Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business Legions of 7 Worlds (2nd story-arc of Retroboot Legion of Earth-7.5 is under way. UPDATE: Chapter 12 posted on Mar. 2, 2017.)

Extra-special thanks go out from me to two members of the Legion World community, without either of whom this fanfic project would never have happened:

HARBINGER, for proving it could be done, and done very, very well.

and

THOTH LAD, for showing me how I could adapt the Retroboot to suit my sensibilities.

The 7 Legions are differentiated as follows:

Earth-7.1: THE LEGACY LEGION - The super-heroic legacies (Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Atom, et cetera) which began in the first half of the 20th Century continue in the 31st Century

Earth-7.2: LEGION OF TITANS - Here the Legion was inspired not by Superboy, but by the Teen Titans, and particularly Kid Flash, who travelled back and forth from the 20th Century to the 31st Century, just as Superboy did in the Legion canon continuity.

Earth-7.3: LEGION OF ANTI-HEROES - In the least stable and most uncertain of the 7 Worlds of Wonder, it is to be expected that there would be a Legion which would adapt to adversity in a far different, and far darker, way than other Legions.

Earth-7.4: THE LEGION - Just imagine...if the Blight had invaded Earth not at the beginning of the 31st Century, but at the beginning of the 21st Century!

Earth-7.5: LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES - The Retroboot by any other name, and the closest of these 7 Legions to established canon continuity.

Earth-7.6: SUPERGIRL'S LEGION, formerly known as LEGION OF META-REBELS - The Threeboot by any other name, this is, like the Legion of Anti-Heroes, a Legion in which the members surrender to their most savage instincts upon embracing their meta-powers. But unlike the Anti-Heroes, a lucky few members do find within themselves their potential for redemption, thanks to the guidance of Supergirl.

Earth-7.7: LEGIONNAIRES - Just imagine...if the Postboot Legion had been inspired by the Shazam Family!


LEGION OF EARTH-7.5 CHRONICLES: 1ST STORY ARC

This story takes place an unspecified amount of time after the Legion's disbanding in LSH v. 7, issue #23.


In the early part of the 21st Century, on the planet Earth, the battle between metas for absolute power raged on into its ninth decade.� By the turn of the millennium, the notions of good versus evil had blurred into an impenetrable gray murk devoid of morality.� Until, that is, seven genuine heroes from one thousand years in the future had arrived, in the nick of time at Earth's darkest hour, to show the metas the path towards deliverance to the light of truth, justice, and universal harmony.

Three of those saviors from another time now soared across the skies of Metropolis.� On the left flank flew Dawnstar, a strikingly beautiful young woman whose fine features were unmistakably Native American, and whose naturally grown white avian wings shone bright white against the blue sky.� On the right flank, gliding less smoothly but just as purposefully, was Yera Allon, codename Chameleon Girl, a female member of the shape-shifting alien race from the planet Durla.� Yera was currently sporting the form of a leather-winged creature suggesting nothing less than a hybrid of a pterosaur from prehistoric earth and a hairless orange-skinned humanoid.� Nonetheless, Yera's face,�despite the lack of hair to frame and enhance�it, was undeniably attractive, and having been an actress before becoming a reluctant heroine,�she knew that very well.

And blasting relentlessly forward, right in the middle of this three-pronged battle formation, was an honest-to-the-Gods rocket-man, a sentient cloud of self-renewing anti-energy�providing the propulsion for�a bright-orange and cherry-red high-tech suit of armor which�gave him a humanoid shape.� He had been born Drake Burroughs, but while studying the sciences at college, an accident in the laboratory had transformed him into a post-human powerhouse.� Now and forever, he was the one and only Wildfire.

"Good work, Dawnstar!!" shouted Wildfire exhuberantly, raising his left fist to the air for emphasis. "Thanks to your tracking skills, we've got that slimeball Byth trapped in the back alleys of�Suicide Slum like a rat in a maze."

"Better still," replied Dawnstar, "Tellus has just�informed me via his telepathy that�Hawkgirl will definitely be coming at Byth from the opposite direction, precisely as we had planned."

"Cool beans!" exhulted Wildfire. "We're so close to ultimate victory I can taste it!"

"Should I take the point, Drake?" inquired Yera.

"Go for it, girl." replied Wildfire. "If any of us can handle Byth and his mutation powers at close quarters, it's you!"

With a combination of�swiftness and stealth, Yera swooped down towards the dark end of the alleyway which the injured, molecularly unstable Byth had stumbled into, then shapeshifted into a gigantic, vaguely feline monstrosity crouched in anticipation of pouncing on her quarry as he blindly headed closer towards her with each heartbeat.

But Yera was no novice, much less foolhardy.� She already knew that a wounded savage was even deadlier than one in the rudest of�health.� Yera had also read the Justice League's file on the alien war profiteer Byth, and despite his privileged background, he was as savage as they came -- on his native Thanagar,�Byth had masterminded the ruling caste's oppression of the planetary underclass for years, until two brave and true warriors, Katar Hol and Shayera Thal, had exposed and�dismantled his operation, turning�Byth into an inter-galactic�fugitive.� Only the combination of his military training and the mutation abilities brought on by his copious abuse of illicit chemicals had allowed Byth to survive space travel and set up a beachhead on Earth.� From there he had manipulated his home planet into declaring war on their longtime planetary nemesis Rann.� This was the third such war to date, but the first with Earth caught in the crossfire.

And, as with all wars, the collateral damage had been considerable, and the�casualties steep.� The latter included both Katar Hol and Shayera Thal themselves, with only their Earth-born�young�prot�g� Kendra Saunders, codenamed Hawkgirl, living on to�continue their legacy.� Wielding her mace, Kendra now landed next to the only way in or out of the alleyway that Byth had entered.� She waited impatiently for Yera to smoke�Byth out, so that she could clobber him; she'd planned on throwing in a couple of extra poundings for the sake of avenging her dead mentors.

But as the minutes ticked by, Kendra knew something was amiss.� After looking up to make certain that Dawnstar and�Wildfire were�watching over her, she took�a couple of cautious steps forward, and tensed herself�for a confrontation with whomever was making audible footsteps as she or he walked towards Kendra.

Shortly, she was able to make out the vague outlines of�a tall figure with imposing musculature.� Kendra knew this could go either way -- it could be Byth trying to trick her, or Yera still wearing whatever form she had shifted to in order to battle Byth.� Then she heard the figure speak.

"Lay down your weapon, good Hawkgirl." it said in a deep, masculine voice, but she knew that meant nothing when Yera, like all Durlans, could move as fluidly between genders as she could between species.

"It is I, the reincarnation of your beloved Prince Khufu." it continued as it came into the light, revealing a disturbing resemblance to the deceased Katar Hol.�"Do not fear, my love, for the Durlan girl�did slay the monstrous Byth, allowing my soul to enter his body and reshape it for your pleasure.� At last, at long last..."

"SHUT THE BLOODY HELL UP!!" shrieked Kendra as she swung her mace, striking a decisive blow against the so-called prince's skull.� As "Khufu" hit the ground hard, his flesh rippled and began taking on�a protoplasmic aspect, proving beyond a doubt that this was, indeed Byth.� Kendra, for her part, continued to rage at her seemingly fallen foe.

"You sick, pervy, twisted bastard!!� What kind of an idiot do you take me for?� As if I was ever going to fall for such a stupid story!"

Suddenly, Kendra found herself distracted simultaneously by the sight of Wildfire & Dawnstar coming in for a landing, and the sound of more footsteps, along with soft�groans in�a husky, feminine voice.

"Sorry I failed you, Kendra." said Yera as she emerged from the dark alleyway in her chosen default form of a hairless orange-skinned humanoid. "He was even more of a vicious nass-head that I'd expected."

"No sweat, girl." replied a smiling Kendra. "All that matters now is that he's finally..."

"Everybody," screamed Dawnstar�abruptly,�be on your guard!� Now!!� Byth is not..."

But before the heroes' defensive reflexes were able to kick in, Byth had already shape-shifted into a massive, obscenely ugly invertebrate�creature sporting multiple tendrils, a Lovecraftian nightmare made flesh.

Dawnstar's lack of defensive powers, and Yera's addled state, still lingering after the one-on-one battle against Byth she had fought just a few minutes ago, allowed the Thanagarian to wrap his tendrils around both of them and place the two young women in front of him, as living shields protecting him against retaliation from either Wildfire or Hawkgirl.

"Sentimental fools!" Byth taunted the two opponents facing him with obvious indecision and awkwardness. "A true warrior does not value any life other than his own, or anything at all except victory!"

"WRONG!!" shouted a female alto voice which managed to be sexy even as its bearer charged into battle thanks to the rocket-pack she wore.

"Alanna Strange, it's you!" exclaimed Hawkgirl as she beheld the shapely form of the planetary princess of Rann who had become her ally, divebombing Byth and using the advantage of surprise to get in a couple of point-blank shots from her laser pistol, the latter which packed a greater punch than any foe ever expected.  Kendra tried in vain not to stare at Alanna's graceful moves and physical perfection -- the flawless head of long raven hair, the spotless complexion, the stunning blue eyes, the figure which managed to be both athletic and curvy, wrapped in a turquoise jacket and tight canary-yellow pants.  Hawkgirl wondered how Alanna could pull off wearing such an outfit, let alone whether the princess shared Kendra's bisexuality and her desire for a menage a trois between the two of them and Alanna's husband...

Speaking of whom, the smiling, serene, chiseled face of Adam Strange peered through his transparent face plate; even framed by his finned helmet, he was still the epitome of handsomeness, clad in his form-fitting vermillion uniform, standard issue for Rannian warriors.  As he joined his wife in firing at Byth's gelatinous, quaking form with great precision, he belatedly chided the ignorant Thanagarian for his use of a male pronoun, "A true warrior also respects gender equality and fights to make it a reality."

"Pronoun trouble." muttered a non-plussed Wildfire.

"What?" asked a puzzled Hawkgirl.

"Nothing.  Been watching too many old cartoons." he replied softly just before he leapt forward to catch his beloved Dawnstar, who had managed to twist herself out of Byth's now-loosened grip.

"Thank the Haven for the Rannian couple's timely arrival." gasped Dawnstar.

"Whatever." grumbled Wildfire, even though he grudgingly admitted to himself in silence that the Stranges had indeed saved the day.

"Hey!  Hey!" snapped Yera as she herself broke free of Byth's rapidly liquefying tendrils. "Where's MY knight in shining armor?"

"Will I do?" inquired Kendra in a sultry whisper as he helped Yera to her feet.

"I'll try anything once." replied Yera, playfully batting her eyelashes at Kendra, who responded with a warm smile.

"Forgive the interruption," said Dawnstar, "but Tellus has just informed me that what the humans colloquially term a "mop-up operation" in the part of the city which bore the brunt of the Thanagarian armada's attack is proceeding in a satisfactory manner, thanks largely to his telekinesis and Gates's teleportation."

"Any word from Tyroc or Timber Wolf?" asked Yera.

"Tellus says that Timber Wolf continues to take part in the American army's rescue operations, while Tyroc is off in Asia, helping the Justice League fight one of the remaining pockets of enemy aggression.

"Yup.  Everything's just hunky-dory now in the ever-changing world of the 21st Century." declared Wildfire in an ambivalent tone to everyone present, and at the same time, to no one but himself, as if he was trying to convince himself that perhaps he and the six other out-of-time Legionnaires might do good to surrender any hope of returning to their own era, and finally put down roots in this primitive, war-torn galaxy from the distant past in which they'd ended up.

Wildfire's reverie was broken by a loud gasp from Dawnstar.

"I sense we are being...watched!!" she announced cryptically.

"Jeez Louise, not that Brother Eye crap again!" groaned Wildfire.

"No, this is something far different!" replied Dawnstar. "It is beyond time and space...almost beyond imagination...WAIT!  No, blast it!"  Dawnstar went silent for a moment of heart-stopping tension, before she sighed, "It must have realized I could sense its presence, and retreated back to its point of origin."

"IT??" said Wildfire as he gesticulated in an over-the-top manner. "What the sprock is "it?"  We need details!"  Then, calming down quickly, he declared, "Sorry, Dawny, I didn't mean to freak out."

"If you went for a whole day without freaking out even once, THEN we'd worry." snarked Yera.

"Not now, Yera.  Is there anything else you can tell us about what you sensed, Dawny?  Anything at all?"

"I fear I cannot." replied Dawnstar as her lovely face assumed a downcast expression and her eyelids covered her beautiful obsidian eyes.

AT THAT EXACT MOMENT, IN A REALM BEYOND TIME AND SPACE...

"Why did you so suddenly order me to take us away from what we had been contemplating for such a long time?" asked the mysterious teenage orphan Glorith of her new mentor, the ageless Earth-born Elemental Harmonia Li.

"You forget, my dear -- presently, with your powers still in their tentative, formative stages, we can do no more than observe.  Had the Legionnaires fully detected our presence and identified us, we would have given them false hope of returning to our time...their proper time."

"Hey," piped up Marya Pai, a teenaged pyrokinetic hellion who shared a Chinese heritage with Harmonia, and a brief stint as rookie Legionnaires with Glorith, "even if we can only do so much right now, that'll change soon, right?  And anyway, being able to look into any point in time that we choose is still pretty sprockin' awesome!!"

"Yes, Marya," replied Harmonia, "but it is fraught with peril.  The line between edification and voyeurism is a fine one indeed.  Glorith, you must return us without haste to the 31st Century!"

"I shall...do my best." mumbled a hesitant, intimidated Glorith in response.

"Clear your head of any expectations," advised Harmonia serenely, "and simply become one with the infinite flow."

Within seconds, the three women's traverses through time had come to a stop...but not at their intended destination.

"What the sprock is this??" asked Marya loudly, the object of her bewilderment being the vision before all three women of a young male/female couple kissing each other passionately atop the iconic American monument named the Statue of Liberty -- only with most of the statue hidden below the risen waters of the Atlantic Ocean.  The boy was shirtless and androgynously handsome, with an impressive head of long, flaxen hair.  The far-more-exotic girl also had long hair, but its natural color appeared to be no less than lavender, and it could not hide the antennae poking out of her forehead; in addition, she had an alabaster face with periwinkle markings, shaped like butterfly wings, around her eyes.

Before either of her travelling companions could reply to her unsophisticated query, Marya exclaimed, "Wait a nano-second!  I recognize her now!  That's Drura Sepht, the Legionnaire who disappeared during their battle against the xenos!  She seemed cool, and I always liked her look.  We'll have to rescue her, too...uh...I mean, once we actually can."

"Indeed." replied Harmonia. "Do you see now, Glorith, there is a reason for everything, even one's apparent mistakes."

"Yes...you speak the truth..." said Glorith softly, "...but I must still return us to the proper time..."

After another swift voyage through the time-stream, they now found themselves beholding a dimension that defied all conventional perceptions of matter and form, a vast panorama of swirling shades of green, constantly changing their shape in a kaleidoscopic effect.

"Now I'm glad I never tried drugs." quipped Marya. "This is too much for me to handle as it is.  Let's get out of here."

"Hold." replied Harmonia. "There is one object out of place there, being as it possesses a definite shape."

"I see it as well.  It looks like...like a boy the same age as me and Marya." whispered Glorith.

"Okay, now I can see him, too." admitted Marya. "But what's wrong with his face?"

"I believe I know the answer," said Harmonia, "but neither of you are as yet ready for that degree of knowledge.  Patience, dear girls.  Patience."

"Gee, thanks." muttered an understandably cross Marya under her breath.

In a split second, Glorith's powers had once again whisked them away into the unknown byways of the space-time continuum.  And this time, she succeeded at last in transporting herself, Marya, and Harmonia to the 31st Century...or rather, the version of the 31st Century within the timeline they called home.

"Finally!" exclaimed Marya. "I've got a killer hunger.  Anyone for duck?"

"Not quite yet." replied Harmonia firmly. "We have one more vision to behold, the most crucial of them all."

"Whatever." grumbled Marya.

"Behold!" exclaimed Harmonia without warning. "Unfolding before us is the very event upon which revolves the sum total of our past, present, future...and those of every other sentient in the Multiverse!"

"What are you talking about??" sneered Marya. "That's just our ex-teammate, the Coluan!!"

"Hold your gazes steady for but a few seconds longer...there!!"

As the three women focused on the sight of a visibly forlorn Querl Dox, who had gone by the codename Brainiac 5 until the government of Earth had forcibly disbanded the Legion, going through the scientific motions in his cluttered laboratory, the innocuousness of the moment vanished entirely when, in a burst of tachyon energy particles, a time-travel portal appeared directly in front of Querl Dox.

And when another sentient stepped out, Glorith gasped loudly.  Marya gasped as well, if a bit more softly.  For within a few seconds, their identification of Querl's mysterious visitor advanced from merely looking like another Coluan, to recognizing him as none other than the infamous inter-galactic law enforcer from a thousand years in the past, he who had been all but written out of history for the extreme, absolutist vision of justice he had pursued in his lifetime: Vril Dox the Second, founder and leader of the Licensed Extra-Governmental Interstellar Operatives Network -- the L.E.G.I.O.N., also known as the secret shame of the Legion's ancestry.  From this point on, and just as Harmonia had foreseen, the future of the multiverse would never be the same.

"Moons of Colu!" exclaimed Querl, in a tone closer to wary hostility than either the shock or awe which Vril had clearly been expecting.  "I knew that all this pointless work, these futile efforts at repairing the damage to the entire galaxy's tech, would end up taking their toll.  I'm having a sprocking hallucination!!"

"The hell you are!" sneered Vril with a dry understatement that contrasted tellingly with his descendant's petulant outburst of emotion.  As Vril thought to himself that he never would have believed that the Brainiac Legacy was destined to fall into the hands of such an incapable fool, worthy of nothing but his contempt, he could also tell from looking into Querl's soft, bright-green eyes that Brainiac 5 did not need telepathy to sense exactly what Vril was thinking.  Querl all but confirmed this when Vril saw his descendant's brow curl into a frown.

Finally, Querl replied, "It's illogical...but not improbable.  So, if you are real, and you are my kin, then you'll tell me how you managed to crack the barrier which has all but prohibited time travel for the last few years."

"Now why would I do that, hmmm?  Your intellect is equal to mine -- you can bloody well figure it out!!"

Before the understandably hurt Querl could hurl invective at his singularly rude predecessor, Vril cut him off with, "Anyhow, that's not what I'm here for!"

"Oh?" queried Querl, the angry expression on his face suddenly softening into one displaying genuine curiosity. "What is it, then?"

"In plain Interlac, I'm here to help you." replied Vril, before getting in yet another jab at poor Querl by adding, because if I don't, then there won't be any bloody Brainiac Legacy to continue."

Just before he would have gone ballistic at his ancestor, Querl suddenly decided shifted tactics.  "Is that so?  Well, then..." he smiled and opened his arms and his palms, "...my lab, everything in it that you see before you, it's all yours.  Have a ball.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go eat an entire pluberry pie, wash it down with a tall glass of semi-synthetic milk, and then take a long, long nap."

"You're even stupider than I thought!  Truly, truly pitiful." laughed Vril, relishing Querl's unconscious invitation for more abuse. "I'm not here to work, I'm here to talk."

"Talk is overrated!" replied Querl, as his patience snapped in tandem with his tone of voice. "In fact, one of my pet theories is that if organic sentient beings such as ourselves were physically incapable of forming sounds, and if communication between sentients were to become completely visual, it would do the galaxy a whole sprocking lot of good!"

"I can see there's no point in prolonging this tedious banter." sighed Vril as he took a computer chip out of his pocket. "Take this and watch it.  Watch it patiently, until your obviously over-estimated intellect can fully comprehend it. For that chip contains no less than a holo-video recording of the entire glorious history of the L.E.G.I.O.N.  And before you make the obvious dumb reply of why I would want you to watch the history of your own team, let me clarify -- I am speaking of MY team, the L.E.G.I.O.N., founded by yours truly in the late 20th Century, and not disbanded until my death in the early 22nd Century -- over a hundred years of triumph and tragedy...though, naturally, the former heavily outweighs the latter."

"Am I to take YOUR word for that?" snarled Querl.

"AH." replied Vril in mock amazement. "At last you are showing a glimmer of your lineage -- now THAT is now a true Brainiac talks.  It took you long enough.  Who knows, there may be hope you and your team yet."

"What team?" sneered Querl, with added acidity. "If you're who you say you are, AND you're so sprocking smart, then you know very well that the Government of Earth ordered the Legion to disband some time ago."

"Yes.  And?"

"Uh?"

"Do I need to spell it out for you?  Put the bloody Legion BACK TOGETHER!!  If you value your worthless life, or even if you DON'T, then at least do it for the sake of the continued existence of the infinite, ever-renewing loop of time, instead of letting it fall into bloody entropy and an eternity of nothingness!  And THAT, my simpleton successor, was my purpose for contacting you directly and passing along my wisdom.  IF you know what's good for you AND the bloody UNIVERSE, you WILL watch that holo-video!!"

While Vril caught his breath, he gradually came to notice that Querl's silent response to his tirade, via facial expression, was not one of acquiescence or even intimidation, but rather one of profound amusement.  "You really ARE my ancestor after all.  I knew that if I pushed you far enough, you would go overboard with the emotion which you profess to so despise!

"Yes, Vril Dox," Querl elaborated, gleefully twisting the metaphorical knife into his shocked ancestor, "I know you better than you know yourself!  I have also already committed to memory everything on your holo-video -- AND MORE!  I may be fallible, but in the end, NO ONE sprocking outsmarts Brainiac 5!!  Can you say the same about yourself...Brainiac 2??"

"Touche." sighed Vril warily after a pause whose awkwardness Querl had savored. "Game, set, match.  Checkmate.  Whatever colloquialism you prefer, you've won..."  He then narrowed his eyes and grinned devilishly. "...THIS TIME!!"

"Haven't you got better things to do?" snarked the unruffled Querl. "Protecting yesterday's galaxy, perhaps?  I know I have better things to do...such as, yes, putting the Legion back together.  So if you'll kindly take your leave..."

"I only did what I had to do." grumbled Vril, as his time portal re-opened and he strode inside. "I don't expect gratitude, but if you think I have any real confidence in you...you've got another think coming!  In the final outcome, Brainiac 2 shall be the only one standing."  And with that final pithy put-down, Vril turned his back on Querl, and made his exit.

Querl's face took on an expression as enigmatic as that of a pre-19th Century portrait, and stayed frozen there, as he continued to sit quietly, staring at the wall of his laboratory.

"We have seen enough!" declared the ageless Harmonia Li to her young companions, the restlessly impatient Marya and the deeply perturbed Glorith.  For the first time, the girls detected a crack in their mentor's serene hauteur.  "The time has come to end contemplation and proceed with proactive measures.  I must seek out Querl Dox, but not in such a way that he would see me as coming on too strong, or else all is lost."

"Whaddya want us to do in the meantime?" asked a non-plussed Marya.

"Enjoy your duck supper." was Harmonia's deceptively flat, almost unperceptively droll reply, to which Marya initially responded by widening her eyes, only for her face to break out in a wide grin just a couple seconds later.  So, thought Marya, the old lady's not as stuffy as I thought; this protégé gig might turn out to be fun after all.

Glorith, for her part, was too scared for words, yet too proud to admit it to the enigmatically ambiguous Harmonia, much less to the transparently shallow Marya, the latter whom Glorith barely tolerated in a passive-aggressive manner, which she knew could cause serious problems in the long run.  Harmonia had no need to tell Glorith she must continue to hone her latent powers of time manipulation. The young girl, who remained a mystery to all including herself, also sensed that, from this moment on, she must not depend anymore on anyone other than herself to open the doors in her mind.  For knowledge was power, and Glorith had finally learned to appreciate the taste of power.  And it tasted sweet.

Tasmia Mallor, the ex-Legionnaire formerly known by the codename Shadow Lass, glared disdainfully at the interchangeably grim vistas of deep space which passed before her eyes as her rented cruiser -- which she regarded as a piece of trash unworthy of her, but desperate times called for desperate measures -- lurched forward by fits & starts.  The procession of grandiose state-of-the-art tech -- magnificent space stations, sophisticated satellites, proud battleships, whole exoplanets even -- turned worthless debris by the sentient cybernetic virus Tharok's recent rampage through the galaxy was soul-deadening.  It might even have been considered enough to test the sunniest optimist's capacity for hope.  And while Tasmia preferred to think of herself as a cold, steely pragmatist, she was also honest enough with herself that she could not deny the toll that this voyage was taking on every facet of her well-being.  Her intended destination was the planet Verzwei.  Once there, she would seek the aid of some of the most exclusive doctors in the galaxy, in hopes of finding a cure for her mortally wounded, on-again-off-again lover, the long-lived wanderer Mon-El.  As she began to reminisce, if only to the numbing boredom of low-tech space travel, Tasmia could not escape a nagging feeling of what the humans colloquially termed "deja vu."  Had she not been through a near-identical experience once before? It was this question which she asked herself briefly, before choosing to embrace the fatalistic, yet oddly comforting, notion that it was all part of the space madness threatening to consume her psyche before she would be able to save Mon-El.

Her lover had been born Lar Gand on Daxam in the 20th Century, then renamed himself Mon-El after relocating to the planet Earth, before enduring nearly an entire millennia trapped within the Phantom Zone, so that his planetary race's sensitivity to lead would not kill him.  Once Mon-El was freed in the 30th Century by the Legion, he established himself as their top powerhouse.  But beneath his dutiful stoicism, there had always lain a profoundly insecure and emotionally unstable man with feet of the purest metaphorical clay.  And while it was reasonable to infer that no sentient being who had survived ten consecutive centuries of inside-looking-out exile could be expected to be a paragon of sanity, the fact remained that he was undeniably a handful.  Tasmia had learned this the hard way, and yet she had stuck with him through thick and thin, through times rough and smooth. 

Then, shortly before the disbanding of the Legion, Mon-El met his match in the latest so-called successor to the original, now deceased, Emerald Empress.  Because although it could be argued that the late Sarya of Venegar was but one in a never-ending series of hosts for the tremendous, and ultimately will-sapping, cosmic powers of the Emerald Eye of Ekron, Sarya had also possessed a tenacious belief in the strength of her aspirational convictions which had kept her healthy and sane longer than most of the eye's doomed avatars.  Which may also have explained why Sarya's unstable, utterly deranged successors had actually managed to invoke a far greater level of power than she ever had.  And it was this -- the unrestrained, unfiltered destructive potential of the Eye at full force -- which, in the midst of the havoc wreaked by Tharok, had thoroughly devastated Mon-El in mind, body, and soul.

As though some kind of divine intervention was taking place, Tasmia was unexpectedly jolted from her ever-more harmful ennui, by what at first she took to be nothing less than a message from the shadows themselves.  This was a timely reminder that the full extent of the powers within the shadows, which only her lineage had been granted the gift of commanding, was vastly unexplored.  At that moment, she made the connection -- her younger cousin Grev Mallor, who had willingly succeeded her as planetary champion of Talok VIII so that she could be a full-time Legionnaire, must have been trying to communicate with her through the esoteric forces they shared the power over.

"Grev?  Is that you?" she inquired, grasping for what could only be termed shadow-telepathy.

"Yes!  Thank the ancestors I was able to reach out to you, Tasmia!  I won't mince words -- my powers are not enough to defend Talok from the threat it is now facing.  I desperately need your help!  The survival of our world depends entirely on you!"

"Grev...this is not a good time...my cruiser's current course is at the other extreme of...all right, tell me exactly what the problem is."

"The Yakka-Mahor are revolting!"

Quixotically, Tasmia chose to respond by raising an eyebrow and quipping, "So what else is new?" 

She knew very well it was a cheap, badly-timed joke at the expense of Talok VIII's rustic, mountain-dwelling underclass, but she had not been able to resist.  Perhaps, she mused, the space madness had advanced further upon her than she had thought.  But then, another telepathic shout from Grev brought her back into focus.

"Tasmia, this is dead serious!  Lady Memory is leading the Yakka-Mahor once again, and this time, the galaxy-wide tech-failure has given her and her fellow savages the advantage of a groundswell of grass-roots support, which has added an enormous number of city-dwellers to her ranks.  There's fire in the streets, brawling, looting, pillaging...at this rate, Lady Memory might be ruling over Talok in less time than it would take you to get here!!"

It was a no-win situation which Tasmia now found herself in. Should she choose to postpone the search for her beloved Mon-El's much-needed cure, she risked losing their last chance at ever being together again.  But were she to allow her beloved planet and its institutions, which she had spent almost her entire life proudly defending through the duties which generations of Mallors had upheld, to descend into a return to the barbarism of the ancestors of her ancestors...the dogs returning to their vomit, as it were...she could never forgive herself.

And so Tasmia, knowing that Mon-El's comatose state did would not allow him to hear her speak, chose instead to silently ask his forgiveness, and to then say a silent prayer to her ancestors begging them to watch over Mon-El and her until she had finished helping to bring an end to the Talokian crisis.

This is great FL, really great! And not just because of your very kind words about me at that start either.

Your style if writing has improved so much over the last couple of years but is still obviously your own, all the hard work and self reflection you've put in are really shining through, as is your love of the characters.

Starting with the Lost team is a good choice, though hopefully they'll be reunited with the future at some point. You shouldn't rush it though as you're take on 21st Century heroes is great, so I'm really enjoying reading them.

Your introduction of Wildlife is perhaps the best description I've ever read of him: honest-to-the-Gods Rocket-man indeed!

Your take on Harmonia is sinister and manipulative and really really intriguing, I'm looking forward to reading where you take her from here. She seemed to know what was coming and making Dragonwing and Glorith watch was interesting, I'm sure you have bigger plans. Also love your little twist that Glorith enjoys power.... Hmmmm are we seeing the beginning of her corruption?

Tasmia, of course, is the highlight so far. Her passion and loyalty are there for us all all to see, though those moments of melancholia and self absorption are further nuances to her already multi faceted personality. Well done for not taking the easy road with her as the tough unemotional warrior and for showing her struggling with the responsibility she has. This also included my favourite line so far, in amongst a lot of good line, as perhaps the most Shady like line in a fanfic - like dogs returning to their vomit - I actually laughed out loud at that, as it was just so perfect and disgusting at the same time.

This is really really good FL, and I'm looking forward to a lot more, more, more!

Wow. Thank you, Harbi. I particularly appreciated your opinion that my writing has improved over the last couple of years. That means a lot to me, as your firm but fair critiques in the past were always a great help.

Thanks, too, for your positive feedback on my characterizations. Naturally, it's Tasmia who remains particularly amazing to me, in the sense that, while on the one hand I could write her in my sleep and be satisfied, but OTOH, whenever I put in just that little bit extra thought & effort, she always ends up surprising me with the new layers upon layers of her complex personality that she reveals to me!

I think you'll be pleased to learn that because I had so much fun writing the opening 21st Century sequence, I had already been thinking, even before I read your comments, of waiting a little longer than I'd originally planned before I return Dawny, Drake, and their teammates to the 31st Century.

FTR, the moment from the opening that I'm most proud of is Kendra/Hawkgirl's seeing through Fake Hawkman/Byth's cheap and pervy theatrics right away. Best meta-fictional bit I've done to date, if I do say so myself; I'd like to think my hero Peter David would be pleased.

And, finally, after getting off to such a roaring start yesterday, I figure I'll have no trouble managing several more installments today. That said, I've embraced the concept of moderation, and of only writing when the fire is there, never again trying to force it as I tended to do in the past.

Thanks again, Harbi. Yours was a wonderful reply to wake up to.

Yes, sorry, I meant to say that Hawkgirl was well written too, and her bopping Byth was fun as well. You put so much into those first few posts that it's hard to comment on it all without writing an overwhelmingly long reply.

And I definitely agree about not forcing your work; enjoy it and revel in it when it comes but it you make it a chore the fun will die quite quickly, and it shows in your fic, unfortunately.

Thanks again for sharing this FL. Looking forward to whatever you give us next.

No worries, Harbi, I certainly don't expect you or any other Legion Worlder to comment on *everything* in my stories. I had actually brought it up only because I'd hoped to spark some discussion on the meta-aspects of the story. The Hawkgirl bit wasn't the only meta-moment in the installments posted up to now, and it definitely won't be the last, but it was by far the one which, as of this post, I felt most satisfied with the way I executed it.

Warrior woman, pagan priestess, mind-witch, revolutionary firebrand, Lady Memory...those were but a few of the appellations which her fellow Talokians had placed on the woman who bore a slight resemblance to the planetary champions whom she intended to make examples of by killing them.  Other, less flattering titles included heretic, trouble-maker, devil-worshipper, dissident agressor, sadist, and tyrant-in-the-making.  But Lady Memory had always held enough belief in herself to laugh off her detractors, especially when they were vastly outnumbered by her loyal acolytes.

And at that moment, she would, every chance she had, thank Makkas, the gender-ambiguous prime God/Goddess of the planet's disenfranchised underclass she had been born into.  For the galaxy-wide tech-failure from the recent past was regarded by Lady Memory and her followers as nothing less than divine intervention, the catalyst for the final disassembly of the ruling class's so-called civilization.  Any doubter need only have looked at the hundreds of converts she had brought into her fold, with more added every day.

But Lady Memory was also pragmatic enough in the way she allowed neither her lusty giddiness, nor her certainty of the triumph laying ahead, to lead her into a premature declaration of victory for the revolution.

No, she thought to herself, the people -- HER people -- needed a symbolic event which they could point to as the moment of Talok's Year Zero, from which the planet's population would henceforth never look back.  And what she had in mind was nothing less than a brazen double-stroke.

The first of the ruling class to die publicly, in a manner as dramatic as Lady Memory could possibly manage, would be Grev Mallor, better known as Shadow Man (and formerly as Shadow Kid), the planet's current bearer of the burden of championship (how, Lady Memory wondered to herself, could any of the so-called champions have ever had even enough self-respect to look in the mirror, considering they were nothing more than glorified marionettes of the decadent hypocrites who presumed to oppress the torch-bearers of Talok's truth?)

The second killing would be that of Shadow Man's older cousin, Shadow Lass, who, as a member in long standing of the ghastly Legion of Super-Heroes, was complicit in protecting and perpetuating a society led by greedy parasites, each of them looking only after their individual selves, and publicly living a deceitful affectation of being high-functioning sentients, when their true emotional maturity was that of spoiled toddlers trapped in adult bodies.

Lady Memory laughed loud and hard at how, in the end, the ruling classes had already done most the revolutionaries work for them, drowning in their own filth and relying on chemicals to numb them through their waking hours long enough that they would resist the temptation to kill themselves.  To say nothing of their nature-killing dependence on technology whose recent mass-failure had been a long time in coming.  

Upon reflection, thought Lady Memory, it was to be a Year Zero for not only Talok, but for the entire galaxy.  And it would begin just as soon as the revolutionaries made the final push into the citadel of the prime oppressors.  At the climax, Shadow Man would be publicly executed -- first, Lady Memory would use her mind-witchery to make him relive every unpleasant memory of his worthless waste of a life; next, he would be brutally beaten by the revolutionaries; finally, he would be thrown to the mob of newly-liberated Talokian city-dwellers so that they could tear him to pieces.  Glorious times lay ahead for Talok, Lady Memory asserted to herself, now that Makkas no longer forsook his/her faithful flock.

MEANWHILE, ON EARTH...

Unknown to Lady Memory, the same basic concept of Year Zero as that preached by her was now snowballing within the brilliant mind of Querl Dox, the Coluan who currently felt 99.99% certain that the right thing to do was to bring back the very Legion of Super-Heroes which Lady Memory despised.

But, thought Querl with complete and utter certainty, it would never be the same Legion as before, mainly because the new iteration of the team would be founded, and unquestionably led by, Querl Dox himself.  There would be no need for the supposed cornerstones of the team -- Rokk "Cosmic Boy" Krinn was a metaphorical dinosaur, with his outdated notions of might making right and inter-planetary interventionism at the service of that empire built on quicksand known as the United Planets; Garth "Lightning Lad" Ranzz had once been a fierce but fair-minded warrior whom Querl had been happy to call an ally, but years of misfortune, including Garth's skin-of-the-teeth return from seeming death, had beaten the fight out of him, and dampened the fire within, while his recent embrace of domestication and fatherhood was all it had taken to extinguish any remaining embers inside Garth.

Ah, but then, thought a newly smiling Querl, there was Imra "Saturn Girl" Ardeen-Ranzz, that telepathic force of nature, whose psionic powers had never even come close to being pushed to their limits, who had been the first female Legionnaire and the team's first female leader, AND who had single-handedly saved the galaxy from Universo's masterful scheming, after even Imra's handful of hardy allies -- including Querl himself -- had fallen before the forces which had been at Universo's command.  But Imra chose to hide all that she truly was behind an icy reserve and the affectations of being a perfectly normal wife to Garth and mother to her twin sons.

Sad, really, thought a now-frowning Querl, that she would have chosen the easy, conventional route which had always suppressed her true potential.  But then again, at the other extreme there lay Imra's fellow Titanian Eve "Saturn Queen" Aries, she whose megalomaniacal grandiosity had warped her into an utterly unhinged agent of the forces of chaos.  Querl shuddered as he recalled his recent victimization, and that of other Legionnaires, through Saturn Queen's vicious head-games before concluding that trying to win Imra over to his side was not only a self-defeating impossibility, it could even turn out to be counter-productive.  Who, then, Querl now pondered, could be his ideal Number One?

As if in response to his silent query, the automated communication and security system of the dilapidated Metroplex at the city limits of Metropolis, the same which housed Querl's current lab, came crackling to life.

"You have a newly arrived visitor, Professor Dox."

"AGAIN??" groaned Querl loudly. "If I wanted fewer interruptions, I'd set up my lab on bloody Nullport!!  Who the sprock is it?"

"Your colleague, Professor Harmonia Li."

The mention of Harmonia's name stirred up a reaction within Querl that even he could not define -- and he hated anything he could not define.  Where, he thought bitterly, did that supposedly ageless busybody get off, presuming to shoehorn herself back into his life, when her stint with the Legion had begun with her complicity in the destruction of Titan (albeit unwittingly so), and ended with her (and, in fairness, the entire Legion's) helplessness in the face of the Tharok-driven, tech-failure-produced galactic disaster?

But then, as the emotional fog lifted from Querl's mind, allowing the logic to take over, all of Querl's thoughts suddenly converged into a brainstorm so electrifying, it shocked even him.

"Moons...of...Colu!!" Querl whispered to himself as his eyes widened until they threatened to fall out of their sockets, "Harmonia is the answer to all my immediate needs, and I almost turned her away!!"

Pulling himself together within the next nano-second, he finally replied to the automated communication and security system.  "By all means, send her in!"

Querl now allowed himself the childlike indulgence of rubbing his hands in anticipation while grinning ear-to-ear until his cheekbones hurt.  Yes, he thought, it was meant to be, after all...not that I should have ever doubted it, but if this isn't a sign, then I'm as dumb as that loser Ultra Boy.  He then began talking to himself again, while unconsciously lifting his head and raising his arms to create a messianic pose.

"There shall be a new Legion.  And I will be in charge.  ME!!  HA, HA, HA, HA, HA!!"

(What's below was written before reading your latest update.)

I'm enjoying this as well, Fick! I know you've probably been disappointed in my not reading fanfics you've done previously, but here I am--finally!

What got me to try this one was your recent, very thoughtful review sof the Retroboot and Lost Vol. 2 over on the LSH forum. I was surprised by how even-handed they were and how it made me re-think a few things. So with those things in mind, I followed you here. (Didn't hurt, either, that I've had 7 days off and some time to kill! )

I'm curious about a lot of things. One of those is how many subplots you will be introducing. My only concern is that, if there are many more begun, I may have trouble following them and remembering who, where, what, etc. Not trying to shackle you--the Legion is nothing if not an unruly and expansive cast of characters--but I'm curious. I know you could probably pull it off, but I would think it would be harder in prose than in a comic book. For me, it would be a daunting task!

I'm also curious about whether you will "right some wrongs" in your process or if you'll take what happened as gospel and go from there. I know I would be hugely tempted to undo at least one or two deaths, for example. In any case I'm eager to get a look at Tinya and get some of her perspective on her departure.

So far, I've enjoyed Tasmia's scene and the meeting of the Brainiacs the most. In the former I kind of expected some reference to Earth-Man, though. I know you loathe the character, but it would have been a good place to address her feelings on the matter. And obviously, I'm also a fan of dot-LEGION and Vril II, so that was a treat, even if it was a one-off.

Of course, I hope to see some Vi and Ayla, Dreamy and maybe some kind of follow-up on Jeckie's last scene in the last issue.

Anyway, I'm really enjoying this and look forward to more!

Welcome aboard, Lardy!!

Words just can't properly express what a nice surprise it is for me to see you posting here, because I seem to recall you saying a few years ago that you'd become extremely selective about which fanfics you chose to read. Therefore, to get the Lardy seal of approval on this project is a great pleasure, and very flattering!! Thank you from the bottom of my fangirl heart!!

And thanks, too, for the kind words about my reviews of the Retroboot and LLv2; I have made a conscious effort lately to be more even-handed in my posts than I used to be, but especially my Legion forum posts. Happy to hear that it's paying off just as I'd hoped.

In answer to your questions:

What I'm trying to do about the subplots is to let the first bunch run their natural course before introducing more of them. That's what I've been trying to teach myself, through trial and error over the six or seven years I've been writing Legion fanfics on-and-off, how to do it as good as my writing heroines and heroes (and Levitz, however ambivalent I have become about his Legion runs, remains one of my heroes.) I have detailed notes and computer files with all the possible subplots I've brainstormed to date, but I try to select only those which are most organically compatible with whatever the A, B, and C plots happen to be at the moment. Right now, the A-Plot is Brainy & Harmonia reforming the team, the B-Plot is the LLv2 team fragmenting as some members decide they want more than others to go home, and the C-Plot is Glorith's inner voyage of self-discovery and its outer repercussions (A digression: Steve Engelhart calls it the "rising and advancing of a spirit", so the question is, will Glorith make the universe soar towards further enlightment, or drag it down into oblivion? I already know the answer, but obviously I can't reveal it right now. ) So whichever threads spin organically out of the above are the ones which take priority.

As for "righting some wrongs", Tinya and her mid-battle meltdown (an appalling WTF Legion character assassination if there ever was one) is definitely at the top of my list, but I also believe in the old saying, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder," so while she will return eventually, and all will be explained to the best of my ability, Tinya's story is currently simmering on the back burner. I'm curious which other dropped balls from the Retroboot you'd like to see me deal with, and as long as it won't spoil any major developments I have planned, I'll be happy to share my thoughts.

Glad that you enjoyed the Tasmia scene so much. Regarding Earth-Man, I'm using what might be called the "Mike Carey Method", specifically his long, long X-Men v. 2/X-Men Legacy run -- the method, in a nutshell, is to at the very least respect everything about what came before, and then choosing whether or not it's worth making lemonade out of lemons, or to just leave the lemons alone. And so, yes, I do fully intend, in the not-so-long-run, to deal with Tasmia's feelings for Earth-Man, how they've intertwined with her touch-and-go (also quite possibly, though not necessarily, doomed) reconciliation with Mon-El, and just what it is that has often drawn her towards a certain kind of man (it just occurred to me, as I was typing this paragraph, that in LSH v. 6, both Earth-Man and Mon-El were chosen by the Green Lantern ring, and since I made no bones in the Tasmia installment of this fic about Mon-El's fallibilities, it suddenly dawned on me that Lar and Kirt might not be as different under the surface as they seemed (Lar the life-bringer, Kirt the mass-murderer, Tasmia going from one extreme to another? This bears further pondering.)

Regarding Querl & Vril, I greatly appreciate your positive feedback, because that was, to date, the most challenging scene for me to write. It actually didn't completely jell in my mind until I was more than halfway through writing it, and I was greatly relieved that it came together in such a way that I didn't have to go back and rewrite a single word!! So that was very much an ego-boost.

AND, as long as we're talking Vril, I think you'll be quite pleased to learn that this is far from the last we've seen of him interacting with his descendant. Without spoiling anything, we'll eventually (maybe even sooner that I'm planning at the moment) see the whole L.E.G.I.O.N. crew, though not necessarily all together at the same time.

And regarding the four Legion ladies you'd most like to see, I think there's more good news than bad. Because while I consider Dreamy's epilogue in #23 to be the perfect sign-off for her, and while Jeckie's return is even more far-off than Tinya's (not by a lot, though)...

...Vi and Ayla will be *the first two ex-Legionnaires to rejoin the team*, right after it's been *officially formed*!! And on their first official mission, Vi will be field commander, with Ayla as Number One!!

Finally, and as a perfect segue, I would be remiss not to mention that I feel like I've at last reached a level of perspective and emotional maturity to properly deal with the relationship between Ayla (who I love) and Vi (who I think needs several of the aforementioned "wrongs righted" before I can fully embrace her as a character.) (Not that Ayla hasn't got at least a couple of explanations due, mainly what the hell that scene towards the end of the Baxter Era between her and Pol was, other than prime fodder for snarky Ayla-haters. In short, I'll deal with it eventually, but I still have to finish wrapping my head around it.)

Thanks again for the support, the encouragement, and the thoughtful feedback, Lardy, and I hope you enjoy what's on the way as much as you've enjoyed the opening installments.

Sounds like a winning plan you have there, Fick! As far as other "wrongs to be righted", I was primarily thinking about the deaths of Star Boy and Sun Boy, though I would respect it if you decided to treat those as inviolate. But there's also Quislet and Tenzil having been written off casually and XS, iirc, inexplicably never showing up after being set to continue after Legion of 3 Worlds, along with Gates. I'd also like to see more of Jed Rikane and Gravity Kid.

And maybe some subtle, organic continuity-doctoring that shows what parts of the preboot are still in continuity when relevant. I can see, for instance, that at least the aftermath of LSH Vol. 3 #50 is out with your reference to Shady's plight with Mon feeling familiar somehow but not. This, of course, follows Levitz's own cue that the marriage rite never happened. (I'm sure, though, it's within your own preference to ignore approximately the last approximately 2 years of that run because of your own proclivities.) But questions involving Superboy and Supergirl are tempting to address, among many others. And of course, your use of Lady Memory and Grev made me think of the two getting married, iirc, in TMK.

No pressure of any sort here, Fick, just some of my own musings. I'd advise, though, for you to think about writing some characters you're not overly fond of, or maybe even hate. Sometimes, making that effort can be very rewarding!

I think it's clear that the Retroboot had and has more potential than was ever really explored. I'm confident from what I've seen that you will be realizing that potential!

Quislet *will* return, I give you my word on that, Lardy!!

I don't think it'd spoil too much to say that Drake will temporarily exit his containment suit in order to enter Teall to try and rescue Quislet once and for all. Drake *will* do this, whether he stays in the 21st Century or not.

I'd like to bring back Tenzil, explain why exactly he left the Legion, and explore the melancholy beneath the clowning; I know the latter is more TMK Tenzil than Preboot/Retroboot Tenzil, but it's by far my favorite thing about the TMK era, and I don't think it should fall by the wayside. I also want to explore exactly what effects eating the Miracle Machine had on him, because there just *had* to have been *some* kind of change in him.

XS I like, but her continuity post-post-post-post-all-the-DCU-resets is going to be a tough tangle to unravel. But I'm not one to back off from a creative challenge, and I have a vague notion of bringing in her mom and her uncle from a different point in the timestream...it's all far from even starting to coalesce yet, but I can say that we might even see appearances by her grandfolks Barry & Iris (though I doubt I'll be bringing Wally or Bart into the 31st Century, even for visits, more out of a gut feeling than anything.)

Gates is a character I've enjoyed writing in the not-too-distant-past, even though the one time I did was in what I regard as one of my worst Legion fics, the third installment of the Every-Boot Legion. Now I'm eager to write him again, in a story where I've already nailed down the beginning, middle, and end. For a taste of what's coming with Gates, consider that he's still living in the 21st Century, and that it's quite possible his politics might be too radical even for the Bernie Sanders crowd, AND he's an insectoid from another planet to boot!!

Jed Rikane and Tel Vole are a sweet, endearing couple, and Brainy & Harmonia could definitely use them on the new roster, what with Mon-El's survival looking iffy, Blok under Mysa's thrall, Ultra Boy MIA (hint: Quest for Tinya), Supergirl & Superboy both in a Hawk-People-like continuity fustercluck, and Star Boy turned into a bearded pancake (I know, I know, that last bit was mean, but I've never forgiven Preboot Thom for his idea of how to do a "tough-love" breakup with Preboot Nura.) Jed could very well become the team's permanent muscle, while Tel's precocity and reverence for the Legion make him more than qualified to take Star Boy's place. My only uneasiness about Jed & Tel is that Phil Jimenez seemed to have such definite plans for where they were going (understandable, since Tel *was* his baby) that it's hard for me not to try to second-guess what those plans might have been, and second-guessing is not conducive to good storytelling (hmmm...possibly try to contact Phil and ask for a gist of his plans? Worth considering, I think. )

And, ahhh...Legion continuity...I plan to tread very carefully, and if I see the need for minor modifications, I won't hesitate to use them, as the ending of Convergence was a gift from the Gods for fanfic writers like me, as far as getting plenty of wiggle room for what does and what doesn't remain ("Continuity blip? No, it's because that timeline *evolved* into something rather different.") As for Superboy and Supergirl, you may be surprised, knowing my personal Legion preferences, at what might be coming up. Hint:

I agree with you 100% about the potential rewards of writing characters I dislike. I took some tentative steps in that direction with the first two installments of the Every-Boot Legion (which, even though it went off the rails after that, I would like to have another go at within the next 5 to 10 years.) This is particularly true of my Engelhart-inspired weaving together of my bete noire among the male Legionnaires, Cosmic Boy's, continuity in the first installment. And it's going to have relevance to Cos's backstory in the Earth-7.5 Legion, and the current plans I have for him. I will elaborate when I post Cos's entry in my upcoming "Who's Who in the Earth-7.5 DCU" thread.

Regarding Lady Memory and the whole situation on Talok VIII, the scenario explored in TMK *might* happen...but with my own twist on it, naturally...and I'm confident that nobody's going to see how the LM-led uprising on Talok will be resolved. (And it's going to happen in just two more installments!! Stay tuned!!)

You've got a very big canvas here! It's quite exciting to think of the possibilities of where you'll take the characters.

When I think of this Brainy and Harmonia running a Legion, Lucifer and Mazikeen come to mind (although Brainy is less polished). Watch out galaxy!

You write a great Tasmia! I think we're most aligned on that particular character. The Talok plot is compelling. I've always wondered to what degree Grev smarted from his humiliation at the hands of Lady Memory and it sounds like she has a few resentments to work out as well! (Maybe they're already married and this is a super-argument gone very bad? ;))

You have quite a different perception of some characters' personalities compared to my own, and that makes for a very intriguing read.

I got a laugh with Kendra thinking about a threesome during a battle. Really looking forward to upcoming installments!

MEANWHILE, ON THE PLANET WINATH...

Although it would have been naïve and simplistic, if not borderline delusional, to describe the agrarian planet Winath as a bucolic paradise, populated entirely by uncomplicated, hard-working people with good values, whose doors were always open to welcome decent folk like themselves into their homes, the planet was randomly dotted with spots where the truth did come acceptably close to the myth.  One such spot was the piece of land containing the modest but thriving vegetable farm which was the property of one of Winath's most sincerely decent and neighborly couples, Mr. Garth Ranzz and Mrs. Imra Ardeen-Ranzz.

As they both currently busied themselves with preparations for receiving guests, Garth quietly took comfort in their relatively good fortunes of late, but as a native son of Winath, he knew that it wasn't luck at all, but rather his and Imra's commitment to a strong work ethic, and, more importantly, the feeling that anything at all positive should never be taken for granted.

Imra, for her part, simply felt relieved that her sister-in-law, Garth's vivacious if edgy twin Ayla, had agreed to take care of Imra's and Garth's twin sons for as much time as they needed to properly entertain their expected guests.  Ayla lived with her abrasive but ultimately kind-hearted same-sex partner, Salu Digby, on one of Winath's moon colonies, a location rather more cosmopolitan than the Ranzz farm.  By 31st Century standards, this was, if not quite like living a few streets away from each other, then at least a distance which could be covered with reasonable speed, even with the kind of old-fashioned cruisers which the galaxy-wide tech-failure had once again made necessary.  Those two iconoclastic young women, thought Imra, would make great parents one day, and Ayla had actually told Imra not long before that they were already discussing either artificial insemination for either her or Salu, or applying to adopt a child.

Naturally, Ayla knew she and Salu could always count on Imra's unconditional support and encouragement, but Imra hoped they also knew that she would never hesitate to be the hard voice of experience, warning them that motherhood was not all glee and bliss.  It was also torturously long nights without sleep but WITH a great deal of anxiety and uncertainty, it was bodily functions out of control, and it was noise -- endless, headache-inducing noise which produced more stress than a sentient being should be reasonably expected to handle, ESPECIALLY if there was more than one child in the household, as was the case with Imra & Garth's twin sons.  Should Ayla & Salu, the latter affectionately nicknamed "Vi" by those she allowed to get close to her, make the same choice Imra had, then it was only fair that Imra forewarn them of what they would be in for.

Then, without the slightest warning, Imra's hyper-sensitive Titanian-born mind abruptly fixated on a seemingly random thought -- the fact that neither she nor Garth had thought of telling Ayla & Vi exactly who their guests were.

Imra stopped her cleaning and re-arranging of the living room on a dime.  Garth was busy outside, setting up tables and chairs for the meal, which Imra felt was fortunate for both her and him.  Possessing the telepathy which was the genetic birthright of all native Titanians -- and at a level of not-fully-explored power which was near-unprecedented in her generation, as well as downright scary to boot -- she had been trained from birth by Titan's finest minds to keep her powers under control, lest the potential sensory overload threaten to drive her mad.

She knew that the resulting public impression she communicated was one of icy aloofness, but deep down, she saw no alternative.  It was, Imra felt, all she could do to not end up like such monstrous rogue Titanians as Eve "Saturn Queen" Aries, scourge of far too many vulnerable minds across the galaxy, and who had victimized several of Imra's fellow ex-Legionnaires in the not-too-distant past, just a short while before the team was forcibly disbanded by executive order.

These were precisely the kind of thoughts which Imra made every effort during her every waking hour to avoid like the plague.  And when she could not shut them out, as was the case at that moment, she urgently required what could be termed her "me time."  But circumstances did not always allow Imra that luxury, and this was one of those unfortunate times.

She now did her best to focus harder, going back to the thought which had triggered her current unease...

It seemed on the surface like an innocuous question: Why it would have never occurred to her to tell Ayla & Vi who was coming to visit her and Garth?

Suddenly, a metaphorical dam burst within Imra's mind, and she could no longer hold back all of the dark, skewed, irrational thoughts which had been unleashed, such as:

How had she and Garth managed to stay friends with their expected guests, Rokk Krinn and Lydda Jath, through years of sharing ups and downs as members of the Legion of Super-Heroes and its ancillary teams...when they hardly knew anything substantial about either Rokk or Lydda?

Sure, Garth and Rokk had already done the superficial male-bonding thing way back when they, and Imra, joined together to found the Legion while still only in their mid-teens.  And when Lydda started coming in and out of their lives a relatively short time later, Imra had initially tried in earnest to connect with the stunning, stylish, outwardly vibrant Lydda, but there had always been a kind of opacity to Lydda which prevented anything from truly taking hold between the two women...and the same held true, Imra now realized, in the strictly businesslike relationship between herself and Rokk.

With his self-assurance, his take-charge inclinations, his smooth negotiating skills, and his general ability to disarm everyone from teammates to villains bent on massive-scale domination through ill-gained power, Rokk appeared the very epitome of the well-adjusted, highly-functioning model citizen, the perfect public face for the Legion to revolve around.

What was it, then, about Rokk which had always caused Imra to tread carefully, to take his every word and deed at face value even when she had her doubts, to never attempt to probe deeper into him?  Into that honest-to-the-Gods working-class hero from the harsh world built atop the merciless surface of the Gods-forsaken planet Braal?  That one-time high-school athlete of great promise and breathtaking charisma, who had sent young women's hearts aflutter even before her came a celebrated super-hero?  

And hadn't Lydda publicly claimed at least once that her entire reason for entering the superhero community was so that she could get close to Rokk?

The mind of Imra Ardeen-Ranzz was now flooded with twisted suppositions and deeply disturbing musings.  All she could do at the moment to cope with it was to put both her hands on her forehead, settle into an easy chair, close her eyes, and take several deep breaths.  Please, Gods, she thought, don't let Garth, much less Lydda and Rokk, see me like this!  Just help me make it through this gathering as the best hostess I can possibly be, and I promise to deal with it as soon as my guests have left!!

AT THAT MOMENT, ON EARTH, WITHIN HARMONIA LI'S CHINESE RETREAT...

"I'm glad we agree that there is no need to approach any of the original team's founders." declared a grinning, visibly confident Brianiac-5 to his fellow ex-Legionnaire -- and, just a short while earlier, his official co-founder of the new Legion -- Harmonia Li. "They are, in my opinion, the epitome of the phrase "surplus to requirement.", nothing more than glorified anachronisms."  He then paused to catch his breath, admire the retreat's décor, and take a sip of Harmonia's graciously offered tea.

Harmonia responded to what he had just said with a restrained smile and a polite laugh.  Earlier that same day, when Brainiac-5 had received her at his lab with what was, for him, such an uncharacteristic display of solicitousness and demonstrative friendliness, all of which seemed outright sincere, she had been genuinely surprised.  A rare occurrence indeed with Harmonia, for if anyone could be said to not have been "born yesterday," it was her.  Perhaps, she thought, the fates were being kind to her in facilitating the realization of her plans...and then again, it was just as likely the fates had a wickedly ironic outcome in mind for the future of this aborning new Legion, a possibility indicating to Harmonia that she would have to stay on her guard.

So I had hoped to have the story done by the end of this weekend, but like Harbi and I were agreeing on earlier in this thread, a story ends up better when its writer stands back and simply allows it to happen when it happens (that is, if she or he is doing the story just for fun and doesn't depend on meeting deadlines to get paid. And that's why I'll never stop writing fanfics, even once I've established myself as a freelance writer.)

But at least I was able to complete a substantial enough portion to post. All's good ATM with me and my fanfic writing.

And the other DCU fanfic projects I've been working on in addition to the Legion for future Bits posting ...you won't believe your eyes!!

Now to read FC's always-welcome comments and post a reply to her, before getting back to doing the creative pursuits that I love to do more than anything in the world.

Thank you, FC. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I'm so excited about this opening arc and the one coming up right after it, that I feel downright *giddy*!! I've never before felt so confident about, and happy with, my own writing.



*YAY!!* FC just compared my Retroboot Legion writing, and my portrayals of Brainy and Harmonia, to Mike Carey's "Lucifer" run!! *SQUEE!!* Thank you so much. It so happens Carey is one of my very favorite writers, and one of the few who is equally at home writing either Vertigo weirdness or Marvel superheroics (on a more sobering note, DC's superhero division has consistently rejected his proposals, including one for *Firestorm* that Carey was particularly excited about. Sigh. )



Your Lucifer comment had me on Cloud Nine. The one I just quoted has taken me even higher, if that's possible!! Thanks a million billion trillion, FC.



Anything's possible. If I said any more, I'd spoil the upcoming ending to that plot thread.



Much appreciated, FC. That just makes the writing even more of a pleasure to do. And to reiterate something I've been saying a lot lately on these boards, I really, really love the mutual respect between Legion Worlders and the general civility, even friendliness, of our discussions.



Thanks. I was quite proud of that bit myself. She's always been by far my favorite Hawk-Person. I'm almost finished working on my Secret Origin of Earth-7.5 Kendra, and I'm very happy with how it's turning out.



Thank you, FC. And I'm eagerly anticipating your further comments.

What a good start, Fanfie!

I like your narrative style, where you have a sort of narrator introducing your scenes. It's a good way to introduce the characters and the settings.

Good job for showing Lady Memory's point of view, helps to let us see both sides of the Talokian rebellion.

Your Tasmia is wonderful, very strong-willed, emotional but not letting emotion overcome her. A great portrayal of her character.

I loved your 21st century scene. Hawkgirl thinking of a threesome was comedy cold, and like others said I loved her seeing through Byth immediately. Happy to see the Lost Legionnaires involving themselves in the present, but I'm certainly excited at the thought of them eventually coming home. And happy you included a glimpse of Drura!

Harmonia and Brainy reforming the Legion makes sense. I got a laugh out of Brainy manipulating Vril Dox into losing his temper - and I'm glad it showed him living up to his Brainiac name (emotional intelligence IS a mark of intelligence!) His thoughts on the 3 founders were interesting.

Imra's thoughts were interesting as well. Cos and Lydda, interested to see where you go with them. I also like your perspective on why she is so careful with her self-control. Citing Saturn Queen as a counterpoint makes a lot of sense.

Thanks, Ibby. Much appreciated.



Glad to see my intentions came through clearly. Growing up in Latin America, one does tend to get a better education towards understanding what exactly makes would-be revolutionaries tick.



Thank you. Like I said to FC in reply to her equally positive comments on my Tasmia, I can write her in my sleep and still feel like I did right by her, but when I put in that extra bit of effort...it's magical!!



You're very welcome. Having never read, nor ever intending to read, the later issues of the TMK/TM minus K run, wherein Drura had her most prominent moments in the spotlight, she's pretty much a clean slate for me to develop in the direction I see as the most fit for her...only the best for one of Dave Cockrum's most imaginatively designed creations.



Thanks a trillion, Ibby. As with Lady Memory, it makes me happy to see that what I was trying to convey came through loud & clear.



Thanks. That was one of the hardest, most time-consuming parts of that installment to write.



The more understanding I gain of Imra, the more she becomes basically an extension of myself...only a lot more attractive, and with naturally blonde hair (though I haven't been a blonde for over a decade now.) I find now that it's a fine line I walk to prevent myself from turning her into a Mary Sue.

That said, once Ayla returns in the second story arc, that's going to be even more of a temptation for Mary Sue-ing. But I also think I've become confident enough, objective enough, and pragmatic enough about serving the story and the characters over any personal biases, that I should be able to stay true to both of these Legion ladies.

I think you'll do a good job continuing to make sure nobody turns into a Mary Sue.

Out of curiosity, what's your take on the v3 portrayals of Imra and Rokk having a really friendly relationship? I notice you describe them as having a strictly businesslike relationship. I agree though that Lydda never got to be close with Imra and Garth, at least up to the end of v3.

And I applaud your look into Lady Memory's POV again, and your desire to portray the opposing side's thoughts. We need more of that in real life - trying to understand the other side.

Re: Lady Memory and the opposing sides, I think that was very well said, Ibby, and I'm in 100% agreement.

Re: Imra & Rokk, I see it more as her humoring him with white lies & half-truths, the better to keep his monstrous control-freak side at bay.

Oh, an interesting take! I can see how it would fit in with the actual v3 scenes. Cos THINKS their relationship is one of close friendship, but that's what he thinks...

Exactly.

THE FINAL INSTALLMENT OF THE FIRST E-7.5 STORY ARC

At this moment, Tasmia Mallor was discovering that the cliché about one's life passing before her or his eyes as they approach their own death was completely untrue.  And while someone as tenacious as her would probably have frowned at being described as having resigned herself to fate, that was Tasmia's exact mind-set as her ship, inadequate from the start for the long voyage she had forced it to undergo, came in for an inevitable crash-landing on the surface of her home planet of Talok VIII.  The landing would, in fact, be not far from the sacred cavern where she had first embraced the shadow powers which had been her rightful destiny since birth.  A perfectly circular way of the cosmos capping off her life as it neared its end, she mused as the outside pressures on the rickety ship became too much to bear, and even a last-second attempt by her cousin Grev, whose pleas for help had summoned her to Talok in the first place, trying to reach her once again through the mind-link provided by their mutual shadow powers.

"Tasmia!!" she heard his mind screaming, "Pull up, or your ship will explode upon landing!!"  But she found that she did not care any longer, not whether she lived or died, nor even whether her only fellow passenger, the once-mighty, now-fallen Mon-El, still unconscious inside his stasis tube, lived or died. Tasmia closed her eyes and prepared to meet her ancestors.

Down on the planet's surface, Grev Mallor continued to reach out in vain to his older, more powerful cousin, while running straight towards what he had determined, using only his eyes and his instinctive sense of direction, was the trajectory of Tasmia's seemingly doomed ship.

Grev could be forgiven, under the circumstances, for focusing exclusively on the ship at the expense of discovering that he was being shadowed from close behind, by a Yakka-Mahor sentinel loyal to Grev's nemesis, Lady Memory, the leader of the uprising taking place in the planet's capital city.  An uprising which Grev had narrowly escaped the site of with his life, which has the reason the sentinel had been dispatched to track him down, but to bring him back alive so that Lady Memory could kill Grev herself, in full view of the Talokian population.

Now the sentinel found himself having to make a tough call.  His intuition told him that whoever was piloting that ship had to mean a great deal to Grev, if he would risk making himself an easy target by coming out of hiding in order to follow the ship's descent.  Perhaps, the sentinel deduced, correctly as it were, the ship's pilot may even be Lady Memory's other prime target, Tasmia Mallor, Grev's cousin and his predecessor as champion of the old Talokian order which Lady Memory and her acolytes were now in the process of disassembling.

This was too vital a possibility to waste on fulfilling his original mission, thought the sentinel.  And so he stopped on a dime, turned on his heel, and began running swiftly -- the Yakka-Mahor had always been trained by their elders to be exceptional runners -- back to the capital city which had fallen to his leader Lady Memory's forces.

MEANWHILE, ON EARTH...

Harmonia Li & Brainiac 5 were both in high spirits as they entered the recreation room of Harmonia's elegant retreat hidden within a bucolic yet dense region of China.  They were not surprised to see Harmonia's teenage protégés, Marya and Glorith, already in the room, the former half-heartedly watching cartoons of the holo-vision set, the latter wrapped up in her own thoughts.

Nor were Harmonia & Brainy surprised to note that the girls did not take any notice of the adults' presence, refusing to even look in their direction, much less greet them with words.  That was just typical teenager behavior from the girls.

But right after Harmonia spoke up and said, "Great news, young ladies!!  Brainiac and I have finished conferring, and the new Legion has become a certainty," both Marya & Glorith turned their gazes towards Harmonia, giving her their undivided attention.

"Great!" replied Marya. "So who's in the roster?"

"Uh...why, you are." replied a puzzled Brainy. "Both of you."

Now Marya's eyes blazed with anger. "HARMONIA, how COULD you??" she shouted. "You volunteered us for the team without even ASKING us first???"

"I had assumed, erroneously it now appears, that your memberships were a given." replied a typically unruffled Harmonia.

"It's the PRINCIPLE of the thing!!" Marya continued to rage as Harmonia retained her poker face, Brainy rolled his eyes, and Glorith hung her head low and sighed. "If you're gonna try to run our lives behind our backs, then this setup isn't gonna work at all!!"

Suddenly, the argument was put to stop when the holo-vision set began blaring with an ominously familiar musical fanfare preceding the announcement that the regularly scheduled program was being interrupted for a Special News Report.

With all eyes in the recreation room now fixated on the holo-vision, the anchorperson got right to the point: "We are now receiving, live on the scene, breaking news confirming that the overthrow of the ruling council on Talok VIII is nearly complete.  The only loose end remaining is the current status of their champion, Grev Mallor, who fled the scene of the council's massacre just a couple hours ago."

After a pause, the anchorperson continued, now wearing a visibly disturbed expression through the heavy layers of makeup on her face. "And yet, we are also being told that the riots in the streets show no sign of abating, and, if anything, they're getting even worse, spreading rapidly to the outskirts of the planet's capital city.  With more on this troubling situation, we now go live to the scene unfolding just outside Talok's capital city."

The image on the holo-vision changed to a grainy, shaky vision of an obviously uncomfortable reporter trying to remain objective and calm as the savage fighting amidst smoke and still-burning fireballs continued a short distance from where he stood facing his crew's small, easy-to-handle cameras.

"What we're looking at here," declared the reporter, "is the very worst connotation of anarchy come to frightening life.  Lady Memory's followers, be they her Yakka-Mahor kin or city-bred converts, are giving no quarter to their perceived oppressors as the fighting now descends from a rebellious uprising into a chaotic free-for-all.  The obvious question being, is there any point to the fighting anymore, or are we witnessing the Talokians reverting to their barbaric roo...uh, hang on a minute, it appears that our current location is becoming more unsafe by the nanosecond!!  We'll have to make haste and..."

But it was too late for the reporter and his crew.  A small group of rebels had broken off from the pack and descended upon the outsiders with blood-curdling speed.  The resulting attack was better left to imagination, and yet it was hard for the quartet watching in Harmonia's recreation room to avert their eyes from the gruesomeness unfolding before them on the holo-vision.

Harmonia's serenity, Brainy's detachment, Glorith's self-obsession, Marya's affected cynicism...they all fell away as the ugliest side of sentient existence made its presence known to them, in no uncertain terms.

The first to finally tear herself away from the holo-vision and head out of the room was Harmonia, but not before she had tossed off the command, "FOLLOW ME," over her shoulder.  The other three did just that, and, within a minute, they had arrived at Harmonia's trophy room.

"Blast!" yelled Harmonia, atypically demonstrating her frustrations to the others. "I thought it would be in plain sight!"  She then began frantically searching through her collection of rare objects from a variety of worlds...and from a variety of eras in time.

"If you'd just tell us what you're looking for, we could help you!" asserted Brainy.

"I fear not." replied Harmonia. "It is an ancient device from over a thousand years ago!!  And it is our only hope of being able to defuse the crisis on Talok!!"

AT THAT MOMENT, ON TALOK VIII, IN THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE PLANETARY CAPITAL CITY...

"Fools!!  Tourists!!  Dilettantes!!  Unprincipled, milk-fed, city-raised slime!!"

It was hard to say at that moment which of the two prevalent noises in the vicinity of the Resistance's main base camp were more blood-curdling:

One of them was Lady Memory's shrill, sharp, angry shrieking at the converts who had channeled their animal instincts unwisely by making a fatal attack on the unwelcome news crew, whose provocation of the converts had been indirect at best.

The other was the moaning, droning pleas for mercy from the converts themselves, all of whom were now being subjected to Lady Memory's mind-witchery at its most merciless.  Within the next few minutes, the shock to the system -- minds and bodies alike -- of three of the converts would prove too much to bear for them, and all three would die in agony, within mere minutes of each other.

Still raging, to the effect that everybody who could made the choice to run as far away from her as possible, Lady Memory responded to the deaths of her victims as though they had only themselves to blame.  This, she made obvious not with spoken words, but by kicking brutally and stomping savagely on the converts' lifeless corpses.

There could not have been a more badly timed moment for the sentinel who had, a short while ago, tracked Grev Mallor's location, to arrive at the camp with important information for Lady Memory.  This he knew well, but duty obligated him to approach her nonetheless, at his own peril.

The sentinel advanced slowly, until he saw Lady Memory's body language become slightly more relaxed, and heard his leader huffing, in an effort to return her breathing to normal.

"My queen, I bear you good tidings." he said to her, as quickly and clearly as he could.

Lady Memory turned around to show that, while her face was still somewhat twisted in anger, her more rational, pragmatic side regained control, and while she remained somewhat short of breath, she replied,

"They could not be any worse than the actions of these dead idiots.  Do proceed to deliver these tidings."

"I located my quarry, the so-called planetary champion, and I have reason to believe that he remains in that vicinity, for I also observed him chasing after a small ship coming in for a crash-landing.  It may prove to be but empty speculation, but I believe it is quite possible that the ship contained your other prime target, his cous..."

"HIS COUSIN!  She who humiliated me some time ago." hissed Lady Memory. "Yes...those are indeed worthy developments, and I am grateful to you for informing me of them with all due speed.  Now I have a new mission for you -- guide me to where you witnessed what you just described.  It matters no longer whether the Mallor interlopers are executed publicly or out among the rock formations in the barren wastelands.  What matters...the ONLY thing that matters...is that they both die by my hand!!"

MEANWHILE, ON EARTH, AT HARMONIA LI'S RETREAT...

"At last!" exclaimed Harmonia triumphantly. "It is found!"

"What the hell?  You were looking for an old remote control from before holo-vision existed??" was Marya's snarky reply.

"No, it's far more than that," whispered an atypically wide-eyed Brainy before Harmonia could respond to Marya, "it...it's a genuine 21st Century Mother Box, the most innovative and influential machine ever created by the planet Earth science of that time!!"

"Indeed, Querl." said Harmonia, almost giving away that she was impressed with him. "And it is to be our mode of instant transportation to Talok VIII."

SIMULTANEOUSLY, AT THE CRASH SITE ON TALOK...

"For the people, for freedom, FOR MAKAAS!!" shouted Lady Memory as she swiped her dagger at Grev Mallor's chest, the blade slashing through Grev's flimsy clothing and cutting open an enormous gash in his outer layer of skin.

Lady Memory now found herself on the verge of salivating, as her lusty hunger for violent retribution reached its fever pitch.  Catching unaware the addled, out-of-breath, already-wounded Grev had been child's play, especially with his hated cousin Tasmia only semi-conscious.  Now, for Lady Memory's intended coup de grace, she leaned closer towards her fallen antagonist, her free hand grabbing him by the throat, her other hand holding the dagger aloft, savoring the highly anticipated killing stroke...

BACK ON EARTH, INSIDE HARMONIA'S TROPHY ROOM...

"How did you ever manage to procure...?" Brainy began, before Harmonia cut him off politely but firmly.

"Explanations shall be forthcoming, I promise you, Querl.  But at this moment, our intervention on Talok takes the highest priority."  She said this as she tapped the super-sensitive buttons on the Mother Box's keypad, before adding, "I require your presence over here, Glorith, for it is your intuitive sense of direction that shall make our destination as close as possible to the location of the crux of the crisis.  I need you to visualize the Talokian pagan priestess, Lady Memory...I trust you know of whom I speak?"

"I do." replied Glorith flatly, and, with that, the four of them were whisked off to Talok, though not without the eardrum-stunning sound of the Mother Box's Boom Tube, the colloquial label for the quantum-powered tunnel which opened to connect the two closest points between launch site and desired destination.

MERE SECONDS LATER, ON TALOK...

Being robbed of such a crucial kill was infuriating to Lady Memory.  But for her surprise assailant, and Grev's would-be savior, to be Mon-El -- who had once injured her dignity even more severely than Grev, and whose stasis pod had flown out of the ship as it crashed, then cracked open upon impacting with a rock formation -- THAT was, in her skewed view, cause for taking the most drastic measure of all, consequences be damned.

"DIE, DAXAMITE SCUM!!  DIE!!!"

Mon-El's grip on Lady Memory's wrists, already far weaker than what he had once been capable of before the power of the Emerald Eye put him in a coma, loosened completely as he felt his personal demons -- of which he had enough to fill ten Hells -- overtake him, along with every trauma from his past.  It was no different from what Lady Memory had done to him in their previous confrontation, but this time, his mind and body were far more vulnerable to the shock.

And just as Lady Memory's mind-witchery had just as short time earlier proven fatal to her misguided non-super acolytes, so it now was for Mon-El.  With his defiant-in-the-face-of-death screams echoing off the surrounding rocks and canyons, those sounds would outlive Mon-El himself by only a few seconds.  After that, the centuries-old wanderer was no more.

Dazed and drained after the intensity of her physical and psionic efforts, Lady Memory attempted to get back on her feet, and, at the same time, looked around her, trying to locate the dagger she had dropped when Mon-El tackled her.  So while it was not unexpected that a sudden, loud explosion-like sound would disrupt Lady Memory's concentration, it came as no surprise at all when she found herself on the receiving end of a vicious martial-arts kick.

"MURDERESS!!"

She knew that scream she had just heard was obviously directed at her, and the voice was vaguely familiar, even in the state she was in, but before Lady Memory could get her bearings, she bore the full force of a second assault upon her.  This time it was the shocking sensation of a fist to her face, and the unmistakable sound of cartilage breaking from the pile-driving impact.

If Lady Memory's eyesight had not begun to fail her, she would have recognized her assailant as none other than a seething, hissing, snarling Tasmia Mallor, newly jolted back to full consciousness and out for vengeance at any cost!!

A SHORT DISTANCE FROM THE SCENE OF THE FIGHT...

"My dears, I apologize for not warning you about the noise." said Harmonia.

"Forget that," replied Marya, her head swiveling to and fro until she realized that their drab surroundings would most likely not vary no matter which direction they walked in, "what I wanna know is, how do people even LIVE in a place like this??"

"Our quarry lays nearby, I am certain of that." said Glorith, bringing the quartet back to the point of their voyage to this planet. "My empathic powers detect Lady Memory's intense fury...and a similar rage from a second female Talokian, but even more volcanic!!"

"TASMIA??" exclaimed Brainy and Harmonia in unintentional unison.

JUST THEN, AT THE CRASH SITE...

Having quickly tired of smashing her fists against the grossly swollen face of her nemesis, Tasmia opened up her aching hands, pausing for a couple seconds to register the pain coursing through them.  Then, she abruptly thrust her hands at Lady Memory's throat, her fingers wrapping themselves around it in a near-superhuman grip.  By this point, Tasmia's invective was, more often than not, lacking in any coherent sounds, with only the occasional fully-formed words.  And fighting words they were: "THROWBACK ANIMAL!!  HATE-MONGERING NEANDERTHAL!!"

Suddenly, Tasmia's mind no longer communicated to her the crystal clarity of murderous intent, which she had regarded as righteously justifiable.  Now, her thoughts became cloudy and muddled, ultimately settling into an opaque state of emotional and physical paralysis.  She struggled at first not to close her eyes, but within a couple minutes, she had given in.  Tasmia slumped, then rolled over until she lied next to Lady Memory, and finally went completely still.

"Holy nass!" exclaimed Marya as she and her three fellow travelers cautiously approached their fallen ex-teammate. "If that Mother Box can do something like this to a person...scary, just scary!"

"Will she live?" inquired Glorith, more out of curiosity than any sympathy for Tasmia.

"But of course!" replied Harmonia, lowering the Mother Box until it came to rest by her hip. "And by the time she awakens, all problems on Talok shall be taken care of."

MUCH LATER...

"They did WHAT??"

Tasmia had always been quick to anger, but this outburst from her -- being as it was unleashed less than a minute after she had regained consciousness and found herself in a medicine tent on Talok -- was unprecedented, at least in the memories of her cousin and designated bearer of bad news, a heavily-bandaged Grev Mallor.

Grev took a deep breath, then reiterated his summary of the events that had occurred while Tasmia had been recovering.  "They...your ex-teammates from the Legion...negotiated a surrender from the revolutionaries, in exchange for Lady Memory getting a fair trial, to be held off-world, on a planet as yet undetermined."

"Would I be correct," queried Tasmia, in a singularly icy tone, "if I were to assume that Harmonia did most of the talking?"

"Y-y-yes..." Grev stammered in response.

"They shall PAY for THIS!!" snarled Tasmia through gritted teeth.

By now, Grev was visibly shuddering.  "Wh-what exactly do you have in mind?"

Suddenly, Tasmia's lovely lips curled upward into a sly smiile, which somehow made her even scarier to Grev.  "Oh, not the direct approach, no, not at all.  What I plan to do is to approach Brainy, preferably the next time Harmonia goes off-world -- after all, it's most likely they lack funds, which will necessitate her working her wiles to woo potential sponsors.  Anyhow, I shall do my utmost to convince Brainy to let me join their team, and once I'm in..."

"...I shall learn Harmonia's secret agenda, and ensure that it comes crashing down around her.  Then, whether she is dead or still living, the truth about Harmonia shall be exposed to the public.  After that, Lady Memory shall be sentenced to a richly deserved public execution, and you and I shall be the icons of Talok's reconstruction."  She paused, then hissed, "I crave the taste of revenge.  For revenge, at its finest, is so very satisfying...and it tastes sweet."





NOTE: The next arc of the Earth-7.5 Legion of Superheroes will be posted sometime shortly after the New Year.  In the meantime, I encourage you to have a look at the 7 Worlds of Wonder thread, also here in the Bits forum, for a sense of where I'm heading over the course of the next several years with my Bits contributions, Legion and otherwise.