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

So many great things going on here Raz, it's crazy fun!

The Legion being kicked off Earth in favour for Earth Man's crew smells intriguing! What are Earth Gov up to? Though great that Tenzil comes to the rescue with the base on Mars, I like the idea that they are still almost in sight of their old crib but can't get to it - how frustrating! I expected Infinity Boy to hang around so was surprised he left, oh well he's not too far away that you can't bring him back if needs be, two flighty Naltorians on one team though may be too much

Vi's avoidance of Jan was well written - "some stuff to deal with" indeed. Nice that Taryn noticed it as well, good use of the supporting cast, also great that she doesn't want to join up - that was a refreshing bit of characterization!

Poor chuck - first Earth Gov dismiss him then the news that Talok was destroyed - how does he remain so cheerful? Anyone else would be a basket case by then. I loved Tasmia's thoughts on how boring Talok iii is - any other character that would have read as forced but it really worked with her - nice one! The return of the Fantastic... I mean Forgotten Four was a pleasant surprise too. Their updated origins were a nice way of introducing elements of the talokean systems history too.

Ahh, the subs, they just continue to inspire with their Scrappy Doo attitudes I love them. I did fell a bit sad for Pete though, bless him. Is Nightwind new costume mean she's dressed as Storm btw? I have a soft spot for Bbob sot it was nice to see him save the gang from Red Son's initial attack - Go Bbob! Though all the Subs had their moments to shine, which was well done. Ultimately Grev defeating Red Son (even if Mon threw the knock out punch)was the perfect end to his Legion career, especially as he thought Tasmia would be dead (as predicted AGES ago by Nura). I've enjoyed reading your version of him Raz so am sorry to see him go. Also sad to see Yera go too, though it made perfect sense given the horrific future she encountered. Very sad the way it Broke Gim's heart, poor man never has much luck.

I've loved reading this through again (and in one go, not just sections as they are posted)Raz, you are an engaging and very entertaining story teller.

More, more, more!

Thanks again for all the comments! It fells like my Legion has been in a state of upheaval for ages so will probably have a few stories to help settle into the new status quo before anything goes too crazy again. There are a few subplots that are gonna continue simmering along though, and I think before too long we might see a different side to Chuck than we're used to getting as well!

MARS
Husband Hill, Legion of Superheroes Headquarters
In a small windowless room hidden deep within the new home of the Legion of Superheroes five heroes felt as though they were waking from some haze. Bouncing Boy, Kid Computo, Chameleon Boy, Dream Girl and Dawnstar took a moment to steady themselves.

You may feel some slight disorientation, Tellus telepathically soothed the group. But this should recede momentarily. The Hykraian rested on his haunches next to Duplicate Damsel.

"Chuck?" Duplicate Damsel reached out to her husband. "Are you alright?"

"Not even a little bit," Chuck Taine answered bitterly. "I can't believe Mandalla would use her powers against us the way she did."

The other Legionnaires shared their leader's distaste. Thanks to Tellus and fifteen minutes of psychic repair, all of them now clearly remembered their encounter with the Oversight Watch on Weber's World...the same encounter which Tellus' former Legion Academy classmate had done her best to hide from them.

"I will not stand for my mind being altered like this," Dawnstar fumed.

"Dawnstar's right," Dream Girl added. "We can't let them get away with this!"

"Don't worry," Chuck scowled. "We're not going to. I'll put a team together today. I don't know what's gotten into that girl's head but I'm very disappointed in her right now."

"Actually," Luornu interjected, "Why don't you leave this to me, Chuck? You've got the base renovations to worry about and I've got the perfect way to deal with the Oversight Watch."

"If you want to take this up with Power Boy and Mandalla, be my guest." Bouncing Boy shook his head angrily. "I still can't believe she'd do this."

"Thanks." Luornu's bi-colored eyes narrowed as she considered her plan.

"I'll just need to borrow Kid Computo here for a spell..."

**********
In the Legion's mission monitor room, Nightwind and Dragonmage turned away from a floating screen full of names to welcome Brainiac 5 into the room.

The green-skinned genius returned their greeting before directing his attention to Nightwind. "I'm here to relieve you of monitor duty," Brainiac 5 announced. "Are there any particular situations requiring close attention?"

"Not really," Nightwind replied, giving the mission monitor board a once-over. "Star Boy's taken a team to investigate some pirate activity near the Corvan system, I can't imagine that'll take very long. A lot of the others are moving their stuff from Earth...it's pretty dull for a change!"

"Excellent," Brainiac muttered as he took a seat and started rearranging holoscreens to suit himself. "I might actually get some work done." After a few moments, he realised Nightwind and Dragonmage were still in the room. "You two can leave any time you like, you know."

"We're not bothering you, are we?" Dragonmage blushed bright red. "I'm so sorry, we didn't realise--"

"We need to do some research," Nightwind cut in. "And this is the best place to do it till the whole base is up and running. Don't worry, we'll stay out of your hair."

Brainiac 5 gave a non-committal grunt and went back to his own work, trying to ignore them. After another minute, he could no longer stand it. "What are you two doing that's so important?" he blurted. "It seems I can never have five seconds of solitude in my own multi-lab, I was hoping the mission monitor room would be dull enough to give me some space to myself but obviously I've underestimated the Legion's ceaseless capacity for nuisance."

While Dragonmage looked as though he wanted to curl up into a ball and die of embarrassment, Nightwind struggled not to lose her temper with the cantankerous Coluan. "When we were in the past," she explained, "We found out that there are other families of girls with elemental powers to compliment my air control. We're looking through census records to see if we can find where those bloodlines ended up in the present. It's harder than we thought though, Earth has had so many wars and natural disasters there are big gaps in all the historical records."

Brainiac 5 frowned. "Show me," he said simply, sliding across in his magchair. He took a quick glance at the list, absorbing dozens upon dozens of names in the blink of an eye. "No, no, no." He shook his head in frustration. "This is woefully inefficient. I'll tell you what we're going to do. You will give me any relevant information you have pertaining to this search of yours, then you'll leave me alone and go buy yourselves some ice cream or whatever it is you do when you're not annoying me endlessly. I'll call you when I have some results. How does that sound?"

"That sounds like the most nass-headed way of offering someone help I've ever heard," Nightwind frowned. "But I'll take it!" A broad grin filled her face and the bald yellow-skinned girl leaped out of her seat to kiss the disgruntled Coluan on the cheek.

"Thanks Brainiac!"

**********
PROTEUS
Pharos, Brande Industries Exotic Energies Research Facility
Marla Latham pocketed his omnicom and walked across the Research Facility's unassuming but expansive lobby to where his young guest obliviously watched a holodoc discussing the colonisation of this misshapen rock, Neptune's second largest moon.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," the white-haired businessman apologised. "I'm only here on Proteus for a few cycles and I didn't have a lot of time in my schedule so I had to shuffle some things around. It's not often I get a call from a Legionnaire these days though, aside from Reep obviously."

The hero named Ultra Boy turned away from the forced corporate cheer of the holodoc presenter. "Thanks for taking the time to see me," Jo Nah greeted him. "I really appreciate it Marla...or should I call you Minuteman?"

"...Ah." Marla, surprisingly to Jo, seemed totally unsurprised. "You know," the older man continued dryly, "Every time you kids were reported lost or missing, I wondered if you were on your way to meet me in my younger days. I'd have to have been right sooner or later."

Ultra Boy was dumbfounded. "I'm just...I guess I was assuming there must be some reason to explain why you've kept this from us for so long...like maybe you were mind-wiped or Minuteman was an imposter or something..."

"Jo." Marla gave him a stern look. "If the tables were reversed, if you knew something of my future, would you tell me? In fact, as I recall, you didn't tell me. It was many years before I found out that those strange kids had names other than Jo, Rokk, Luornu and so on."

"Yeah, I guess I see your point." Jo bowed his head.

"Besides," Marla continued, "When would I have known to tell you? Until right now I never knew exactly when you'd come from. For years I waited for Luornu to rejoin the team, for Tellus, Night Girl and Elastic Lad to become Legionnaires. I knew you couldn't have come back in time before they'd ever made themselves known."

Jo smirked, a little embarrassed. "Okay, okay. I get it. I gotta ask though...what happened after we left you? I checked and there's no record of the Intergalactic Law Patrol, no mention of Brimstone's rampage on Cadmu."

Marla sighed, a sound that was equal parts resignation and relief. "I've been waiting a long time to get this off my chest," he admitted. "Come, Jo. Walk with me."

The two men left the lobby and made their way down a tree-lined corridor, the transparent ceiling above them completely dominated by the spectre of majestic blue Neptune. "You need to understand how deeply that day affected us, Jo." Marla gazed thoughtfully at the massive world they orbited. "We'd been filled with such high hopes for the Intergalactic Law Patrol until then. We'd thought of ourselves as a modern-day Justice League, complete with our own Batman. Then our Batman died. Hawkboy died, and Thanagar almost withdrew from the United Planets altogether. They did draw back their active participation in lawkeeping throughout the UP as a whole. I couldn't go on as Minuteman knowing those kids had died because I wasn't able to save them. And Leeta...poor Leeta, that day killed something in her too." They came to an iris-shaped door, and Marla paused just long enough for the security system to recognise him and grant them entry. The two men entered a privacy-secured room with a large square screen displaying slowly shifting plasma art along one wall. The room was minimally decorated otherwise, two plush armchairs facing a picture window and not much else. "The usual," Marla remarked to nobody in particular, and an automated beverage dispensary rose out of the floor between the two chairs. Pre-programmed to prepare drinks based on a statistical analysis of Marla and Jo's choices every other time they'd been in a Brande facility, it soon had two long glasses of amber fluid ready to imbibe.

Marla took his drink and sat down, too stiff to allow the chair to mold to his comfort properly. He stared intently at Neptune's azure expanse before picking up his story again. "Leeta-87 began working a lot more closely with Zendak after that day. It bothered her immensely that so much had been out of her control, and what that had cost us. I lost contact with her shortly after what happened on Cadmu, but not before she made me vow never to tell a living soul what had happened that day. She commissioned a virus to expunge any mention of our presence on Cadmu from UP databanks. She claimed it was for the good of the UP. Honestly though, I think she was just so guilt-ridden about the others dying that she couldn't face it on any level. So with Zendak's help, she tried to erase that it had ever happened at all. Then of course, not too much later poor Leeta died." He took a sip of his drink and watched a shuttle crawl across the backdrop of the planet.

Jo held his own drink in both hands. "Why would it be for the good of the UP?"

"The Intergalactic Law Patrol were the first organised team of heroes to exist in the UP for a long time," Marla explained. "I suppose we thought it would be better for morale to pretend they never existed than to admit they were almost entirely slaughtered on their first mission. And we had no idea who the Legion of Superheroes were back then. The Time Institute was barely more than an idea. The notion that strangers from the future could drop in and change our lives at any point...it would have led to widespread paranoia."

Jo frowned. "So you just...gave up? Titan Girl and Red Devil, Batman and Hawkboy, they all died for nothing? So the universe could forget they ever existed?"

"You don't know what it was like, Jo." Marla continued staring straight ahead, betraying his age in his face now more than ever. "I couldn't save them. And I survived. The guilt ate me up inside, moreso after Leeta died and I was the ILP's only legacy. It wasn't until I saw Cosmic Boy for the first time that I realised I could make up for my failure...I could help him and the rest of the Legion become the heroes the galaxy deserved. I could never take that role myself but knowing that I was helping in any way at all...it made me feel better."

"Right..." Jo answered with a faraway tone.

Marla turned on him with an expression bordering on anger and sadness. "Don't judge me, Jo."

The hurt in Marla's voice dragged Ultra Boy away from his own thoughts and back to the conversation. "Grife, sorry!" Jo apologised sincerely. "Marla, if it weren't for you I might never be in the Legion to begin with! I'm not judging you, I've got no idea how hard it must have been for you back then. It's just a lot to take in, I suppose."

"I shouldn't have been so defensive," Marla replied. "Even after all these years it's still something I struggle with."

"You shouldn't." Jo finished his drink in one large gulp and stood up. "Marla, you never did anything wrong to begin with. Sprock, you were the one who stopped Brimstone! But even if you don't buy that...the help you've given the Legion in the past has more than made up for it. Listen, I don't mean to be rude but I'm sure you've got stuff to do and I just remembered I gotta go."

"That's fine." Marla stood and shook Jo's hand. "It's been difficult talking about this, but I have to admit that I'm glad to be able to talk about it after all these years too. RJ knew there was a reason I was always so passionate about my work with you kids, but even he never knew what that reason was."

"It was good to see you again," Jo smiled. "Come see our new headquarters sometime, Mr Latham." As he left the room, Jo reflected that maybe he should have stayed a little longer. He could tell that it had really helped Marla to be able to talk about that tragedy so many years ago for him now. Something else else had occurred to Jo while they'd been talking though, something he was surprised he'd not thought of earlier.

He needed to speak to Elastic Lad...

**********
MARS
Husband Hill, 150 feet below the Martian surface
The poop-POP-poop of Quislet's microship echoed in the newly created gravlift shaft in the centre of the Legion of Superheroes' Martian headquarters. "Quislet too fast!" the Teallian explorer teased. "Comet Queen never catch up!"

"That's not fair!" the golden woman speeding behind him complained. "It's like total dark matter down here and you don't need eyes to see!" Comet Queen's gaseous trail sputtered with weak sparks of light that reflected off of her own gleaming bodysuit, but that in itself was barely enough to illuminate her immediate area. Any other Legionnaire might think twice before engaging in a high-speed game of tag down here in the dark, but Comet Queen wasn't any other Legionnaire.

"Ha!" Comet Queen beamed, arms outstretched in front of her. "I've got you now, starshine!" Quislet pulled up just before Grava made contact, and the skinny girl yelped as she overshot her mark and slammed into the side of the shaft. Bouncing from one wall to the next, she ended up dazed in a doorway recess. "Ohhh little planetoids, orbit a bit more quietly would you?" She cradled her aching head and waited for the dizziness to fade.

"Fun fun fun!" Quislet flew down and hovered before his friend. "Again, chase Quislet again! Quislet tie one hand behind his back this time!"

"You don't have a hand," Comet Queen laughed. "Or a back, silly!" A cold chill suddenly filled the empty shaft, and Grava shuddered. "You feel that, little shuttle? Hey wait, d'you hear that?" A keening sound issued forth from below them. At first it sounded like the wind howling through the empty shaft, but as it picked up in volume and pitch the two Legionnaires realised it must be something else.

"Hello?" Quislet cried out into the darkness. "Quislet and Comet Queen make new friend?"

Comet Queen slapped his ship's hull, making a tiny clanging sound that reverberated around them. "Shush, little shuttle! Don't scare it!"

"Quislet think Comet Queen the scared one!" Quislet taunted her. "Hellooooooooo!!"

The sound became abruptly louder, and Grava saw a faint light appear at the bottom of the shaft. "Down there," she hissed quietly, "Look! But there's nothing down there but dust and rocks!" Before Quislet could come up with a retort, the light grew brighter and much closer. Startled, Comet Queen squealed as a pale white apparition flew straight past them up the shaft. It was almost formless, but seemed to hide the face of some tortured soul. Comet Queen covered her eyes with her hands and shook her head from side to side. "Nooo I don't believe in spooks I don't believe in spooks!"

"New friend gone!" Quislet trilled, flying a few feet up the now pitch black emptiness of the shaft. "Gone! Poof! Quislet think Comet Queen's screeching scare it away after all!"

"Don't be mean!" Grava pouted. She gingerly poked her head out of the recess she'd been crouched down in and saw for herself that whatever that thing might be, it was nowhere near here any longer. Whatever it might be, she frowned to herself. I know exactly what it is!

"Come on!" she called to Quislet as she zoomed past him. "We've gotta find Bouncing Boy and tell him!

Our new headquarters is haunted!"

Or to answer Harbinger's question...it's not quite Storm, but would probably be at home in a Chris Claremont X-Men team! The idea is that when she's flying or generating wind thrusts, all the loose strappy bits would look cool flapping about (but are designed to detach easily if someone grabs them in combat or so she doesn't get stuck in doors etc)

Cool pic Raz, Berta somehow looks even sexier for being bald!

As a big Nightwind fan I give the new look a thumbs up! Same for her portrayal - though new she's already feeling like one of the vets, and isn't afraid to stand up to Brainy. Yet she's also very sweet.

I like how you're semi-wrapping up loose threads while exploring them more. Jo and Marla was a great scene.

Hoping that I will be able to get some more writing up tomorrow but in the meantime here is a better Nightwind pic! Her proportions were really bugging me in the first pic


upload image online

Nice! And I think those detachable strips could make good weapons - she could use them to blindfold or gag or bind, with enough control.

I didn't even think about that but I like it! Nice one IB!

Cool! Collaboration in action Glad you like it, raz. I have my Nightwind with very fine control over air, hope you don't mind if I borrow the idea and have her carry some detachable strips around her own costume.

Go for it!

So I still ain't had a chance to sit down and write but I have been redesigning some Legionnaire costumes when I get the chance. Here is the new bearded Bouncing Boy!


click image upload

Thanks

Loving the new bearded Chuck! The beard really suits him, and actually adds to his kind and thoughtful personality.

MARS
Husband Hill
"The Legion of Superheroes' headquarters is haunted. Like, by ghosts."

Comet Queen stood before a seated Bouncing Boy in his office. Her hand on her hips, she looked every bit a precocious child. Chuck sometimes wondered if she would ever outgrow that. Quislet hovered by her head, noisily zipping around Grava's gaseous plume.

Chuck sighed and leaned into his palm. "Grava...I don't have time for this..."

"Bouncy, it's true!" the golden girl protested. "I swear, as true as the stars in the sky! Quislet saw it, ask the shiny little shuttle!"

"Yep! Quislet saw it!" he joined in. "Spooky, white! Made Comet Queen scared!"

"I was not scared!" Comet Queen turned on the diminituve ship. "You take that back!"

Quislet's spark of life leaped from his ship to the empty seat Bouncing Boy had left for Grava. The chair transformed into a reasonable facsimile of her, Quislet's sigil engraved on its flat chest where Comet Queen wore her own icon. "Nooo!" Quislet mimicked his friend, the fake Comet Queen covering its face with its hands. "Spooky gonna eat me, nooooo!"

"Quislet!" Grava snapped.

"You two, please!" Bouncing Boy frowned, watching the copy of Grava disintegrate into its component molecules as Quislet jumped back into the safety of his microship. Chuck regarded them both seriously. They were both overexcitable and Quislet often had a very egocentric idea of reality, but neither of them were liars. Chuck didn't believe that they'd seen a ghost but he had no doubt they'd seen something. "Alright, if it'll let me get some work done today go find D--" He stopped himself and sat upright before continuing. "Actually, no. Comet Queen, you're a Legionnaire now. You deal with this. Go enlist two other Legionnaires who are free for your squad. You're in charge of this one."

"M-me?" Comet Queen took a step back, astonished. "You want me to lead a team of Legionnaires??"

"You heard me." Bouncing Boy made a show of calling up his holographic workstation to let them both know this conversation was over. "You wanted to be a Legionnaire for so long, well this is part of it. Go find yourself a team and give me a full report when your investigation's complete."

Comet Queen squealed and clapped her hands. She practically vaulted across the desk and smothered her leader in kisses, prompting a "Yuk!" from a deeply unimpressed Quislet.

"You won't regret this, starshine!" She flew out of his office at high speed, nearly bowling over Sun Boy and Polar Boy who'd been walking outside.

"What was that all about?" Sun Boy asked as Quislet followed a screaming Comet Queen through the base.

Bouncing Boy watched Grava's wake fade as he wiped every trace of her kisses from his face. "I may have just created a monster to catch a monster," he sighed. His office door closed, and Sun Boy and Polar Boy stared at each other dumbfounded.

**********
CORVAN SYSTEM
Main Asteroid Belt
Oto Plastino bit his lower lip. It took a lot of concentration to move tons of raw titanium using his Braalian power of magnetism, but the credits waiting for him were worth the pounding headache he'd have later. His parents had wanted Oto to join the Science Police, but that was a sucker's game. A Science Police salary wouldn't get his family off the poverty-stricken mudball that was his homeworld. When he'd found out the Alchemist was looking for a Braalian to join her pirate crew, Oto had pounced at the chance. She was a harsh boss, but wealth was spread amongst the crew based on the work they did. With his powers, Oto could steal four times the amount of metals as any other crew member and the Alchemist paid him accordingly. He'd only need to keep this up another couple of months and he could take his family somewhere far away from Braal...maybe even one of McCauley's leisure planetoids if he was lucky.

"Plastino!" his comms unit crackled to life. "We got trouble!" Oto gazed at the rocky ridge overlooking this quarry where he'd placed one of the crew as a lookout. He saw Kh'urt running over the ridge as fast as he could in his clunky outdated transuit. The pink-skinned Khund was too puny to ever survive in the Battle Courts of his homeworld but he fit right in with the other misfits of the Alchemist's crew. Suddenly Kh'urt collapsed in a heap. He was several dozen mets away so it was hard to tell, but...he seemed almost to be surrounded in an aura of black light? A brighter flash of light attracted Oto's attention and he spun to the right. The third member of his team, a Sklarian boy named Giff, was bolting towards him and blasting wildly at two pursuers - the enormous stone man Blok who took the plasma bolts in stride, and Light Lad taking cover behind him.

"Legion!" Giff warned breathlessly over their comms channel. "The Legion of Superheroes are here!" In the almost complete vacuum of the asteroid mine which was their battleground, neither team could communicate with their opponents. Light Lad didn't need to speak to get his message across however. He wagged his finger at the scared Sklarian raider, then flicked that same finger upwards. Both guns flew out of Giff's grasp and hurtled into the void above. Giff tumbled the last few feet, landing by Oto's side. "What do we do?" the yellow-skinned teenage delinquent panicked. "I've got no weapons!"

Oto's heart pounded as Blok and Light Lad came closer, Star Boy advancing as well from where he'd already taken down Kh'urt. Think, damn it! the Braalian chastised himself. This is why the Alchemist pays you the big creds! He realised what he needed to do. The Alchemist was going to be mad, but at least they'd be free to steal another day. Reaching out with his power, Oto blasted the titanium ore into a swirling vortex that surrounded himself and Giff. The whirlwind of metallic debris kept even Blok at bay, though Oto didn't expect that to last long. "What are you waiting for?" Oto snapped at the Sklarian youth at his feet. "Get us out of here!"

Giff's bright blue eyes widened. "You want me to shift us both? Through the sprockin' asteroid? Are you nuts?!"

"The alternative is we end up sucking dirt like Kh'urt over there. I can't keep this up forever, do it!"

"You are nuts." Giff shook his head in disbelief. He closed his eyes, held his breath and clutched on to his Braalian crewmate. Giff displaced their mass and the two young men sunk into the rock below. No longer directed by Oto's power, the storm or ore flung itself into all directions.

Star Boy used his own power to imbue enough mass in the rockstorm to cease its flight, and Blok began the arduous task of bringing the mined ore back to where it belonged. Light Lad used his own power to levitate their Khund prisoner and joined Star Boy.

Looks like it's all gone to plan? Light Lad asked silently through telepathic earplugs.

Couldn't have gone better if we'd given them a script, Thom's eyes twinkled mischeviously. Gas Girl, everything okay on your end?

In a crater half a mile away, Gas Girl hid in the shadow of the pirates' tug and watched the two criminals emerge from the barren asteroid's surface. Their journey through the rock had been taxing for them both, and they had to help one another stagger back to the airlock. They were so exhausted, Gas Girl didn't think they'd notice her even if she were standing right in front of them. Everything's perfect here, the Lallorian heroine smiled. Now if you fellows will excuse me, I'll say goodbye. I don't think these telepathic earplugs will work so well while I'm in gas form. She became a formless cloud of hydrogen and trailed the two men into their ship. From her vantage point near the ceiling, Gas Girl watched them enter coordinates into the autopilot and collapse into their seats. That's right boys, Gas Girl thought, pleased with herself.

Take me to your leader.

**********
MARS
Husband Hill
Quislet took the lead, a small light magnetised to his hull shining a path down the empty gravlift shaft for Comet Queen, Diamond Damsel and Matter-Eater Lad following close behind. "Tell us again why we're down here kiddo?" Matter-Eater asked.

"There are ghosts down here!" Comet Queen explained in a theatrical whisper. "A ghost at least! Me and Quislet scanned it with our own sensor arrays!"

"Why didn't you bring Dragonmage?" Diamond Damsel added. "Or Night Girl or Shadow Lass? It's awfully dark down here."

"Night Girl's helping the Subs move!" Comet Queen replied. "Besides, you two are hypernova gleaming! Why wouldn't I pick you for my first ever Legion crew?"

Diamond Damsel touched down on the rocky floor at the base of the pit. There was enough room down here for the four of them to comfortably circle one another, but not much more than that. "It's just..." Diamond Damsel strived for diplomacy. "We're not particularly suited for ghostbusting in the dark..."

"But you're so shiny!" Grava protested with all sincerity. "And Tenz is hilarious!"

"Can't argue with that," Matter-Eater Lad shrugged. "Hey Quislet, shine yourself down here would ya?"

"Quislet not know he'd just be a flying flashlight!" the Teallian hero sulked. "Quislet not come if he knew ghosts this boring!"

"Hush," Grava scolded him. "Do what Matter-Eater Lad says. Your leader commands it!"

With a rude noise, Quislet's ship adjusted bearing so its flashlight was beaming straight down on Matter-Eater Lad poking about on the dirt floor. The beam of light uncovered a hole in the ground a few inches in diameter. As Quislet came closer they saw that it sunk deep into the Martian soil, and seemed to be smoothly rounded on the inside. "That must be where the spook lives!" Grava gasped.

"I'm not sure that ghosts live, CQ..." Matter-Eater Lad got down on all fours for a closer look. "Hey Quis! You're an explorer, right? Wanna do some exploring?"

"Finally!" Quislet shrilled as his hull slid open. "Quislet have some fun now, whoo!" The tiny spark of life that was Quislet's essence jumped into a loose red rock at Tenzil's feet and the Legionnaires watched it transform into a tiny faceless humanoid figure. With an exuberant yelp, the mini-golem leaped into the hole in the ground. Tenzil placed his eye as close to the hole as possible, but there was no way he could see what was going on in there.

Moments later, Quislet rocketed out as abruptly as he'd entered. "Plug hole!" he shouted in a panic. "Plug hole!" He abandoned his new body and it crumbled to dust as he re-entered his microship.

"Whoa!" Matter-Eater Lad scrambled back from the hole in the ground as an intense white light issued forth.

Thinking quickly, Diamond Damsel stomped on it with a large pink boot. "Quislet, what's down there?" the diamond woman asked incredulously. "It's - oh, that kind of tickles actually!" She giggled and covered her mouth self-consciously.

"Spooks!" Quislet exclaimed. "Whole lot of spooks! Millions of spooks!"

"Millions?!" Comet Queen gasped dramatically. "Oh no...oh no no no it must be all the husbands!"

Diamond Damsel and Tenzil raised their brows. "The husbands..?"

"The husbands of Husband Hill!" Comet Queen flailed. "Helloooo...why do you think it's called Husband Hill? It's where the Martian ladies used to bury all their husbands!"

There was a moment of stupified silence before Diamond Damsel broke it with an undignified snort. "Would you stop that?" she hissed at her foot before she turned to her golden-garbed teammate. "Grava, that...that's not even a little bit accurate. I have no idea where you got that from but Husband Hill is named after a 20th century Earth astronaut. That's neither here nor there though. Whatever is down there, I don't think it's particularly supernatural."

"You saw them up close!" Comet Queen turned on Quislet. "Make like a gamma burst and irradiate us, shiny shuttle!"

"Little spooks!" Quislet exclaimed. "Millions of little spooks! Tiny like Shrinking Violet, but machines! Too many machines for Quislet to inhabit!"

"Machines..?" Diamond Damsel repeated, confused. "Quislet, when you call them spooks...do you even know what a spook is?"

Comet Queen clapped in excitement. "Little machines! Starshine, they're not ghosts at all! They're nanites! But why are nanites living under Mars trying to be all Vampire Nebula on us?"

"Oh grife!" Matter-Eater Lad slapped his forehead. "I know what this is!"

"Can you tell the rest of us?" Diamond Damsel asked, stifling a giggle. "This isn't exactly my proudest moment as a Legionnaire."

"It's a little weird," Tenzil began, "but hey, Bismoll. Anyway, you all know this place used to be a gastronomy research centre, right?"

"Okay, sure!" Comet Queen grinned cluelessly.

"A while ago, an enterprising Bismollian food tech came up with the idea of a nanite swarm that would reduce processed materials to their component elements to make it easier to try out different recipes. It...didn't work so well. Turns out the swarms couldn't be programmed too great and they had a tendency to eat everything in their path without giving back anything in return. Long story slightly shorter, their use was banned when it was discovered how un-brilliant they were, but there was a minor problem disposing of them because they just ate anything thrown at them. Looks like these sneaky devils capitalised on them only being able to eat processed materials and just stuck them in the Martian crust though!"

"And I suppose our construction work here broke them free," Diamond Damsel finished.

"Right?" Matter-Eater gave an awkward laugh. "Gee, what a coinkydink!"

"Okay!" Comet Queen placed her hands on her hips and puffed out her flat chest as much as she could manage. "Now that we're all in the same orbit...Diamond Damsel can't stand there forever, this shiny little shuttle can't do his possession thing 'cuz there's more of them than there are asteroids in the Oort Cloud, that leaves you Tenz! You're gonna have to eat them!"

Matter-Eater Lad licked his lips. "Paranormal investigating does give me an appetite! And this is all Bismoll's fault really, my patriotic pride says I gotta do it!" He got down on his hands and knees again, in position to pounce. As soon as Diamond Damsel moved her foot, the nanite swarm careened straight into his waiting gullet.

"Boring!" Quislet complained. "Quislet can watch Legionnaires shove food in their faceholes any time!" His ship's exhaust gave a loud poop-POP-poop and he flew back up the shaft leaving the other three behind.

"Hey!" Comet Queen shouted after him. "Come back here! Your leader commands it!"

"Let him go," Diamond Damsel waved. She held up her foot, seeing where the nanites had eaten straight through the sole of her boot. "This probably isn't the best first mission you could have hoped to lead, but it could have been worse."

"Starshine, are you kidding?" Comet Queen squealed. "Parse me to the C-span, Bouncy's gonna be so impressed! I led my first team, Tenzil ate the bad guy and we didn't even break anything! This is the best day of my life!" Whooping in delight, she soared up the shaft after Quislet.

Diamond Damsel shook her head and chuckled inwardly as she pulled a spare flashlight out of her belt. Only Comet Queen could be so excited about a Legion adventure that ended with Matter-Eater Lad 'eating the bad guy'. Still, in the many long years Diamond Damsel had been alive she knew it really could be much worse. Maybe Comet Queen had the right idea. Maybe she could just celebrate a victory for what it was.

She allowed herself a smile and watched Tenzil finish eating.

Heh. Quis and Comet Queen are quite refreshing, and they make a good quartet w/ D. Damsel and Tenz. Nice!

Splendid stuff - I'm really happy to see Gas Girl in action, and wondering who the Alchemist could be? And CQ is a delight, you have her down pat and it's a joy to read her and Quislet together. Loved her justifying Tenzil on the team because he's hilarious! - that made me laugh.

Good stuff Raz, as ever I'm in love with your work. More, more, more!

Agreed! I loved reading CQ and Quis! These are two characters I never really knew and I'm finding I love them.

I'm starting to wonder what other surprises this new headquarters has un store.

love seeing Diamond Damsel and CQ as well. Correcting CQ on the reason behind husband hill was cute.

I have to add, your use of Gas Girl is wonderful. Her joining the Legion feels very organic, and I'm pleased she's being portrayed as an experienced hero in her own right instead of a newbie!

Thanks heaps everyone! I am glad everyone likes Gas Girl! I nearly put Evolvo Lad and Life Lass on board too but I felt like they might play second fiddle to Quislet & Brainy too much...Gas Girl's power is fairly unique so it's easier for her to stand out

More on the new recruits from the Subs next up! I am about halfway through writing it up and I think I've managed to chuck in one or two cool bits for them so far

I think Life Lass could stand out from Quislet well enough, as she doesn't destroy the objects she brings to life. But I agree, because Gas Girl's power lets her change her own form it'll be easier for her to stand out

Can't wait for the next installment!

THE LEGION OF SUBSTITUTE HEROES SATELLITE BASE
22,300 miles above Earth
Chlorophyll Kid, Stone Boy, Color Kid and Fire Lad gathered together in the comfy recreation room they'd helped furnish and decorate themselves. They hadn't known this satellite as their headquarters for long but it had become like a home already. "I'm gonna miss this place," the green-garbed Chlorophyll Kid sighed, looking around a final time.

"We're going to miss you!" Rainbow Girl blurted. Along with Antennae Lad, she'd come to see their four former teammates away to their new lives as full-fledged members of the Legion of Superheroes. She jumped up from her seat and gave Chlorophyll Kid a hug, followed by the other three men.

Sharing a sofa off to one side with her fiance Cosmic Boy, Night Girl leaned across to her lover. "It feels so strange being on this side, Rokk...last time it was me saying goodbye to them, now I'm welcoming them to our team!"

Cosmic Boy clasped her hand in his. "If those four together make one half the Legionnaire that you've been, then we should have done this a long time ago."

Lydda kissed him on the cheek. "Flatterer."

"I just wish the rest of the Subs could have been here to say goodbye," Color Kid noted. "Are you sure they're not mad at us? I'd hate for them to think we're abandoning the team!"

"No way!" Antennae Lad shook his head vigorously. "Crystal Kid, Polecat and Porcupine Pete had to go help Pete's friends on Steeple with something but they all wish they could be here!"

"This is your time to shine, Ulu." Rainbow Girl touched Color Kid's arm affectionately. "Don't feel bad for enjoying it. If anything, you boys are an inspiration to the rest of us! Now almost every one of the Substitute Heroes who came before us has made it to the Legion, it gives the rest of us hope that one day it'll be our turn!" A delicate tinkling sound filled the air and Rainbow Girl tapped her wrist. "That's my bio-alarm, I'd better go or I'll be late for my charity luncheon. All four of you deserve this, congratulations! Did you still want a lift to Luna, Chee?"

"Yes please!" Antennae Lad joined Rainbow Girl as she walked out of the room. "Don't worry about the Subs, you guys!" he waved to the others as he left. "We'll be fine!"

Once the two had left, the remaining heroes took stock. "I guess this is really it," Stone Boy walked over to a portrait of the founding members of the Substitute Heroes which had been taken the fateful day they'd all agreed to form their own team. They'd all been so young back then, so full of optimism. That optimism had been tested over the years but Dag was quietly glad to see that it had finally been rewarded. "I'm not usually a nostalgic guy but there's a lot of history we're saying goodbye to today."

"We're about to make a lot more!" Fire Lad beamed. "Come on, you squajes! Stop being so maudlin, the shuttle's packed so let's go to Mars!" Staq spat a flicker of mild flame which flashed bright and vanished as it snapped at Stone Boy's rear end. It was hot enough to give him a start without actually hurting him, and the Zwennite hero gave chase to Fire Lad through the satellite, both men laughing loudly.

Night Girl blushed as she and Cosmic Boy accompanied Chlorophyll Kid and Color Kid. "Still silly after all these years," Lydda mumbled. "You boys will never grow up."

Chlorophyll Kid opened his mouth to respond when all of their flight rings came to life. "Subs!" It was Antennae Lad, he sounded panicked and they could hear a shrill alarm sounding behind him. "Incoming! Get ready, you guys have incoming! They've already taken out our engines, we're--" The rest of his warning was drowned out by a tremendous crashing noise, and the satellite base's own alarms screamed out in protest.

"Where's your monitor room?" Cosmic Boy shouted, instantly taking command.

"We don't have a monitor room!" Color Kid yelled back. "This place didn't come with one!"

"This way!" Chlorophyll Kid commanded, running to a nearby door. Color Kid, Night Girl and Cosmic Boy followed him up two flights of emergency stairs and emerged in a domed meeting room. Consoles of different shapes and sizes lined the walls, and Color Kid and Chlorophyll Kid both ran to these now.

"Antennae Lad's right, Rainbow Girl's ship has been disabled!" Color Kid shouted. He quickly disabled the base's own alarms so they could communicate at a normal volume. "That's her personal cruiser, she won't have a lifepod on board! We have to get them to safety!"

"T-they're not the only ones who need saving," Chlorophyll Kid stammered. "L-look, guys." Another screen showed the team's assailants. There were only two of them, but they were a terrifying two. One was immediately recognisable as the golden-skinned woman Celestine. She'd recently joined Earth-Man's Justice League and though very little was known about the flame-haired villainess everybody here had seen her take on Supergirl in single combat. She was accompanied by what seemed to be a male version of herself, a golden-skinned man with a corona of cosmic fire in place of his own hair. It was only by his militaristic costume that the heroes recognised him as Earth-Man.

"He must have absorbed her power," Cosmic Boy thought out loud. "But why are they here?"

"This used to be Earth-Man's base," Color Kid answered grimly. "I guess he's decided to exterminate the alien vermin that moved in after we evicted him."

"Well he's going to have a fight on his hands," Cosmic Boy scowled. "Come on, Legion. Let's go!"

"Rokk, wait!" Night Girl clutched Cosmic Boy's arm. "Let us take care of this, you need to help Rainbow Girl and Antennae Lad."

"Lydda, are you nuts?" Cosmic Boy snapped. "You can't face those psychopaths alone!"

"Look at her ship!" Night Girl answered firmly. "They've got no propulsion at all and I can't imagine their shielding is in a much better state at the moment! If they start falling into Earth's atmosphere they won't stand a chance on their own! You're the only one who can help them!"

Cosmic Boy fell silent. She was right, he knew she was right. He bowed his head in defeat. "I'll do it," he surrendered. "But I'm going to need to get past those two first."

"I can take care of that," Color Kid answered. To prove his point, he changed his own coloration to camouflage himself against the consoles behind him then reverted to his normal appearance again. "I'm not Chameleon Boy, it's not going to be perfect. But as long as they're distracted enough not to actively look for us, I can keep us hidden long enough to get outside."

"We can distract them," Night Girl said. "Right, Ral?"

"R-right," Chlorophyll Kid stammered in response. He didn't sound at all confident.

"Ral and I will go first," Night Girl took command. "Once we engage them, you two can sneak to the airlock."

"Sounds good," Color Kid nodded as his power washed over himself and Cosmic Boy to disguise them both. Cosmic Boy simply gave a stoic nod, not trusting that he'd be able to let Lydda do this if he allowed himself to speak.

Night Girl and Chlorophyll Kid didn't have to spend long running through the corridors of the satellite before they came across Celestine smashing her way up from lower levels. The golden woman stopped her charge in mid-air and gave the two heroes a paradoxically chilly reception. "Apparently we're to give you the option of surrender," she spoke haughtily. "Surrender would certainly be the wisest choice though it matters not to me."

Lydda shielded her eyes from the glare of Celestine's corona, a gesture Cosmic Boy couldn't help but notice from several feet behind them. "Surrender to Earth-Man and his latest lackey?" she mocked the villainess. "What do you say to that, Ral?"

"I-I say this is our home," the out of breath hero frowned, "And it's time for you to leave!" He threw a single seed into the air and in the blink of an eye it expanded into an enormous redwood. The width of the trunk filled more than half the corridor and the shaft of its trunk rocketed into Celestine like a colossal battering ram. Taken by surprise, she was slammed through an internal wall by the force of the tree's sudden growth.

"That's our cue," Color Kid whispered to Cosmic Boy at his side. "Come on, let's go!"

Rokk gave one final longing glance at his lover and then turned away. For better or worse, she and Chlorophyll Kid were on their own now. He vowed to himself though, if either of these villains hurt Lydda he'd crush this whole satellite down around them. As he and Color Kid continued their dash towards the airlock, they came across Fire Lad and Stone Boy running from the cosmically powered Earth-Man down a side corridor. Camouflaged as they were, neither their friends nor Earth-Man had seen Rokk or Ulu.

"Color Kid!" Cosmic Boy hissed, pulling on his new teammate's sleeve. "The others!" He pointed at them desperately dodging white-hot blasts of flame.

Color Kid paused for only a second. "No. If they needed help, they'd ask for it. We have to trust that they can look after themselves. Rainbow Girl and Antennae Lad need us now." Wasting not a second more, Ulu continued flying onward.

**********
Not far from where Cosmic Boy and Color Kid had left them, Night Girl and Chlorophyll Kid dived into a dimly lit storeroom as a wave of flame bellowed through the corridor behind them. Celestine had incinerated the redwood within seconds and she wasn't far off doing the same to them now.

"At least it's darker in here," Lydda noted in a hushed tone. "I don't feel quite so much like I'm about to pass out."

"Th-that's great," Chlorophyll Kid panted, "It'll be nice to be conscious when we're both instabroiled."

"When did you turn into such a defeatist?" Night Girl countered. "We're Legionnaires now Ral, Legionnaires always win."

"Yeah? T-tell Ferro Lad and Karate Kid that."

"Hush." Lydda quickly analysed their surroundings. "Can you do something about that light?" She pointed at the one small light mounted in the ceiling."I've got an idea but my timing is going to have to be perfect. Once she makes her appearance it's not going to be dark in here for long."

Chlorophyll Kid held another seed in his palm, growing a small date tree. Once it was large enough for him to position, he held it directly beneath the light and it shot straight up, smashing the plastiglass and plunging the room into darkness. He could no longer see Night Girl or anything else save the crimson emergency lighting of the corridor outside, fire retardant foam seeping into the open doorway.

"This chase is futile," Celestine announced as her blazing brilliance filled the doorway. "This construct will be destroyed, all you're accomplishing is to ensure that I destroy you along with it."

With a savage grunt, Night Girl rammed a two ton cargo box into the golden woman. The box was seven feet high and five feet across, more than large enough to shield Lydda from Celestine's light. She knew it would do little more than inconvenience her, but more importantly it would buy them some time. Celestine flew straight through the opposite wall which had already been weakened by her prior attack, and Lydda jammed the wreckage of the container into the doorway. Not missing a beat, Lydda crouched down and slammed both fists into the floor at her feet. She smashed a hole through to the level below them and waved Chlorophyll Kid across. The two heroes fled to the lower level just as another one of Celestine's blasts tore apart the room they'd left.

"Okay, good." Lydda chanced a look behind her as she and Chloropyll Kid fled through the satellite. "She's made so much of a mess hopefully it'll take her a few seconds to figure out we've come down here. We need a plan though, we can't outrun her forever. What plants have you got on you?"

"N-not a lot," Chlorophyll Kid stammered in reply, "Some creepers, some Winathian thorny roses, mangoes from Ogyptu...nothing that's g-gonna stop a walking sun woman, Lydda. I w-wasn't expecting to have to fight for my life before I even m-made it to Legion Headquarters."

"Ral. Listen to me." Night Girl stopped in her tracks and grabbed her friend's shoulders. "We can do this. You can do this. I know what this is, you're scared that you're not good enough for the Legion and that this is where it all comes out into the open. I've been there, more than once. Brek's been there, I'm sure Drura's been there. But you are good enough, you've been good enough for a damn long time and you know as well as I do that we've both faced as bad as this in our time as Subs. Now tell me. We're going to do this. We're going to beat her."

"We-we're going to beat her," he repeated weakly, unable to meet Lydda's powerful stare. He looked at the seed pouches around his belt and something dawned inside of him. With renewed purpose, he looked up at Lydda and grinned. "We're not just gonna b-beat her. We're gonna make her wish she'd never heard of the Legion of Substitute Heroes, let alone attack us in our own home the day we leave. Lydda. Put on your transuit."

Moments later, Celestine roared down the corridor. Fire blazed across her scalp and down her golden arms. Behind her, strobing emergency lights flashed and fire retardant foam spat out uselessly. She saw Night Girl standing alone in the middle of the corridor, the heroine's fists balled at her sides. "Where is the other one?" Celestine demanded. "The fat one with the plants?"

"Maybe he's gone to help our friends," Night Girl shrugged. "Maybe he knows I don't need him to take you down, you pompous batwitch."

"Brave words," Celestine smiled coldly. "I'll be sure to have them engraved upon your cremation urn." She raised a single hand and an intense stream of flame exploded forth. At the same time, two bulbous purple fruits filled the corridor directly in front of Night Girl. They were enormous, each one easily as large as Lydda herself, and they exploded with a squelching boom from the heat of Celestine's blast before the flame itself reached them. When the lethal blast subsided a second later, Celestine expected to see an empty corridor. Instead, she saw Night Girl's outline caked in a charred purple pulp. The sickly sweet smell of burnt fruit filled the air. Celestine cocked her head, confused as to what had happened, and before she could react Lydda charged into her at maximum speed. Covered from head to toe in the fire-hardened remains of the Ogyptu fruits, Lydda was hidden from the light but she also couldn't see a thing. Without her transuit she'd be suffocating right now and severely burned rather than uncomfortably hot. She aimed for the source of the heat, and once she smashed into Celestine she clasped her fists together and delivered an uppercut so powerful it sent the golden woman flying up through three levels, through the satellite's hull, and into space.

The Ogyptu mangoes weren't made for such punishment, and layers of cement-hard fruit pulp fell off of Lydda to the floor with a thud. "Ugh!" Night Girl shuddered. "That was disgusting! She'd better be out, that punch would have rattled Supergirl's teeth!"

Chlorophyll Kid walked over from where he'd been hiding in a nearby door recess. "You know," he chuckled as Lydda extricated herself from the mess. "Those stupid giant mangoes taste worse than a case of crank-case oil, the only thing they've ever been good for is insulation and binding building materials when they're heated up enough. I've been holding onto them for ages just in case Fire Lad and I ever needed to make a shelter if we were stranded somewhere." As soon as he'd finished speaking, he and Lydda stared wide-eyed at one another.

"Fire Lad! Stone Boy!"

**********
Three levels above them, the objects of their concern were barely managing to avoid Earth-Man's blasts. "It's a good thing he's not any more skilled with her powers," Stone Boy mentioned as he ducked another stream of flame. "We'd be cinders by now!"

"You're telling me," Fire Lad agreed. They came to an intersecting corridor and thinking quickly, Staq Mavlen spun around and breathed his own wall of flame between the two men and the villain pursuing them. The power Earth-Man had stolen from Celestine meant the sudden firewall was no threat whatsoever, but he instinctively shielded himself and pulled back anyway. When the flames cleared, the two Subs were nowhere in sight. Having fled to the left as fast as their flight rings could safely carry them, Fire Lad and Stone Boy continued their conversation. "Have you noticed though," Fire Lad pointed out, "The longer we keep him on the run, the more fleshy that golden skin of his is looking?"

"She must be far enough away that his stolen power's beginning to fade," Stone Boy nodded. The two men heard a tremendous crash from elsewhere in the satellite and flinched. "If we can keep him busy long enough Celestine's powers should fade altogether. Then we can knock him out and help the others with her."

"Yeah," Fire Lad's eyes narrowed as he considered their options. "Of course, he's just gonna copy our powers as soon as hers are no good to him anymore..." He snapped his bony fingers and gave Stone Boy a triumphant look. "So maybe we should make sure our powers are more of a hindrance than a help!"

"What have you got in mind?" Stone Boy asked.

Fire Lad began to respond when the wall behind them buckled and ripped apart. Earth-Man hovered on the other side, almost glowing with fury. His skin had a golden sheen and licks of flame coated his arms and scalp, but the two heroes had been right. He was definitely losing Celestine's powers. Before they could do anything with that information though, Stone Boy and Fire Lad found themselves flung painfully to the ceiling where they were held with crushing force.

"You think you're so clever?" Earth-Man ranted, looking up at the two men. "Tricking me with your stupid flame breath? Taking my headquarters from me? Celestine's a walking sun, you morons. And she's got more than fire going for her. I've got so many senses with this power. I tracked your heat signatures. I'm holding you now with gravity. But I can do more than hold." He scowled, and Fire Lad grunted in pain as the pressure increased immensely.

"Stop it!" Stone Boy struggled fruitlessly as the ceiling panels began to deform around the mass of his stone form. "You're hurting him!"

"That's the idea!" Earth-Man shouted back. "Do you have any idea how embarassing it was for me to be beaten by the sprocking Legion of Substitute Heroes? For you to steal my own base right out from underneath me? Well guess what, alien? I'm back and I'm going to do to you what you did to me! I'm backed by Earthgov now, I'm going to kill you both here in the satellite you stole from me and they'll call me a hero for doing it! Then Celestine and I are going to vaporise every sprocking molecule of this place and wipe you nasses from the history holos completely!"

"You...can't..." Fire Lad grimaced.

"Who's going to stop me?" Earth-Man asked with utter contempt. "You two losers? I doubt it."

Fire Lad laughed, though the effort hurt. "No..." he retorted, shifting his gaze to meet that of Earth-Man. "I mean...you literally can't, idiot...look at yourself."

Confused, Earth-Man turned his attention to his own arm. The flames along his sleeve were almost entirely gone now. He knew exactly what this meant. "I really wanted to draw this out," he decreed coldly, "But dead is dead." He raised his arm to fire upon the two men, but his hold on them had weakened enough now for Stone Boy to make his move. It was like pushing against the force of an ocean, but Dag shoved himself off the ceiling as hard as he could. Once he'd cleared the effect of Earth-Man's gravitic field, he plummeted to the floor and smashed a hole through it, knocking Earth-Man off of his feet.

"No!" Earth-Man yelled in defiance and fear. "It's not fair!" The last of Celestine's power left the villain, and Fire Lad's flight ring lowered him gently to his feet as he cupped his aching ribs. Earth-Man scrambled away from the heroes as Stone Boy advanced on him. "I don't need her power!" Earth-Man raged. "I'll kill you with your own!" True to his word, he used Fire Lad's own power to breathe a deadly stream of flame at the two men.

Stone Boy stepped forward to protect Fire Lad from the assault, but the heat was so intense even he was beginning to find it uncomfortable. Memories of his recent injury at the hands of Talok the Red Son came to mind. "Staq, that plan you had!" Stone Boy shouted. "Now would be a really good time to make it happen!"

"Sorry girl," Fire Lad stroked the inner hull of the satellite. "Better you than us though." Drawing as much air into his lungs as he could, Fire Lad exhaled against the wall. It took a couple of seconds, but as soon as he'd damaged the satellite enough to expose them to the vacuum outside, explosive decompression took care of the rest. A massive hole was torn in the hull, and Staq activated his transuit even as he was torn outside to careen through the void. Stone Boy and Earth-Man followed, Earth-Man's own vicious attack extinguished almost immediately without oxygen to fuel it.

Fire Lad wore his transuit, but Earth-Man had brought no such protection for himself. He'd been counting on Celestine's power to keep him safe out here. For an instant he nearly succumbed to panic, until he realised that Stone Boy was all the protection he needed. He could take on Dag Wentim's form and pummel the two men to death with his bare hands if he had to. That was the last thought that passed through Earth-Man's mind before he became an immobile statue of a man spinning placidly through space.

Of course that makes sense, Stone Boy realised happily, It's not my power that lets me move while I'm in stone form! He gave a thumbs-up to Fire Lad, a gesture quickly returned by the skinny hero. The two men avoided the hole they'd made exiting the satellite and made their way to the nearest airlock, Stone Boy dragging Earth-Man's immobile form behind him.

Once they'd re-entered the damaged base again, Fire Lad deactivated his transuit. "We'd better call the others and make sure they're okay," he suggested. "Something else else tells me that Celestine woman is gonna be a lot harder to deal with than Earth-Man, and he was no walk in the park."

"She was at that," a new voice entered the conversation, "We managed between us though." Fire Lad and Stone Boy looked across the room to see Mon-El, Shadow Lass and Wildfire leading a clearly defeated and very angry Celestine before them. Metal beams had been twisted and wrapped around her golden wrists to act as manacles. Behind them Cosmic Boy, Night Girl, Color Kid, Chlorophyll Kid, Rainbow Girl and Antennae Lad brought up the rear.

"Wow, you don't waste any time!" Stone Boy dropped the petrified Earth-Man to the floor with a thud. "How did you even know we were in trouble so quickly?"

"We were in the area when we got the call for backup," Wildfire retorted. "Lucky for you guys, when you're as fast as Mon-El and me Mars is in the area."

"Not that it looks like you needed us," Shadow Lass continued. "By the time we'd arrived Celestine was on her last legs and you two look like you took care of him pretty well."

"It doesn't matter!" Celestine spat. "Don't you understand? We're here under the authority of Earth's government! We stopped your Legion of Superheroes from being allowed to set foot on our planet and we can certainly stop these ridiculous Substitute Heroes from lording over it from above!"

Antennae Lad laughed. "You wish! Nice try lady, but we're not taken care of that easily."

"Actually..." Mon-El looked crestfallen at the current and former Subs, "I'm afraid she's right, Antennae Lad. I checked on the way here...Earthgov has banned any non-Terran member of the Substitute Heroes from operating in its territory, and their territory includes Earth orbit. This satellite is to be destroyed."

Everyone present was stunned speechless, and none of them wanted to say what they were all thinking. When Earthgov had done this to the Legion of Superheroes, that group had the resources to weather it. The Subs had nothing. No funding, no real connections, half their active membership wouldn't even be back in the solar system for another Earth week yet.

...The Legion of Substitute Heroes were truly finished.

Wooooooow. Lydda and Ral were brilliant, and so were Staq and Dag. And Ulu! These guys are really proving they are meant to be Legionnaires.

But man, this whole Earthgov mess is a pain. I'm looking forward to the eventual resolution of that!

Thanks! It turns out I love writing the Subs a heap

I have always really liked the underdog characters where their ingenuity and resourcefulness are as important or moreso than their power level

While the Legion are fairly well insulated from Earthgov shenanigans in their current home there are gonna be some hopefully interesting developments coming along there soon too! Might not be long before Earth-Man finds out he can only kick the hornet's nest for so long before they get mad...

You love writing the Subs? I wouldn't have guessed But I do enjoy your writing of the Subs and former Subs a lot! I've come to gain a new respect for their ingenuity and heroism. Bonus points for keeping Ral chubby and for keeping Staq skinny.

Oh, I can't wait for the comeuppance of Earth-Man (again)!

Love it and the subs did a great job. I love how well you use your underdog characters so well and make them seem less like underdogs.


can't wait to see hats next.