Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business 21st Century Legion - Original Draft Version

Quentin Docks's shackles seemed to open from their own volition. He didn't have much time to express his surprise, the next second a tiny dark-haired woman in a purple outfit was jumping out of them. "Quick, your forcefield, activate it!". He wouldn't have necessarily obeyed a woman that he didn't know, but then he heard Irma's voice in his head. "It's OK, you can trust her".

The fire alarm in the complex was going off. "ALL PERSONEL MUST EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY" was the message being broadcasted through the loudspeakers. Lyle Norga, invisible, was running in the opposite direction to all the personel in the facility, towards the vault with the alkaloids and the chemicals to process them. Reed's diversion was working! He arrived at the vault, placed the bomb, and started running towards the exit.

Everything was going well. Reed Daggly had managed to disable the plane's pilot, and had arrived at Luthor Corp's complex shortly after the Legion. While the Legionnaires were fighting the robots, Reed had managed to disable one of the guards and had replaced him. He had then sounded off the alarm, to make sure that all personnel had left the complex before the explosion that was to come.

But he couldn't escape. As he attempted to leave the building, he was intercepted by four armed men in military uniforms. "You are not from here!" one of them said in Spanish. "What were you doing in there?". Reed Daggly had no time to answer, they were too close! And then it happened. The Lexcorp Complex blew up in a great ball of fire. Reed Daggly, his pet chameleon, and Ramiro Puerta, one of the guerrilla fighters behind him, were first showered in a cloud of noxious chemicals, and then received the full blast of the explosion. Nothing was left of Reed, except for an orange puddle. A few meters behind him, Ramiro's body was completely charred, deformed, reminiscent of an insect. The other three persons were dead.

As the person who named Rex and Eileen, I just want to say I was trying to be a little different and not so obvious. "Rick" (for Rokk), for one, had been done before.

(I guess you really won't like what I've got in mind for Gim Allon. )

Charles Tan was moping in the jungle. He knew his parents wouldn't be happy about him going out there alone, but he had weightier problems on his mind.

While the Philippines was his home, he was now in Colombia because his parents were big-shot ambassadorial types. It had been over a month since he had last seen his classmates from back home... Not that he minded; he was away from home so often that he never had any real friends.

Because of this, he often spent time studying, reading books and writing stories, poetries and essays. Even though English wasn't his native language, he had become quite adept at it, making him trilingual. His parents were quite proud of that fact, as well as all the scholastic awards that he had won. Honor and achievement were important things in Chinese culture.

But all that would soon be for naught, if his secret would be discovered. He But it was all that kooky government scientist's fault; he had offered Charles (or Chuck, as he preferred to be called) a bottle of "soda" which had turned out to be one of the bottles the new plastic formula the scientist had been working on!

As if the horrible taste hadn't been bad enough, Chuck's already rather pudgy body had swollen up, and he had gained the ability to infalte himself and bounce like a large rubber ball!

"At least I was able to figure out how to deflate myself," Chuck sighed, "but this is one horrible power! Why, oh why, couldn't it had been something flashy, exciting, and something which didn't... deform me? And to add insult to injury, that scientist almost caged me so he could experiment me! I'm sure he would have, too, if I had't used dad's position as an ambassador... Oh, drat! What will mom and dad think?"

Chuck buried his face in his hands, and hurried farther away into the jungle.

Lorna was afraid that the two girls floating above her were drug addicts or something. They had both appeared out of nowhere, scrambled into the plane, all the time yelling some unintelligible (at least to her ears) words, and now they were both just hovering there with blank looks on their faces. She wished she could fly, so she could crack their heads together and get them to wake up!

Just then, she spotted a somewhat chubby boy walking along the path with his face buried in his hands. At last, some help! She quickly hurried over to him and introduced herself, explaining the situation.

"...and so, do you think you can help me?"

"Well, it appears they may be suffering some sort of halucination... but maybe we can shock them out of it."

"Oh, yes! That sounds like a great idea! So, how do we go about it? My sisters and I can't exactly reach them from here."

"Um... sisters?"

"Oh, sorry! Here, I'll show you."

Lorna stepped back and triplicated, then quickly reintegrated again. Her two other bodies weren;t fully healed yet... She wobbled over until the boy steadied her.

"You- you're Lorna Durgo, aren't you? The Legionnaire?"

"Yeah... And I could really use those two girls' help. My friends are in danger... Are there any other metahumans around here who could help me?"

"I- Well- There's- Um, well, there's me. Um, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Charles Tan, but please call me Chuck. I- can do this." Chuck quickly inflated, then deflated again, blushing a deep crimson red as he did so.

Lorna's eyes widened. "That is so cool! You should join the Legion!"

Chuck brightened at the thought. "Really? Do you think I'd be accepted?"

"Sure! In that form, it looks like you can't be hurt, and I'm sure anybody would get knocked out if you bounced into them! Why don't you wake those two up from their little daydream, and then we can go find the others? I'm sure all three of you will be inducted after all the help you're going to be on this mission."

"If that's the case..." Chuck quickly inflated again, and, aiming carefully, bounced up and gently knocked Zoe and Jenni out of the sky. Just hard enough to bring them to their senses, of course.

"Huh? What?"
"Whoa, what's going on here?"

Lorna spoke up. "Hi, I'm Lorna and this is Chuck. Listen, I don't know what's been going on, but we need your help..."

On a cold mountain in Norway, Brock Bannen trudged slowly down an icy path. He hoped he wouldn't get lost on the way to the only airport in a five mile radius. Not that he would know if he had; he was the first of his people since the now-legendary Princess Tora to venture out of their hidden mountain kingdom. The chances that he would make it to the airport at all were minimal. But he didn;t really care. He knew his destiny lay in America, with the Legion. Gritting his teeth, he trudged forward through the icy snow.

***********************************************
Back in Colombia, Lorna had explained the situation to Zoe, Jenni and Chuck, and the four of them were now flying (courtesy of Zoe) back to the Lexcorp Building. Lorna strained her eyes, trying to see if she could find any sign of her friends.

I've enjoyed the approximations so far. They've mostly seemed more likely for 21st century characters.

Tazmin would have been a good one, but it wasn't in the baby name book I consulted so I didn't think of it, and I don't see it on the site you link to nor www.babynames.com. And even if Juan hadn't adjusted for two Tamaras, I think I like Tatiana better for its association to Faerie and her being in England and all.

And I've met people who are going through life with names worse than Daggly.

Conan Doyle Arlington hated his name, hated it so much he refused to answer to it. He went by the nickname "Condo", which he had proudly given himself. Of course he hated everything about his life, not just his name! He hated where he lived, he hated his school, his teachers, neighbors...you name it! But most of all he hated his parents and the life they had forced on him. It just wasn't fair!

His mother was a former English professor (hence his stupid name!) and his father was a biophysicist in the employ of Luthor Corp. Condo hated that most of all. Mr. Luthor was a creep but his parents thought he was god's gift to the world!

The Creep had sent Dr. Arlington to work in the Luthor Corp facilities in the Putumayo region of Columbia over a year ago to supervise the culmination of some secret project.

It was something big...really big!

Condo's father had been involved in it for about 17 years, first joining the project back in the States when it was in it's preliminary stages. That was a year or two before Condo was born. Arlington spent his entire life in his lab, heading off before sun up and rarely coming home before dark.

Of course, Dr. Arlington never spoke about his work. It was always "the project" never anything else. And it was never, EVER discussed or explained...to anyone! As a youngster, Condo had quickly learned that the fastest way to earn a brutal beating at the hands of his father was to ask too many questions about what he did.

Condo had learned many ways to earn a beating over the years, unfortunately. Coming home too early in the afternoon was another big one. It interfered with his mother's favorite pasttime... "entertaining" a number of the other men at the complex.

Condo had good reason to hate his parents, of that he was sure.

Recently however, he had accidently discovered something that made him happy for once. He had realized that if he concentrated really hard, he could make things happen to all kinds of stuff. After doing some quiet research in the Library he had come to the conclusion that his new ability was due to radiation, or something, to which his father had been exposed years ago. This exposure must have caused a mutation in him, which was now manifesting itself.

Over the past few weeks, Condo had discovered that he could make metal rust over completely or speed up the growth rate of plants. He could even increase his own metabolism to the point where he became much stronger and faster. Unfortunately, that effect didn't last long. His body used up so much energy when he did this that he quickly burned himself out and passed out. He had yet to figure out how to gage it, but he would.

At the moment, he was out at the edge of the rainforest behind his house, practicing with his new skill when he heard the alarms sounding & the loudspeakers blaring over at the laboratory complex. As he began running towards the commotion there was a massive explosion that destroyed his house and knocked him flat on his back...

Glad you liked it!

Zoe was really excited now. This was just like in the movies! Beside her, Chuck coughed nervously into his handkerchief, and gave the girls an apologetic smile. Zoe smiled back, and Chuck blushed a deep crimson red. She flashed a grin at Jenni, who grinned back. Boys could be so silly!

Luornu gave an excited gasp, and quickly motioned for Zoe to land beside a group of teenagers who were standing outside the compound. Once they touched down, Luornu ran and gave a brunette dressed in white a big hug.

"You guys! I'm glad you're all right!"
"Good to see that you are, too!"
"That was some escape, Lorna!"

"Yeah, and I brought some new friends. But it looks like you didn't need reinforcements, after all, huh?
"We already found some of our own," said Irma. "I'd like you to meet Lyle and Sally."

Zoe stepped back in surprise as a boy and a girl appeared seemingly out of nowhere. The boy grinned at their discomfiture.

Ignoring the questions that popped into her head, Lorna quickly introduced Zoe, Jenni and Chuck, then asked the others for a rundown of the situation.

"It seems that Lex Luthor has been up to some illegal experiments over here," Rex said. "Lyle and Sally here have shut down the operation, and..."

"And we were just about to find Luthor and give him a solid ass-kicking!" Garth said.

"Um... I think we should go find our friend Reed first." Sally spoke up. "He really should have been back here by now."

"Agreed. I'd really like to meet one of our saviors, as well as the twelfth member of our little Legion." Imra said. "Assuming, of course, that all five of you want in?"

She didn't even have to use telepathy to guess what their answers would be.

"Great!" said Tina. "Now we just have to find Reed. Imra, have you-"

"Already done. He's alive, but he's definitely not himself right now..."

The pile of orange goo on the floor thought about it's predicament. Which was odd, because piles of goo weren't meant to think, it told itself. They were just meant to sit quietly in a corner and wait to be cleared away. It tried to think of how it came to be in this situation, but to it, it's present situation seemed like how it had always been. Suddenly, it felt itself being moved into a container. That was rude, it thought, and resolved to do something about it. It lifted it's arm up, and before realising that piles of goo weren't meant to have arms, pulled itself from the container...

... and sneezed -- "Goo-goo-achoo!"

(Sorry, I couldn't resist. )

(interlude)
Here's an update on the characters in the story right now:

Rex Kline (Cosmic Boy)
Irma Ardeen (Saturn Girl)
Garth Raines (Live Wire)
Lorna Durgo (Triad)
Tamara "Tina" Wazzo (Apparition)
Quentin Docks (Brainiac 5)

as official Legionnaires, with

Reed Daggly (Chameleon)- as a pile of orange goo
Sally Digby (Shrinking Violet)
Lyle Norga (Invisible Kid)
Zoe Saunders (Kinetix)
Jenni Ognats (XS)
Charles "Chuck" Tan (Bouncing Boy)

about to be inducted, and

Eileen Raines (Spark)- apparently still in Kansas, but making plans to follow Garth
Paul Kline (Magnetic Kid) - apparently still in MN
Jose Rimbaud (Ultra Boy) - being examined by Navy doctors on a Navy vessel
Tom Kallor (Star Boy) - somewhere in New South Wales
Tatiana and Greg Mallor (Umbra and Shadow Kid) - somewhere in England
Jan Arrah (Element Lad) - looking for RJ Brande
Nura bint-Mordru bin-Ahmad Al-Nayal (Dream Girl) -en route to New York to join the Legion
Monius Ellysius (Mon-el) - recently awakened in the Zone of the Phantoms
Laura Long (Insect Queen) - in STAR labs?
Brian (Timber Wolf)- in a military base in Texas
Maizah bint Mordru bin Ahmad Al-Nayal (White Witch) - en route to meeting the Princess in Moldovia
Princess Jacqueline Projectra - in Moldovia, waiting for Maizah
a Block (Blok) - emerged from the ground in Moldovia to fight the Eye
Dirk Morgna (Sun Boy) - near the area where Blok emerged in Moldovia
Brock Bannen (Polar Boy) - en route to New York to join the Legion
Conan Doyle Arlington, "Condo" (Chemical King) - headed for the Lexcorp Compound where the Legionnaires are
Ten Zil Kim - in a military installation outside of Seoul

plus an "offshoot of the Ute tribe that lived downwind of the U.S. government's Nevada Atomic Test Site, and got more than a normal dose of radiation", who now have wings on their backs. One family in particular has been described as having "psychic powers" - so I guess this means Dawnstar will be making a comeback too.


Other Characters
Mark Raines (Lightning Lord)- whereabouts unknown
RJ Brande
Jeanne Chu
Sara Romanescu, the "Empress of Venegar" - a servant in the Royal Palace of Moldovia who is waiting for the Eye
Mordru - Nura and Maizah's father
The Emerald Eye - apparently looking for Sara
"Godzilla"
Universo - imprisoned and sedated, but able to break free for short periods
Ambassador Winema Wazzo
Azura Saunders - Zoe's mom, headed to New York to warn the Legion about Mordru
Ramiro Puerta - a Colombian guerilla who was caught in the same explosion that Reed was caught in, and whose body was "completely charred, deformed, reminiscent of an insect"

(interlude)

In a secret underground chamber, a scientist checked on the Very Important Prisoner being held in maximum security. The prisoner was kept virtually unrestrained, except for a pair of handcuffs. This may seem odd, but then it was the prisoner's mind, not his body, that was considered the most dangerous.

A warning light flashed on the panel above the "coffin". The scientist's eyes widened, and he held his breath, hoping that the light ould go out again. His hands hovered above the control panel, just in case. But he knew it probably wouldn't do him any good.

Eight seconds later, it did.

The scientist heaved a sigh of relief, then quickly went to increase the amount of sedatives being pumped into the prisoner's bloodstream. Thank the lord he didn't wake up completely! As it is, eight seconds would have been enough time for him to have temporarily taken control of a person's mind, and the effect of that control would have left them in a trance state for at least a few minutes after. He was too dangerous to be allowed to go free. He wondered if maybe they should just kill him and be done with it all.

The shrill cry of the phone interrupted his thoughts. He grabbed the receiver.

"Hello? Madame Chu? Yes, yes, the prisoner is secure. No, no, we haven't found a way to control him yet. But we're working on it. What? Two months? I can't promise anything, madame... Yes, yes, I know. We'll keep working on it. We know what the price of failure is... Don't worry, madame, Project Universo won't fail you."

(interlude)

What do you guys think about the character's code names? I suggest that each poster gets to name the characters he or she introduced. What do you guys think?

(end interlude)

At an army installation outside of Seoul, Ten Zil Kim awoke hungry. He was the child of a Korean army officer and an American nurse. His father worked in a top secret biological warfare lab funded by the Americans. Little did Ten's father know that weaknesses in the safety procedures of the lab had exposed him to a dangerous strain of microbes that was currently destroying his digestive system, and was having an even more unexpected impact on the metabolism and digestive systems of his two teenage sons...

At a group home in Timmins, Ontario; Laurel Gander was watching the younger children play. She resented being orphaned and knowing that couples only wanted younger children. What she resented even more was the man that killed her mom and friend, and their fellow scientists and soldiers.

She hailed from a Canadian/US military outpost called 'Rock Reef Point' in the desolate Canadian shield where there were potential deposits of an ore that could produce an indestructable alloy dubbed 'Interon'. This attracted the attention of Zander Roxxas and his terrorist organization White Triangle, who stormed the compound and stole the samples of Interon. None of the occupants save for Laurel who activated the self-destruct of the base destroying the Interon samples and half of Roxxas' raiding party.

The shock of seeing her parents killed activated Laurel's latent meta-gene that gave her powers comparable to Superman himself. Her only living relative Elton had her placed in the orphanage for her own safety. Since then Laurel has been training in her powers bringing us to today...

She sighed and went back inside where a disgarded newspaper caught her eye. The announcement of the Legion of Super-Heroes by the billionaire R.J. Brande. Tired of staying put in this boring group home. Laurel packed up her belonged and snuck out of the orphanage, to seek out R.J. Brande and the Legion of Superheroes.

Tikhik Miraz waited with ever-increasing patience. The young Russian had been captured months ago, transported to he-didn't-know-where and experimented upon with a large group of others in an attempt to create some sort of corporate super-army. Most had died, but a few, himself included, had manifested powers. Now they were being kept in solitary, power-draining confinement. But, however inhuman he had become, his desire to be free had never wavered, and he had kept his teleportation "gates" had kept well beneath what he could feel he could achieve in their insidious tests. He could feel it now - he was ready. And in tommorrow's test, he knew he could get far beyond their reach. And then he'd arrange for the capitalistic bastards to get what was coming to them...

<<INTERLUDE>>

This is just too funny. Obviously I'm being too cryptic with my characters. Ramiro Puerta was supposed to be Gates (Puerta means door in Spanish, he has 'a charred, deformed body, reminiscent of an insect', and he is a socialist guerilla). It's OK, though, I'll think about what to do with him. And here I thought we were about to get the first Colombian super-hero...

You guys keep throwing me for a loop!!!

<<END OF INTERLUDE>>

OT:But Juan, wouldn't "Porton" work better, then?
Or is it too silly?

Suicide Slum, Metropolis

Len Snart couldn't believe it. He'd planned for every contingency: Intergang, the SCU, even those new superheroes that were starting to pop up. There was nothing that could stand up to his Ice Gun. And nothing did. With ease that surprised even him, he made off with two million dollars of Intergang Money. Now all that was left was the getaway. He checked to see if he was being followed, and headed to his apartment.

“Going somewhere?” said a voice behind him. Len turned around and saw that it belonged to some punk kid in a leather jacket, who was accompanied by two identical looking rejects from an Alexandre Dumas novel wearing hoodies. “Hey, is that Intergang money in the bag?” continued the punk.

Len Snart reached for gun in its holster. Those punks didn't stand a chance, he thought. But, before he could shoot, or even fully draw his gun, he was knocked out by the kid in the jacket, who had somehow managed to get behind him in seconds.

The kid kneeled down beside the unconscious Snart. “Well, now, lesee, what you were trying to shoot us with,” he said, as he picked up the fallen man’s ice gun. “Whoa, will you look at this. Doug, Andy, have you ever seen a gun like this?” He exclaimed, as he threw the gun to one of his companions, the one called Doug.

“Hey, Kon, check the money,” Said Andy to the teen in the jacket. “How much does he have in there?”

Kon opened the bag, and saw that it was filled with packets of dollars, mostly twenties and hundreds. “Quite a bit, actually. I’d say half a million, easy. Maybe more.”

“Take $30,000 and leave the rest. We don't want him tracking us down later,” said Doug. He dropped the gun at Len’s feet. “That’s some cool hardware you got there, pal. See you around, and thanks.”

OoT:By the way, nobody touch Clark, okay? There's something I want to do with him first.

[Interlude]

Juan, I knew where you were going with Ramiro, having recognized the use of "Puerta". Would have made sense too! Here's an idea for you to play with though, Shikari also resembles an insect that creates openings....and she's a warrioir. So who's to say Shikari is a "she" instead of a "he"?

[End of Interlude]

"Did I hear you say you were here to give Luthor an ass kicking?" Condo asked as he made his way over to the group of youngsters he had spotted when he picked himself up off of the ground after the blast. "If so, then I want in. I owe him big time for what he did to me!"

"And just who the hell are you?" Garth asked as Condo joined the group.

Condo quickly introduced himself and told them what he knew (very little) about the secret facility and the project.

"What about your parents?" Lorna asked. "Shouldn't you see if they're okay?"

"No," was Condo's reply. "I'd just as soon not know. Let them think I died in the explosion, they haven't cared about me since the day I was born so it will be a relief for them if I'm no longer around anyway!"

Rex looked a Irma questioningly and she quickly and discreetly scanned Condo's mind. "It's true. Actually it's even worse than he's letting on. It would be best for all of them this way. Why do people have children if they're going to treat them so horribly!"

"Okay, then Condo, welcome to the group!" Rex said, silencing the debate that had been going on among the Legionnaires. "Now lets finish this."

It took Condo a moment to realize that he had just been accepted into the group. He couldn't seem to take his eyes off of the kid who appeared to be able to disappear. "Lyle, I think his name is. Why am I so drawn to him?" Condo couldn't help but notice that Lyle kept glancing at him as well and then looking away hurriedly.

Actually, I wasn't going to use Clark; he's just mentioned as part of Kon's origin, and I wanted to have dibs on him for that purpose. And no, you can't use Kon, at least not yet. There's a story I want to do with him, and then you can use him, 'k? Or you could just PM me your plans and see if we can work something out. And didn't somebody start using Ayla (or whatever her counterpart's name is)already? Or was that you?

The instant the Eye touched her, Sara Romanescu knew. She knew about the history of her family and their mystical connection to the Emerald power. And she knew about the Moldavian royal family and their role in keeping the Romanescus as servants over centuries.

The reaction was furious. With a single blast, the Emerald Empress (because that is what she was now) blew up the Royal Castle of Moldavia. She was not giving any quarters. She then proceeded to systematically annihilate anybody and everybody from the castle that had survived the blast. And then she found what she was looking for: the king of Moldavia, Voxv the Fifth, and his daughter, Proiectra.

The battle was fierce, Voxv and Proiectra had trained for this moment all of their lives. Voxv's powers were offensive in nature, he shot out blasts designed to hurt the Eye. And they did, in the beginning. Proiectra was one of very few sentients who could actually confuse the Eye, she worked incessantly in hiding herself and her father from it. She also concentrated on Sara, hoping to somehow be able to sever the symbiotic relationship between her and the Eye. But while Proiectra fought rationally, Sara fought visciously, consumed in an all-encompassing fury. And that made all the difference. When the Eye finally hit her father, Proiectra knew that everything was lost.

A mile away, Dirk Morgna was flying through the air, propelled by the woman in white at his side. A green glow filled the horizon at the place where the Moldavian Royal Palace should have been. "We're too late." Maizah Al-Nayal was frowning.

Below, a stony figure seemed to melt down, back into the Earth.

“Thank you again for the help, Andy. Dios lo guarde,” said the shopkeeper in that thick Puertorrican accent she had not managed to get rid of, even after twenty years in the states.

“No problem, mami. See you tomorrow!” Andrew said, as he exited the store. True, Angela Pérez wasn’t his mother, but he wouldn’t call her any other way, nor would she accept any other name. She was one of the very few people he knew in Suicide Slum who wasn’t uncomfortable at the sight of his deformed face, and she eagerly gave him a job when he asked for one. As far as Andy was concerned, he had no mother but her.

Andy walked home, as always trying not to draw much attention to himself, and after twenty minutes arrive at the apartment building he shared with Conal (or Kon, the nickname he gave himself for some reason unknown to Andy) and Douglas. Before he entered, he noticed a black sports car, which no one in the apartment could possibly afford, parked in the lot. With a watchful eye out for everything out of the ordinary, he began climbing the stairs to the fifth floor, where their apartment was located. As he did so, his body began to change. His skin began to change, turning a dullish gray. His steps became heavier, and were now impossibly (for human feet, anyway) loud. Once at his apartment door, he began hearing unknown voices emanating from the other side. Expecting the worst, Andrew entered. Inside, he found his two roommates, along with two men in black carrying guns and a black woman.

“Hello, Andrew”, said the short female, who could only be described as heavy. “We’ve been expecting you. Amanda Waller, Department of Extranormal Operations.”