she left in her wake, and when the monster turned to try and grab Laurel the stress of its arm reaching out was enough to complete the damage she'd done. The fractures grew into cracks, and the cracks split the arm off entirely and brought it crashing through the canopy of trees beneath.

"In your face, you faceless jerk!" Laurel whooped. "Did you guys see that?? Straight through--" While Laurel had been cheering, the monster pivoted and backhanded her out of the sky with its remaining arm. She flew off into the distance, eventually coming to land somewhere within this carpet of trees several miles away.

"Oof." Nightwind grimaced. "Dawnstar, she's probably fine but magic is one of the things she's vulnerable to. Could you..?"

"Of course, Nightwind." Dawnstar's tone was professional, but it annoyed Berta to think about how the winged Legionnaire would probably be judging Laurel's lapse in judgement. Nightwind could think about that later though; right now she needed to figure out how to deal with this creature with her human missile out of action...

The fourth and final golem had found itself distracted by a trail of vibrant sparkling plumes of gas leading away from the main battle. The golden Legionnaire named Comet Queen had circled the faceless creature's head several times, and now that it had noticed her she was leading it as far away from anybody else as she could.

This was normally the exact kind of escapade that Comet Queen lived for; a new world to discover, crazy monsters to battle, and a team of superheroes to work alongside. She couldn't take any joy in this adventure though. While it made sense for Grava and her husband Chlorophyll Kid to be split up so that at least one of them would have the chance to confront Ivy, it was clear now that Ivy had long finished her work on this world. That meant not only that Grava wouldn't be able to talk sense into her daughter, but also that she couldn't be there for her beloved Chlory when he inevitably found her. Whatever this magical version of a security system was that Glorith had obviously set up, Grava just wanted to deal with it and get back to her husband and child.

Unkbenownst to Comet Queen, some of her teammates had seen what she was doing and found themselves inspired to help. Polar Boy, Elastic Lad and Truth Girl had been trailing the giant just above the rainforest as they schemed their schemes.

"Are you sure you two can handle this thing?" Polar Boy asked. "I mean I can ice up the ground easy enough, it'll be like a skating rink by the time I'm through...but he's a big one!"

"I may not have Wonder Woman's strength," Truth Girl answered confidently as she watched the enormous marble creation take another step, "But I have her skill. It's all just a matter of leverage."

"Truth Girl's right!" Elastic Lad enthused. "Gosh, neither of us have got the sheer power to wrestle one of these big nasties but all it takes is some applied physics! Do you want me to go over it in more detail, Polar Boy? I could go over it in more detail! You see--"

"No, no!!" Polar Boy cut off the excitable young redhead. "As long as you're sure, that's all that really matters! Okay, let's do this!" Brek Bannin flew ahead of the two and coated the forest floor before him in one extremely smooth plane of ice. The reduction in temperature rendered the densely packed trees as brittle as clay; the golem wouldn't have stable footing here. Even if the golem hadn't been so preoccupied with Comet Queen, Polar Boy doubted that it would have noticed. In fact, Brek was reasonably sure that the ice on its own would do the job but he was also intrigued to see this new Legionnaire Truth Girl in action.

For their part, Truth Girl and Elastic Lad took position on either side of the approaching golem just before they reached Polar Boy's work. Jams-Ols 5 threaded his elastic form around many massive tree trunks for added support, and Truth Girl did the same with her golden lasso on the giant's other side. Both of them waited for the golem's foot to come down, then they snagged its right ankle. Held firm in the Legionnaires' makeshift snare, the golem's left foot came down at a weird angle as it chased Comet Queen and the massive monster took a tumble on Polar Boy's enormous sheet of ice. It hit the dirt with a tremendous crash that shook the earth all around them.

...Then Truth Girl learned all about Elastic Lad's capacity to ramble without pause as the two of them more fully restrained the golem's legs, and Polar Boy set himself to freezing the monster's arms.

**********

Evolvo Lad, Gas Girl, King Canary, Crystal Kid and one of the Legion's new recruits Sheranee were just over half a mile away when they heard the crashing behemoth. "That's gotta be a good sign for our side, huh?" King Canary asked.

"I bet the rest of the Legion are doing better than me," Crystal Kid muttered. "I'm sure this stupid jungle's full of bugs and snakes and who knows what else!" Bobb gingerly pushed his way through a curtain of fibrous dangling roots to catch up to the others.

Everyone else had acclimatised to the thick vegetation here much better than Crystal Kid. King Canary was small enough that the plant life surrounding him wasn't really in the way, and to Gas Girl's vaporous form no amount of trees could ever prove an obstacle. Evolvo Lad's devolved incarnation was perfectly adapted to swing from branch to branch like some kind of overgrown primate, and Sheranee travelled the same way albeit far more gracefully.

"It's really more of a forest than a jungle," Sheranee said cheerfully as she launched herself over a drop of several metres to grab hold of a thick gnarled branch before her. "But if it helps I don't think you need to worry about any animals, Crystal Kid. I'm pretty sure these Glorith and Verdant characters have driven any of the native animal population away already, and anything still living round these parts would have made a mass exodus the second those stone giants came to life."

"Still...wouldn't this be faster if we just flew above the treetops?" Bobb persisted. "I mean we can't even see more than a couple of metres ahead because there's so many stupid trees in the way!"

"Evolvo Lad's very confident, I'm sure we're going the right way!" Sheranee gave Crystal Kid a sunny smile. As if in response, the muscular Lalloran caveman grunted affirmatively and propelled himself forward.

"You don't seem very fazed by Sev," Gas Girl complimented her newest teammate. "People usually take a little while to get used to him when he's like this!"

Sheranee had obviously been giving this some thought already herself. "Not that Evolvo Lad's any more an animal than you or I of course, but I think in his current form he's wired more with animalistic impulses if that makes sense...and I've got a way with animals. It's not anything as advanced as telepathy but I just kind of instinctively understand them I guess. I've always been lucky like that!"

Sev Tcheru realised that the others were talking about him and gave Sheranee a quick shy glance before his powerful leg muscles coiled and he leaped up to swing from another branch high above. Gas Girl could have sworn her lifelong friend was showing off for Sheranee, and she found the idea faintly adorable.

"What about King Canary?" Crystal Kid asked Sheranee. "Can you do your empathy thing with him?"

"Well I ain't any less a man than you, am I kid?" King Canary snapped gruffly. "So whatta you think?"

Bobb stammered helplessly and his face turned beet red. "Oh -- I'm so sorry, I-I didn't mean--"

"Hey, guys?" Gas Girl's voice mercifully saved Crystal Kid from any further embarassment. "Looks like we're here!"

They emerged from the cool darkness of Verdant's forest to a breezier grassy clearing. There wasn't much of a change in temperature; between the shaded forest behind them and marble walls a short distance ahead that stood hundreds of feet tall, the Legionnaires doubted that much sunlight reached down here.

"You guys see how there's no windows till you get way up there?" Glad to have something to divert attention from his faux pas, Crystal Kid pointed to a visible opening about ten stories high.

"Yeah, and that ain't all." King Canary began to flit around the perimeter of the palace. "I can hear voices...a lot of 'em. Somewhere around this side."

"I'm sure your power gives you much better hearing than the rest of us," Sheranee followed the golden bird, "But I think even I can hear something now...from over there maybe?" She gestured at a large grate set into the lawn at the palace's border.

Most of the others had to really strive to hear voices so faint they seemed almost imagined, but it seemed Evolvo Lad's sense of hearing was as impressive in this form as his strength and stamina. Acting on instinct the Lalloran caveman launched himself at the grate with a low growl, only to rebound rudely off of a previously invisible forcefield that flashed violet as he made contact with it. He landed on his butt and rolled backwards in a way that would have been comical under other circumstances.

As Evolvo Lad jumped into an offensive stance, Sheranee felt his anger build dramatically and she rushed to his side. "Something tells me we might need your more cerebral self right now," she soothed. "What do you think, big boy?"

At first Evolvo Lad gave her a puzzled glance, but she'd obviously reached something inside of him and within moments he'd become his hyperevolved self which was physically much weaker but in every other way ludicrously advanced.

Even in her gas form, Tal Nahii's mouth gaped wide open. "Sheranee, literally nobody other than me or Life Lass can get through to Sev like that when he's in his devolved form! That was outstanding!"

"Thank you so much, Gas Girl!" Sheranee beamed. "I'm just happy to help."

"You were correct to trigger my transformation." A very different Evolvo Lad spoke with the preternatural calm that was so common for his hyperevolved form. "I had after all brought us here for a more subtle approach and as strong as my other self may be, subtlety is certainly not one of those strengths. Tal, perhaps you might attempt entry yourself? If soundwaves can bypass that magical barrier, there stands a statistically significant chance that air should be able to bypass it also. Just reconnaissance for now please, I'd rather not have you confronting anybody in an unfamiliar environment without backup."

"I love you too, Bighead!" Gas Girl teased her old friend while she faded into a more invisible vapor. "See you all soon, guys!" Utterly confident that her gaseous form would protect her from harm, Tal didn't give a moment's hesitation to floating through the unseen barrier. True to expectations, she didn't feel anything at all to tell her she'd even passed the threshold.

Gas Girl made her way across to the large grate they'd found embedded in the ground. She'd been giving this palace some thought on the way over, and she suspected maybe some kind of sulphuric compound could erode the structure if necessary, but it likely wouldn't be swift. She hoped that she'd find something a little more efficient down here in the dark.

Now that she was passing through the slats in the grate, she could hear those voices a lot louder. She was grateful on one hand because it was so dark down here she needed something to guide her, but it was very creepy. Gas Girl was also glad that a slight breeze was passing through here from outside; she could only float so fast under her own power. Finally she came across a glimmer of violet light, which happened to be where those voices were coming from. Tal followed the path dreading what she might find at the end of it, but in her wildest visions she couldn't have imagined the sight that finally awaited her...

The Legionnaires that Gas Girl had left behind used their time effectively at first testing all of their powers against this barrier. While King Canary's sonic power penetrated the forcefield as easily as any other sound, it also meant his power was useless against the field itself. Sheranee's starbolts couldn't damage it, nor could Evolvo Lad's telekinesis. Crystal Kid had at least been able to help in the end by lining the unseen barrier in a border of crystalline clumps so that they could see where it was, but it was clear to all of them that they were stuck on this side of it. Some more time passed, and Nightwind contacted Evolvo Lad to report that the others had finished off those four stone giants ("the others" mainly being Dogstar and Wildfire), and that they were on their way to meet up.

"Should we be....worried about Gas Girl?" Crystal Kid finally asked. "I mean she's been in there a while now..."

"Aww, you guys!" From thin air, ambient vapors solidified into humanoid form and Gas Girl stood before them. "You're all so cute worrying about me, thank you!"

"What do you have to report, Tal?" Evolvo Lad asked dispassionately.

"It's not good." Her perky demeanour immediately deflated. "There's a massive dungeon down there, I wouldn't be surprised if it takes up more floor space than any of the palace levels on their own...and there are so many people down there; hundreds of them, Sev. They're all chained up in these weird formations, with markings kinda like what were on those giants' heads. I freed a dozen of them, but it's going to take me forever to get around to everybody else if we can't get the rest of the Legion down there. There's something else...Glorith and Verdant only came here a week or two ago, those poor people have kind of lost track of time down there. But they said Glorith claims to be their Empress and none of these people had ever even heard of her before. Isn't that weird??"

Evolvo Lad considered her words. "It is strange, but perhaps it is a mystery best kept for another time. I am rather more curious about something else you mentioned." He raised his arms in a gesture like he was pointing guns on either side of Gas Girl's head. "May I..?"

"Yeah, of course!" With Gas Girl's permission, Evolvo Lad placed his bony fingers upon her temples and they both closed their eyes lightly. Her recent memories played back as clear as any holofilm and he saw exactly what she'd seen. There were a seemingly endless number of wretched and malnourished people of all ages, chained at their wrists and ankles. The restraints themselves were rusted and frail, it had only taken Tal moments to corrode each one with a carefully applied acidic mist. What Sev found more noteworthy was that each one of the prisoners was inside a circle of glowing rune-like marks carved into the ground. The markings were in fact almost identical to the golems' sigils, and a glowing arterial line connected each of the prisoner's circles like spokes on a wheel to one of many massive stone support pillars.

Evolvo Lad disengaged his telepathic contact and addressed the group as a whole. "Of course I cannot say for certain, but I suspect Glorith is using those people as a power battery. If I am correct, they may very well be powering those golems as well as this forcefield and any number of other spells."

"That's awful!" Bangles tinkled together as Sheranee's hands flew to cover her mouth.

A thunderous rumble filled their ears again, and Nightwind was back on Evolvo Lad's flight ring almost immediately. "Evolvo Lad, you won't believe this but those four golem things have just put themselves back together! We're gonna have to put them down again!"

"I suspected this might happen," Evolvo Lad replied. "King Canary, Sheranee, Crystal Kid; I think our other teammates could use you three more than Tal and I at the moment. Tal, if those prisoners truly are powering Glorith's defences, it is imperative that we free them as quickly as possible. I will devote a larger part of my focus to maintaining telepathic contact with you, but you are the only one--"

"--I'm the only one who can get in there and do this, I get it." Gas Girl sighed in resignation and changed back into mist form. "Good luck, guys!"

As she disappeared back into the catacombs of the palace, Gas Girl realised this was going to be a long day...

**********

KORBAL
Home of the Lightning Beasts

ROLL CALL
Blok: magically enhanced strength, invulnerability, speed, flight, stamina, wisdom and courage
Chlorophyll Kid aka Ral Benem: hyper-stimulated plant growth
Diamond Damsel aka Iris Jacobs: living diamond
Element Lad aka Jan Arrah: elemental transmutation
Firecrest aka Staq Mavlen: weredragon
Infectious Lass aka Drura Sehpt: disease transmission and immunity
Lightning Lass aka Ayla Ranzz: electricity generation and manipulation
Mwindaji: tracker infused with White Lantern energy
Phantom Girl aka Tinya Wazzo: leader; intangibility
Sizzle aka Teela Spuunvll: energy conversion
Slug aka Kes Mtsto: inertron form and projectiles
Strut: electrochemical perceptions, insectoid physiology
Timber Wolf aka Brin Londo: super-strength and super-agility
Transposition Lad aka Kappa Snarrk: teleportational transposition
Ultra Boy aka Jo Nah: ultra-energy which can be directed into any one of strength, speed, flight, invulnerability, flash vision, penetra-vision at a time

By the time the Legion of Superheroes reached Korbal, Verdant had already begun her work greening the arid rock.

Korbal was not like the other worlds Verdant and Glorith had visited, and their work here was not accomplished nearly as easily. Home to the so-called lightning beasts which had once upon a time given Ayla, Garth and Mekt Ranzz their mighty powers, Korbal was also home to constant and violent electrical storms. Any life which flourished here had to adapt to conditions which would lead to the extinction of many other species, and it was the first time Verdant had really felt a challenge in bringing the Green to dominance.

The Legion of course knew none of this yet; all they knew is that they finally had a chance to do more than just clean up Ivy and Glorith's mess after the fact, and they weren't going to let that chance go to waste. Phantom Girl gave her team their tasks as soon as they breached the atmosphere, and then they'd broken off into smaller groups.

Mwindaji, Strut and Slug were one of those groups. A particularly bad storm had engulfed Korbal's South Pole over the past 16 hours, and the orbiting Science Police satellite had lost contact with a research facility down at the bottom of this dangerous world. That in itself wasn't an issue; anyone who spent time here soon learned that their use of electronics depended entirely on the whims of Korbal's atmosphere. When the storms got really nasty, the research scientists would just stay inside their insulated little boxes until it all blew over. However, now that Ivy Arcane was in the process of transforming Korbal into a world where the Green reigned over all, the Science Police were understandably concerned about the scientists isolated down here and Phantom Girl had sent the three Legionnaires to check up on them.

Strut and Mwindaji made an odd sight flying together; Strut had kind of caged his more fleshy teammate in all six limbs, giving the appearance that Mwindaji himself had some kind of exotic exoskeleton. Mwindaji's flight ring was linked to Strut's so that the two could work in conjunction against the severe winds ravaging these rocky plains, but Strut was the one driving. The reason for that became apparent when the insectoid Legionnaire suddenly veered off to the left at whiplash speed. A lightning bolt exploded with a mighty crack exactly where the two heroes would have been if Strut hadn't changed direction, and Strut let out a frightened shriek.

"You are doing wonderfully, my friend!" Mwindaji tried to reassure his skittish teammate, though he had to shout against the fierce winds and driving rain. "We are fortunate to have your senses available to us!"

Strut took another jarring shift to the right this time, and again they felt the intense heat of lightning behind them for a moment. "Yes, well...this entire situation is extremely nerve-wracking!" Strut yelled. "If I'd known my ability to sense electrical fields would be used to play tag with a gajillion volts of electricity here on Death World, I might have reevaluated ever wanting to join the Legion of Superheroes to begin with! Also, I'm quite turned around with all of these evasion tactics! Which way is this science shack again, darling?"

Mwindaji focused on his quarry for a moment; he suspected the storm might in some way be interfering with his tracking ability. Still, it wasn't an insurmountable challenge. "That way, Strut!" he pointed into the howling darkness.

The wind carried an exuberant whooping sound from above, and both Legionnaires briefly turned to see their new teammate Slug a healthy distance behind them. The inertron hero made an excellent lightning rod, and took much of the literal heat off of Strut and Mwindaji...and unlike Strut, Slug seemed to be having the time of their life.

Strut's mandibles clicked in amusement as he turned back to the matter at hand. "It takes all sorts, I suppose!"

The peculiar trio of heroes pushed onward, and soon enough Mwindaji's power led them to a small windowless container approximately thirty feet long and about half as wide at the base of a cliff. Fortunately, the cliff face worked as a kind of windbreak and the lightning was much more at home striking the elevated peaks high above. The Science Police had chosen this location wisely. However, Rokynian Webroot was splayed out across both the cliff face and the research station; the Legionnaires weren't sure whether the building or the cliff would succumb to the fibrous web's crushing strength first, but neither result would be good for anybody in that box.

Strut stood as close to the structure as he could manage without becoming a target of the crawling vegetation and hoped that this close they would be able to open a comms channel to the scientists inside. "Hello Science Shack, this is Strut from the Legion of Superheroes speaking at you! I say, is everybody in there just peachy?"

The scientists said something back, but most of it was lost in static. One thing that everybody heard clearly however was that the webroot had destroyed the locking mechanism and they were stuck in there. "Slug doesn't like the sound of that," the metallic Pseudatanian ventured. "Should the Legionnaires break the scientists free?"

"I think we should," Mwindaji considered the situation. "Look here, this plant life is already causing stress to the facility." The tracker pointed out where the webroot had squeezed hard enough to cause cracks in the station's thick ceramic plating.

"Well then! Slug says it's Slug's time to shine! Strut, please tell the scientists to stand away from the door?"

Strut did as he was asked; in truth, the comms signal was so poor that he wasn't at all sure if anyone inside even heard him properly but they couldn't very well just leave these poor people here. He backed away alongside Mwindaji so they could see what their newest teammate was capable of, then Slug took position before the station's sliding door and shot a hail of projectiles at the door. The research station had to be tough to stand on Korbal, but inertron bullets were tougher. There were screams of fright from inside, but as soon as the scientists realised they were being rescued they waited for the onslaught to stop and gingerly poked their heads through what remained of the doorway. The middle-aged brunettes were identical twins, and the Legionnaires remembered now that they'd been briefed these scientists were from Korbal's neighbouring planet Winath.

"It's just the two of you then?" Strut asked gaily. "I hope you're ready for an exciting journey, ladies!"

"J-just the two of us, yes," one of the scientists answered. She saw the webroot snaking its way into the research station and recoiled. "Thank you for coming for us, Legionnaires! But what in the stars is going on??"

"We will tell you as much as we know," Mwindaji explained while Strut carefully helped both women from the research station, "But right now we need to concentrate on getting you both to safety with Element Lad."

**********

Jan Arrah had really earned his Legion stipend today. For one thing he'd had to partially insulate every Legionnaire's flight ring against electrical damage, which was a finicky task as he needed to simultaneously ensure that his fine layer of tungsten didn't interfere with each ring's delicate neural interface plate. Not as delicate but far more exhausting, he'd also had to create the makeshift domed structure that kept large numbers of lightning beasts corralled safely inside. The dome was roughly the size of a moopsball stadium, and itself was composed of a tungsten/titanium alloy strong enough to withstand Ivy Arcane's aggressive plants, the elements of Korbal and the bioelectric discharge of the lightning beasts contained within. In addition to this, he'd had to give Sizzle the little surprise she'd asked for. Finally, Jan had to keep watch for any plant exotic enough to really pose a threat to his protective dome's structural integrity so he could transmute it into free floating inert gases. Element Lad had chosen a relatively placid part of Korbal to do his work, and he'd erected towering copper lightning rods at strategic points around the dome to buy himself a little more insurance, but this still wasn't the easiest world to be standing guard over an enormous herd of angry beasts with taser snouts and the strength of a rhinoceros.

"Got a couple more for you, Element Lad!" Jan looked up to see Diamond Damsel descending, dark clouds above her alive with electrical activity. She clumsily carried one of the struggling lightning beasts overhead and jostled it into the dome alongside its fellows. "Grife, you'd think these things would be a little more grateful we're saving their nasses...Verdant's oversized venus fly traps don't much care that you're a protected species, fellas!"

Blok was immediately behind Diamond Damsel, and he shuffled his own burdensome creature into the dome as well. Blok's lightning beast zapped him with an outraged roar along the way, but even without the stamina of Atlas it wouldn't have fazed the giant stone man. "Let us be charitable, Diamond Damsel," Blok's gravelly voice rumbled. "These poor creatures must be under enormous stress."

"You're more than charitable enough for the both of us," she elbowed Blok playfully. "I make up for it with jaded cynicism." Blok gave her a crooked little half-smile.

"How much longer do you think it'll take to retrieve the rest of the native fauna?" Element Lad asked them. "I know this may seem like a lot of effort for mindless animals, but every living being deserves protection."

"I'm giving it everything I've got, but with Blok's speed he's really doing ten times my work," Diamond Damsel answered. "What do you think, Blok? Another 10-15 standard minutes?"

"That seems fair," Blok agreed.

"Good," Jan nodded stiffly. "What we're doing here is valuable, but I'll feel a lot better when you two can go help Phantom Girl and the others with Glorith and Verdant."

**********

Visually, Glorith and Verdant made a dramatic contrast standing together atop one of Korbal's many craggy peaks as they looked down upon the ozone-reeking world.

From afar, one might think that Verdant had a severely cropped green afro. Upon closer inspection, tightly packed leaves grew from her scalp and only gave the appearance of hair. She wore a practical green bodysuit which covered most of her skin, with raised piping breaking up the monotony of color. Verdant's skin was a deep brown shade, vividly different from that of her mentor.

Glorith's skin was pale, and her lustrous mane of hair a brassy blonde. She wore a strapless purple bodysuit, with stark white thigh high boots and opera gloves. An enormous white cape billowed dramatically around the sorceress, held in place by two oversized spiked shoulder pads. "Somebody has just destroyed my defence circuit spell back on Baaldur," Glorith spoke coldly. "Most likely your little friends, Chameleon Boy."

Reep Daggle hovered in a purple glowing sphere at Glorith's foot. He had so little room that he was curled up almost into a fetal position, and he'd been trapped like this for so long that even his Durlan musculature was screaming for release. If only he'd been able to shapeshift he could have taken on a smaller form for comfort, but Glorith had denied him that. He supposed he should count himself lucky that she hadn't taken the emergency rations stored in his belt pouches, but he knew those rations weren't going to last much longer. "I told you, Glorith...you won't beat the Legion of Superheroes...this insane plan of yours, it's all going to unravel like so much thread."

"Don't be ludicrous!" Glorith condescended. "We only need this final ball of rock to fall under Ivy's power, and then no power in the universe will be able to stop me. I thought it might be fun keeping you around to witness my victory, shapeshifter...but I have to be honest, you're becoming a real stick in the mud. What do you think, Ivy dear? Have we wrung all the amusement out of this one that we can?"

Ivy Arcane's green eyes flashed with annoyance. While she had no particular malice toward the Durlan, he was still an ally of Chlorophyll Kid and Comet Queen. Verdant would be just as happy seeing him dead as not, but carting him around for days on end just to taunt him....something about it didn't sit right with her. More to the point, this world wasn't falling as easily as every other world had fallen and she needed to concentrate.

Ivy opened her mouth to answer Glorith when she saw something that invigorated her rage. "I thought you said the Legion are on Baaldur?" she snapped without meaning to. "Look!" She was as much irked at herself as Glorith; the Green had strengthened Ral Benem's link with Ivy, and if she'd not been so preoccupied with covering this world in plants she would have known Chlorophyll Kid was coming long before she actually saw him.

Glorith followed Ivy's angry glare, and both women saw Phantom Girl, Chlorophyll Kid, Sizzle, Firecrest, Infectious Lass, Timber Wolf, Lightning Lass, Transposition Lad and Ultra Boy framed by a backdrop of strobing lightning and a peal of thunder that rattled their bones. "Focus on your work!" Glorith barked. "I'll take care of these fools!"

Glorith fired a bolt of mystical energy which scattered the Legion, and Phantom Girl felt a surge of relief as she saw that the villainess had Chameleon Boy at her side. Tinya wanted nothing more than to call out to her friend and tell him they were going to get him out of here, but she knew that Cham needed his Espionage Squad teammate right now more than he needed his team leader. Silently scheming, Tinya Wazzo dropped several metres out of sight of the cliff's peak and passed through a cliff face which was so green now that it looked like a vertical garden.

"Transposition Lad, remember what we discussed!" Chlorophyll Kid commanded as soon as he laid eyes on his daughter. "We need to separate those two!"

"Not a problem!" the tall green youth called back. "Only uhh...can someone make sure that Glorith lady doesn't...you know, kill me..?"

"One thing you learn quick in the Legion, kid!" Ultra Boy winked. "Someone's always got your back!"

Transposition Lad brought his power to bear, and

plink

just like that, Chlorophyll Kid was standing atop the cliff in Glorith's place and Glorith found herself in mid-air where Ral had been flying. Shocked, Glorith began falling immediately but it only took her a second to adjust to her new circumstances. She arrested her flight mystically and was just about to embark on a threatening monologue when Ultra Boy charged at the sorceress and delivered an ultra-strength blow that sent her cannonballing straight into Korbal's surface.

Transposition Lad wasn't entirely sure his little stunt would work again on Glorith now that she was ready for it; magicians were tricky like that. While Ultra Boy, Lightning Lass, Timber Wolf and Sizzle went after Glorith, Transposition Lad followed Firecrest and Infectious Lass to see if he could find a way to help them with Verdant.

Ivy Arcane was startled to see Chlorophyll Kid taking the place of her mentor at her side, but to the young woman's credit she recovered almost immediately. "I see you're not wearing your wooden armour," she greeted him. "I don't need that to kill you, you know."

Indeed, Ral Benem wasn't wearing the plated armour he'd created for himself when he became the Protector of the Avatar of the Green. Instead he was garbed in his baggy old costume from his days in the Legion of Substitute Heroes, and it hid his recent weight gain much less successfully than his armour had. This costume was lined with countless secret pockets for seeds, and before he'd come here Ral had made certain that every one of those pockets were empty. His daughter's power over plant life greatly dwarfed his own, he wasn't going to give her anything to work with if he could avoid it.

"I know your capabilities," Chlorophyll Kid replied, remembering when she'd almost slain him. "And I'm not going to hurt you but I'm not going to let you do that again either, Ivy."

"How are you gonna stop me, Benem?" Verdant glared, and thorny branches came crawling across the cliff's new lawn toward Chlorophyll Kid. Before they came anywhere near enough to pose a threat however, a massive fireball incinerated them and any other plant life in an 8 foot radius. Surprised, Verdant looked up to see Firecrest hovering above them with his wings spread wide open.

Verdant felt a hand upon her shoulder blade and spun to find Infectious Lass behind her. Before she could attack the Legionnaire, Verdant collapsed to her knees retching. "Your parents never abandoned you, Ivy," Drura said softly but firmly. "I've known Chlorophyll Kid for years, and Comet Queen wouldn't hurt hurt a fly if she could avoid it. Glorith's lied to you."

Still trapped in Glorith's forcefield sphere a couple of metres away, Chameleon Boy hoped that the other Legionnaires could get through to Ivy Arcane but he didn't think it was a particularly realistic hope. He heard a hushed ouch! and changed position as well as he could to look at the source of the noise beneath him.

Phantom Girl's face emerged from the ground, the rest of her hidden away within the planet's surface. "Cham, are you okay?" Tinya whispered. "I've been so worried about you!"

"I'm exhausted and sore, but nothing a good vibro-spa won't fix...but Tinya, we have to stop these two! Glorith has been taunting me with what they've got planned and we can't let them get away with it!"

"Hold that thought," she cut him off. "I was hoping I could phase through and maybe disrupt Glorith's spell or something but I just got a zap for my efforts. I think one of our new recruits might be able to get you out of this mess though...there's no way Glorith would have known to plan for his power."

"We have new recruits??" Cham's arched eyebrows raised even higher on his forehead.

"Looks like we've both got stuff to catch up on!" Tinya winked at him. "See you in a nano!" She disappeared back down into the rock, and Chameleon Boy returned to watching Ivy. She'd grown a spiky wooden column of Winathian megaroses around herself to defend against the Legionnaires, but at least she wasn't assaulting them. Chameleon Boy was beginning to think that they might turn this around after all.

plink

Reep Daggle blinked in astonishment. He was suddenly ten feet away and crouched next to Phantom Girl and an incredibly tall green-skinned man. Cham saw that Glorith's forcefield was still hovering in place, but somehow it was now filled with burnt weeds. He flashed his rescuers a puzzled look, and Phantom Girl helped her aching friend to his feet. "Chameleon Boy, meet Transposition Lad!

Now...tell us more about all this taunting Glorith's been doing..."

**********

On the surface of Korbal far below the rocky peak where other Legionnaires confronted Verdant, Timber Wolf bounced off of a forcefield that had been erected by Glorith. Brin Londo had not had time to react before he slammed into the violet barrier in his path, but he landed on his hands and sprung back into a crouching position as though he'd planned the whole manoeuvre from the start.

Ultra Boy flew in low while Timber Wolf righted himself, and then Jo trained his flash vision on the ground at Glorith's feet. His power too was stymied by her forcefield, and Glorith wiped blood from her lower lip as she gave a baleful glare to the Rimborian hero. "You and your woman have both lain hands upon me, Jo Nah." Glorith's hatred was palpable. "It may be now or it may be five years hence, but one day I will make you both pay for that."

"Big words, lady." Lightning Lass flew in from a different angle and poured her power into breaking Glorith's sorcery. "But I don't particularly enjoy coming back to this ball of rock, so you've got a pissed off Ranzz to deal with now as well." Ayla's lightning skated off of Glorith's forcefield, but the witch had needed to focus slightly to maintain her defences this time around.

"Did you see that?" Jo asked Ayla. "I think she needs to regulate against different attacks on their own wavelength or whatever; if we both hit her at once..."

"Good thinking, Jo!" Ayla complimented her muscular comrade. "You're not all himbo after all!"

Ultra Boy flinched, momentarily taken aback. "Who said I was--"

"Excellent thinking!" a voice joined in from high above them. "And if we're talking different wavelengths, well that's what my power was built for! Hope you two don't mind if I tag in!" Their red-skinned new recruit Sizzle hovered above them; thanks to Element Lad, a thin copper wire dragged down from Sizzle's belt to the ground where it was swiftly buried in Ivy Arcane's slithering vines and long grasses.

Almost like Sizzle had scheduled it, a frighteningly intense lightning bolt lit up her body like a lightbulb. Though it was far more power than she was used to channelling, she gritted her teeth and transformed the electrical energy into a sickly green beam of hard radiation which shot straight at Glorith. Ultra Boy and Lightning Lass picked up on Sizzle's cue, and with three incredibly powerful unique energies striking her simultaneously Glorith's forcefield was overwhelmed. It collapsed, and so did Glorith.

While the platinum blonde sorceress was on her knees, Timber Wolf approached. "I don't particularly want to kick a woman's jaw into bone shards so do yourself a favour and surrender, lady."

On her hands and knees, Glorith looked up at Brin Londo with burning hostility. It had taken all of Glorith's power to transport Ivy Arcane from world to world to fulfill this mission, to hide their presence from conventional detection and then to defend against their enemies. Thanks to the Legion, she no longer even had her emergency battery back on Baaldur, a world she was fated to rule when she'd be born there countless millennia from now.

If Glorith was Mordru, she would fight on to her eventual defeat regardless of her chance for success. She wasn't Mordru though, and she knew she wouldn't be able to pursue her goals buried away in whatever prison the Legion had chosen for her. She was so close to victory that it hurt, but if she needed to leave now and rebuild her strength it certainly wouldn't be the first time that had happened. She began to prepare a teleportation incantation.

Then she felt the onrushing wave of occult power, like it was some unstoppable tsunami of potential. The pentagram was completed, and in utter bliss Glorith's eyes rolled back in her head.
Ivy Arcane had finally completed greening Korbal despite any assault on her physical person, and now everything Glorith had earned was coming for her.

The power of the interstellar pentagram washed over them all, and along with her enemies Glorith of Baaldur succumbed to unconsciousness.

*********

ELSEWHERE

The woman named Wensai Saturni rocked back and forth as she hugged her knees on this comfortable mattress that the Titanian mental health authorities had provided her as part of her rehabilitation. She was isolated from others in her room in this psychomedical facility, but she felt closer to normal than she had in some time.

Wensai had fought members of the Legion of Superheroes in her alternate identity as Decay, the so-called Daughter of the Time Trapper. The Legion of Superheroes and the Science Police had both tried their best to make her think this was a delusion, but Decay wasn't convinced. It had been months since she'd faced the Legion though, and without the quantum manipulation belt she'd once worn she had no powers. Wensai wondered for the first time if maybe she really had misunderstood who she was all this time...

As soon as she had this thought, a purple-robed figure appeared in her room and along with the hooded figure came the musty smell of ancient dust.

"Hello daughter," the Time Trapper intoned in a voice that sounded like it had been born in a grave. "Would you like to help your father?"

Decay was ecstatic, but also ashamed. "I'm sorry, Father! They made me believe I had concocted our relationship! Will you help your undeserving daughter?"

"Of course," the Time Trapper replied. "All things end after all, familial relationships among them. You are my daughter though, Decay; and as long as we both exist, I will be your mentor.

Now, let me tell you how you can help your father get everything he wants..."

NEXT: A THOUSAND YEARS OF GREEN

EDITOR'S NOTE:
Decay is a character who's appeared once before in my series, a looong time ago. That story can be found here (all you really need to know though is that she reproduced Kid Quantum's quantum manipulation belt and deluded herself into thinking she was the Time Trapper's daughter....or was it a delusion?)

yay! more good stuff!


lol at the joke re Mysa's white outfit... yeah,if I were a superhero I'd totally wear black and that was a very touching scene, with Mysa reflecting on her lost magic and saying goodbye to Harlak

heh, love the callback to Wildfire being THE Legion tutor during Nightwind's Academy days and I love the Berta/Laurel combo attack!

also, great characterization mentioning that Dawnstar probably WOULD be all judgey... I know people like that, and their attitude annoys me enough that I avoid them too

and more great teamwork with Grava, Brek, E-Lad and Truth Girl! and heh at Brek cutting E-Lad off, and E-Lad continuing to ramble

and a big haha to Bobb hating all the snakes and jungle critters.... I feel for him, I would probably have reacted similarly. also nice nod to Sheranee's Tamaranean skills re swinging from branch to branch

woops, Bobb really stepped in it with King Canary hee hee. also liking how you describe Sheranee's animal empathy

loving Tal's sense of humor too

ooh, Korbal, an interesting location! makes sense that Ayla and Blok and Iris would be among the team here!

nice Strut/Mwindaji teamwork too! and of course, I forgot about Strut's electromagnetic sensing ability, perfect for this location! and Slug attracting electricity is great too!

nice look into Jan's powers -- after all, transmutation would be dangerous without the appropriate skill and knowledge! he really IS earning his keep here! and also nice to have the Legion rescuing the lightning beasts! I continue to love the Blok/Iris friendship!

ah,. good to see that Gas Girl's freed the prisoners!

also good to see a glimmer of ... conscience? scruples? morals? within Ivy - not taking any pleasure taunting Cham

yeah, T-Lad for an opening, whoo!

smart of Ral to prepare well for this encounter with Ivy. also like your reference to his recent weight gain; makes Ral more relatable and realistic! (we can't all be underwear models after all )

yeah, T-Lad to the rescue again! liking his physical description too

lol at Ayla's little backhanded compliment to Jo, and his stunned reaction

ahhh! nice thinknig of Sizzle to use the ambient electricity on Korbal to fuel her power! love it!

oy! The Legion had her... but too late. way to up the ante, raz!

whoa! Decay again, and now the Time Trapper too... eek!


well done raz, looking forward to the next bit!

Poor Crystal Kid was definitely channelling me a bit, if I had a flight ring there's no way you would catch me pushing on through some creepy woods full of god knows what

I was happy with Jan this time around! He's not a very flashy character and I don't give him the spotlight much so I like when I can give him something specialised to do other than just sticking bad guys in inertron blocks for a change!

NEXT UP: finally we are gonna find out what Glorith and Verdant have been planning this whole time! Also another clue about Enigma Lass! And LOADS of guest stars!

thank goodness for transuits eh I've often thought, if I were flying around here on Earth I would demand a transuit, imagine flying in the tropics in tropical humidity...

yeah, Jan was really one of the MVPs this round - but of course everyone played a part great job giving everyone something key to do!

EARTH ORBIT
Legion of Superheroes Headquarters, Medlab

ROLL CALL

Dr Skorski: Legion of Superheroes Physician

Legion Academy
Lightning Lad aka Garth Ranzz: co-head; electricity generation and manipulation
Saturn Girl aka Imra Ardeen Ranzz: co-head; telepathy
Enigma Lass: ?
Key Kid aka Miqui Ver: ability to bypass any man-made barrier
Sojurn aka S'jn: interdimensional cephalopod; teleportation, telekinesis, telepathy
Variable Lad aka Oaa Tseldor: abilities change with each manifestation

Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl watched alongside some of their other students while the extra-dimensional cephalopod Sojurn floated before them.

As ever, Sojurn's utter lack of facial features made it impossible to gauge how they were feeling but their posture at least seemed quite relaxed about Dr Skorski's little dragonfly-like microship hovering inches away. Two tiny chrome tentacles emerged from the doctor's blue and white vessel, and equally tiny waldos adjusted a device which encircled Sojurn's body at its widest point. Like some kind of high-tech belt or headband, orange light strips illuminated the device when Dr Skorski switched it on and the Teallian physician retracted their little elongated arms back inside their microship.

"How does your new translator feel, S'jn?" the doctor's melodic voice asked.

The others waited in silence for a moment or two before Sojurn spoke out loud for the first time ever. "The translator device....tickles mildly, actually."

"That would be the psioelectric bridge," Dr Skorski explained helpfully. "You should become accustomed to the sensation, but I am certain we can adjust the bridge frequency if you find it bothersome."

"Quite the contrary, Dr Skorski. It is rather pleasant." Sojurn's new voice didn't quite portray their amusement, but the other students giggled anyway.

"Thank you so much for your time and effort, Dr Skorski!" Saturn Girl smiled gratefully. "I understand it must have been a challenge, S'jn's physiology is quite unlike most lifeforms in United Planets medical databases."

"You are most welcome!" the doctor responded with more warmth here than anyone was used to hearing from a Teallian. "And let us not forget, I am from Teall after all...S'jn's physiology is not any stranger to me than that of any other organic being!"

"Now there are two students in the Legion Academy with voices aided by technology," Sojurn added. "I suppose that makes us something of a sub-culture, does it not Enigma Lass?"

From the glances that Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl swapped, this obviously wasn't news to them; Key Kid and Variable Lad however turned to stare at their newest classmate in open shock.

"You have a voice modulator??" Key Kid asked. "Your voice sounds so normal, I would never have guessed!"

"I do not -- I would not like -- I do not wish to discuss it please!" The hooded girl turned on her heel and stomped out of the room, her ethereal long jacket floating in her wake.

"Enigma Lass, don't leave!" Variable Lad called after her. "I am sure Sojurn did not mean to offend!" She didn't turn back and Oaa looked up at Garth and Imra. "Teachers, may I--"

"Let's both go," Saturn Girl offered. "Garth, you'll be fine with Sojurn and Key Kid?"

Lightning Lad gave his wife a peck on the cheek and sent her and Variable Lad on their way. Before he could say anything more, Garth felt Sojurn's more familiar telepathic voice in his head. <Teacher Lightning Lad, I apologise. I have been trying to modify my manner of conversation to better accommodate my fellow students but if I have breached a social boundary-->

"Don't feel too bad, Sojurn." Garth spoke out loud; he wanted Key Kid to hear this as well. "I know it was an honest mistake and I'm sure Enigma Lass won't hold it against you. Let's use what happened today to have a talk about privacy when we get back to Mars, we're all from very different cultural backgrounds so we probably should have done this a lot sooner to be honest. Dr Skorski, thanks again for your time - we appreciate it and I hope everything goes well today."

Today was why the Legion's mobile base had moved from orbiting Mars to orbiting Earth, and Lightning Lad knew he'd be doing his old team a favour by getting the class out of here as soon as possible. Going by what he'd heard from his sister and Cosmic Boy, this vessel was probably going to be full to bursting soon with injured heroes and refugees.

As they walked past a flatscreen monitor showing a news broadcast from Earth, Garth saw Colossal Boy, Mysa Marvel and some fantastic creature that had to be Chameleon Boy evacuating citizens from a building almost wholly consumed in vegetation. The skycam also picked up two purple streaks zipping up and down buildings, and Lightning Lad was mildly surprised to find that this crisis had even brought the Tornado Twins out of retirement.

Good luck, guys! the Legion's founder wished every hero out there, Legionnaire or otherwise.

**********

EARTH
Metropolis, Weisinger Plaza

ROLL CALL

The Cavalry
Antennae Lad aka Khfeurb Chee Bez: can broadcast radio transmissions from different spatiotemporal loci
Bouncing Boy aka Charles Foster Taine: super-bouncing
Polecat aka Dafe Meron: odor generation
Porcupine Pete aka Peter Dursin: projectile quills
Rainbow Girl aka Dori Aandraison: rainbow powers
Una aka Luornu Durgo Taine: ally; currently powerless

Outside the United Planets Museum of the Superhero, the team of heroes called the Cavalry were at a standoff against the plant life creeping its way through Metropolis. Bouncing Boy smashed tree trunks and gnarled branches into so much kindling while Rainbow Girl hovered overhead and shot a different colored laser from each finger at the plant infestation.

The rest of the team were in the centre of Weisinger Plaza inside a transparent dome erected by Una's forcefield belt. Twelve scared citizens were inside the bubble with them, and as much as her teammates tried to maintain calm in here, Luornu Durgo Taine was an experienced enough hero to know that it was only a matter of time until Chuck and Dori fell. With a web of vines covering the forcefield, Una couldn't afford to think about anything else but protecting these people though. One minor lapse in concentration and the field might fall, leading to disaster for everyone in here with her.

On the other side of the forcefield, Bouncing Boy finally hit something too soft and sappy to rebound from. As he struggled to free himself from the sticky mess, multiple fronds began to close over him and Chuck realised this thing wasn't going to crush him so much as it was going to slowly digest him. "Uh, Dori?" he cried out. "A little help?"

"I'm not a Dori," he heard a chirpy young woman's voice outside of the swiftly closing leaves, "But I hope I'll do!" A series of powerful energy bolts shot forth, tearing the plant that had targetted Chuck into so much mulch. He was still half-covered in glue-like sap, but at least he could free himself now.

A pretty girl with skin the color of burnt orange hovered before him, countless pieces of gold jewellery jangling as the last flash of starbolt energy faded from her outstretched hands. "Hi, Bouncing Boy!" she beamed. "I'm Sheranee!"

A cloud of gray-green mist followed the young woman in the sarong, and that mist soon grew a face that Chuck found more familiar. "Hi, Bouncing Boy!" Gas Girl echoed her new teammate. "Quick question, is Duplicate Damsel - I mean is Una's new forcefield as tough as Brainiac 5's is?"

"Exactly as tough!" Chuck answered. "And good to see you, Gas Girl...I guess even the Cavalry need a cavalry sometimes! Nice to meet you too, Sheranee; I'd heard the Legion took on some new recruits, looks to me like they chose well!"

"You two can get acquainted up there, it's about to get super hot down here." A gaseous arm came out of the otherwise formless cloud of vapor that was Gas Girl and pointed up toward Firecrest, Rainbow Girl and Strut several stories above. Each of Strut's six limbs carried a clearly terrified child, but Rainbow Girl was doing her best to keep them distracted from the horror that had overcome their city. Firecrest pulled his massive wings in and started a vertical dive, and Bouncing Boy and Sheranee took the hint and ascended. As soon as Chuck and Sheranee were at a safe distance, Gas Girl switched her composition to hydrogen to help Firecrest set the entire plaza alight and destroy every plant in sight.

Rainbow Girl and Strut had become fast friends while Sheranee had been rescuing Bouncing Boy. "I assume you Legionnaires must know what's going on here, right?" Dori asked. "The Legion of Superheroes isn't even allowed on Earth anymore, this must be a real crisis for you to defy that order!"

"I wouldn't know anything about that, darling!" Strut replied. "I find politics dreadfully dull if I'm being completely honest! But yes, we've been pursuing two scandalous villainesses halfway across the known universe and we thought we'd finally caught up with them on this simply awful little worldlet called Korbal, but it turns out that Earth was their target all along! They completed their ostentatious little mystic ritual, we were all zapped unconscious, and then they made their way here while we napped! They're horrid horrid women, but one must admit that they certainly have a sense of the spectacular! I feel like I'm in one of those end of the world action stories!"

Rainbow Girl was obviously confused. "Why did it take you so long to track them here though? Metropolis has been knee-deep in these plants for weeks now!"

"Oh dear." Strut's mandibles clacked together. "Perhaps Chameleon Boy wasn't exaggerating when he told us their plan..."

**********

ROLL CALL

Crystal Kid aka Bobb Cohan: crystal construct creation
Gravity Kid aka Tel Vole: gravity manipulation
Nightwind aka Berta Skye Haris: deputy leader, wind control

Elsewhere in Metropolis, a large crystalline disk with a raised rim carried another dozen sentients over towering megascrapers toward the Science Police evacuation point on what had once been known as Hell's Gate Island. Crystal Kid had created the makeshift flight platform and his flight ring allowed him to keep pace with it on the left hand side. Gravity Kid was on the right hand side of the disk using his own power to lighten the load, while maintaining what he thought of as a professional demeanour with his former love interest. In fact, Tel Vole's icy exterior was creating enough tension that even some of the random citizens they were rescuing could sense it. Nightwind's air control gently propelled the disk while also minimising the normally fierce winds this high up. Berta could definitely feel the tension between Tel and Bobb, and if there weren't so many other people around she'd likely have called them out on it.

"So let me get this straight," Gravity Kid spoke directly to Nightwind, "Glorith makes this cosmic pentagram, Earth is at the centre of it, and somehow this is going to give her control over Earth for a thousand years? Chameleon Boy must have misunderstood, how is Verdant covering a world in plants giving Glorith any power?"

"I guess the pentagram focuses all the magic...energy...or whatever in the middle of it?" Nightwind struggled to explain. "I don't know, Tel; I'm not Dragonmage. But I mean they're obviously here and doing their thing on this world just like all the others, so I'm inclined to assume Cham meant what he said."

"Legion Academy to the rescue!"

The three Legionnaires turned at the bellowing voice, and saw an almost translucent Power Boy ascending from the chaos below. "Give me a lift, Berta?" With his density reduced to this degree Power Boy could ride air currents, but it wasn't a particularly efficient way to fly. Luckily he weighed barely anything, so it was no trouble for Nightwind to pick him up and carry him alongside the rest of them where they all greeted their old classmate.

"Is that a new costume, Jed?" Nightwind smirked. "Where's the rest of it?"

"Not all of us dress like a Talokkian nun," he teased her back. He still wore the same boots and pants that had been a staple of his outfit since his days at the Legion Academy, and what seemed to be a gleaming gold wrestler's belt featured his logo which resembled a partially eclipsed sun. Instead of his old yellow shirt though, two thin bands grew from the top of his belt to stretch up his otherwise naked torso like suspenders where they turned into something resembling a folded collar around his thick neck. Fingerless gloves completed the look, and the Legionnaires saw that he had a buzzed down undercut with ginger hair slicked back over the top of his skull. Jed also had a light ginger fuzz coating his purple chin. "How come it's taken you guys so long to get here? We've been dealing with this hyperactive garden for days...maybe even a week now!"

Gravity Kid realised he was ogling Jed in his revealing new outfit, and self-consciously turned away before anyone noticed. He saw that Crystal Kid had noticed, and Tel rolled his eyes at the annoyed expression Bobb was wearing. Nightwind thanked the stars that Jed Rikane was far too unobservant to pick up on these things, she was already suffering from enough second-hand embarassment. Pointedly ignoring her teammates, Berta fielded Power Boy's question. "It's kind of a weird story and one I don't really get, but there's this evil sorceress Glorith; like Glorith that used to be in the Academy but not her. She's scary powerful...like Mordru powerful. And she hasn't really been on Earth for weeks, the Legion faced her on Korbal not even a day ago. But somehow...Jed, we think she's making this effect spread through time. Some of these people think all this started yesterday, some are saying it was a month ago."

"Oh wow!" Power Boy's jaw dropped. "Well, I know I'm not in the Legion but if you need help..."

Berta had been happy to see her old friend, but talking about Glorith's evil brought to mind just how high the stakes were and she sobered up very quickly.

"...I think we're gonna need all the help we can get, Jed."

**********

ROLL CALL

Color Kid aka Ulu Vakk: color manipulation
Mwindaji: tracker infused with White Lantern energy
Night Girl aka Lydda Jath Krinn: photosensitive super-strength
Polar Boy aka Brek Bannin: cryokinesis
Sizzle aka Teela Spuunvll: energy conversion
Star Boy aka Thom Kallor: celestial mass-transference
Stone Boy aka Dag Wentim: ability to transmute to living stone

On a pedestrian walkway far beneath Nightwind and the others, a tourist airbus had been shot down out of the sunny sky by aggressive Jacquaan spearplants. Stone Boy tore the spearplants to shreds while Sizzle converted the flames from the crash into a wide arc of hard radiation which withered and charred any other plants which crept too close for comfort. Mwindaji's power healed the grievously wounded tour guide and passengers, and Star Boy led them safely towards a large makeshift igloo which Polar Boy had created to take them all safely to one of the city's evacuation points.

The tour guide was a well-built bearded blonde man who'd introduced himself as Oli-3, and he drew Star Boy's attention now to a disturbance on another walkway far below them. "Star Boy, right? You see that? Are those creeps looting that place?"

Curious, Sizzle glanced over the protective barrier that had only barely contained the airbus when it fell out of the sky. "Hey...they are looting that place! I recognise those particular creeps too, they're the Legion of Substitute Villains! We need to stop them!" Indeed, the Bismollian man named Bile was right now leading the latest incarnation of his group of fourth-rate villains to steal anything they could carry from an area of Metropolis that had already been successfully cleared of residents.

"With everything that's going on, that's our last priority right now." Night Girl walked beneath Polar Boy's construct as she spoke. Brek had tilted one end of it up on an ice column specifically so Lydda could comfortably get underneath it, and the Kathooni heroine activated her transuit and then worked to find the best spot to lift the tons of ice overhead. "I think I'm nearly ready, Ulu."

"But they're breaking the law!" Sizzle protested. "Right in front of us!"

"You're not a prison warden now, Sizzle." Star Boy took up the discussion so Night Girl could focus on her task. "Protecting innocent bystanders always takes precedence over capturing petty criminals...and right now, we have a lot of innocent bystanders to protect."

Making sure that her passengers were secure, Night Girl gave Color Kid the signal he'd been waiting for and he darkened her transuit until it was almost black. Then he accompanied Night Girl as she flew off into the afternoon sunshine like some living shadow with her precious cargo.

A sudden gust of wind ruffled everyone else's hair, and a woman in a padded gold costume suddenly appeared before the remaining Legionnaires. "Glad I caught the tail end of that," the woman named Sprint greeted the heroes. "I suppose that means we're not gonna have to have some stupid drawn-out fight if I were to give you these kids to rescue then?" She lowered the two young children she'd been carrying down to the ground, where they soon ran to the more recognisable Star Boy and Polar Boy.

"I know we've had our differences," Star Boy nodded. "But thank you, Sprint...really."

"Hey, it's our world too!" the goggled speedster gave a wry smile. "Speaking of our, I'd better get back to Golden Boy before he decides the best way to protect the rest of those brats we found is to turn them all into oversized trophies. See you soon, do-gooders!"

Sizzle watched Sprint dash off with a stunned stare. Sprint and Golden Boy had both been members of Earth-Man's Judgement League; Teela had never met any of the Judgement League personally, but even on Takron-Galtos they knew how close Earth-Man's cronies had come to destroying the Legion and bullying the rest of Earth into submission. Sizzle thought her time in the Workforce on Takron-Galtos had taught her a lot about how criminals needed to be handled, but she was beginning to wonder if she still had more to learn...

**********

ROLL CALL

Chlorophyll Kid aka Ral Benem: chlorokinesis
Comet Queen aka Grava: flight, gas generation
Kid Computo aka Danielle Foccart: cyberempathy
Neon aka Zoe Saugin: infused with Green Lantern energy
Phantom Girl aka Tinya Wazzo: leader; intangibility

Chlorophyll Kid's power had been a godsend once he led Phantom Girl and the others into the heart of Metropolis where Verdant's influence was strongest. While he was no match for his estranged daughter's power one on one, Ivy wasn't directly controlling the plants filling Metropolis so much as she was giving them licence to grow wildly on their own...and that was something Ral Benem could counter with only minimal effort.

So it was that Phantom Girl felt quite comfortable taking a break in the middle of the chaos to check in with her Science Police contacts. An artificial clearing surrounded the five Legionnaires thanks to Chlorophyll Kid, and two large green flat screens displayed Shvaughn Erin and Roon Dvron thanks to Neon.

"Phantom Girl, thanks for sending Jan here with a crew." Shvaughn made conversation with Phantom Girl easily. "We'd already evacuated the immediate area of sentients, but I don't want to think about how much damage would have been caused if the powersphere had ruptured."

"Please," Tinya deflected, "That's what we're here for, Shvaughn...and I knew Jan would be worried about you until he got to see that you were okay personally. How's the evacuation coming, Officer Dvron?"

Roon Dvron had never developed the kind of relaxed relationship with many of the Legionnaires that his colleague had cultivated, and he was more business-like in his response. "Efforts proceed with minimal interruption. Latest SP estimates are that the whole city should be evacuated within the next hour, and that's in no small part thanks to Blok, Sun Boy, Wildfire and Lightning Lass defending the evac site...not to mention the assistance the rest of the Legion have provided with escorting citizens out of Metropolis."

"Like I said to Shvaughn....that's what we're here for." Phantom Girl's tone was warm but it was obvious she was a little weary as well. "Earthgov may not necessarily want us here, but we can deal with that when all of this is over; the Legion of Superheroes aren't going to let people die for the sake of politics. Please let us know if there's anything else at all we can do to help, guys...and thank you for your cooperation, I hope you two don't get in trouble yourselves for this."

"As a wise woman once said," a mischievous gleam sparkled in Shvaughn's eye, "We can deal with that when all of this is over. Stay safe, Legion!"

"You too," Tinya returned. The officers ceased transmission, and Phantom Girl turned her attention to her teammates close at hand. "Okay, gang....why is it we think nobody noticed that gigantic tree until we reached this block?" The tree in question had a trunk easily as thick around as two megascrapers, and it shot right up into the clouds before they saw any hint of leaves. By all rights, they should have seen it from orbit but it had remained hidden from view until they'd come within a mile of it.

"I'm nebula hazy on that one, starshine," Comet Queen shrugged glumly. "But Chlory says our little sprout's beaming from round there somewhere, right Chlory?"

"Absolutely," Chlorophyll Kid stared at the unnaturally enormous tree. He'd stopped wearing his wooden armour in anticipation of facing his daughter again, and the girls could all see the grim set to his facial features.

"Do you think it's related to the weird timey wimey stuff?" Neon wondered aloud. "We've come across a lot of people saying they feel like this plant invasion happened weeks ago, maybe if this is where it all began the outer bits of Metropolis just haven't caught up yet?"

"That makes as much sense as anything, I guess." Phantom Girl sighed. "Boy, I sure miss Brainy sometimes...Danielle, Zoe, can you two tell if there's anyone who needs our help between here and that oversized tree?"

"Any functioning biometric scanners and security devices aren't registering anyone," Kid Computo replied.

"And I'm not picking up any humanoid life signs either," Neon added as her ring flashed brightly on her extended finger.

"Then let's do this!" Phantom Girl brought her flight ring close to her lips as she took to the air. "Any Legionnaires who can make themselves available...we're taking the fight to Glorith and Verdant. Home in on my signal, let's go Legion!" The others followed Tinya, and before too long more than a dozen other Legionnaires followed in their wake.

The heroes had expected to find Glorith and Verdant at the base of the tree, but there was no sign of anything other than more plant life when they got there. "Chlor?" Phantom Girl asked. "Any idea where we go from here?"

"This is going to sound really odd," Chlorophyll Kid's brow furrowed, "But I think we need to get...inside the tree?"

"Like through here?" Spiralling up and around the trunk, Comet Queen had come across a hollow that while proportionate in size to the tree was easily large enough to fly an aircar through. "Maybe it's like a nature holo version of a stargate?"

Neon followed her golden teammate and illuminated the interior of the hollow in soft emerald light. "It's definitely some kind of passage!" Zoe announced to the others. "It looks like it winds around the tree going up and down!"

Phantom Girl considered her options; aside from the four Legionnaires she'd brought here herself, she also now had Truth Girl, Mon-El, Supergirl, Tellus, King Canary, Slug, Transposition Lad, Dragonmage, Cosmic Boy, Elastic Lad, Matter-Eater Lad, Dawnstar, Dream Girl and Shrinking Violet on side as well. Some of these Legionnaires might be new, but Tinya was confident that they were a strong enough force to take on the two women behind all of this without having to wait for the rest of the team to join them.

Tinya Wazzo ascended to join Comet Queen and Neon, and she called the other Legionnaires to follow her. The tunnel that wound through the tree was spacious enough for seven people to stand side by side, and the heroes gathered together easily within the trunk. "I guess now we just need to decide whether to go up or down," Tinya considered the situation. "Maybe we should split--"

Before she could continue, Mon-El's eyes grew wide with shock. "It can't be..." he muttered.

Tinya glanced curiously at her friend. "...Mon?"

"This way!" The Daxamite sped off down into the pitch black of the tunnel that led downwards, and the Legion quickly followed.

With his enhanced hearing, King Canary was the first to realise what had set Mon-El off. "There's someone down there!" the little bird announced gruffly. "A lot of someones!"

"We don't know what we're in for," Phantom Girl cautioned as she turned intangible. "Be ready for anything -- oh!"

As they rounded the inside of the huge trunk with Neon lighting their way, the Legionnaires came face to face with the last group of people they would ever have expected to find here.

Just as surprised as the Legion of Superheroes stood the ancient heroes Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Red Tornado, Firestorm, a Green Lantern and Aquaman with others behind them where it was too dark to identify any of them.

To his credit, Superman recovered from the surprise in moments and broke out in a broad grin.

"Justice League of America...I'd like to introduce you to my old friends, the Legion of Superheroes."

TO BE CONTINUED!!!

EDITOR'S NOTES:
* The Tornado Twins are Don and Dawn Allen, children of Barry Allen - this is their first cameo in my series!

* The Cavalry is of course the team that Chuck and Luornu formed with the remaining members of the Legion of Substitute Heroes who'd never joined the Legion of Superheroes - this is their first appearance since taking on their new team name!

* Power Boy had joined the UP's covert ops team the Oversight Watch when Nightwind was made a Legionnaire, but the last time we saw him he had quit the Watch and had memories of the team mostly erased from his mind.

* Sizzle first appeared in my series as a member of the Legion of Substitute Villains - they are about as terrible as you'd imagine, and she quickly realised she'd made a spectacularly dumb choice working with them. She joined Takron-Galtos's superwarden team the Workforce to work off her sentence before she joined the Legion of Superheroes.

* Sprint is a homemade character - she's a speedster from the past who Earth-Man recruited into being part of his villainous Judgement League. She hooked up with Golden Boy, and the two have been together since.

Wow raz, more awesome stuff,

Nice bit about cultural differences - you’re already putting things into practice

Also great way to show the scale of the crisis, having the Tornado Twins and the Cavalry show up . And a nice reunion for most of the former Subs too

Nice teamwork with Firecrest and Gas Girl - also interesting re what happens to her body’s atoms when she does that? But she’s fine of course

The plants have been there for WEEKS? Whoa what a way to up the ante - though how is everyone still alive if it’s been that long?

Awesome scene with Bobb, Tel and Jed - just a big LOL at Bobb and Tel being awkward, and Jed being all oblivious

Nice explanation re spreading through time, which is why people are all saying different things - and explains how not everyone is dead yet

Great bit re Sizzle and Sprint, nice to see the villains who aren’t all about killing (some just wanna get rich), and nice discussion re prioritising

Loved seeing Shvaughn and Dvron, and their differing relationships with the team. (Even for me as a reader, I think of Shvaughn by her first name and Dvron by his last!)

Whoa whoa whoa what a cliffhanger - the Justice League! And tons of them it seems!!! Well well well, I’m impressed and eager!!

(And Superman calling the Legion his old friends warms my heart)

And with Truth girl along, am sure we will see if that’s really them;)

Thanks IB!

This is a very good question! Google tells me the byproduct of burning hydrogen is water, but I am going to assume Evolvo Lad is smart enough some of the time to have figured out a way to avoid that happening

re Shvaughn and Dvron....I totally do the same thing with their names - in fact I don't even think I was aware that Dvron had a first name until the Who's Who books back in the day!

There are gonna be some cute character interactions between the JLA and the Legion over the next couple of instalments I think, some of them a bit out of left field...but part of the appeal is also getting to write Superman as a grown-up with the pals he had as a teenager!

yeah, it's super amazing that you have so many Leaguers along, whooo!

ah science, I struggle too whenever I read, say Condo. I have to keep googling, and hope I can make it sound science-y and realistic enough not to take people out of the story lol

V relatable! That along with making the super-brainy types come across as realistically super-brainy are the hardest things to pull off with these characters I reckon!

Finally got an hour to myself so willl hopefully be able to give you a review Raz,

Mysa and Xao make a nice pair, and her admitting that she misses her magics as she can't fully appreciate Harlack's Bel'yana Stone working his magic was quite touching.

The team on Balduur is huge! Seems like your Brek is becoming as annoying as mine was poor Berta having to deal with him. Have I told you how much I love Dogstar yet? And Wildfire callinghim 'Krypto' is pretty accurate for Drake's character.

Missile launch - what fun!"Oof!" indeed, poor Laurel not getting her moment to gloat (haha). Nice to see Grava getting involved, despite losing Ivy she's still a hero. And there can never be enough Elastic Lad and his socially inept enthusiasm, he may still be my fave of your OC's. I'm with Crystal Kid, not a fan of unexpected bugs! Sheranee having an instinctve understanding of animals is quite handy, and makes her even more likeable

Gas Girl shows her versatility getting into the castle and wondering if there's something she can change into that can damage it. I do wonder how she speaks in her gaseous state though?

Using the prisoners to power the giant golems? GlorithSpikyShoulderpad's not a nice person, is she...

Korbal - nice call back to an otherwise never used unless t involves the Ranzz's planet. And good to see you making this world very different from the rest with it's violent atmosphere and the inherent difficulties that this would cause plant life.

Nice to see the team split off to help the researchers, not just tackle GlorithSpikyShoulderpads and Ivy. Strut sensing the lightning bolts is cool! Another of my faves of your own creations btw, though the list seems to grow longer with every newbie you introduce

Diamond Damsel and Blok's flirting as they rescue the lightning beasts was cute.

Glad that Reep is still alive. I've got a feeling that they will regret underestimating him when he finally gets free.

Great move by Transpoition Lad! He's a handy chap to have on the team, and his insecurity is understandable when faced against someone like GlorithSpikyshoulderpads on his first real mission. And freeing Cham like that... he's the most useful of your new recruits so far. Lightning Lass being annoyed at being back on Korbal was a good touch. And the team quickly figuring out that GlorithSpikyShoulderPads (no, I will never get bored of calling her that) would have problems defending against multiple different attacks highlighted their experience.

And after all that, GlorithSpikyShoulderPads plan worked! Wasn't expecting that!

And now the Time Trapper and his 'daughter'? Wow, you don't make things easy for the team, do you?

And I've run out of time for now, will try to finish off later today.

Thoroughly enjoying this Raz, some sweet characterisation, nice action, and a beauty of a cliffhanger - what isn't there to love?

More, more, more!

Hi Harbi!

I have enjoyed writing Mysa and Xao's little side quest, they have never really had much of a chance to interact in my fic before now and as the most magic-centric characters it makes sense they'd have stuff to talk about

I like Polar Boy but he does have his moments

How Gas Girl can talk in her gaseous state is a very good question! I suppose the "sounds sciencey enough to work" explanation could be that she's discovered a gas that's dense enough to be able to act as vocal cords and shape sounds, but as with all Lallor-related mysteries I ultimately put it down to Evolvo Lad being much smarter than me and figuring something out

I am glad you liked Korbal...I didn't want every encounter to just be a repeat of "Legion vs plants" without throwing something else in there to mix it up a bit, and I noticed the same thing that you did - Korbal never really gets used outside of a backdrop for Ranzz stories, it makes a fun setting!

I was a tiny bit worried that Transposition Lad was gonna be a one trick pony and his power might get old quick, but happily it turns out it's not too difficult to think of different applications for him!

...and I'm not sure how GlorithSpikyShoulderPads would feel about that name but honestly there's a good chance she would take it as a compliment lol

I have finished the next chapter, as soon as I catch up on the other stuff I have missed on the board recently I will put that up as well!