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

Fire Lad's changes are interesting, especially since they seem to be bothering him.

Magno's adoration of Supergirl was funny, as was the reaction of Abyss. So believable.

Zoe is such a hothead! I expect she'll both save the day and cause a big mess. She expects more trouble from the Qwardians - but will she wait for it or go looking for it?

Oh, Mwindaji - you may be getting more adventure than you bargained for with Universo.

MARS
Husband Hill, Legion of Superheroes Headquarters

ROLL CALL
Dragonmage aka Xao Jin: dragon magic
Zoe Saugin: Legion of Superheroes ally, infused with Green Lantern energy

Standing outside the building which housed the most famous team of heroes in the galaxy, Zoe Saugin gave Dragonmage a warm embrace. “Thanks for all your help,” she smiled sadly. “I still think there’s more to this mess with Qward than we’ve seen, but since we sent the surviving Thunderers back to their home dimension I guess we’re kinda stuck on getting any more answers.”

“I do wish you’d stay,” Xao Jin replied. “You’d be an absolute asset to the Legion, and even if you’re not interested in joining you’ll be safer here with us if the Qwardians do come after you again.”

Zoe stepped back and chuckled wryly. “I can look after myself, Xao. Anyway, between Dawnstar, Supergirl, Mon-El and probably half a dozen other people on your team if I do need help you’re not that far away. I need to find Sodam Yat though, and I need to tell the friends and families of the other Green Lanterns what happened to them. Once I’ve fulfilled my responsibilities as the last Green Lantern, who knows? I’ve got all this power now, I need to do something positive with it so I might just come back.”

“It’s your decision of course,” Xao answered diplomatically. “But I will miss you, Zoe. It’s a shame we only ever get to see one another in the middle of a crisis.”

“That part I agree with,” Zoe nodded. “I promise I’ll come visit again as soon as I can. Thanks again!” She allowed the emerald energy which now permeated her to manifest itself as an aura of light, and Dragonmage watched as his childhood friend flew off into the Martian skies.

**********
MERCURY
On board a cruiser in planetary orbit

ROLL CALL
Brainiac 5 aka Querl Dox: 12th level intelligence, team leader
Color Kid aka Ulu Vakk: color manipulation
Fire Lad aka Staq Mavlen: fire-breathing
Mon-El aka Lar Gand: Daxamite physiology
Polar Boy aka Brek Bannin: cold and ice generation
Shadow Lass aka Tasmia Mallor: darkness generation
Star Boy aka Thom Kallor: celestial mass-transference

“It’s definitely them.”

Mon-El had been staring intently through the floor of the Legion’s cruiser for the last few seconds, but he turned now to face the rest of his teammates in a Legion cruiser which had travelled over 160 million miles. A United Planets automated research station had gone offline after recording a massive energy surge, so the UP had asked the Legion of Superheroes to investigate. Thanks to Mon-El’s range of vision powers, the Legion now knew that the Heavensent were responsible for this vandalism. The Legion had previously encountered the temporally displaced villains as part of the much larger Judgement League, but the Heavensent had left that group before the Legion’s final encounter with the League.

Brainiac 5 was confident that they could defeat the Heavensent in the very likely circumstance that it came to a fight, but it would be much easier if they’d brought more heavy hitters. His computer mind almost instantly calculated the probable delay in calling reinforcements and dismissed it as being an unviable option. With their powers and abilities, the Heavensent might know the Legion were here before too long; best for the heroes to strike now while they still had the element of surprise. “This outpost holds no sentient staff,” Brainiac 5 mused out loud. “There’s no tactical advantage to taking it over…can you see anything which may help to explain why the Heavensent are there, Mon-El?”

“Actually, yes.” The square-jawed Daxamite frowned as he trained his uncanny eyesight on the small planet once more. “It looks like they’ve rigged up a sens-tank and there’s someone inside. The entire team is present and accounted for though and I don’t recognise who they have in there.”

“Intriguing,” Brainiac 5 replied. “I recommend we find out. Shadow Lass, if you’d be so kind as to provide us with some cover let’s pay our Mercurian squatters a visit.”

The Legionnaires left their vessel, a disc of utter blackness masking them before the star-filled sky. Their transuits kept them safe from the deathly cold here on Mercury’s dark side, and their flight rings carried them to the tiny planet’s surface in little time. The facility they were looking for was small, far smaller than the Legion’s headquarters. It was also one of very few structures on Mercury, and the Legion found it easily in the deep crater which kept it out of sunlight during this little world’s insanely hot daytime temperatures. Brainiac 5 didn’t share Shadow Lass’s perfect vision in darkness or any of Mon-El’s sensory capabilities, so he was forced to monitor their progress using mapping software on his omnicom. Once the group of heroes were in position, Brainiac asked Shadow Lass to drop her darkness field. “The outer structure displays irregular density directly below us,” the Coluan announced, his green face glowing in the light of his handheld device. “I believe the Heavensent made their entrance here and have carried out temporary repairs to protect the facility’s integrity. Mon-El, if you could assist us in following their path?”

“Happy to help, Brainy.” The Daxamite gripped a thick plate of metal and easily bent it back, providing a makeshift doorway which the other Legionnaires took advantage of. He repaired the damage as soon as everybody was safely through, using heat vision to weld the tear back into place.

“Thank you,” Brainiac replied. “Now we should—“ He was interrupted by a loud grunt of pain, and the Heavensent’s hyper-speedster Tachyon came into view as he bounced off of Brainiac 5’s forcefield. He’d been moving too fast for the Legionnaires to see when he’d charged towards them, but they all clearly saw now that he was about to be smeared across the floor.

“I’ve got him!” Mon-El was a blur of motion as he raced to catch the white-garbed villain. “I may not be in your league when it comes to speed,” Mon-El teased the villain as he protected him from impact and gripped him tight, “But I’m a little stronger than you, Tachyon. You’re not going anywhere.”

Before Mon-El had even finished speaking, Tachyon was nothing more than a fading after-image in his arms. The villain had already decked Color Kid and Polar Boy in the time it took for Mon-El to realise he’d escaped, and Tachyon stood now in the doorway to the room the Legion had invaded. “Not in my league?” Tachyon grinned wickedly. “We’re not even playing the same sport. I can break the time barrier, you second-rate Superman…only a couple of seconds, but that’s all I need to walk all over you chumpers.”

Tachyon’s world suddenly turned pitch black. “I’m guessing chumper is some kind of regional slang from whatever backwater era Earth-Man recruited you from,” Shadow Lass retorted coolly. “I’m also guessing that like you, it’s not very pleasant. In case you’re not intelligent enough to work this out for yourself, I wouldn’t attempt any of your speed tricks while you can’t see where you’re going. The results wouldn’t be pretty.”

“Works both ways,” his voice rang out from within an 8 foot radius of pure darkness. "The second you come in here and throw a punch or a kick, that’s the same second you find yourself with some broken bones.”

“We don’t have to go in there,” Star Boy rolled his eyes. “Idiot.” He raised one white-gloved arm and the air turned dark around his hand. Thom Kallor’s power couldn’t be seen within the impenetrable darkness it targetted but all of the Legionnaires heard the buckling of the floor, the wrenching scream of metallic consoles suddenly too heavy to stand, and the painful thud of Tachyon slamming straight into the ground. Shadow Lass allowed the darkness to dissipate, and the heroes saw Tachyon out cold on the damaged floor.

“Good work, you two.” Brainiac 5 turned to Fire Lad, who’d gone to help his two former colleagues in the Legion of Substitute Heroes. “How are Polar Boy and Color Kid?” Brainy asked.

“Broge muh aww,” Color Kid winced, touching his broken jaw as tenderly as possible.

“We’re probably both concussed,” Polar Boy moaned, leaning on Fire Lad’s arm to stand. “I’ll shoot a cold spike through us to keep us from getting too dopey for now, but we’re going to need the sickbay when we get back to the ship.”

“You’ll be heading back to the ship now,” Brainiac 5 stated without emotion. “I’m not taking injured Legionnaires into battle. You’re a potential liability and your health is more important than any villain’s plot.”

“Eminently reasonable,” a woman’s voice sounded out. “I’m afraid you’ve removed that option from the equation by breaking into our facility though, Legionnaires. You’ll all have to die now of course.” The golden-skinned woman Celestine hovered before them, a flaming corona where her hair should be. The flames continued down the length of her arms, ending at a point just beyond her wrist. Behind Celestine, Red Giant and White Dwarf were poised for battle. The first man stood 12 feet tall, very nearly scraping against the ceiling. The second of the duo didn’t even reach 4 feet in height. Completing the group, the mute creature known only as Void emerged through an internal wall, leaving a hole in his wake shaped like his own silhouette.

“I don’t like to manhandle a lady, but you’re not much of a lady.” Mon-El charged at Celestine before she could mount an attack and barrelled straight through the floor with her, driving the golden powerhouse deep beneath Mercury’s surface.

“Star Boy, stay close by.” Brainiac 5 dropped the forcefield which had been surrounding him since his descent to Mercury and projected it again, this time around Void. “If this doesn’t work, I may need your assistance.”

“You think he can get through your forcefield, Brainy?” Even as Star Boy spoke the words, Void silently passed through the field and advanced toward the Legionnaires.

“Maybe my darkness can contain him?” Shadow Lass enveloped Void in her own power, but the darkness simply ceased to exist as soon as it breached his event horizon.

“No, I’m afraid Star Boy is the only Legionnaire present who can affect our foe.” Brainiac sounded utterly calm, though Void was mere feet away from him in this confined space.

“What can I do?” Thom shrugged, backing away slowly from the unstoppable force before them. “I don’t even think he has mass, Brainy!”

“Even a photon possesses mass,” Brainiac replied, “Minimal though it may be. Increase Void’s mass by a factor of nine thousand seven hundred please, Star Boy.”

“Nine thou—!” Thom began to protest, but thought better of it. His ability to transfer mass from stars into any given target was not so refined that he could guarantee the result his leader had requested, but he knew that Brainiac wouldn’t ask for such a specific result unless it were necessary. He resolved to do his best. With both arms stretched out before him, Star Boy trembled with the effort. The familiar dark nimbus of his power surrounded his arms and filled the silhouette of Void’s form. At first the mute creature gave no sign that he was even aware anything was happening, but as his mass increased further and further he began to falter. He doubled over as if in pain, and then with a small pop of displaced air he was gone. “What happened?” The overtaxed Star Boy collapsed to his knees. “Brainy, tell me I didn’t kill him!”

“I do not believe Void is capable of dying in any sense that we recognise the term,” Brainiac answered. “You simply destabilised his form temporarily by exceeding the threshold of mass he’s capable of safely annexing. Now, let us find out if our friends need assistance with their own enemies.”

White Dwarf covered his face with his forearm against Fire Lad’s flame breath. The villain's power was to increase his density as he shrunk down, and at his current three foot stature he was basically fireproof. The heat and light were a nuisance nonetheless. “We both know this is just a delaying tactic,” the former scientist announced. “You’re going to find it difficult to breathe fire once I crush your larynx, Legionnaire.” The barrage of flames ceased, and White Dwarf lowered his arm. “What the..?”

The ceiling had vanished, and in its place was a blanket of stars. Somehow the Legionnaires had removed the building’s roof altogether, but that made no sense. Explosive decompression should have sent all of them hurtling into space and an almost instant death! Before he could question the odd sight any further, Red Giant toppled down painfully on top of the diminutive White Dwarf. Helplessly entwined, both men were covered in a foot of ice to match the solid block of ice around Red Giant’s feet which had caused him to tumble down in the first place.

“That should keep them both under control for a while,” Polar Boy advised Fire Lad and Color Kid. “Super-strength doesn’t mean much if you don’t have the leverage to use it.”

“Good work, Brek…and thankss for your help, Ulu.” Fire Lad patted Color Kid on the shoulder. “I’ll admit, I wass getting a little worried when my fire on itss own wassn’t bothering him much. That sstarry disstraction wass perfect.”

Color Kid nodded, his throbbing jaw too sore for him to even attempt to talk. The ground beneath their feet suddenly shook violently, and they all looked down at the debris Mon-El and Celestine had left behind them. Right on cue, Mon-El tunnelled up through the ground to rejoin his team. His costume was in tatters and he looked worse for wear, but unlike his passenger Celestine he was still conscious. “She’s no pushover, but neither am I.” Mon-El dumped her unceremoniously on top of the struggling Red Giant. “Now…should we see what it is exactly they were doing here?”

“Absolutely,” Brainiac 5 took control. “Legionnaires, I’ve accessed their files and I believe I have a very unpleasant idea why the Heavensent have come to this place. I’d like to see their subject in person before I elaborate on my suspicions however.”

The Legionnaires made their way through the tiny building to the sense-tank which the Heavensent had constructed. Within they saw a humanoid female floating, oblivious to anything going on around her. The woman’s naked skin was coarse, etched with lines. She was disturbingly gaunt, and completely hairless. Her nose was almost non-existent, just a small raised ridge with two thin nostrils. Polar Boy looked from the woman in the tube to Fire Lad and back again. “Staq, she…she looks like you!”

“I know.” Fire Lad approached the sens-tank and touched it gingerly. “I feel like…I feel like I know her….iss that sstupid?”

Mon-El looked her up and down, then trained his enhanced senses on Fire Lad. “Genetically, you’re very similar. Why would the Heavensent have some poor Shwarian woman in a sens-tank though?”

“She’s not Shwarian,” Brainiac 5 answered. “In truth, she’s not a member of any race. The Heavensent have created her as a prototype colonist for this planet.”

“She’s bio-engineered?” Shadow Lass hugged Mon-El. “Why would the Heavensent want to create someone capable of living on an otherwise uninhabitable planet?”

“According to the files I’ve found,” Brainiac explained, “The Heavensent consider their powers to be some kind of divine gift. It seems that they’ve created this woman to worship them, and they plan on creating an entire artificial population just like her. She has an uncanny resistance to temperature extremes, along with other adaptations which would support her survival in Mercury’s hostile environment. If they’re allowed to continue, they’ll produce an entire army of loyal followers specifically grown for this environment.”

“Why do I feel thiss…connection with her though?” Fire Lad asked, staring up at the naked woman in awe. “Why are we sso ssimilar if sshe’ss an artificial lifeform?”

Before anybody could answer, an explosion rocked the building. The gravity generators failed, and the Legionnaires were sent hurtling into the vacuum of space along with the debris of the research facility they’d been standing in. Mon-El was fast enough to protect Shadow Lass with his invulnerable form and Brainiac 5’s forcefield shielded everyone else, but not before the tremendous force of the explosion knocked out Star Boy and Polar Boy.

Mon-El trained his telescopic vision on the escaping Heavensent. “White Dwarf is much smaller,” he reported. “He must have shrunk down to increase his strength and maneuverability, escaped Polar Boy’s ice trap and helped Celestine recover so they could make their escape. Do you want me to take pursuit, Brainy?”

“Let them go,” Brainiac 5 said. “Almost half of our team require medical attention; even without Void on their side, we’re not in a position to engage the Heavensent at the moment. Celestine’s dramatic exit destroyed the facility they’d taken over, but I downloaded more data which I can review on the way back to Mars to shed some more light on what it is exactly that they’ve done here today.”

Fire Lad flew to the side of the nameless woman in the sens-tank. In the explosion her tank had been ruptured and its liquid nutrient solution had frozen solid even as it had flowed into Mercury’s practically non-existent atmosphere. Staq Mavlen's heart was in his throat, though he couldn’t explain why. “What about her?” he asked hesitantly.

“I don’t want to provide false hope,” Brainiac 5 responded. “She may be beyond help, Fire Lad…

...If there is a way to help her though, I promise you that we’ll find it.”

**********
KIRINYAGA
Pauvitz Point, Portela Mountain Ranges
The self-christened Mwindaji handed his newfound patient a thermos full of water from Fraukinyagen River half a klik west. The bald white man with the pointed ears took it gratefully. “Thank you for everything,” the man named Vidar spoke gratefully as he sipped the fresh water. “Honestly, now that I’ve recovered my wits, my rings can restore me to full health but I do appreciate the lengths you’ve gone to in order to help a complete stranger.”

“You are most welcome,” Mwindaji bowed his head respectfully. In truth, it had only taken him half an hour to erect a makeshift shelter from branches and sheetbark. Mwindaji had thought he’d have to call on outside help for this stranger who’d fallen from the sky, but the man had gotten his spirits back surprisingly swiftly. “These rings you wear…is this how you survived your fall from the heavens?”

“It is,” the older man replied. “Tell me Mwindaji, have you heard of the Green Lantern Corps?”

“I am afraid not,” the dark-skinned teenager shook his head. “Here on Kirinyaga, we are not privy to the common workings of the worlds of the United Planets.”

“The Green Lantern Corps are a kind of intergalactic police force,” Vidar indulged him. “They haven’t much of a presence these days, but once upon a time they were a powerful force for good in the universe.” He held up his hand and the yellow ring he was wearing now glowed. “The Sinestro Corps were their brothers in arms, their rings were golden rather than green. These rings are weapons of the highest order, though it has been a long time since they were wielded for good. It was an enemy of the corps who laid me low, and sentenced me to what he thought would be my death. These rings saved my life…if I had their brothers, they might have been able to do more than simply offer a measure of protection.”

“There are more like this?” Mwindaji asked. “Rings whose power can protect you from terminal impact, restore your health at a faster rate?”

“There are seven corps in total,” the older man explained. “Individually they are powerful, together they would give me the power of a god. I plan to find them all and heal this universe’s woes.”

Mwindaji was stunned. To have met such a man on his Initiation Trek…surely this was a sign, a portent for him to follow. “Vidar…” he spoke cautiously in his stunted Interlac. “I am a tracker…I am perhaps the finest tracker of any I know. If these rings you need to find, I can help you achieve this.”

Vidar paused in sipping the water he’d been given. He’d been cast out of Qward, his allies turned against him. He was surprised to still be alive. If not for the green and gold rings he wore, he had no doubt he’d right now be plummeting to his eternal doom in Q’Uld’s bottomless Void. The rings had seen fit though not only to keep him alive, not only to transport him from Qwardian space to his home dimension, but to dump him unceremoniously with this naive stranger who might have the ability to help him find every other ring he needed to complete his goal. This was more than luck, this was destiny. He opened his mouth to answer Mwindaji, but he suddenly found it supremely difficult to form words or even the concept of words. His mind raced with a rush of input unlike anything he’d ever experienced before.

So it was that Vidar, the man known to others as Universo, emitted a spastic monosyllable and collapsed drooling and insensate before his newfound saviour.

TO BE CONTINUED..!

Well, Zoe's story will continue... as will Universo's.

Great battle with the Heavensent - nice solution of Brainy's. Liked the teamwork between all Legionnaires present. Interesting mystery about their "prototype"... Can't wait to see what happens next.

Thanks for the comments, as always much appreciated! It is very motivational seeing that people are reading and enjoying what I am posting

Fire Lad's story will be a bit of a slow burn (heheh) but everyone's gonna be very busy dealing with a little something called The Conceptual Virus for the next couple of posts so hopefully you guys won't mind the extra waiting time!

Oh, also I can't remember who it was that asked for some more Light Lad focus...you're about to get it

MARS
Legion of Superheroes Headquarters, Brainiac 5’s multi-lab

ROLL CALL
Brainiac 5 aka Querl Dox: 12th level intelligence, team leader
Chlorophyll Kid aka Ral Benem: hyper-stimulated plant growth
Color Kid aka Ulu Vakk: color manipulation
Fire Lad aka Staq Mavlen: fire-breathing
Phantom Girl aka Tinya Wazzo: intangibility
Polar Boy aka Brek Bannin: cold and ice generation
Supergirl aka Kara Zor-El: Kryptonian physiology
Ultra Boy aka Jo Nah: ultra-energy which can be directed into any one of strength, speed, flight, invulnerability, flash vision, penetra-vision at a time; deputy leader

Kara Zor-El sat atop a console in Brainiac 5’s multi-lab, her legs dangling idly. She pulled a Winathian Crimsonberry Candy from her mouth with an audible pop and watched closely as a seemingly oblivious Brainiac 5 adjusted slide controls on a hardlight panel of his own design. “How is she, Brainy? Have you been able to stabilise her?”

“The Heavensent may be dangerously deluded, but I must admit that Red Giant at least is no slouch when it comes to genetic sequencing. The work he's done here is exemplary, and it’s a testament to his genius that this subject has survived till now.” The Legion’s Coluan leader turned from his own work to look over the Mercurian woman the Heavensent had constructed. Though her sens-tank on Mercury had been irreparably damaged, she had been developed specifically to thrive in extremes of temperature and the utter lack of atmosphere on the tiny planet. These attributes had kept her alive long enough for Brainiac to get her back to the more advanced resources of his own lab on Mars, and ensure that she’d have the best chance of surviving. The comatose woman wore a plain black bodysuit now, partially for modesty but more importantly so that her vital signs could be more easily monitored thanks to the sensors integrated into the fabric.

To the right of the tube, Fire Lad stood rigidly. At his side, Polar Boy exchanged the occasional concerned glance with Color Kid and Chlorophyll Kid seated nearby. Phantom Girl and Ultra Boy rounded out the group, the pair standing by Supergirl on the left side of the tube. “You make her ssound like sshe’s a ssciencce exxperiment,” Fire Lad hissed.

“Brainy doesn’t mean anything by it,” Phantom Girl soothed.

“Yeah,” Ultra Boy smirked. “He just gets turned up playing mad scientist, isn’t that right pal?”

Supergirl laughed out loud. “That’s turned on, you ultra-dork.” She turned playfully back to Brainiac 5. “Is that the truth, Professor Dox? Do you get turned on wearing that white lab coat?”

Brainiac 5 cleared his throat, refusing to face the maid of might. “Honestly, I don’t know why I allow — allow —“ He staggered and brought one hand to his forehead before his eyes rolled back in his head and Querl Dox fainted dead away.

“Brainy!!” Before he even reached the floor, Supergirl had leaped to his side and caught the unconscious man.

Chlorophyll Kid stood up and approached gingerly. “I-is h-h-he—“

“Kara, can you see anything out of the ordinary?” Ultra Boy asked.

“No!” She looked Brainiac 5 up and down desperately. He was taking short sharp shallow breaths and his core temperature had risen drastically, but whatever was causing this was not something Kara could punch. Supergirl gave Jo Nah an imploring look, her bright blue eyes wide with fear. “Ultra Boy, he’s going to be okay…right?”

Phantom Girl placed a comforting hand on Supergirl’s shoulder and wiped a stray lock of Brainiac’s hair away from his face. “Everything will be fine, Kara. I promise.”

“This is a little outside my skill set,” Ultra Boy breathed out. “Color Kid, could you do me a favour and get Dream Girl or Mon-El here? We’ll try and make Brainy comfortable in the meantime.”

“Of course.” Color Kid left the room to call Dream Girl in private, but before he did so he caught Polar Boy’s eye. While everybody else in the room was overtly worried about their stricken leader, Ulu and Brek noticed that Fire Lad alone kept glancing from Brainiac 5 to the nameless Mercurian woman and back.

Color Kid and Polar Boy couldn’t help but wonder darkly where this was going to lead.

**********
MARS
Legion of Superheroes Headquarters, Combat training room A

ROLL CALL
Dream Girl aka Nura Nal: Naltorian precognition
Kid Computo aka Danielle Foccart: cyberempathy

Danielle Foccart lay back on the padded mat, winded. She was exhausted and hurting, and she praised the technologically advanced age in which she lived that at least she had a rejuvenation bath to look forward to when this punishment was done so she could soothe her bumps and bruises.

“Come on.” Nura Nal stood over her and offered her hand. “We’re not finished yet. Believe me, I know how frustrating martial arts training can be when it consists primarily of being put on your backside. Just consider yourself lucky you were never on the team when Val or Myg were our combat trainers, even precognition was never much defence against a Karate Kid.”

“This is stupid,” Kid Computo huffed. She ignored Dream Girl’s hand and forced herself to stand under her own power; Danielle resolved to retain at least that small dignity. “I’ve got my power, why do I even need to know how to block a punch? Martial arts training didn’t do those Karate Kids a lot of good, did it??”

Slack-jawed, Dream Girl took a step back. “…Wow. Really, Danielle?”

Danielle Foccart felt an uncomfortable rush of blood to her head. “Oh grife, I’m so sorry…that was so insensitive of me, I don’t know how that even came out.”

“It’s alright,” Dream Girl sighed. She folded her arms across her ample bosom and looked down at the ground. “Val was my friend. Not a lot of people would have ever called Myg a friend exactly, but he did save my life more than once. I understand they're ancient history for you new kids, but just be glad Timber Wolf didn’t hear you make that remark. Still, maybe that’s enough practice for one day. I’ll see if Shadow Lass or Shrinking Violet are able to pick up where we left off after you’ve had a day to recover.”

Kid Computo rushed to Dream Girl’s side as the statuesque blonde walked toward the exit. “Dream Girl, I really am sorry…that was a horrible thing to say, I’m just tired and sore and I wish my feet were bigger so that when I put one in my mouth it would at least stop any more stupid words from coming out!“

“Danielle, stop.” Dream Girl faced the younger girl with a forgiving smile. “I do understand your frustration, truly. You should have heard some of the remarkably inventive curses I discovered when I began my training with Val. That was — that — “ She wavered on her chrome heels and collapsed to the floor.

Danielle had seen this before, but it still unnerved her. She wondered how long she’d need to be a Legionnaire before she’d grow accustomed to Nura Nal passing out when a flash from the future decided to hit her.

After a couple more seconds, Danielle began to wonder if she was right this time to be unnerved. “Dream Girl..?” she asked nervously. The pale-skinned woman was completely unresponsive, so Danielle crouched down and shook her. Nothing. Danielle’s cyberempathy picked up a transmission coming through to Dream Girl’s flight ring so she rerouted it to her own. “Color Kid,” she spoke first, “I think Dream Girl’s unwell...or it could be a psychic attack. Brainiac 5’s flight ring is close by you, I’m opening up this channel to—“

“Don’t bother,” Color Kid said glumly. “Instead, you’d better turn your attention to finding someone who can help them both.”

**********
EARTH
Bulgaria, Last Stout Bar

ROLL CALL
Dawnstar: translightspeed flight, interstellar-range tracking
Elastic Lad aka Jams-Ols 5: super-elongation
Light Lad aka Darvan Locke: anti-gravity control
Lightning Lass aka Ayla Ranzz: electricity generation and manipulation

Ayla Ranzz led the quartet of heroes in their descent through the chilly Balkan moonlight to land on the rubbish-strewn street outside the Last Stout Bar. “Dawny, I know this is a pointless question,” Ayla asked through a disgusted grimace, “But are you absolutely sure that bear woman is here?”

“Unfortunately so,” the winged Legionnaire replied with equal disdain for their grimy surroundings. “While my tracking power is generally much more efficient in the void of deep space, Star-Bear has a rather unique signature. I doubt she’d be able to hide anywhere from me.”

Light Lad watched a Science Police droid across the road taking a couple of raucous drunks into custody. “I see this place hasn’t become any more classy since the last time I was here.”

Lightning Lass guffawed. “You’ve been to this dump, Darvan? Grife, you’re just full of surprises!”

“On Legion business!” Darvan Locke clarified, his face flushed red. “Believe me, this isn’t my usual choice of entertainment venue.”

“I don’t mean to interrupt,” Elastic Lad chimed in as he elongated his torso to cover the bar’s large front facing window, “But gosh, I think we’re about to have some excitement!” Before the other three could respond, a blue-skinned man came hurtling through the window. Elastic Lad’s body protected everyone from the broken glass and also gave the unwilling makeshift projectile a safe landing. Inside the venue, a full bar fight had erupted with an eight foot tall bear in its centre. In case there remained any lingering doubts at all that she was their target, the bear seemed composed of a living starscape and her eyes were two incandescent orbs.

“Darvan, can you break that up before someone gets killed?” Ayla asked. “Dawny, get everyone else out of there would you? I want to have some words with this Star-Bear…those words mainly being zap and boom if you get my drift.” She held up hands crackling with electricity to accentuate her point.

Light Lad stood before the broken window and extended his arms. “Your wish is my command, pretty lady.” Gravity was suspended throughout the tiny bar, and staff and patrons alike rose into the air where they hovered confused.

Dawnstar’s lips turned down in a revolted scowl. She knew why Lightning Lass had asked her to carry out this task, nobody else could come anywhere near matching her speed. Darting in and out of that nauseating floating field of alcohol and food scraps was not going to be pleasant though and she knew she’d be a mess by the time she was finished. She sighed and reminded herself that nobody had ever promised a Legionnaire’s life would be glamorous. Several trips and scant seconds later, a couple dozen very dazed would-be brawlers found themselves unceremoniously deposited on the other side of the street where more Science Police droids awaited them.

Star-Bear had found herself as affected by Light Lad’s power as everyone else in the room, but unlike everyone else she could grow an extra couple of feet in height and brace herself between the floor and the ceiling. She bellowed a roar so loud that the remaining shards of glass still attached to the windowframe rattled and fell.

“I don’t understand you people,” Lightning Lass addressed the enormous cosmic creature, “We took your stupid Judgement League apart and gave you the opportunity for a fresh start wherever you wanted…and what do you do? Go straight back to terrorising innocent sentients across this continent. I don’t think I’ve ever been so glad to help the Science Police round up a bunch of bullies as I am right now.” Both arms glowing pink with electrical energy, Lightning Lass unleashed that power in a mighty bolt straight at the Star-Bear. For her part, the Russian she-bear roared in defiance and seemed completely unfazed. In fact, she almost seemed to relish the lightning arcing across her form.

Elastic Lad’s neck stretched so that he could peer over Ayla’s shoulder from where the rest of him was directing stragglers away from the fight scene several metres away. “I probably should have said something sooner, but gee whiz that was a really swell speech Lightning Lass! You’re really great at standing up to villains, if you don’t mind me saying so it’s actually very inspiring! I’m really happy to have had the chance to work with you today, you’re—“

“Elastic Lad!” Lightning Lass shouted. “Kind of in the middle of something here!!” She amped up her power and blasted Star-Bear again.

“Oh, right! Gosh, sorry!” He retracted his head for an instant before it reappeared once more right next to Lightning Lass’s own face. “Just wanted to let you know, I read the Science Police files on all of the Judgement League and they weren’t terribly comprehensive for a lot of their members, especially Star-Bear in particular which I guess makes sense as she seems to have come from several centuries in our past and it seems like Earth-Man went to a lot of gosh-darn effort to recruit people to his team who hadn’t really made a lot of impact in the history holos, which again I guess totally makes sense as he wouldn’t want to have disrupted the timeline - I mean he’s evil, but he’s not suicidal, and—“

Ayla threw two more blasts at Star-Bear while Elastic Lad was rambling, but she couldn’t take any more. Infuriated, she turned on him. “Elastic Lad! If you have a point, get to it!! I’m trying to take this stupid space bear out and nothing I’m doing has the slightest effect!”

“Oh! Uh, actually,” the red-haired youth replied awkwardly, “That’s what I wanted to tell you. I’m pretty sure she absorbs energy...I think you’re actually making her stronger."

“Look out!!” Dawnstar slammed into Lightning Lass hard enough to knock the wind out of her and zoomed along the street with her, the snow on the ground kicking up in her wake. Star-Bear’s powerful leg muscles had kicked off the nearest surface and launched her like a cannonball straight into the ground where Ayla had been standing half a second ago. Elastic Lad’s neck quickly retracted to a safe distance from the giant cosmic bear as Star-Bear turned on her haunches with her fangs and claws exposed to deliver a powerfully threatening bellow at the heroes.

“Elastic Lad!” Lightning Lass called out. “Yes or no, can she fly??”

“No,” Jams-Ols 5 responded, and paused before continuing. “But she does have a host of super interesting—“

“Good enough for me!” Ayla cut him off. “Darvan?”

The ursine villain was already finding she needed to dig her powerful toes into the ground to fight Light Lad’s power; once he amplified it to actively hurl her several stories into the air she could do nothing more than flail in powerless rage. She expanded her size once more, using the energy she’d absorbed from Ayla’s assault to fuel her growth. This too proved futile, and in the end she had to admit defeat and shift back to the much more manageable human form of Ursula Yenova. “You Legionnaires are no fun!” the stocky woman hollered down at the heroes. “Can a lady not have a little ruckus in your future?!?

Lightning Lass cocked a thumb at the villain. “Can you believe her?” Ayla chuckled. “Where does she think she is, Rimbor?”

Light Lad laughed at Ayla’s remark, though as soon as he looked at her his smile faded. “Ayla, Dawnstar! Look!” Unwilling to release Ursula, he gestured with one hand.

Just past Lightning Lass, Elastic Lad’s elongated form lay limp and silent in the dirty snow.

**********
MARS
Legion of Superheroes Headquarters, Brainiac 5’s multi-lab

ROLL CALL
Legion Academy
Gravity Kid aka Tel Vole: gravity manipulation
Laurel Kent: Legion intern, invulnerability
Lightning Lad aka Garth Ranzz: teacher, electricity generation and manipulation
Saturn Girl aka Imra Ardeen Ranzz: teacher, telepathy
Variable Lad aka Oaa Tseldor: abilities change with each manifestation

Legion of Superheroes
Brainiac 5 aka Querl Dox: team leader, 12th level intelligence
Dream Girl aka Nura Nal: Naltorian precognition
Phantom Girl aka Tinya Wazzo: intangibility
Sun Boy aka Dirk Morgna: heat and light generation
Supergirl aka Kara Zor-El: Kryptonian physiology
Ultra Boy aka Jo Nah: deputy leader; ultra-energy which can be directed into any one of strength, speed, flight, invulnerability, flash vision, penetra-vision at a time

“Where’s Brainy?!” Garth Ranzz’s voice rang out in the large laboratory. “I need Brainy!!” Phantom Girl could hear the panic in his voice, and rushed to meet him as he came bursting into the lab with an unconscious Saturn Girl in his arms. Gravity Kid, Variable Lad and Laurel Kent were at their teachers’ side.

“Garth, please try to calm down.” Phantom Girl stood before him and tried to slow his pace. “Imra’s not the only—“

“Where is Brainiac 5?!” the man also named Lightning Lad demanded furiously, his eyes tiny orbs of pale blue energy. “Imra needs his help, damn it!"

“Hey!” Supergirl appeared by Phantom Girl’s side, hovering so that she was a couple of inches taller than the Legion founder. “What Phantom Girl’s trying to tell you is that Brainy’s in the same position as Saturn Girl is. And they’re not the only ones, take a look around you Lightning Lad!”

Lightning Lad’s face was contorted with rage, but it softened as he saw that Brainiac 5, Dream Girl and Sun Boy were in individual beds being monitored by medical equipment. All of them were in deep sleep. “What…what happened?” Garth asked more quietly.

“We don’t know,” Supergirl returned to the ground. “But we’re trying to find out. It’s not just here. Lightning Lass is bringing Elastic Lad back now, he’s been affected by…whatever this is as well.”

“It’s not just the Legion of Superheroes either,” Ultra Boy approached and stood by Phantom Girl’s side. “Bouncing Boy tells me half the Time Institute are out of it, and Medicus One has been inundated with new patients. I don’t know what they’re supposed to do about it though, I mean something that works this quickly across half a solar system can’t be a disease…can it?”

“I don’t know, Jo.” Phantom Girl squeezed his hand. “Infectious Lass should be able to rule it out for sure, she’s on her way back to base now. I asked Kid Computo to help Gas Girl find out how far this has spread as well.”

“Thanks babe.” Ultra Boy kissed her on top of the head. “Come on Garth, let’s make sure Imra’s as comfortable as possible.”

**********
MARS
Legion of Superheroes Headquarters, Mission Monitor Room

ROLL CALL
Gas Girl aka Tal Nahii: can transform into any gas
Kid Computo aka Danielle Foccart: cyberempathy

“I don’t know if I should be glad or depressed that Brainy repaired this place so quickly after the Teallians attacked,” Kid Computo slumped in her seat. “It’s good that we’ve got access to our monitor room again, but none of this news is what I want to hear. It seems like every planet and outpost in the UP is suffering, there’s gonna be chaos if we don’t find an answer to this soon.”

“Tell me about it!” Gas Girl agreed emphatically. “I was on monitor duty when this all started anyway…with this happening so soon after the Teallian invasion, the Science Police have already had to respond to outbreaks of violence in some areas. I’m just calling Lallor now to see if — oh, Evolvo Lad! Hi!”

The visage of an absolutely ordinary looking man with mousy brown hair appeared before the two heroines. “Hello Gas Girl, I can see you’ve not used your personal channel to call so I suppose this must be Legion business?”

“You’re right,” Gas Girl smiled, “As usual. Actually, it might be your more evolved self whose help we need. Can you evolve for us?”

“You haven’t heard?” Evolvo Lad raised an eyebrow. “There’s a kind of psychic epidemic affecting minds across the UP—“

“I know,” Gas Girl interjected. “That’s why we need your hyperbrain. It’s affected all of our best intellects, we need someone smart enough to be able to help figure out what’s going on.”

“Tal, you’re not understanding.” Evolvo Lad shook his head. “I can’t evolve because then I’d fall victim to the same affliction. It’s not a coincidence that the smartest minds of the Legion have been affected…

…they’re the target.”

TO BE CONTINUED..!


**********
EDITOR'S NOTES:
* In this continuity, both Val Armorr and his successor Myg were members of the Legion of Superheroes as Karate Kid I & II. Val died fighting Nemesis Kid (and again in the past alongside one of Luornu Durgo's bodies which is a story for another time...), and Myg was killed by Radiation Roy while he was a retired Legionnaire.

* Light Lad has indeed been to the Last Stout Bar before on an adventure with Timber Wolf, you can read that here.

* Star-Bear is a homemade character, and was one of the Judgement League. She's a bawdy Russian lady from the Legion's past and from what we've seen of her so far she turns into a big ol' star-bear

*Gas Girl was of course a member of the Heroes of Lallor for years before she joined the Legion of Superheroes. Evolvo Lad is still a member of that team, and has the ability to assume a caveman-like devolved form or a highly evolved form with heightened intellect and some other neat tricks.

Another great installment, raz! Happy to see Evolvo Lad figuring things out even in his "normal" form. Elastic Lad falling sick almost threw me off, his manner isn't what I normally associate with scientific brilliance, but it takes all kinds.

At first I thought this might be related to Fire Lad, but it seems not!

nice to see the Judgment League still causing trouble. Not all of them are out and out villains I think - Star-Bear seems more a nuisance than a nutty bad guy - but they certainly make for interesting stories.

Any other Legionnaires going to fall sick? Mon-El, maybe?

Poor Danielle, I empathize with her, I'm just glad Nura is forgiving.

Good stuff Raz, thoroughly enjoyed it.

I really dig the Heavensent team, please have them back soon! Star Boy closing down Void was fun,as was Brainy's calm and collected leadership. He really would infuriate in real life but it's great to read. Im looking forward to how you deal with the mystery of the being Fire Lad is interested in; a genetically modified worshipper... hmm, that just sounds like good old disaster waiting to happen. Breks save of Staq was cool too, pun excused please.

Nura helping to train Danielle was nice to read, good followup to a previous storyline. A virus that attacks intelligence all across the galaxy at the same time: it must be psychic! I have no idea who could be responsible though and without their brains how will the Legionnaires fight it, am looking forward to the resolution.

Oh I love your Elastic Lad,he's too sweet! Nice scene dealing with the remnants of the Justice League.

More,more,more Raz,please.

I'm really curious as to why all the intellectuals are being taken out.
Does that mean Colu has been shut down or are they behind it?

Also how come Kid Computo wasn't affected? i would think she'd be taken out too.
Also i liked the fight scene with her and Dream Girl. but have to agree with Nura you have to know how to fight and not rely on your powers.

The Heavensent created a Mercuryian woman? hmm they are super scary but intriguing.

I love your original creations and Star-Bear was a rowdy fun brawl.
my favorite line was "what does she think this is, Rimbor?" lol
great work and can't wait for more.

Thanks again peeps! I am going to be bringing up the dregs of the Judgement League occasionally to haunt our heroes, there are certainly enough of them! The Heavensent in particular will be back for more trouble once they've licked their wounds...

It's always a kick seeing different people's perspective on the same thing re the characters that you'd think would or wouldn't be affected by an attack on intelligence.

My take on Elastic Lad is that while his personality is very gosh-wow, he's academically brilliant so I may have to give him some more shine in that respect some time to highlight it Kid Computo I don't really see as being particularly more intelligent than anyone else, I see her power more along the lines of just making computers do what she wants as opposed to her having any kind of in-depth understanding of what it is they're doing.

Oh, and for those of you who were wanting some focus on Light Lad, there's a development coming up which kinda jumped out of nowhere as I was writing it that I think y'all will like

MARS
Husband Hill, Legion of Superheroes Headquarters

ROLL CALL
Legion Academy:
Chemical Kid aka Hadru Jamik: control of chemical reactions
Dragonwing aka Marya Pai: acid venom, fire breath
Glorith: sorceress
Gravity Kid aka Tel Vole: gravity manipulation
Kid Quantum aka Jazmin Cullen: quantum field manipulation
Laurel Kent: Legion intern, invulnerability
Lullabye Lad aka Waiane Wentim: Zwennite physiology, narcoleptic induction
Variable Lad aka Oaa Tseldor: abilities change with each manifestation

Legion of Superheroes:
Blok: magically enhanced strength, invulnerability, speed, flight, stamina, wisdom and courage
Chameleon Boy aka Reep Daggle: Durlan shapeshifter
Chlorophyll Kid aka Ral Benem: hyper-stimulated plant growth
Color Kid aka Ulu Vakk: color manipulation
Comet Queen aka Grava: flight, gas generation
Cosmic Boy aka Rokk Krinn: magnetism
Dawnstar: translightspeed flight, interstellar-range tracking
Diamond Damsel aka Iris Jacobs: living diamond
Dragonmage aka Xao Jin: dragon magic
Element Lad aka Jan Arrah: elemental transmutation
Fire Lad aka Staq Mavlen: fire-breathing
Gas Girl aka Tal Nahii: can transform into any gas
Infectious Lass aka Drura Sehpt: disease transmission and immunity
Invisible Kid II aka Jacques Foccart: invisibility
Kid Computo aka Danielle Foccart: cyberempathy
Light Lad aka Darvan Locke: anti-gravity control
Lightning Lass aka Ayla Ranzz: electricity generation and manipulation
Matter-Eater Lad aka Tenzil Kem: can eat inorganic matter in all its forms
Mon-El aka Lar Gand: Daxamite physiology
Night Girl aka Lydda Jath Krinn: photosensitive super-strength
Nightwind aka Berta Skye Haris: wind control
Phantom Girl aka Tinya Wazzo: intangibility
Polar Boy aka Brek Bannin: cold and ice generation
Quislet: energy being, temporary matter animation
Shadow Lass aka Tasmia Mallor: darkness generation
Shrinking Violet aka Salu Digby: shrinking
Star Boy aka Thom Kallor: celestial mass-transference
Stone Boy aka Dag Wentim: ability to transmute to living stone
Supergirl aka Kara Zor-El: Kryptonian physiology
Tellus aka Ganglios: telepathy and telekinesis
Timber Wolf aka Brin Londo: super-strength & super-agility
Ultra Boy aka Jo Nah: deputy leader; ultra-energy which can be directed into any one of strength, speed, flight, invulnerability, flash vision, penetra-vision at a time
Wildfire aka Drake Burroughs: anti-energy being

Ultra Boy paced the floor of the Legion’s colossal meeting room, hands folded tensely across his chest. Before him 32 other Legionnaires sat in a similarly agitated state, along with the student body of the Legion Academy.

“Okay!” Jo Nah announced loudly, catching the attention of dozens of metahumans in mid-conversation with one another. “This is what we’ve got. It looks like every sentient with a higher than usual level of intelligence in the entire UP has fallen victim to the same attack. Our leader who also happens to be the guy who usually does our thinking for us is one of those victims so we’re gonna have to figure out a way to fix this ourselves. Ideas?”

“How do we even know it’s an attack?” Wildfire asked. “Nobody’s come forward to claim responsibility!"

“It’s also worth noting that it’s affected sentients from all walks of life,” Chameleon Boy pondered out loud. “We’ve had reports from Takron-Galtos of prisoners experiencing the same symptoms as our own colleagues. If this is a pre-meditated attack, it’s very indiscriminatory.”

“There’s no virus or bacteria behind this,” Infectious Lass volunteered. “I’d know straight away.”

Ultra Boy stopped before Dragonmage. “Have we confirmed it’s not magic? It hit everyone at the same time, and I’d have no problem believing someone like Mordru could be powerful enough to pull this off.”

Dragonmage shook his head in response. “No, there’s definitely no sorcerous cause behind it. I also took the added precaution of asking Glorith to assist with a scrying spell in case my own magic wasn’t up to the task.” Hidden behind her hood, the introverted student sorceress nodded mutely at the sound of her name.

“If I may offer a suggestion,” Blok’s gravelly voice filled the room, “You said that all of the victims were affected at the same time Ultra Boy, but this is not entirely true. Reports do seem to have taken longer to arrive from certain worlds than others, this may indicate that there is an origin point from which this enigma has spread?”

Timber Wolf scoffed openly. “Pebblehead, you want us to go through data from sprock knows how many worlds to map some kinda pattern? By the time we do that our buddies could be dead!”

“I’ll do it,” Supergirl stood up. “If it helps Brainy and the others—“

“No,” Shrinking Violet disagreed. “I hate to say it, but Timber Wolf’s right. Factoring in how long it took for victims to be confirmed, how long it would take for the news to reach us…it’s an unrealistic goal, there must be a better use of our time.”

“Guys,” Kid Computo uttered before she was interrupted by Star Boy.

“There are nearly 50 of us in this room!” Thom shouted. “Surely we’re capable of following different trails! I’m not going to watch the woman I love die because some of us can’t look past their own cynicism to contribute anything helpful!”

“Guys!” Kid Computo spoke up a little louder.

“It’s not cynicism,” Shrinking Violet snapped. “It’s realism, Star Boy!”

Danielle Foccart tried a third time to get her team’s attention, but by this time the room had erupted into a chaotic din. Frustrated, she opened a channel to every one of their flight rings and broadcast her voice at maximum volume. “Guys!!” The room stopped and turned to her. Danielle sighed and spoke at her normal volume again. “Cyber-empathy, remember? I can collate all the data we need in a few minutes as soon as I’ve got access to it!”

“Okay then.” Ultra Boy took command before anybody had a chance to take them off course again. “Kid C, go do what you need to do and tell me what you come up with. Cham, keep working with the SP to look up any criminal leads. Matter-Eater Lad, take half the Academy to Colu. Laurel, take the other half to Cadmu. They’re the two most technologically advanced worlds in the UP, they’ve both lost a lot of their brains trust right now.”

Laurel Kent was visibly taken aback. “You - you’re sending me to lead a squad on my own? Without a Legion minder?”

“Is that wise, Ultra Boy?” Cosmic Boy began to rise from his seat. “I mean no disrespect to Laurel at all, but —“

“If I was wise, I’d be burning up in our sickbay right now with Brainy and the others,” Ultra Boy interrupted abruptly. “I’m doing the best I can in a lousy situation Cos, and we all need to do the same. We made Laurel an intern because we thought she had the stuff - this is her chance to prove it. She’ll be working with what’s left of the Neocaste, that’s more than we had a lot of the time when we were her age.”

“What about the rest of us?” Wildfire asked.

Ultra Boy had anticipated the question and answered without hesitation. “With a lot of the people who keep the UP running out of commission right now, there’s no shortage of craziness to keep us occupied. I’m sending you out to the places that can probably best use our help.”

Star Boy looked up from his holoscreen. “Ultra Boy, I don’t see my name anywhere on these squads.”

“That’s because we’re going to need someone to stay with Brainy and the others in the sickbay…you and Supergirl are it. And before either of you complain, you’re not being benched. We need to know straight away if their conditions change, and if this is the first stage of some kind of assault we’ll need to make sure they’ve got protection while they can’t defend themselves.” Ultra Boy stood up and walked towards the door. “Right then, let’s go Legion!”

As the team took their deputy leader’s lead and made their way out of the room, Kid Computo pushed through her teammates to catch Jo Nah before he got too far away. “Ultra Boy, wait!”

Ultra Boy stopped in his tracks, Phantom Girl at his side. “What is it, Kid C?”

“I think I’ve got the point of origin that Blok talked about, and well…I know what Drura said, but she might have ruled out this being a disease a little too soon.”

Ultra Boy’s eyes widened. “Wait, you’ve scoured through that data already?”

“Sure,” Danielle shrugged. “I told you it’d take me no time once I had access to it! I just linked in from my console while the rest of you guys were finishing up with the meeting.”

“That’s brilliant, Danielle!” Phantom Girl smiled warmly at her younger teammate. “What makes you think Infectious Lass might be wrong though?”

“If I’m right…and I don’t see any reason to think otherwise…all of this started on Medicus One!”

Ultra Boy hoped that it was just a morbid coincidence that this mysterious event had come from Earth’s most famous medical facility. What kind of disease could affect an entire galaxy almost simultaneously? And how could the Legion begin to fight that? “Let me juggle some of the squad rosters,” Jo replied. “I’ll give you a team to take there, see what you can dig up.”

**********
LEGION OF SUPERHEROES HEADQUARTERS
Sickbay

ROLL CALL
Brainiac 5 aka Querl Dox: 12th level intelligence, team leader
Dream Girl aka Nura Nal: Naltorian precognition
Elastic Lad aka Jams-Ols 5: super-elongation
Lightning Lad aka Garth Ranzz: reserve member, electricity generation and manipulation
Saturn Girl aka Imra Ardeen Ranzz: reserve member, telepathy
Star Boy aka Thom Kallor: celestial mass-transference
Supergirl aka Kara Zor-El: Kryptonian physiology
Sun Boy aka Dirk Morgna: heat and light generation

The first thing that Star Boy and Supergirl saw when they entered the Legion’s highly advanced sickbay was Lightning Lad hunched over his wife’s inert form. He gripped one of her hands tightly in his own and his eyes were bloodshot. In individual beds beside Saturn Girl lay the four active members of the team who had also been stricken. “Grife, Garth.” Star Boy placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “You look terrible, pal. Why don’t you take a break and go get some fresh air?”

Lightning Lad was visibly startled at the touch. “No,” he said a little too sharply. “I need to be here for when Imra wakes up.”

“Do you want me to get you anything?” Supergirl asked. “A drink, something to eat?”

“I’m fine,” he uttered through gritted teeth. He saw the look that Thom and Kara exchanged, and released a deep exhalation. “I’m sorry,” he apologised. “I know you’re just trying to help and I know how I must look. I haven’t left Imra’s side since she collapsed. It’s just…since all of this started I’ve been feeling an escalating tension, beyond just being worried sick about the woman I love and feeling helpless. I think…I think it’s our rapport, I can’t help but get a sense of the pain she must be feeling. And it’s getting worse every minute, and I can’t do a damn thing but watch her suffer.” His voice cracked and he looked as though he were being torn apart on the inside.

Supergirl felt a pang of sympathy. She was filled with dread for Brainiac 5, she couldn’t imagine how much worse this must be for Lightning Lad having to watch his wife suffer the same fate. Kara silently chided herself; this whole time she’d been with the Legion, she’d treated it like one extended vacation. In her heart of hearts, she didn’t really know how she felt about Brainiac 5. There was definitely a connection there, one which was strong enough to have prevented her from pursuing a burgeoning attraction to Shadow Lad when he’d been on the team. But while Kara had only been absent from the team for months, years had passed for the Legion. She’d become a part of Brainiac 5’s past before he’d even been a real part of her life at all.

The blonde Kryptonian stood by Querl Dox’s side and uttered a silent prayer to Rao that he wasn’t fated to become one more person for her to have loved and lost. She knew one thing for certain, this was her life now…and if Brainiac 5 recovered then Kara Zor-El would do everything in her considerable power to find out exactly what role she wanted him to play in it.

**********
MEDICUS ONE
Earth orbit

ROLL CALL
Blok: magically enhanced strength, invulnerability, speed, flight, stamina, wisdom and courage
Dragonmage aka Xao Jin: dragon magic
Infectious Lass aka Drura Sehpt: disease transmission and immunity
Kid Computo aka Danielle Foccart: cyberempathy
Light Lad aka Darvan Locke: anti-gravity control
Tellus aka Ganglios: telepathy and telekinesis

As their cruiser docked with Medicus One, six heroes waited patiently for the airlock door to open and grant them entry to the renowned medical satellite. “There’s something I don’t understand,” Light Lad puzzled. He looked up at Blok, one of the only Legionnaires the tall Winathian actually could look up to. “Why do you think it is that you haven’t you been affected by whatever this is, Blok? Your intelligence was enhanced along with your physical characteristics, right?”

The stone giant’s head turned toward Darvan with a slight creaking sound, the golden veins which covered his surface glinting as they caught the light. “I have considered the matter myself,” Blok replied thoughtfully. “In truth, I do not know. It may be that the wisdom of Solomon is not a quantifiable intelligence in the sense that United Planets sentients generally consider. Perhaps the magical origin of my amplified power protects me, or perhaps some such as myself, Supergirl and Mon-El are simply hardy enough to resist whatever has caused this ailment. We may find the answer to your question here if we are fortunate, Light Lad.”

“I’m surprised Sun Boy’s down and out with the others,” Kid Computo remarked. “He never really struck me as being particularly umm…gifted.”

“Since leaving Hykraius,” Tellus volunteered, “I have found that most sentients possess more depth than they display…Sun Boy exemplifies this truth as much as anybody I have encountered.”

With an almost silent whoosh, the Legionnaires saw Dr Richard Kent Shakespeare standing in place of a closed metal door. He was broad-shouldered and square-jawed, but his holo-star looks were currently tempered by obvious exhaustion. “Kent!” Infectious Lass rushed forward. “Thanks so much for greeting us, I know you must be terribly busy!”

“Busy isn’t the word for it,” he squeezed Drura’s hand in his own gloved hands. “You know I’ve always got time for you though, especially if the Legion can help us get to the bottom of this. Our best minds are out of commission and the rest of us are struggling to even come to terms with the scope of this tragedy, let alone find out what’s causing it.”

“I hope this doesn’t come out the wrong way,” Infectious Lass continued as the beleaguered doctor led them through the hospital, “But I’m glad you weren’t affected.”

“I won’t lie,” Kent gave her a sardonic smirk, “It’s a little bit of a blow to the ego, but I’m not really in a position to complain.”

“Grife,” Danielle whispered to Dragonmage, “I can see why my brother’s jealous of this guy…he’s the whole package, isn’t he?”

“I…suppose..?” the young sorcerer agreed weakly. For all of his mystical knowledge, he had precious little experience in the sphere of relationships. Infectious Lass had told them on the way here that Dr Shakespeare was the first friend she'd made after leaving her planet. Surely if there were any romantic interest between them it would have developed before now…once again, Xao Jin was reminded that life’s capacity for education was infinite.

“Dr Shakespeare, do you have any idea at all where this may have originated?” Light Lad asked. He’d expected the satellite to be in chaos, but while medical staff were rushing perhaps a little more anxiously than usual from one task to the next this was a far cry calmer than he knew any Winathian hospital would be right now. It seemed there was a reason Medicus One enjoyed the sterling reputation that it did.

“We have no idea where this came from,” Kent answered wearily. “Honestly, until you contacted us to let us know our facility was the origin point we didn’t even know that much. Oh, and please…call me Kent, Light Lad.”

“Only if you call me Darvan,” the attractive strawberry blond shot back automatically.

Blok had a sudden inspiration. “Are there any patients or staff on board whom you would expect to be impacted by this malady but have not been? If this is a conscious attack of some kind, it stands to reason that its culprit must be highly intelligent themselves to have orchestrated all of this.” He didn’t want to voice his suspicions aloud just yet, but the Dryadian very clearly remembered when the villainous Universo had almost permanently defeated the Legion of Superheroes by isolating its most intelligent members.

“Not to the best of my knowledge,” Kent gave the question some consideration. “There are a lot of sentients on board this satellite though, and I don’t personally know all of them. I guess I could have one of our personnel droids compile a list…bear in mind that it won’t be complete, I mean we don’t generally give people an IQ test before they come on board.”

“But you do run psychological profiles, right?” Light Lad piped up. “I mean it’s a necessary part of the screening process for new staff and it should be part of a holistic health approach for a large cross-section of patients!”

“A fellow professional I see,” Kent grinned.

Darvan cleared his throat, mildly embarrassed. “I was an orderly back home…on Winath, I mean. But yeah, I guess I paid attention. If you’d be happy to let Kid Computo and me at your database, I think working together we should be able to come up with some way to track the results we’re looking for…and let you get back to helping the people who really need you right now.”

Kent turned down a corridor and led the Legionnaires to a small empty office. “Seems like maybe you were lucky to escape a hospital bed too, Darvan! Quite the brain on you…feel free to use this office and feel free to let me know if there’s anything else I can do to assist.” He left the Legionnaires and continued through the satellite on his own.

Light Lad watched the muscular doctor depart, flinching when Danielle Foccart poked him in the ribs. “If you’re done admiring each other’s brains,” she teased, “Let’s get started.”

**********
It wasn’t long before Light Lad and Kid Computo had found the anomaly for which they’d been searching. As they walked through the satellite’s lower levels, Danielle shared with the Legionnaires what it was that she and Darvan had discovered. “Doctors Marlak Moris, Carta Zorlo and Wlasky Slav,” the young girl gleaned directly from the data bouncing around them invisibly throughout Medicus One. “Three Titanian specialists in the fields of neurology and psychology. Guys, they’re ticking every one of the crazy villain boxes…they’ve been in trouble with various authorities and ethics committees on Titan and abroad, and from their notes they came to Medicus One along with around a million other scientists and doctors to study Durran Mahn with some kind of grand plan in mind.”

“I’m sorry,” Dragonmage interrupted, “Who is Durran Mahn..?”

“A Somahturian refugee,” Danielle explained. “My brother and I saved him from some of the Judgement League a little while back.”

“Is Somahtur not your homeworld, Infectious Lass?” the electronic monotone of Tellus’ voice modulator sounded.

“It is,” Drura answered quietly. “My people aren’t supposed to leave Somahtur, our natural state is to share our bodies with the small life of the universe - the viruses and bacteria that make everybody else sick. Some of us though…some of us love our world more than anything, but we want more out of existence. We want to see the stars and the planets, and the wide teeming life which exists outside of the life that we already know. So we break quarantine to leave our planet. This boy Durran found out what I discovered when I left Somahtur…life is hard for a Somahturian off-world. The people who aren’t scared of us see as lab specimens. I know it’s necessary for him to be quarantined here until it’s safe for him and everyone else for him to leave…but it’s not at all fun.”

“Which brings us to the Titan Triad’s lair.” Kid Computo stopped outside a sealed door adorned with holographic Interlac signs telling them in no uncertain terms that intrusion was unwelcome. “They’ve been holed up in this lab with our Somahturian friend since before any of this began, and looking at their history they definitely qualify as smart enough to be affected by this thing. Transuits on just in case everyone, I’ll — huh.”

“What is it, Danielle?” Infectious Lass asked.

“They’ve shut themselves off from the rest of Medicus One’s network,” Danielle Foccart stood with her hands on her hips. “That’s rude!”

“I could use my telekinesis to gain entry,” Tellus offered, “Though I am not sensing any active minds inside, Kid Computo. They may have left if their plan has come to fruition already?”

“I don’t think so,” Danielle concentrated, sticking the tip of her tongue out from between clamped lips. “Psi-baffling technology, I’m shutting it down now. Lots of standard privacy tech too, they really didn’t want to be interrupted! The day hasn’t come that a computer said no to me though.” She theatrically threw her arms wide and the thick lab door opened in accord. “Ta-daah!”

“Allow me to enter first,” Blok took point. “We do not know what dangers we shall face inside.”

“I don’t think that’s likely to be an issue, Blok.” Light Lad stepped around the large hero and made his way to three wizened old men laying dead on the floor, their eyes staring glassy at the ceiling. “I recognise them from their holos, this is Moris, Zorlo and Slav.”

“Durran? Durran Mahn?” Infectious Lass saw a chalk-white arm exposed in a plexiglass tube and approached. “Durran, we’re here to—“ Drura Sehpt screamed, an unholy wail that brought the other Legionnaires racing to her side.

Before them lay the Somahturian teen, but he was far beyond their help. The top of his head had been cut open, and all sorts of exotic wires and tools pierced his exposed brain. Needles fed fluid in to and out of his naked body from the neck down. Drura hid her face in her hands and Kid Computo placed a comforting arm around her brother’s girlfriend’s shoulders.

“What - what did they do to this poor boy?” Dragonmage blanched when he saw the alien corpse.

“I don’t know,” Light Lad answered stonily. “But whatever it was, it was nothing good.”

On a console near the deceased Dr Zorlo, Blok alone noticed a small flashing line of text at the console he’d obviously been working on when he collapsed:

CONCEPTUAL VIRUS: Gestation Complete

...TO BE CONCLUDED!


EDITOR'S NOTES:
* The Neocaste are the superhero caste of Cadmu, Elastic Lad's home planet.
* While this is the first time he's been named, Durran Mahn was indeed rescued by Kid Computo and Invisible Kid, and you can read all about that here!

Wow! Tons of nice stuff here, raz.

I loved Jo taking control of the meeting, and acknowledging his own lack of "wisdom". But his reasoning was sound, as was the way he explained it (we made Laurel an intern because we trust her, Thom and Kara aren't being benched...)

Loved Kara's introspection.

I also loved the discussion on which Legionnaires are affected. Easy to see how some newer ones would be surprised by Dirk. Happy also to see the question on Blok (and Kara and Lar), I also assumed either Kara or Lar might be smart enough (though you wisely left it open to debate, it could be they just come from scientifically advanced worlds but are NOT truly that much more intelligent than the average).

Kent! I love how you wrote him, confident but not arrogant, and very charming. I could feel the pheromones flying. Darvan and Kent? Why not? And if I were Jacques I would definitely be jealous too.

Oh, poor Durran...

Nice detective work on the group's part as well.

And it was nice "seeing" the entire remaining Legion membership together in one meeting!

Looking forward to the ending!

Raz, hi there, I'm loving your Conceptual Virus storyline.

You write jo well, his taking charge of the meeting and being shrewd enough to keep the huge team occupied, including the Academy kids. Danielle taking control of the groups flight rings was a great moment too.

Karas doubts and Thoms anger were nice character moments too.

Kid C's team to Medicus One was an interesting mix of characters. I didn't realise Jacques was jealous of Kent though after your description I can understand why, and Kents honesty at his feelings about not being intelligent enough was also very endearing. Light Lad flirting with him was perfectly understandable after the description you wrote

Durran Mhan had a gruesome ending, the poor boy. I'm looking toward the conclusion Raz, great stuff! More, more, more!

Thanks peeps! Kent & Darvan literally took me by surprise...I had no intention of writing any kind of flirting between them and then BAM there it was...and now I am happy to find out where it will lead

Ultra Boy is really one of the pillars of the team in my mind...I see him as one of those Legionnaires who doesn't really go out of his way to make himself a commanding presence, but you'd notice if he weren't there.

I like writing stories like this every now and then where there's not really a "villain" to fight as such...I find it gives me a lot more room to explore characterisation for a lot of characters, even if it's just dropping a line like Jacques being jealous of Kent - it fleshes out personalities in my mind and gives me ideas for stuff that might be worth following up in the future

Raz you've done it again. this was another great post.

I loved Kid Computo's moment in the sun so to speak.
"You're done already?" good moment.

Ultra boy is a rather good leader for the most part. he's a lot better than i thought and well thought out. but makes sense he did used to be a gang member/leader right?" i liked how he answered Kara and Thom before they could say anything.

which i also like his reasoning for sending Laurel out without a minder. its cool and i really can't wait to see how she does.

i liked Blok and Light lad trying to figure out why Blok wasn't affected. its a good question indeed.

Poor Garth. i feel for him.
your team to Medicus One is pretty powerful and all of them are faves of mine.
I'll agree the interaction between Kent and Light Lad was cute and i hope that goes somewhere nice. i think Light Lad could use a little romance.

Another great Kid Computo moment. You've given her some real personality that i don't really remember her having in the Batch SW6 days. "Ta-DA!" lol love it.

Wow a Conceptual Virus...i wonder how far reaching that could be. that poor boy but great description in that scene. i would be horrified to look and would be able to look away. The virus obviously took out its creators.

Looking forward to the next installment.

Thanks Omni! I had a look at how often I've used various characters and I'm kinda surprised that Kid Computo is in the top 10! Even though I haven't really done much to consciously develop her I guess I must have been writing her enough that I have given her some presence.

You actually inspired me to focus a bit on Laurel with the next instalment....I was using that mission originally just to give her something to do off-screen as it were, but I have incorporated it more into the actual story after reading your comment so thanks!

Bad news bears! My mac has died and it kindly waited till I was about a paragraph away from finishing the last chapter....this will teach me not to store stuff on the cloud :|

Anyway sorry for the delay but hopefully will be sorted soon!

Sorry to hear raz! I hate when that happens to me too... hope your mac is ok

Seems that technology is conspiring against us Raz, where's Brainy and Danielle when we need them? :-)

Hey Raz, haven't seen you around for a while so hope it's because you had a huge lottery win and are off being awesome in excessively decadent luxury.

If not, hope all is good though and you pop in past soon to continue your tales for us.

Hi all, I am still alive!

After my old laptop died and refused several resurrection efforts, I also misplaced all my Legion notes and a bunch of real life stuff kind of took precedence so I haven't really had a chance to get back to writing anything yet (or even get on the board at all really!)....however, I now have a new PC and I randomly found all my story notes the other day so I am gonna take it as a sign that I should try to get my Legion up and running again! Hopefully will have the final chapter of the conceptual virus story up this week

Wonderful news! The last part ended on such a wonderful cliffhanger. happy to see you back

Hoorah

It has been a long time! Thanks for your patience everyone, hope the conclusion is worth it! Just something quick I wanted to note before y'all jump in - I have taken a page out of Harbinger's book and changed the way I depict telepathy. Till now I was doing telepathic speech in italics, but I also use italics to stress words anyway...so from this post on, I will be showing telepathic speech <like this>. Hope you don't mind Harbi!

CADMU
Geddu Precinct

ROLL CALL
Legion Academy:
Gravity Kid aka Tel Vole: gravity manipulation
Laurel Kent: Legion intern, invulnerability
Lullabye Lad aka Waiane Wentim: Zwennite physiology, narcoleptic induction
Variable Lad aka Oaa Tseldor: abilities change with each manifestation

Led by the Neocaste hero Quill King, four Legion Academy students descended through the Cadmu skies. Windowless buildings towered all around them, creating artificial canyons hundreds of stories deep. For all the advanced architecture here though, the neophyte heroes had seen barely a sign of life since their arrival.

"They call this the science planet, right?" Lullabye Lad asked their guide. "Whatever it is taking out all the geniuses must have hit Cadmu hard, it's like a ghost world here!"

"We have been affected more than a lot of other worlds," the aptly-named Quill King conceded, "But honestly, there's not a heck of a lot more sentients out and about even normally. Our population is a lot lower than the UP average, and most everything on Cadmu is automated. Anyway, this is our destination." He gestured to a balcony below them jutting out of one of the ubiquitous towers. "The Sklarian raiders our security web enountered are down there. They've disabled both security and sensors, but once we get inside the building I should be able to access those systems manually."

"We might be able to go one better," Laurel Kent offered. "Ultra Boy sent us here to help, time we earned our keep! Variable Lad, do you have a form with extranormal senses?"

Two of the young Jaquaan's three arms gripped his large purple head. "Extranormal...hmm, like penetra-vision..?" His features contorted in concentration and he transmorphed into a wiggling mass of hundreds of segmented wormlike strands that wasn't remotely humanoid.

Lullabye Lad was visibly disgusted but Gravity Kid and Laurel both managed to hide their instinctive revulsion. Laurel had seen Chameleon Boy and Chameleon Girl change shape dozens of times during her time at the Academy, but Variable Lad's transformations were always so much more unsettling. For his part, Quill King stared in open awe. "That's amazing!" the Cadmian hero beamed. "To be able to rewrite your own biology like that in an instant...we Neocaste have a variety of powers of course, but we're all limited within our individual powersets! How do you initiate the change, Variable Lad? How do you regulate your transformations?"

"Good questions, but maybe best kept for another time," Gravity Kid stepped in. "Oaa, what can you sense?"

"I don't have penetra-vision like I was hoping," a mouth somewhere deep inside the eyeless mass mumbled, "But this form does have a kind of hyperspatial awareness. It's difficult to describe my perceptions, but I can lead you to the raiders. There are six of them and they're armed. It looks like they're stealing data from that room there." Several of Variable Lad's thin appendages intertwined to form a thicker tendril and gestured at one of the building's walls.

"That's one of our top genelabs," Quill King scowled. "They could be taking highly sensitive research! Normally I wouldn't recommend casual destruction of property, but we don't have time to get in there using conventional means!"

"Say no more," Laurel gave a cheeky smirk. "Grav--"

"I'll get us in," Gravity Kid interrupted abruptly. "Everyone, be careful - Sklarian raiders have given the Legion a hard time in the past. Even without the mass-shifting powers some of them have, they're dangerous."

"It's so cute when you go into protective mode," Lullabye Lad teased his boyfriend.

Gravity Kid blushed slightly and flew ahead of the others without responding. Turning his attention to the wall that Variable Lad had pointed out, his power warped the gravitational forces around it and a moment later it had crumpled under its own vastly magnified weight.

Inside the sterile laboratory, three of the yellow-skinned women reacted almost immediately. Blaster fire converged on Gravity Kid before the stunned hero had a chance to even announce himself.

"You should follow your own advice," Laurel remarked with a hint of sarcasm as she darted in front of him to shield him from the barrage. "Sklarian raiders are dangerous, remember?"

"It's rude to come to my planet and steal our things, and it's extremely rude to shoot at our guests," Quill King taunted the women. He returned their fire with a volley of his own quills, disarming two of the criminals. While they struggled with the quills embedded in their arms, the third shooter realised that Laurel must be invulnerable and turned her gun on Quill King.

"You're really not very nice, are you?" Lullabye Lad pouted. "By the way, that was my boyfriend you just tried to kill so you're lucky the worst I can do is put you nasty nassheads to sleep!" The Zwennite teenager's power was less dynamic than some of his fellow students, but no less effective. All three of the Sklarians slumped to the floor unconscious.

"We've got what we need and killing a pack of stupid children and some backwater superhero doesn't interest me in the slightest," the most muscular of the remaining women barked. "Let's get out of here." She leaped from the hole that Gravity Kid had created and fell straight down. A few stories below, she pulled two massive knives from sheathes across her back and plunged the knives into the wall of the building. The knives brought her to a halt and powerful leg muscles kicked her off the wall to a walkway circling the neighbouring tower. The last two raiders phased through the floor of the genelab to the room below.

"Gravity Kid," Laurel faced her fellow student. "Go after--"

"I'm on it!" he cut Laurel off again. Gravity Kid began to follow the knifewoman as she fled across balconies and elevated walkways, but Laurel intercepted him and placed a hand on his exposed chest before he could fly more than a couple of feet.

"No!" she snapped, annoyed. "Quill King and I can handle the one with the knives, the other two can phase! You and Lullabye Lad are the only ones whose powers will affect them, take Variable Lad with you so you can track them down!"

Tel hated to admit it, but she was right. Grudgingly, he collected the other boys and left Laurel and Quill King together. "I hope we haven't lost her," Laurel muttered as she veered off in pursuit of her prey. "If Tel didn't insist on grandstanding every possible nano the opportunity presented itself we might have had them all by now!"

"Gravity Kid seems very eager to prove himself," Quill King replied. "Try not to be too hard on him."

"I think he's just jealous the Legion gave me an internship and not him," the indestructible girl continued. "I mean I get it, he's all about joining the Legion of Superheroes and then I come back and he must think I stole his thunder...but how does he think I feel? My friends are actual Legionnaires and I'm still the baby of the -- watch out!" She caught a gleam in her peripheral vision and raced to block three shining daggers flying straight at her Cadmian ally. One of the blades bounced harmlessly off of Laurel's outstretched arm, but the second took a gash out of Quill King's shoulder and the third struck his flight belt. The device sparked and sputtered, and Quill King plummeted like a rock.

Laurel looked from the swiftly falling Quill King to his attacker perched on a ledge above. She was reasonably certain she could take the blue-haired Sklarian out with a quick charge attack, but she wasn't at all confident she'd be quick enough to fight her and rescue Quill King as well. "Sprock it!" Laurel snarled through gritted teeth as she dived after him. She knew she was handing the woman her escape on a platter, but there was no contest. If there was one lesson that Bouncing Boy and Duplicate Damsel had drummed into Laurel Kent above all others, it was that saving lives always took precedence over beating up bad guys. Her flight ring enabled Laurel to catch up to him easily, and her unbreakable skin meant his quills were no threat to her. She manouvred herself beneath him and matched his speed, grabbing him around the waist and taking him to a nearby balcony. "We better get you to a medical facility," Laurel said as she helped him stand. "How are you feeling?"

"It's just a surface wound," Quill King answered. "And I heal quickly, the wound is already starting to close over."

Laurel could see that he had in fact stopped bleeding and the cut seemed smaller than it had been moments ago. "I'm so sorry," she blurted. "We came here to help and we didn't help at all. Maybe Cosmic Boy was right, maybe I'm not ready for this."

"And maybe Gravity Kid is not the only student overly eager to prove himself," Quill King smiled wryly. "You saved my life, Laurel Kent - and I'm under no illusions as to my ability to be able to deal with those raiders alone. I guarantee you I wouldn't have had any more success if you'd not been here."

"I guess," the blue-eyed girl stared glumly into Cadmu's skies above. She knew that she should be focusing on her successes as much as her failures, that was something else her teachers had drummed into her. She couldn't help but feel however that her failure today was going to have more of an impact than her successes would...

**********
MEDICUS ONE
Earth orbit

ROLL CALL
Blok: magically enhanced strength, invulnerability, speed, flight, stamina, wisdom and courage
Dragonmage aka Xao Jin: dragon magic
Infectious Lass aka Drura Sehpt: disease transmission and immunity
Kid Computo aka Danielle Foccart: cyberempathy
Light Lad aka Darvan Locke: anti-gravity control
Tellus aka Ganglios: telepathy and telekinesis

Dr Richard Kent Shakespeare leaned back from a floating pile of hardlight screens in an advanced laboratory space nestled in the bowels of Medicus One. It was here that the men whom Kid Computo had named the Titan Triad had conducted the ghoulish experiments which had left both their unwilling patient and themselves dead. Kent had just spent half an hour trying his best to comprehend exactly what it was that they'd done, and more importantly how every other impacted sentient in the United Planets could be spared from the same grim doom. A sonic mat thrummed almost imperceptibly as it supported Kent's muscled back, and he swivelled in his orthopedic seat to face six Legionnaires anxiously awaiting his diagnosis.

Kent pinched the bridge of his nose. "I...think...I can confirm what Blok gleaned from this data when he read through it himself. It seems that our rather ambitious Titanian doctors were on a mission to elevate the cognitive abilities of every sentient in the United Planets to Coluan standards; which might be a laudable goal if they'd not had to torture this poor Somahturian boy to death to achieve it or if they'd perhaps asked the average citizen of the United Planets if we wanted to undergo a procedure so far divorced from any accepted medical practice that it might as well be sorcery. No offence, Dragonmage."

"None taken, Doctor." The green-clad teenager nodded respectfully.

"There are some viruses that can force a host's body to strengthen certain characteristics as an immune response," Infectious Lass mused aloud. "Kathooni Divine Touch very occasionally gives its victims super-strength as a farewell gift....I mean, nothing on Night Girl's level of course, but greater than Kathooni people are normally capable of achieving on their own. Do you think those horrible...things...they did to Durran Mahn were meant to replicate something like that, but for brains..?"

"I don't know, Drura..." Light Lad bit his thumbnail. "...Giving someone increased strength is actually pretty easy with modern bioscience. I mean whether you're changing the physical makeup of someone's muscle and bone structure or playing around with adrenal output or whatever, it's not....well, it's not brain surgery, is it? But there's a reason we compare anything difficult to brain surgery, because brains are so much more complex. I can't see a virus being able to effect that kind of a change on a large scale, especially when we're talking about a diverse range of species like we know have been afflicted..."

"Umm, I don't want to be that guy," Kid Computo raised her hand to speak, "But Light Lad, I think you're overanalysing this. You don't have any screws loose. You know it's a super irresponsible idea to go around designing viruses to transform people's brains en masse...these guys were obviously space crazy and they made their dumb virus thinking it would work and then--" she paused to mime a knife slicing her throat and took on the melodramatic tone of a horror holo presenter "--they paid the price! Seems pretty cut and dry to me!"

Darvan sighed in exasperation. "Danielle, please don't use that term...you know I hate it when the psychologically unwell are used for a punchline. And stop watching those shinzy old holos your brother keeps digging up," he added as an afterthought to ease the tension. Danielle made a silly face at him in response. All of these Legionnaires were out of their element and all of them were acutely aware that if they didn't do their absolute best to work with what they had, they'd be letting down not only their friends but a large portion of the galaxy. The frustration was starting to wear on even the most easy-going of them.

"I see where you're both coming from," Kent cut in diplomatically. "Darvan is right however...expecting one virus, even a custom-made virus, to be able to physically restructure the brains of countless sentients, and at the speed this has happened...it's not feasible. And these men may have had absolutely abhorrent ethics, but all three of them were incredibly gifted intellectually. They'd have known immediately that wasn't a path worth taking."

"Then...there is no virus..?" Tellus asked in plain confusion.

Now it was Kent who sighed, though his vexation was borne of the knowledge that everything he was about to say was almost purely guesswork. Still, Blok had come to the same conclusion while Kent was en route to the lab, and when all was said and done it was the only lead they had to work with. As completely unbelievable as it seemed, it must be the truth. He cleared his throat, stood up and straightened his posture. If he was going to try and sell this, he'd have to present as much confidence as he could muster.

"It seems that the Titanian doctors used psitech of their own construction to twist Durran Mahn's symbiosis with viruses and bacteria to create an...an entirely new class of life. A conceptual virus. I mean, it's...it's basically a destructive meme. It's the most outlandish thing I've ever come across, I can't even believe I'm standing here talking about it with you all."

"I don't get it," Danielle Foccart shrugged. "You're saying they only created the idea of a virus? How could that possibly be dangerous?"

"Ideas can be very dangerous in a figurative sense," Kent replied. "In this case though, the danger's more literal than symbolic. This conceptual virus travels at the speed of thought from one mind to the next trying to infect everyone it comes across. The intention was for it to plant itself in our minds, to change the way we use our synaptic networks in an effort to comprehend it, and in doing so essentially upgrade our minds."

"So what went wrong?" Light Lad asked.

"My best guess," the brawny doctor continued, "Is that the conceptual virus succeeds in altering synaptic behaviour too well. Looking at both bio-scans and psi-scans knowing what we know now, it's not hard to believe that our patients' condition is a result of their minds burning themselves out trying to comprehend an incomprehensible idea."

"I have a question," Infectious Lass asked once she'd processed everything Kent had just told them.

"Why aren't we sick?" Kent anticipated his longtime friend's concern. He gave a dark chuckle. "Ironically, we're not smart enough to grasp the concept in the first place. This memetic organism which was intended to improve our mental faculties is so advanced that it requires a higher than normal level of intelligence for it to take root at all."

"So what we're looking at," Kid Computo summarised, "Is a virus which only exists as a thought, so Infectious Lass can't control it...and a thought which is too advanced for Tellus to comprehend so he can't control it. So basically...we're sprocked."

"There is always hope," Dragonmage countered his teammate. "Even if we can't see that just yet."

Blok, who had been pondering the situation in silence this whole time, finally joined the discourse. "Perhaps if we cannot comprehend this threat sufficiently to combat it, we need to change the way we are looking for it."

"I am not certain that I understand," Tellus confessed.

"I definitely don't understand," Kid Computo agreed with the Hykraian.

"We know that Tellus cannot detect the conceptual virus," Blok explained, "Just as most of us here are incapable of detecting viruses in the physical world without specialised tools. Infectious Lass can detect and interact with viruses on the physical plane, but she has no ability to access the psionic plane."

Infectious Lass beamed as she picked up on where Blok was heading. "...You think Tellus and I might succeed working together where we've failed individually?"

Tellus remembered his recent mind merge with Wildfire, the way his interpretation of his surroundings had so drastically altered. "My friends, I believe this plan is worth further investigation. Infectious Lass, I must warn you that the level of rapport necessary for this will involve a true blending of our innermost selves. Simple telepathic contact will not suffice for us to be able to combine our perceptions as Blok has suggested. I assure you there is no danger, but we will be connected on a deeper level than I know to describe. If privacy is a concern--"

"I can surrender my privacy for the chance to save our friends," Drura interrupted without hesitation. "How do we do this?"

"I recommend that you make yourself comfortable," the electronic monotone of Tellus' voice modulator instructed before he continued telepathically, <And allow my mind to wash over yours.>

Soon, Drura Sehpt sat in a slightly reclined chair with her eyes closed and her hands clasped loosely in her lap. Tellus was motionless before her, his massive forelimbs supporting his weight with his smaller hindlimbs and tail curled beneath him. His helmeted face was mere inches from Drura's white skin, the pods on his back gradually shifting through a variety of soft pastel colours.

Kent Shakespeare watched the two in open fascination while Light Lad allowed himself a slight smirk at Kent's expression. Darvan knew that blend of awe and curiosity well, he'd experienced it himself many times when he'd first joined the Legion. Dragonmage had taken advantage of the lull to retreat to a corner of the lab where he floated now in restorative meditation, and Blok subtly kept a protective eye over all of them. Kid Computo had grown tired of observing Tellus and Infectious Lass almost immediately; she didn't see the appeal in watching her teammates just sit there like statues, and at any rate it was way more fun watching Kent and Darvan's growing attraction play out before her. Danielle understood the gravity of the situation as well as any of them, but she thought it was cute that in the midst of all of this two people could still make a connection.

Drura Sehpt looked around without opening her eyes. The material confines of Medicus One were ethereal, walls so ghostly she felt she could dispel them like dye in water with a wave of her hand. By contrast, Kent Shakespeare and Drura's fellow Legionnaires glowed with a warm interior light which somehow gave them more substance than the space station enclosing them. Beyond the now translucent walls she could see other lights, sentients living and breathing all around them. She looked down, and saw her own phantom body sitting peacefully. Drura flinched at the sight.

<All is well>, Tellus soothed her. The Hykraian's astral form glowed brighter than any of them combined and in a way that Drura was unable to enunciate, his light was combined with hers while still somehow separate. <Joined at this level we simply share perceptions,> he explained gently.

His intent washed over Drura like a warm tide and she found herself comforted by that more than his words. <Tellus, is this what it's like for you all the time?> she asked in wonder. <Is this how you see the world?>

<In a manner of speaking,> Tellus replied. <My own senses have not overcome yours, Infectious Lass. With this bond and by the grace of Great Mother Ocean, we compliment one another equally. This experience is new for me also; I never realised that your bond with the small life of the universe was so joyous!> Drura could feel it plainly; Tellus was no less awestruck than she. She savoured the feeling. Drura had long since resigned herself to the knowledge that in choosing the life she had chosen, she'd given up the unique sense of community that she'd had on Somahtur. Even Jacques with all of his affection for her couldn't comprehend what it meant for Drura to share herself with countless numbers of microscopic lifeforms. On her homeworld, a Somahturian's bond with small life was almost a sacred thing; anywhere else in the galaxy it was seen as a useful if discomforting asset at best and a curse at worst.

Feeling Tellus' reverence reminded Drura just how special her symbiosis was, and she realised that her reaction to their merging of minds had given Tellus the same gift. Despite their very different backgrounds, the two heroes shared one thing in common; in wanting to explore the universe beyond their homeworlds they'd both had to give up a great deal. They allowed themselves a moment to bathe in their mutual eddie of emotions.

<Okay, enough of the love-in,> Drura took charge. <Where do we go from here? How do we find this conceptual virus thing?>

<In the depths of Great Mother Ocean, sometimes it is best to allow her currents to take us where she will,> Tellus answered cryptically. Drura didn't really understand the meaning of his words, but she got the gist of his message. The two were merged, but it was not a static combination. One mind naturally subsumed another, then their positions would change. At times they seemed almost one consciousness, and then Drura would realise she was seeing Tellus from the outside once again. She got the sense that trying to force dominance wouldn't accomplish anything; for this intense connection to maintain itself, they had to just let it happen. And it was as she made that precise realisation that Drura Sehpt found exactly what it was they were looking for. She called Tellus' name excitedly.

Tellus had made the discovery along with his Somahturian comrade. Like a constantly shifting 4th-dimensional puzzle box, they saw a vaguely defined construct encompassing each of their friends. The individual constructs were part of a larger whole, connected to one another in a fragile ever-moving lattice which spread as far as they could see. <This is why the virus maintains its strength over interstellar space,> it dawned on Tellus. <This conceptual virus is not a collective of individual lifeforms, it is one eternally sprawling mass...its individual strands may weaken with distance, but its victims are not fighting an individual strand; they are fighting one entity so immense that no sentient mind could stand against it!>

<Immense and unnatural,> Drura added with a hint of sadness. <This is a perversion of life...this is a perversion of Durran Mahn's gift...and it's lonely, Tellus. It's so lonely.> Drura's astral form extended one luminescent hand toward the entity, and Tellus' initial instinct was to caution her...but then he recognised the truth as plainly as she did; this creature had been borne of symbiosis and set afrift in a universe without a host. This concept the three Titanians had created which was so unknowable that sentients died trying to understand it was the most primal need that any living being could know.

It just didn't want to be alone.

Drura Sehpt made contact with the conceptual virus, and at first there was no visible effect. Tellus and Drura both felt it immediately though; a painless jolt which reverberated at thoughtspeed through the twitching turning organism all around them. In less time than it took to realise that it was happening, the conceptual virus turned back on itself. It surrendered its hold on every one of its victims across the vast spread of the United Planets, and it compacted itself until it surrounded only Tellus and Infectious Lass.

<We did it!> Drura rejoiced. She could sense something approximating contentment from the psionic entity, a sense that it had fulfilled its imperative to find symbiosis. Moreover, she could feel through Tellus that tortured minds all throughout Medicus One had finally found a measure of peace. It was over. Then something else occurred to the young Somahturian. <Oh no, Tellus...the virus is no longer spreading because it's found a compatible host but...the only reason we're a compatible host is because of the combination of our abilities! When our minds unmerge...>

<...We will no longer be able to offer symbiosis,> Tellus completed the sentence. He shared Drura's sadness, but he also shared her knowledge that this was necessary. As a living habitat to disease, Infectious Lass was well acquainted with nature's cycle of life and death. She was just glad that in the end they'd been able to help Durran Mahn's legacy not be one of galaxy-wide decimation.

Drura felt that Tellus was about to end the mind merge and then suddenly, almost abruptly, she found herself back in the chair. Her lavender eyes blinked a few times as she adjusted once more to physical reality and she placed one delicate hand on Tellus' shoulder, still hunched in the same position before her. She looked soulfully into his round dark eyes, and though his face remained an expressionless mask the two shared a mutual wistfulness as the last remnants of their bond evaporated.

"Is it working?" Light Lad asked. "Can you sense the virus?"

"It is done," Tellus answered for them both. "The conceptual virus will hurt nobody ever again."

Infectious Lass was glad that Tellus had taken the lead. His voice modulator would betray no emotion, and she wasn't ready just yet to try and explain why their victory felt bittersweet.

**********
KIRINYAGA
Pauvitz Point, Portela Mountain Ranges

The dark-skinned teenager named Mwindaji watched curiously as his patient finished the soup he'd been given. Kirinyaga was far from the centre of United Planets activity, and while the effects of the conceptual virus had reached this world, any official explanation of the malady had not. All Mwindaji knew was that this Vidar man had succumbed to a mysterious ailment which had left him unconscious for more than a day, and that he had just as quickly recovered. Vidar had consulted with his miraculous green and gold rings, and while they still didn't know what had struck him down he assured Mwindaji that the teen had never been in any danger and that Vidar himself was now fine.

"You do seem more healthy to me," Mwindaji commented in his clipped Interlac, taking the empty soup bowl away.

"I give you my word that I am indeed much healthier," Vidar smiled. "Mwindaji, twice I am in your debt now. You helped me when I first came to this world, and again when I fell ill. I hate to impose upon you again, but before I passed out...I seem to remember that you mentioned you're a tracker of some skill?"

Mwindaji puffed out his chest. "I may be the finest tracker on all Kirinyaga," he stated proudly. From somebody else this claim might sound arrogant, but Vidar got the sense that Mwindaji was simply stating a fact as he knew it.

"...And you'd be willing to help me find the remaining five rings? To bring an end to violence and fear throughout all worlds?"

"The name I have chosen for myself, Mwindaji," the youth explained, "It is the name of a great hero from Kirinyaga's distant past. An explorer and one of the forefathers of my people. I chose this name so that I may honour him, and now my path has crossed your own. I feel that the great Mwindaji smiles down upon me, that he has given me this opportunity to forge a destiny to make my ancestors and my blood proud." He thumped one closed fist against his chest and stood bolt upright. "Vidar, it would be my privilege to assist any way I can in this endeavour. I pledge myself to your cause."

"Excellent." Vidar climbed out of bed and used his rings to clothe himself in an armoured green and gold outfit, a high-collared green cape with golden interior billowing dramatically behind him. He clapped a hand on Mwindaji's shoulder and bared a toothy grin.

"Then let's get started."

Awesome! Perfect end to a conceptual virus. I like the concept very much, and also your depiction of the bittersweet victory.

Kent and Darvan is cute. Now I have to think hard on whether I want to make my Kent gay too because you and Harbi have both made him gay or bi

Great stuff Raz, I'm so happy to read more of your story.

I really like the structure you follow, where you post has three sections. The first section was great, really nice to see the competitive nature of Tel and how threatened he is by Laurels competence. I wonder what the Sklarians stole? I do appreciate the effort you put in to setting up your storylines, lots of fore shadowing to build up the tension.

Giving Drura and Tellus the spotlight or the main body of the story was nice, they are two characters that are fascinating but never really get the spotlight they deserve - something I know I'm very guilty off. Danielle's interest in Light Lad and Dr Shakespeare's flirting was well done, the resolution was bittersweet, with the poor virus being alone, something I'd never have thought of though it makes perfect sense, well done. It was good to have team deal with a situation without resorting to punching things.

M'Windaji and Universo.... There's going to be tears before bedtime with those two. I'm really looking forward to where you're taking this plot line.

So glad to see you back here with us Raz, and looking forward to reading more, more, more!