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MEDICUS ONE
Earth Orbit

ROLL CALL
Color Kid aka Ulu Vakk: color manipulation
Fire Lad aka Staq Mavlen: fire-breathing
Matter-Eater Lad aka Tenzil Kem: can eat inorganic matter in all its forms

In a crowded waiting room with Matter-Eater Lad on one side of him and a large green crocodilian alien on the other, Ulu Vakk glanced down the corridor at the sound of a door opening for the seventh time in as many minutes.

“You’re gonna give yourself whiplash if you keep that up,” Tenzil Kem joked.

“I’m just worried about Staq,” Color Kid’s head dropped. “I wish Brainiac 5 hadn’t gone on that interstellar mission; we’d have an answer by now.”

“Maybe if his multi-lab wasn't completely trashed,” Matter-Eater Lad bumped his teammate’s shoulder playfully. “Dr Gym’ll is no slouch though, Kid. He was our primary physician for a long time when the Legion were on Earth, you know. He may take a little longer to come up with results than our resident 12th level genius, but he’ll be able to confirm if Fire Lad really does have a micro-organism inside of him like the Heavensent say they used to create Arqiia. And he’ll even have the same cheery bedside manner that Brainy would!”

The two men heard someone clearing their throat and turned to see the aforementioned Dr Gym’ll standing behind them with Fire Lad by his side. “My patients don’t pay me for my bedside manner, Legionnaires. As long as they continue to pay however, they can badmouth me as much as they like. Your friend’s in no immediate danger, and we can even remove the parasite from his system. You two might have better luck talking him into that than I did though. I’ve got other patients to assist, patients who hopefully have more common sense than this young man.” Without waiting for a response, Gym’ll spun on his heel and left.

“Staq!” Color Kid leaped to his feet and faced his friend fully. “What did he mean? There really is some kind of microscopic organism mutating you? I guess the important thing is he can remove it, right?”

“I guesss,” the flame-crested hero hissed.

“But..?” Matter-Eater Lad prompted.

“It’ss regresssive gene therapy,” Fire Lad replied glumly. “If I want to remove thiss thing insside of me, then I remove my powerss too. I’d be a normal Sshwarian again…

...I’d have to leave the Legion of Ssuperheroess forever.”

**********
DEEP SPACE
Unnamed planet in the globular cluster Valstan C5

ROLL CALL
Brainiac 5 aka Querl Dox: 12th level intelligence, team leader
Element Lad aka Jan Arrah: elemental transmutation
Mon-El aka Lar Gand: Daxamite physiology
Mwindaji: tracker infused with White Lantern energy
Shadow Lass aka Tasmia Mallor: darkness generation
Zoe Saugin: infused with Green Lantern energy

The Legion’s two newest recruits stood before their teammates on the bridge of their cruiser; Mwindaji was consumed in the task he’d been set, leading the Legion of Superheroes across the galaxy in search of the ancient Daxamite Sodam Yat. The emerald headset he wore upon his brow enhanced his innate tracking abilities exponentially.

The hardlight headset had been provided thanks to the imagination of Zoe Saugin, the former Green Lantern who now held the legendary power of a Green Lantern ring within herself. Unlike Mwindaji she was very aware of the other Legionnaires around them, and their eyes on her made her nervous. While Zoe generally liked being the centre of attention, she liked it on her own terms. “How are we going, Mwindaji?” she asked.

“Your power compliments my own easily as well as Universo’s had,” the youth replied in his rich baritone. “I can scarcely believe that such wonders exist outside my small world. Our quarry approaches the fifth planet in this cluster; once we have reached planetside my own power will close the distance unaided.”

Brainiac 5 had devoted part of his colossal intellect to analysing these two ever since the team had left Mars. Mwindaji’s tracking ability was clearly not the equal of Dawnstar’s, but he seemed utterly confident that he’d be more effective within planetary range. Considering the difficulties Dawnstar faced tracking her quarry within heavily populated areas, Brainiac was already seeing how their powers might compliment each other. Though he was from a world which by UP standards was hopelessly primitive, Mwindaji didn’t seem at all overwhelmed or unsure of his place here. His naivete might be a problem though, as it was largely that trait which Brainiac 5 felt had led to Universo’s ascension to the White Lantern and Kara’s fate in the first place. Querl Dox decided he was going to keep a close eye on the Kirinyagi teenager.

The Green Lantern on the other hand had shown herself to be a capable powerhouse. Brainiac didn’t know why she was displaying such anxiety in her microexpressions and her tone of voice, she had nothing to prove to the Legion of Superheroes and in fact had been accepted into the team’s ranks by a much larger margin than her fellow recruit. She was one of Dragonmage’s oldest friends, she’d saved the lives of Legionnaires and innocents alike on multiple occasions and her control of the Green Lantern energy made her one of the most resourceful members of the team. As annoying as her nervousness here was, Brainiac supposed it was part and parcel of dealing with lesser intellects. He was certain she’d overcome it, he just hoped it was sooner rather than later.

While Mon-El flew under his own power outside the cruiser, Element Lad and Shadow Lass piloted the vessel. With their course adjustments made as per Mwindaji’s last update though, there really wasn’t a lot for Jan and Tasmia to do right now. “What do you think of the new kids?” Shadow Lass leaned across and asked her co-pilot in a hushed voice.

“Green Lantern’s going to be a great asset once she settles in,” Element Lad replied after giving it a moment of thought. “She was trained to operate as part of a larger group so we already know she’s a good team player. Mwindaji...Mwindaji is more of an unknown quantity. I know Shrinking Violet vouched for him, but it’s not as though she’s always shown the best judgement in the galaxy. It does seem like he really wants to do good though, and we don’t need another tracker on the team but his healing ability will definitely come in handy.”

“I never really subscribed to the Legion’s silly regulations on power duplication,” Shadow Lass waved her hand. “I mean having a handful of people on the team who can tear down cities has only ever worked in our favour, I don’t see why more esoteric powers should be treated any differently. It is strange that Brainiac put them both forward for membership though, don’t you think? I mean we’ve seen Green Lantern’s heroism, but considering Mwindaji’s role in what happened with Supergirl--”

“No offence Shadow Lass, but I’m not really comfortable gossiping about our teammates like this. I’m sure the last thing Brainiac needs right now is to know his friends are talking about him like he was a character in a holodrama.” Without waiting for a response, Jan turned his attention to the ship’s controls. “Entering the atmosphere now,” he announced to the entire team. “Where to now, you two?”

“I thank you for your assistance,” Mwindaji bowed his head toward Zoe and removed the emerald construct from his head. “From here, I can sense him clearly. Sodam Yat is there, over that volcanic landmass.” He pointed toward an island far far below them in the world’s green-tinged oceans.

“Green Lantern, Mwindaji, I’d like you two to exit the cruiser and align yourselves with Mon-El,” Brainiac 5 instructed. “You’ll be able to move faster and we’ll be close behind.”

A confused Mwindaji was about to ask how they could exit the ship in mid-air when Zoe grabbed him by the arm and they were both enveloped in a green glow. “You’ve got it, Brainiac!” She gave him a mock salute and phased herself and Mwindaji through the vessel. “Man, I’m glad to be out of there,” she confessed as the duo sped toward Mon-El to their right. “Did it feel like he was staring us out from the nano we got on the ship or was it just me?”

“Brainiac 5 is the leader of the Legion of Superheroes,” Mwindaji responded diplomatically. “It is his responsibility to be sure of the capabilities of all of his team.”

“Well yeah, but-- hey there, Mon-El!” Zoe grinned as they caught up with the broad-shouldered Daxamite. “Okay Mwindaji, show us the way!” Zoe retracted her glow from Mwindaji and after a dramatic lurch he remembered to activate his own flight ring. Not terribly gracefully, he led the others above the planet’s sparse cloud cover and toward the verdant island he’d identified.

Before too long, the cloud cover vanished altogether to be replaced by something far stranger. At first there were only a few of the odd spheres dotted here and there, but soon the Legionnaires were surrounded by countless scores of floating orange puffballs. Each one was roughly the size of a basketball, and collectively they seemed to possess at least a basic form of intelligence as they cleared a way for Mwindaji, Zoe and Mon-El to fly through. “What do you think these things are?” Zoe asked Mon-El. She spared a quick glance behind them to make sure the weird objects weren’t closing off their escape route, and just to be on the safe side she reinforced her protective aura.

“I don’t know,” Mon-El admitted. “I’ve never seen anything like them. They don’t appear to be dangerous...still, maybe we should steer clear of them anyway. Mwindaji!” he shouted. “Change course, we’re going to fly around whatever these things are!”

“Sodam Yat is just ahead!” Mwindaji returned. “Just through this--” He never completed his statement as a flash of red filled their field of vision. Mon-El had reacted swiftly, darting ahead to shield Mwindaji with his own body.

Where there had been a field of harmless puffballs stretching ahead as far as the eye could see there was now just a formless cloud of ash dissipating throughout the atmosphere. In place of the puffballs hovered a muscular man in a green and black bodysuit, his jet-black mohawk whipping against his scalp in the high altitude winds. Zoe Saugin recognised him instantly.

“Sodam!”

“You shouldn’t be here!” Zoe’s former mentor railed. “How did you find me? I hid myself from the Green Lantern Corps!”

“There is no Green Lantern Corps anymore!” Zoe retorted. “You killed the last Corps member, remember? I’m still here though!” Her anger overcame her and a battering ram of pure force slammed into Sodam, knocking him back hundreds of feet.

Mon-El quickly saw that he needed to take charge before things turned any uglier. “Mwindaji, you did well to get us here but your powers aren’t suited for a confrontation of this scale. Stay by Green Lantern, she can keep you safe.”

“Sprock that!” Zoe snapped. “He killed my friend! He let us all down! I haven’t even begun to--”

Mon-El interrupted the teenaged girl. “And if we don’t all work to our strengths, he may kill again. Once Brainiac and the others arrive you’ll get your chance to help bring Sodam Yat to justice, but until then you can shield Mwindaji far better than I can.”

Zoe felt a rush of blood to her cheeks and was glad that her emerald glow prevented the men from witnessing her furious blush. She knew Mon-El was right and it galled her. She began to utter an apology when her eyes grew wide and she flung an opaque dome around herself and Mwindaji. At the same time she cried out a warning to Mon-El, but the sealing of the dome muffled her almost completely.

Still, it was enough notice for Mon-El to spin in place and it was enough notice that when Sodam Yat slammed into him at supersonic speeds he could roll with the impact so that the two Daxamites skimmed across the surface of Zoe’s construct rather than smashing through it. “Why have you come here?!” Sodam raved. “How did you find me? How??” His eyes were twin pits of emerald energy, burning red embers at their centre. The man was completely manic.

“The how isn’t important,” Mon-El grunted, using his own power of flight to arrest their careening path through this world’s atmosphere and the swarm of puffballs which populated it; the last thing he wanted was to put a target on Mwindaji. “As to the why...you’ve crossed a line, Sodam. If you need help we’ll make sure you get it, but you’re too dangerous to be allowed to roam freely.”

“Do you think I don’t know that?” Sodam roared. “Why do you think I came here to this world?!” He spun Mon-El around in midair and used the momentum of the movement to fling him away. Before Mon-El could make a countermove, Sodam Yat’s arms stretched out before him and a green glow just like Zoe’s surrounded his entire body. As Zoe had earlier struck him, Sodam hit Mon-El with a beam of light powerful enough to send him rocketing straight into the ocean more than a mile below.

“Exercise caution, Legionnaires.” Brainiac 5’s voice drew Sodam Yat’s attention upward, where the Coluan hero hovered alongside Element Lad and Shadow Lass. “Despite the destruction of every remaining Green Lantern ring, Yat clearly retains access to the Green Lantern energy. I surmise that like Larfleeze, his centuries of exposure to the Green Lantern energies allowed him to metabolise--”

“Get out of here! Do you fools have no sense of self-preservation at all?!” Sodam Yat charged the trio, only to bounce off of the previously unnoticed impenetrable forcefield surrounding them all.

“I’m not normally a sadistic person,” Shadow Lass intoned coldly, “But as if it wasn’t bad enough you’ve put that poor Zoe girl through the wringer, now you’ve hurt the man I love. So I hope this hurts, Yat.” She gestured while he was still reeling in confusion and inky blackness seeped into his pores, his mouth, his eyes. It built up around him until the Daxamite was hidden in a formless cloud of shadow and then dramatically an explosion of emerald light ripped the darkness to shreds. Shadow Lass recoiled from the assault on her senses, but she didn’t cry out.

“You may be able to leech the solar energy from my cells,” Sodam sneered, “But your power is no match for the green light, Shadow Champion.”

“We didn’t really think it would be,” Element Lad subtly positioned himself between Shadow Lass and their glowing enemy while she caught her breath behind her cloak. “Shadow Lass was just buying me enough time to increase the lead content in the atmosphere enough to disable you without killing you. I’m sure you can appreciate it’s a task that requires some delicacy.”

“Don’t you fools understand?” Sodam Yat railed, completely unaffected by Element Lad’s gambit. “The green light protects me from lead poisoning! It protects me from every form of injury my own invulnerability cannot! None of you possess any capability to harm me!”

“Yeah, I don’t know about that.” Zoe Saugin had joined the gathering, Mwindaji suspended in a hardlight dome behind the glowing green girl. “The Green Lantern energy is powered by will, right? That’s what you taught me anyway. How strong do you think my will is to make you hurt for what you did to my friend, Sodam?” Without waiting for an answer, she created an emerald replica of the Legion’s cruiser and slammed it straight into Sodam Yat. The simulacrum pushed him down through this planet’s clear skies, following Mon-El’s path toward the seas below.

With his bare hands Sodam Yat tore the construct in half but before he could mount a counter-attack, Mon-El had returned to grab him in a full nelson hold. “Give up,” Mon-El commanded, maneuvering his fellow Daxamite in mid-air so that Sodam Yat couldn’t target any of the others with a ranged attack. “We don’t want to hurt you, but you need to face justice for what you’ve done, Sodam.”

“The only justice left to me is that of the grave!” Sodam protested. He phased through Mon-El’s grip, turned solid once more and flung the hero at Zoe. Mon-El was taken by surprise, but he recovered in time to veer away from his newest teammate.

The two Daxamites faced off once more, but before either of them could make a move Sodam Yat roared in pain and doubled over. “You were right, Brainy.” Element Lad’s face wore a look of intense concentration. “The Green Lantern energy protects him from external atmospheric changes, but it’s not much help when I’m converting trace elements which already exist inside his body.”

“Of course I was right,” Brainiac 5 answered simply. “Green Lantern, I will need your assistance to boost the power reserves of my forcefield belt. Alone I do not believe either of us possess the power to restrain Sodam Yat physically, but together we should find success.”

“This is just...an inconvenience,” Sodam grimaced. “Already the green energy is...ngghh...flushing the lead from my system.”

“Excuse me, Legion of Superheroes?” Mwindaji asked politely. As the only member of the team not directly involved in the battle with Sodam, he was also the only one to have noticed something peculiar. “...The puffball creatures who had surrounded us earlier? They are back and there are many many more of them.”

Mon-El scanned the atmosphere quickly. The creatures were keeping a safe distance from the violence, but the sky was congested with them and with his telescopic vision Mon-El could see hundreds of thousands more arriving from outer space. “Maybe you should keep that forcefield for yourselves,” he advised Brainiac 5. “There seems to be an endless supply of these puffball creatures and now that Sodam Yat’s riled them up they might not be so harmless, Brainy.”

“That was my goal all along!” Sodam yelled. He was still feeling the effects of Element Lad’s lead poisoning, but it was fading fast. “Individually, these creatures possess the barest sliver of intellect but as a collective they are the strongest-willed creature in this sector! They once served as part of the Green Lantern Corps, but now they carry the only thing that can end my suffering...I provoked this response on purpose, you fools!”

“What the sprock are you talking about?” Zoe demanded, getting in his face. “How is getting a bunch of floating cotton balls mad going to help you in any way?”

“The collective are not the only former Green Lanterns in this sector,” Sodam ignored the forcefield Brainiac 5 had enclosed him in. “Within their divided mind they contain Dkrtzy RRR! Without a Green Lantern ring Dkrtzy RRR cannot harm me physically any more than any of you can, but it can destroy my tortured mind!”

“So this is some kind of insane suicide attempt?” Shadow Lass curled her lip in disgust. “For pity’s sake, why?”

“You don’t understand!” he whined. “None of you can know what it is like, what I have been through in this long life! I should have been dead a thousand years ago, but the Guardians cursed me with eternal life that I might watch everyone I have ever known and loved waste away! And now I have caused the death of one under my command? I do not deserve this maddening existence but the green energy won’t let me die! Dkrtzy RRR is my only--”

Surprising everybody present, a scowling Mon-El charged forth and slammed into Sodam Yat. “I’ve heard enough!” the Legionnaire bellowed. “You think you’re the only being in creation to outlive friends and family?” Mon-El sped up as they approached the sandy shores of a small island, peripherally aware of his teammates following closely and the puffball collective in turn following them. “Try spending a thousand years in the Phantom Zone, helpless to do anything other than watch your loved ones die!” The two men slammed into the island with a tremendous boom, a flock of birds taking flight on the other side over a mile away. In the crater their impact had made, Mon-El grabbed a fistful of Sodam Yat’s bodysuit and slammed the former Green Lantern face first into the exposed rocky crust. “The Guardians didn’t curse you, Sodam! They gave you the power to make a real difference in the universe! In all this time you could have helped the Green Lantern Corps blossom into an unparalleled force for good, and instead you chose to sulk on a dead world for a millenium! You’re pathetic!!” A dazed Sodam Yat climbed to his feet, and Mon-El threw a punch that would have knocked him straight back down again if not for the translucent forcefield which met his fist instead. Instantly, Mon-El recognised it as the handiwork of Brainiac 5.

His features still contorted by fury, Mon-El turned. Shadow Lass was the first person the angry Daxamite saw, her own face a mix of concern and the slightest hint of fear. “Mon, love.” She placed a hand on his chest. “I know why you feel the way you do and you’re not wrong, but we don’t have time for this. Look.” With her free hand, she gestured above. The other Legionnaires weren’t far behind, with only an emerald wall keeping them from an atmosphere crowded with untold puffballs.

“What is Dkrtzy RRR?” Brainiac asked Sodam Yat as he landed by Mon-El’s side. The Coluan didn’t give his angry teammate even a sideways glance, trusting that Shadow Lass’s presence would soothe her lover. “I need to know precisely the danger we’re in, Yat.”

Sodam Yat gingerly touched the forcefield Brainiac had erected around him. “You can still leave,” the Daxamite instructed. “The collective will not follow you Legionnaires, and none of your powers will be proof against Dkrtzy RRR at any rate. Certainly this forcefield will be no obstacle.”

“Oh for--” Zoe lost her temper, throwing her hands up in the air. “Can you just answer one question directly??”

“Dkrtzy RRR is a biosentient mathematical equation,” Sodam replied calmly. “Once upon a time it was a Green Lantern, and it mindwiped the enemies of the Green Lantern Corps. But the equation is a degrading one...670 years ago, its sapience was finally lost and it was left only as a formula which indiscriminately destroyed the minds of all those it touched. Those of us Green Lanterns who still remained in the Corps at that time combined our rings to imprison Dkrtzy RRR within the segregated mind of the puffball collective. Each individual puffball is not sufficiently advanced to comprehend the nature of the entity, but together they possess the will to contain it...and I had gambled that they would be able to direct it as well if sufficiently provoked. I suppose we shall find out soon enough.”

“No, we will not.” Brainiac 5 turned to face the approaching army of puffballs. “If you’d not been so eager to isolate yourself from the rest of the universe, you might know that recently three Titanian scientists created what they termed a conceptual virus. I myself fell victim to this virus and once I recovered, I set to investigating what exactly it was that they had done. Their own artificial lifeform drew heavily from the centuries old work of a scientist named Timph Rye, and while history did not retain the name Dkrtzy RRR it is clear to me now that Dkrtzy RRR is indeed his creation.” The Legion’s leader floated up toward Zoe’s emerald wall. “Green Lantern, dissipate your barrier please.”

Zoe arched an eyebrow and looked at the elder Legionnaires for guidance. “Uhhh….”

“Brainiac, what are you planning?” Element Lad asked calmly.

“I possess the most advanced intellect in known space,” Brainiac 5 answered. “I am going to decode this entity before it has a chance to hurt anybody, and then we are going to take Sodam Yat into custody and leave this place.”

“You can’t--” Sodam exploded.

“Oh shut up,” Zoe rolled her eyes and used her own power to both reinforce and soundproof Brainiac’s forcefield around her former mentor. “Brainiac, are you sure about this?”

“That conceptual virus incapacitated you as much as anyone else it affected!” Shadow Lass protested. “If it was based on this...Dirkzy thing...what makes you think you’ll fare any better, Brainiac?”

“In recent days, I have rededicated myself to intellectual pursuits,” Brainiac 5 explained dryly. “If there is one thing that I can rely on, it is the power of my mind. Green Lantern; please.”

Zoe wasn’t sure she was doing the right thing, but she supposed she had to trust that the leader of the Legion of Superheroes did. She allowed the wall separating them from the puffballs to vanish, and soon Brainiac 5 was swallowed into their midst. They passed over him en route to Sodam, and it was only Zoe’s quick wit that had her extend a sheath around herself, Mwindaji, Element Lad, Shadow Lass and Mon-El to protect them from the wave of placidly moving creatures.

“Mon, I don’t like this.” Shadow Lass clung to her lover’s arm.

“I don’t either,” Mon-El agreed, having once again calmed down. “Judging by my x-ray vision Brainy seems fine in that ocean of puffballs, but if this is a purely psychic entity I won’t be able to see it anyway.”

Mwindaji cocked his head, visibly confused. “There was something else there,” he muttered, “Some presence of spirit which my tracking power recognised, but now...now that seems to be no more.”

Brainiac 5 appeared hovering just beyond Zoe’s bubble, and she expanded it to allow him entry while puffballs streamed around them. “Brainiac...what did you do?” Element Lad asked.

“It was an artificial construct,” their leader answered, “And I deconstructed it. The threat is over, Legionnaires. Let us gather Sodam Yat and depart this world.”

**********
MARS
Husband Hill, Nine Planets Ice Cream Parlor

ROLL CALL
Dragonmage aka Xao Jin: dragon magic
Zoe Saugin: infused with Green Lantern energy

Several hours after Zoe and the others returned from their mission, Xao Jin watched quietly bemused while she tucked into a monstrous multi-tiered ice cream concoction called The Nine Planets Solar System Special. As long as Xao had known her, Zoe Saugin had been able to eat food which would turn the stomach of half a dozen different alien races. He wondered if it was a result of her childhood spent tagging along with her archeologist mother to dozens of different worlds with their own unique cuisines.

“Are you sure you don’t want some?” She offered him a spoon of something frozen but paradoxically aflame. Outside of their Legion costumes, they looked like any other teenagers sharing a frozen treat together. “You gotta taste the Sunny Sol at least, it’s sprocking awesome!”

“No, thank you.” Xao smiled and held a hand up. “While I’m deeply impressed with your ability to out-eat anyone this side of Bismoll, I’m happy with my green tea shake.”

“Suit yourself,” she shrugged. “So anyway, after the thing with those weird puffball creatures Sodam kind of lost steam...it’s weird you know, I thought I’d never stop being angry at him for what he did to Neon but Mon-El was right; in the end he’s just kind of pitiful.”

“You’ve never been someone who holds on to anger,” Xao complimented his friend after he dabbed at his mouth with a napkin. “It’s a good trait to have; Madame Chu used to tell me that prolonged anger is a disease of the soul.”

“Still...I kind of wish we knew exactly what happened with Brainiac 5 and that Dkrtzy RRR creature.” Zoe gulped down a heaped spoonful of three different flavours mixed together. “Brainy’s not very forthcoming, is he? I mean I get he’s like a hundred times smarter than the rest of us put together but it’s kind of creepy how much like a robot he is.”

“Everybody follows their own path in their own way,” Xao deflected. “You should be proud of yourself, Zoe. You achieved what you wanted in bringing Sodam Yat to justice, and Green Lantern completed her first mission as a Legionnaire. We’ve had a lot of negativity occur recently, it’s nice for the Legion to have an unqualified success.”

“About that…” Zoe stepped away from her seat for a moment and there was a brief flash of emerald light which drew gasps from the other customers in the ice cream parlor. Her sleeveless modern pantsuit was replaced by a costume, though it wasn’t her Green Lantern costume. Her freckled face remained unmasked, and while her bodysuit retained a green and white color scheme her iconic Green Lantern symbol had been replaced with a glowing green star which seemed to revolve slowly in the centre of her chest. “You know, I don’t have the best association with the name Green Lantern. Sodam Yat wound up being a massive disappointment, and everyone I was friends with in the Green Lantern Corps died as collateral damage in Universo’s crazy scheme. There’s a legacy I want to carry on, but it’s not the legacy of the Green Lanterns….if there’s one name I’d be proud to carry on into the future with me, it’s my friend’s name who gave me this power. Can you call me Neon from now on?”

Xao Jin beamed. “I think I can do that. Welcome to the Legion of Superheroes, Neon!”

**********
EDITOR'S NOTES: Dkrtzy RRR and the Puffball Collective are both existing Green Lantern characters, check out the links for more info!

Also, for those who are unfamiliar with Sodam Yat's recent GL history in my fic...he had been creating a new GL Corps which included Zoe, but the Thunderers of Qward wiped out most of the new Corps and Sodam himself accidentally killed Celeste Rockfish aka Neon. Neon gave her own power to Zoe before passing away

cool beans raz!

excellent characterization all around.

Xao 's indirectness in answering and directness in complimenting, Brainy deconstructing the math equation, Jan politely but firmly stopping the gossiping Tasmia, Tasmia's calming of Mon and stance against the no-power-duplication rule, Mon's righteous anger at Sodam Yat being such a whiner. Mwindaji's inexperience compared to Zoe's temper yet much greater team experience, which showed in battle (show, don't tell! you do that so well, having Brainy and Jan comment on her abilities and then show how capable she is in battle)

your use of two minor Green Lanterns brought a smile to my face, I always thought those two were among the more interesting GLs

Haha Sodam Yat is SUCH a whiner...I mean Atmos may be a dumpster fire of a person but at least he's entertaining; the only time I've ever seen Sodam Yat in a comic he's complaining about how hard life is for an immortal Superman with a Green Lantern ring, cry me a river

I kinda fluctuated on whether I should make this a big epic confrontation or not, but like Xao said I think it's time for the heroes to get a relatively easy win. Thanks for commenting IB!

So, you know when you've had a tough week and you just want to kick back in an infinity pool overlooking St Tropez and be fed grapes and mochitos in equal measure by studly staff, but then you remember you didn't buy a lottery ticket and haven't had any billionaire relatives die recently to leave you obscene amounts of money so you need to regain your equilibrium in another less lavish way? Yeah? You know that feeling? So, that's where my head is today and, instead of luxury holiday fantasies, I decided to catch up with the Bit's Forum and discovered that there another superb post I hadn't seen before to dive into - hoorah! Who needs pools in St Tropez? Not I when there's a great instalment to get sucked into...

Great start, you love the usually minor characters and give them such respect its really enjoyable to read. And you write Tenzil better than anyone else Raz, take a bow. The line about Gym'll having the same bedside manner as Brainy was a hoot. Poor Staq tough, I assume the parasite has potentially dangerous side effects (other than turning people into semi-dragons, of course), and hat's why Gym'll suggested removing it?

M'Windaji's naïve confidence and Zoe's uncertainty are well doe, as is Brainy's realisation that Gahiji's abilities compliment Dawnstar's. There easily is room on the team for two tackers, I believe. Bainy's thoughts on the faults of lesser intellects was fun, he's such a snob at heart Shady trying to gossip with jan was cute, she's used to having Tinya close by to do that to, and loved Jan closing down that conversation so smartly. Also nice that it's mirrored by Zoe and M'windaji.

The orange puffballs...I get he feeling they aren't so sweet.

Zoe's anger and Mon El's professional outlook were well highlighted, showing that even the best team player needs support sometimes. I knew the puffballs weren' t just there to be decorative - Dkrtzy RRR, okay, that's another first for me, I really don't know the GL corps at all so thank you for introducing me to all these new characters and concepts. Mon El reminding Sodam that he wasn't the only one t spend a thousand years alive was a great moment, and really highlighted the difference calibre of character between the two Daxamites. Sodam Yat whined - yes, he does that a lot.

Bad Ass Brainy saves the day again - I do love your take on him, so aloof and pragmatic appearing but with a subtle intellectual understanding of and consideration for his teammates.

Nice epilogue with Zoe and Xao eating out at an ice cream shop, like normal kids. Your Zoe is very mature taking on the name Neon, well done.

Great stuff Raz, looking forward to more, more, more!

Good installment Raz!
Poor Staq! i wonder what he will do? give up everything or continue to change?

I liked the mission to find Sodam Yat. he is super whiny and i agree with everyone about how M'onel handled it. others have suffered and at his hands.
Loved the idea of the puff balls and all the green lantern stuff you've thrown in. You've shown so much about its mythos that i have never known about. i wonder if we'll ever see Dkrtzy RRR is a biosentient mathematical equation reconstituted? Imagine this and the conceptual virus together. or what if it regained its sapients?

Glad Zoe is sticking around and taking on the name Neon is a great way to honor her fallen friend.
Zoe and Xao are really good friends and it was a great way to end it.
Can't wait for more!

Thanks y'all, I am glad Zoe taking Neon's name was well received...I think it suits her personality more anyway, it's got a bit more pizzazz

Mon and Sodam really are kinda like two sides of the same coin (especially considering how Mon-El got made a Green Lantern in the last Legion series as well!)...I have been waiting for an excuse to have them interact like this!

Thanks for your kind words re: Tenzil, Harbinger! He's definitely the most challenging to incorporate into a lot of standard combat stuff but I think his personality makes up for it...and we'll see very soon what one particular Legionnaire thinks about having two trackers on the team

MARS
El Dorado Dunes, Jym Grell Memorial Running Track

ROLL CALL
Supergirl II aka Laurel Kent: Legion intern, invulnerability
Sun Boy aka Dirk Morgna: heat and light generation

Wearing only a two-piece strapless bikini, Laurel Kent’s indestructible body was covered in a sheen of sweat as she completed her fourth lap around an oval track. While the Legion of Superheroes’ headquarters was being repaired from a series of recent attacks, they’d needed to find somewhere else to continue their physical training and they were fortunate enough that the Jym Grell Memorial Track was only a minute or two away with their flight rings.

This running track was unique throughout all of Mars in that each of its ten running lanes had individually adjustable gravity fields for the benefit of athletes from different worlds. Laurel currently had her own track set at 1.25x Earth standard; with her invulnerability it never made her more than uncomfortable, but it meant she had to work harder for results.

“Hey, fancy seeing you here!” a familiar voice called out in greeting, and Laurel glanced to her left to see Dirk Morgna jogging up to meet her. He wore a yellow pair of shorts with red trim and a matching singlet, his instantly recognisable Sun Boy icon outlined in red on his singlet.

“Yeah, fancy that,” Laurel replied snarkily. “Since when do you like any physical exercise where you have to keep your clothes on?”

“Ouch!” the red-haired lothario gave an exaggerated expression of pain. “You wound me! You think I keep this bangin’ bod purely from bedroom gymnastics, Kent? There’s a lot of actual work that has to go into it too, you know.”

“Lotta cellular trim-ray treatments maybe,” Laurel rolled her eyes. She turned back to face her ex-lover with a cheeky smirk. “Race you to the finish line. Loser has to buy stimbevs later.”

“I hope you’ve got pockets in that thing,” Dirk grinned back, “Because I don’t think sass counts for currency on this planet.” He put on a burst of speed and bolted ahead, Laurel pushing herself to catch up.

**********
Half an hour later, both freshly showered and dressed, the man better known as Sun Boy and the teenager who would be Supergirl sat in a cafe filled with flowering plants from various worlds.

“Just so you know,” Laurel said grumpily, “My track was set to a higher gravity than yours.”

“Don’t voiceprint cheques you can’t cash,” Dirk replied smugly as he sipped at the drink Laurel had just paid for. After a moment of mutual silence, he spoke again. “So...Supergirl, huh?”

“Ugh, is that why you came to find me?” Laurel groaned. “All you Legionnaires have your own codenames, now you wanna take mine from me?”

“I’m not here to take anything,” Dirk Morgna answered. “I’m curious though, why did you choose that name?”

“Well it’s not being used anymore, is it?”

“Laurel.” Dirk’s tone grew more serious. “I know you like making waves, but Supergirl...the real Supergirl was more than just a teammate, she was a friend to all of us and a lot of Legionnaires have known Kara since we were younger than you. You’re going to piss a lot of people off with this, not least of all your teachers and Brainiac 5.”

Laurel sighed. “I know. I know that. And I know that she and I never really had anything to do with each other when she was here and I know how hokey this sounds, but she inspired me. I’ve been doing a lot of research into the superheroes in my family tree lately; Supergirl was the most powerful fem in the Legion but that’s not why people loved her...everyone loved her because she was such a good person. And then, the way things went at the end...the whole Satan Girl thing...you know, Superman has a whole sprocking museum dedicated to him, and the last thing anyone’s gonna remember now about Kara Zor-El is that she went bad and tried to kill all her friends. And it’s not fair, you know? I’ve seen the history holos. I know she’s gonna die in her own time before she ever has a chance to make her own legacy, but don’t you think she deserves a legacy?”

Dirk Morgna regarded Laurel with a thoughtful expression for a moment then had another drink of his stimbev, the slightest smile curling his lips.

“What??” Laurel demanded. “What’s that look for, Morgna?”

“Nothing,” he replied nonchalantly. A second later, he broke out into a full smile.

“...Good answer, Kent.”

**********
ZUUN
Somewhere over the Ebonene Sea


ROLL CALL

Cosmic Boy aka Rokk Krinn: magnetism
Dawnstar: translightspeed flight, interstellar-range tracking
Lightning Lass aka Ayla Ranzz: electricity generation and manipulation
Timber Wolf aka Brin Londo: super-strength & super-agility
Wildfire aka Drake Burroughs: anti-energy being


Led by Dawnstar, five Legionnaires soared high over the roiling black waves of Zuun’s Ebonene Sea. A hundred feet below the heroes in waters which looked far too grease-slicked and violent to bear life, the occasional megashark fin or a school of vibrant fish broke the surface as though to remind these visitors that as strange as it may be, life did thrive in the polluted waters here. The sun rose over the horizon, turning the hazy skies almost blood red and erasing the few stars bright enough to shine their dim faraway light all through the Zuun night. Dawnstar’s power had brought them all here on the hunt for a rare genesample which had been stolen recently from the far off world of Cadmu, but now that they were actually within Zuun’s atmosphere she found she needed to concentrate a lot harder to keep the sample’s trail.

“Are you okay, Dawny?” Wildfire asked, noticing the tightness in her elegant features. “If you’re having trouble with the smog, your transuit might--”

“It’s no trouble,” Dawnstar replied perhaps a little bluntly. “I can survive in the vacuum of space, Drake - atmospheric pollutants are not going to harm me. Still, it doesn’t make this world any less vile to navigate.”

“Yeah, times like this I don’t miss having a human respiratory system,” Wildfire responded. “I can see how toxic it is, yeesh.”

“If you’re done disparaging Timber Wolf’s homeworld, Legionnaires--” Cosmic Boy began to chastise his teammates before Timber Wolf cut him off.

“Don’t sweat it, Cos.” Brin Londo seemed utterly nonplussed. “This place has always been a dump, I’m not gonna start being precious about it now.”

“I’m just annoyed our mystery thief is here of all places,” Lightning Lass muttered. “I didn’t exactly have the time of my life last time I was here, let’s finish tracking down this nasshead and get out of here!”

“You may have the opportunity to vent your frustration sooner than expected, Lightning Lass.” Dawnstar pointed toward the horizon with an elegant gesture. “It seems we have company, Legionnaires.”

Following Dawnstar’s lead, the heroes soon saw two slender missiles rocketing toward them. “Well I guess that confirms we’re on the right track if there was ever any doubt,” Lightning Lass remarked. She flew ahead slightly and waited for the missiles to come within a couple hundred feet before she unleashed a bolt of lightning at one of them. The armament exploded instantly, the shockwave sending Ayla tumbling through the crimson skies.

“Ayla!” Timber Wolf cried out with instinctive concern.

“Wolf, she’s just a little dazed,” Wildfire reassured him. “Still, let me take care of that second bad boy.” He left a blazing trail behind him as he flew straight into the second missile, unleashing anti-energy from outstretched fists just before impact and careening unscathed through the resulting explosion.

“Show off,” Lightning Lass teased as she righted herself and joined the others once more. “Can you tell where they came from, Dawny?”

“Of course,” Dawnstar answered immediately. “In fact, we should be grateful. This attack has helped draw my focus to our quarry more clearly. Legionnaires, follow me.” She veered down at an acute angle with unnatural grace and flew toward a chain of small islands. Most of them were uninhabited by anything more than Zuun’s hardy animal life, but one of the larger rocks housed some kind of heavily fortified windowless structure.

“I don’t think that’s meant to be there,” Timber Wolf observed.

“You think?” Ayla mocked him. “It’s the only building we’ve seen since we cleared the equator, Brin.” As she spoke, a panel opened up in the roof and two more missiles rocketed toward them. “And there’s our final proof.”

Her fists once again crackled with electrical energy, but Cosmic Boy interjected before Ayla could fire. “They may have sent something more powerful this time, let me take care of these. Can you and Wildfire work on getting us inside, Lightning Lass?”

“Work on it?” Wildfire parroted. “Grife Cos, you make it sound like it’s gonna be difficult.” While Cosmic Boy’s magnetism latched on to the missiles and sent them zooming high into the Zuunian stratosphere, a two-fisted blast of anti-energy from Wildfire trashed the base’s missile platform and gave the team a convenient entry point.

“Now you’re just being obnoxious,” Lightning Lass poked her tongue out. “You want to leave something for the rest of us to do, Drake?”

“Ask and ye shall receive,” Wildfire retorted dryly. “Check it out.” As he set foot on the narrow island’s shore, a horde of faceless humanoids poured out of the building from the hole he’d made. They were salmon pink and each one of them were devoid of any individual features.

“Androids,” Timber Wolf growled, launching himself into the throng of artificial foes. “I hate androids!” He bowled a couple of the closer automatons over and grabbed the head of one with both hands. When he tried to yank its head off though, Brin Londo was surprised to find that it simply stretched like putty in his grip.

“They’re made of some kind of rubber or something,” Lightning Lass noted. “My blasts aren’t slowing them down at all!” To illustrate her point, electricity arced harmlessly over two of the giant pink fighters.

“There’s not nearly enough ferrous material for me to be able to affect them either,” Cosmic Boy added. Both his arms were stretched out before him, but he might as well be trying to shoot lightning himself for all the good it did. “Give me a second though and I can use the metal in this place’s walls to corral them.”

“I think not,” a raspy woman’s voice opposed the Legion founder. Before Rokk could see more than a glimpse of his new opponent, he was enveloped in a cocoon of hyper-elongated limbs. He felt a rib crack under the crushing pressure and cried out in pain, struggling to find anything metallic in his foe’s costume that he could use against her.

“Who the sprock are you?” Lightning Lass demanded. The woman currently squeezing the life out of Cosmic Boy was clearly a Jaquaan. She had the same enlarged cranium, warty complexion and three arms as the few other Jaquaans Ayla had met, but her skin was a deep red color rather than the standard purple. Ayla had considered blasting her away from Rokk but she could see only one of two outcomes; either the woman’s natural elasticity would protect her, or she’d conduct any electrical attack through to Cosmic Boy as well.

The woman’s bald head twisted on a serpentine neck around Cosmic Boy’s torso to face Lightning Lass. “You can call me Ruby Rogue,” she grinned wickedly. Ayla winced as she heard Rokk groan from beneath inches of red flesh. “I see your friends are engaged with Gar Lao’s plastoids, and you’re about to become acquainted with my fellow Forever Soldiers Medulon and Silverback.”

The hairs on Ayla’s neck stood on end as she became aware of a presence floating above her. She looked up to see what seemed to be an oversized brain floating inside a transparent sphere filled with mucous liquid. Thin hair-like tendrils grew out of the sphere, waving in the breeze like seaweed in an ocean current. “Which one are you?” Ayla challenged the hovering brain.

<For the benefit of my allies, I have assumed the name Medulon> a shrill telepathic voice echoed through Ayla’s skull. <It is within my power to reduce you to my mind-slave for the rest of your miserable existence, but the resourcefulness of the Legion of Superheroes is well known to the Brain Globes of Rambat...best to simply end you!>

Ayla prepared to fire upon the bizarre alien, but an animalistic roar distracted her. Lightning Lass turned to see an enormous chrome gorilla coming straight at her, using the mob of plastoids as a launch pad. Her eyes widened in fear, but before she could make a move there was another more familiar growl and Timber Wolf tackled the primate in mid-air. The two careened back into the sea of plastoids, soon lost in a sea of pink synthetic men. Lightning Lass turned back to Medulon and was utterly confounded when her power simply refused to be unleashed.

<My vastly superior cerebrum has removed your access to the only advantage you possessed> Medulon bragged, <...and now while Silverback and the plastoids defeat the one named Timber Wolf physically I will destroy your mind, Lightning Lass!>

Ayla Ranzz screamed between clenched teeth as her world exploded into spasms of pain.

**********
Of all the Legionnaires, Wildfire was having the least trouble dealing with his foes. Though they were strong the plastoids couldn’t come anywhere near his own might, and their elastic nature was no defence against anti-energy. Drake Burroughs had to admit he was even enjoying the opportunity to unleash against unliving opponents for a change, but he realised that the longer they delayed him here the more chance their true target would have time to escape. “Dawny, are you having any luck finding our guy yet?” Wildfire asked as he tore another half-dozen of the artificial army apart with a wide blast.

“No,” she admitted from her vantage point floating above the reach of the plastoids. “The genesample is within this complex, but I cannot isolate its location any more precisely than that.”

“Too bad that Mwindaji kid’s not here,” Wildfire remarked casually between anti-energy bursts. “Maybe the two of you working together--”

“Tracking is not a group activity,” Dawnstar said coolly. “There is no more I could accomplish were some untested newcomer present, Wildfire. Fortunately for me I suppose, I have uses to this team aside from just finding things.”

Wildfire recognised instantly what he heard in Dawnstar’s tone and couldn’t help but laugh. “Dawny, you’re not jealous are you? Feeling a little territorial, huh? ...Dawny?” She’d already left his presence and he shook his head in frustration. “...Ah, crap.” He blasted another wave of the seemingly endless plastoids, wondering how it could possibly be that blowing things to pieces was always easier than being able to just have a civil conversation with the woman he loved.

For her part, Dawnstar was already focused on the next task she had set herself. She had noticed Cosmic Boy had overcome his initial disorientation at Ruby Rogue’s assault; he’d found metal fibres somewhere and was now engaged in a fierce face-off with the Jaquaan villainess. A hastily patched together net of wires surrounded him and kept her at bay, but this wasn’t a natural use of Rokk Krinn’s magnokinesis. This kind of fine control didn’t come easy to him, and any observer could see that it was only a matter of time until Ruby Rogue overcame his constantly shifting defences. Indeed, she had had just found an opening and she drew one of her arms back whip-like to take advantage of it. Before she could strike, Dawnstar grabbed her extended forearm and flew off at incredible speed. By the time Ruby Rogue had even noticed the tugging sensation, Dawnstar had knotted her arm several times around a group of plastoids.

“You--” the Jaquaan began, forming a fist with one of her two free hands. Dawnstar plucked that out of the sky as well and lassoed another group of the artificial warriors in less time than it took Ruby Rogue to utter her next word.

“Thanks for taking some of the heat off me, Dawnstar.” With less of the plastoids swarming around him now, Timber Wolf grabbed Silverback by the scruff of his neck and flew high enough to clear the synthetic mob.

“You should be more scared of Silverback than plastoids!” the gorilla raged. He reached up with long powerful arms and gripped on to Timber Wolf’s shoulders, flipping himself around so he was straddling Brin Londo’s back. With frightening speed, massive teeth closed on the nape of the Legionnaire’s neck.

Just as quickly, Timber Wolf sent one elbow flying back to smash his foe’s jaw. “You know, you’re almost as fast as me,” Brin complimented him. “And you’re almost as agile and almost as strong...but you know what they say, almost only counts in moopsball and plasma grenades.” While Silverback reeled from the blow to his face, Timber Wolf used his flight ring to abruptly spin to the left. The sudden motion unseated the gorilla, and Brin Londo grabbed him before he could fall more than a few inches. In a blinding motion, the Legionnaire swung his enemy around in a circle and launched him straight at Medulon.

Silverback hit Medulon with enough force to send both villains flying back several metres, and the effect on Lightning Lass was dramatic. With Medulon distracted, his assault on Ayla ceased and her face contorted now in anger rather than agony. “Let’s see how you like your brain being fried, creep!” She let loose with a bolt of lightning that arced across both Silverback and Medulon, and both of them were reduced to unconsciousness almost immediately.

Whereas Medulon hung motionless in the air with his fibrous appendages laying limp against his outer casing, Silverback dropped like a rock. Timber Wolf grabbed the falling gorilla and hurled him into the few remaining plastoids, scattering them even while they cushioned Silverback’s fall. “You okay, Ayla?” Brin Londo asked.

“I haven’t had a headache like this since Validus,” Lightning Lass gripped her temples, “But I’ll survive.” She spared him a weak smile. “Thanks for the save.”

Timber Wolf took on an uncommonly sheepish expression, but before he could say anything a tremendous crashing noise from below caught the attention of both of them. An enormous humanoid robot had crashed through what was left of the island base, closing on Wildfire faster than one might presume something so large could act. The construct was easily twenty feet tall, composed of a charcoal grey metal punctuated by glowing red lights across its torso. One round crimson lens glared menacingly from its head like that of an angry cyclops.

Wildfire squared up against the newcomer without hesitation. “Are these guys called the Forever Soldiers because they keep on coming?” he asked sardonically. “Not that it matters, this bucket of bolts can go down just like its plastic buddies did.” He swung both arms around to face the robot and unleashed a dual gauntlet blast of anti-energy that would have decimated most foes. Surprising all of the Legionnaires, the robot didn’t even break stride.

“Your power might impress others,” the mechanical behemoth’s harsh voice boomed, “But my casing is composed of self-regenerating inertron, Legionnaire. Even if you had a chance of penetrating my defences, they’d heal before you could do any real damage. Let’s see if the same can be said of you!" Swiftly the robot reached out with one three-pronged hand, grabbed Wildfire by the torso and squeezed.

“Wildfire!” Dawnstar’s eyes grew wide as she cried out his name.

“It can’t hurt me, Dawny!” Wildfire struggled valiantly against the grip of his stronger opponent. “You all better clear out of here though, it just might be strong enough to rupture my containment suit!”

“No!” the winged heroine circled the construct, making sure to keep out its reach. “Wildfire, now that I am this close I can sense it clearly...the genesample I have tracked here, it is inside that thing! Whoever this villain may be, they are in some sense alive in there!”

“Of course I am alive!” the metallic monstrosity threw its head back and laughed, an inhuman sound. “I am Immortus, and I had already lived far beyond the limitations of any flesh when I learned that Cadmu possessed the one thing which could extend my lease on life even further! This DNA which has been combined with my own was sourced from a long dead metahuman with the rare gift to turn his own mortal body into metal shrapnel...it was the final key I needed to become a truly unstoppable galactic conquering force!” While he crowed, Immortus simply ignored further energy blasts from the Legionnaire still held tightly in his grip.

“Well, you’ve already got the exposition part of being a supervillain down pat,” Lightning Lass quipped, “Let’s see if we can help you with the part where your stupid plan inevitably fails.” Realising that she’d have no better luck than Wildfire in trying to directly harm Immortus, Ayla decided to try something else. Her face screwed up in concentration as tendril-like branches of electricity snaked forth from her fingers and danced over Immortus’ armour. She knew Wildfire’s own containment suit was insulated enough that this wouldn’t damage it, but she was hoping that she’d be able to short circuit something within his assailant’s inertron shell and shut down Immortus where he stood.

“Internal alarms sounding,” the villain noted with casual curiosity. “I don’t actually think you’d be able to penetrate my protective measures fully, but why take the risk?” He swung wide the arm that held Wildfire, flinging Drake Burroughs into the Winathian heroine and knocking her out instantly.

“Ayla!” Timber Wolf bellowed her name, charging the inertron beast. Predictably, he bounced off of Immortus’s casing without even grazing it.

Immortus turned and took a step toward the fighting mad Legionnaire, then abruptly froze in place. “What the--how are you doing this?!” he exploded.

“He’s not,” Cosmic Boy’s voice joined the discourse. “I am.”

Naked from the waist up, the Braalian hero descended to land between Immortus and Timber Wolf. Further away, Ruby Rogue struggled fruitlessly against webbing Rokk had constructed from the metallic fibres of his own costume while she simultaneously tried to free herself from Dawnstar’s earlier ensnarements. “Ruby Rogue’s a tricky one,” Cosmic Boy continued, “But once Dawnstar helped me gain the advantage it was only a matter of time till I defeated her. And you, Immortus...you might be a juggernaut of destruction but you’re a metal juggernaut of destruction. You never stood a chance.”

“Damn you, Legionnaires!” Immortus ranted impotently. “You’ve not heard the last of Immortus and his Forever Soldiers!”

In Wildfire’s arms, Lightning Lass stirred. “...Izzat new costume, Cos..?” she slurred. “...I like it.” She gave him a giddy thumbs up and immediately passed out again.

Cosmic Boy blushed a furious crimson shade and cleared his throat. “Come on Legionnaires…

...Let’s go home.”

**********

EDITOR’S NOTES:
* Y’all may remember that the genesample in question was stolen by Atta a very short while ago
* Jaquaans of course are the same race that gave us Dr Gym’ll and Variable Lad
* I based Silverback on an idea of Set's, so thanks!

Raz, This was another really good installment and good small mission for the team.

I liked how you show case Laurel and Dirk's past just through how they interact. Both still attracted to each other but knowing it wouldn't work. they are playful in a different way than some of the other couples/former couples. Also i find it funny just how clear you make it that both of these characters have always kind of been sex symbols of the Legion. good work.

Also good work explaining why she chose Supergirl as her code name. still not thrilled but good answer!

The mission to Zunn is good and each team member worked well.
I like that Brin didn't care about his world being dumped on. its nice to see that he's like most people and hates where they grew up. although i know its for much more than just growing up on Zunn. Immortus was a fun villian. If he was a little smarter i could have seen it turning into a much bigger battle.
Are his soldier's immortal as well?

Dawnstar's reaction to another tracker was exactly what i expected from her. i honestly have never liked her and you continue to up hold that and not for your stories. From what i've read here and in the comics your characterization is spot on. i just don't like her.

Ayla and Brin's banter was really well done.

In Wildfire’s arms, Lightning Lass stirred. “...Izzat new costume, Cos..?” she slurred. “...I like it.” She gave him a giddy thumbs up and immediately passed out again.

Cosmic Boy blushed a furious crimson shade and cleared his throat. “Come on Legionnaires…

That part made me laugh out loud. loved it.

Can't wait for what comes next.

What a nice, fun, done-in-one outing! heh, new costume. I like that Cos' costume is metallic - of course it is.

Dawny IS jealous!

Laurel gave a good answer for taking the Supergirl name. Laughed at her quip about Dirk's physical activity

Thanks y'all! The Forever Soldiers will pop up again probably sooner rather than later so you'll get to find out a little more about them Immortus himself is taken from the last volume of Legion comics, but the others are my own creations (though to be fair Silverback was really Set's character that I stole)

Omni, I totally get you on your dislike for Dawnstar too....she was always one of my least favourite Legionnaires, but I have found a new appreciation for her since writing her; I have got some long term plans coming up for her that should hopefully give her a bit more depth as a character. I think of her as the Legionnaire with maybe the most undeveloped potential to be honest, there's so much about her that's never really been touched on which could be rich story material.

I am glad you liked Laurel and Dirk too...their circumstances do kind of lend themselves to having a fairly unique relationship among the various couples and ex-couples of the Legion

Hey Raz, that was another great post.

I really enjoyed the Dirk and Laurel scene, as you said, their history and characters make them quite unique within the team to have these flirtatious/serious conversations. And I agree that Laurels answer was good, nice to see she isn't just being a brat but has a real reason for taking on Kara's name.

The second story was good but I felt a little bit disappointed at its quick resolution, but then when you have someone on the team who can track across space it doesn't leave much room for bait and switch storylines. Loads of good character moments, from Brin announcing he hates androids to Ayla's painful experience at the hands (tendrils?) of Medulon but being tough enough to react when she had the opportunity. I think Rokks new look is a natural extension after his bustiere from back in the day.

All good stuff Raz and I'm looking forward to more, more, more!

Meant to say, your Dawnstar is great. Her focus and snobbery/insecurity are very well done with just the right amount decency to stop us from warming to her.

I was actually trying to come up with a way to have his partially unravelled costume look like his famous fashion-forward bustiere but it's kinda hard to describe its gloriousness without visual accompaniment so I just went with leaving him shirtless

It's good to see a forgotten character like Iris Jacobs transformed into a viable personality. I wonder if there will be any longer-term effects from the hole in her heart.

I don't know if Elastic Lad is worse than Grava, but he's right up there with best taken in small doses!

Arquia's confusion is well presented. I really had a sense of her panic at not knowing what was going on.

Love the little touches like "the annoying one who eats things", Shady's gossip and Jan's rebuff.

Dirk and Laurel's scene established their good friendship; Dirk is the perfect one to ask her directly about the Supergirl name. It's interesting that she said she wanted to honour the legacy rather than emulate the goodness; Laurel will still be Laurel, but working to embody the ideals of Supergirl.

I liked that Dawnstar is not impeded by pollutants. IIRC, in Legion Lost II, the pollution confused her tracking powers to some degree.

Medulan disrupted Ayla's power; I don't recall that Saturn Girl ever did that in the comic, but it makes so much sense.

Looks like those puff-balls may be riled up over Sodam Yat! Looking forward to the rest of the story!

Thanks for the comments, FC - and good pick-up on Laurel, hopefully I can show how she approaches being a hero without just making her a 2nd rate Kara

I didn't know that about Dawnstar, I only really got the first couple issues of Legion Lost though - it's interesting that pollutants would bother her, though I guess her tracking power has never really been super well explored in general...

Re Ayla's fight - I had Saturn Girl do the same thing with Lightning Lord once as well...if I was a telepath, I'd be blocking bad guys' power access left, right & centre lol

MARS
Husband Hill, Legion of Superheroes Headquarters

ROLL CALL
Chemical Kid aka Hadru Jamik: Legion Academy student; control of chemical reactions
Dragonwing aka Marya Pai: Legion Academy student; acid venom, fire breath
Supergirl II aka Laurel Kent: Legion intern; invulnerability

“...So then what did you do?” Hadru Jamik quizzed his classmate as the two teenagers rounded a corner in one of the many corridors their school shared with their parent organisation.

“Are you kidding?” Marya Pai scoffed. “I was all -- hey!” She stopped mid-stream, having seen another of the Academy’s students pacing the corridor ahead. “Kent! What are you doing out here? I thought you’d be in there sucking up to the Legion!” She cast a thumb at a closed door, beyond which the Legion of Superheroes were having one of their regular meetings. As the team’s sole intern, Laurel Kent was expected to sit in on all general Legion assemblies but instead she seemed to be intent on wearing a hole in the floor out here.

Laurel brushed a streak of vivid red hair from her eye and made quotation marks with her fingers. “They’re deciding what to do with me apparently. I knew calling myself Supergirl would cause some friction, but it was like Earthwar 2 in there! Brainiac 5 kicked me out so they could have a vote on whether I should lose my internship or not. I don’t get it, they’ve already got a sprocking Kid Computo! You’d think that’d be the platinum standard for bad taste in codenames, right?”

Chemical Kid and Dragonwing exchanged bemused glances. “Does invulnerability make your brain super-dense or something?” Chemical Kid guffawed. “What did you expect would happen?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Laurel challenged him.

“Everyone knows that hypernerd is carrying a torch for Supergirl the size of Marsopolis!” Dragonwing rolled her eyes. “Of course he’s gonna be mad at you! You better hope Coluans don’t hold a grudge, cuz they live for a looong time, girl!”

“No, that’s the weird thing!” Laurel shook her head vigorously. “Brainiac 5 wasn’t the one who got mad….in fact, he didn’t have any kind of reaction at all! He just booted me out so he could try and get everyone to stop bickering about it!”

“Oh!” Dragonwing was momentarily taken aback, but shrugged it off. “...Coluans are so weird.”

“Preach,” Chemical Kid nodded sagely.

**********
On the other side of heavily fortified doors and a privacy field, the Coluan in question seemed to be staring blankly into space while twentythree other Legionnaires engaged in fiery debate before him. In reality, he was taking in everything; not only their words, but their body language, personality traits they’d shown over and over again and consideration of internal cliques and rivalries in which they each took part among other things.

This discussion was really the least important part of the process for Brainiac 5, he was already entirely confident how each person in this room would vote. While they shouted over one another though, it gave him time to check on every other datastream flickering through his heavily modified pod console. The Forever Soldiers were safely in custody and the five Legionnaires who’d captured them were en route home. Chlorophyll Kid was leading his first team mission responding to a request for help from his homeworld. Dream Girl had taken her own mission to Titan following a mysterious call from a Legion ally. Infectious Lass, Invisible Kid and Light Lad were currently navigating the strict quarantine around Somahtur without incident. Twelve open Science Police cases Brainiac 5 had deemed worthy of observation looked like they were not currently in need of direct intervention from the Legion of Superheroes. Brainiac 5 processed these thoughts and many others while his teammates argued, but as he chanced to look upon a despondent Fire Lad he knew there was one problem he wanted to devote some conscious analysis to as soon as possible so it was time to rein things in.

“Legion!” he commanded in a tone calculated to be the exact level of assertion necessary to get his team’s attention. “We have debated this long enough, I will ask you all to cast your votes now as to whether Laurel Kent should be demoted from her internship or not.”

Mwindaji leaned across to Shrinking Violet, both of them furthest from the Legion’s Coluan leader. “Shrinking Violet,” he whispered, “Excuse me please but I do not understand. On Kirinyaga it is seen as a gesture of great respect to take the name of a hero who has passed. Is not the same true throughout the rest of the United Planets?”

“It’s not that simple,” Vi replied patiently. “Laurel has never been the kind of person to treat traditions like that with a lot of reverence...she’s only doing it to get a reaction, and it’s in very poor taste to be honest. Supergirl was a friend and inspiration to all of us, the fact that Laurel Kent thinks she can take her name now of all times shows just how little she deserves to be a Legionnaire.”

“I disagree,” Shadow Lass announced a little too loudly, having overheard the hushed conversation. Heads turned at the sound of Tasmia’s raised voice while Mon-El placed a hand on her shoulder. “If anything, it shows how much Laurel’s grown since she came out of that stasis tube. Who are we to tell the descendant of Kal-El that she can’t carry on Supergirl’s mantle? I know that we all miss Supergirl, but that doesn’t give us more of a right to her legacy than the closest person she has to a descendant!”

“You’re overselling it, Shadow Lass.” This was Polar Boy, leaning back in his seat with his arms folded. “I get why you’d be in favour of it with your whole hereditary Shadow Champion thing, but come on - do you really think some kid from the Academy has put that much thought into it? I don’t think we need to take away her internship but--”

“Hey!” Nightwind piped up. “For someone who spent half his life leading a group called the Legion of Substitute Heroes, you might want to be careful where you’re throwing stones buddy! There’s nothing wrong with the Legion Academy!”

“There’s nothing wrong with the Legion of Substitute Heroes either!” Polar Boy snapped back as his posture straightened.

“Legion!” Brainiac 5 raised his voice once more. “Enough! I have actual work to attend to, as do many others in this room! The time for conversation has passed, I’ll ask you all to vote now please.”

“Actually, Brainy..?” Sun Boy stood and raised his hand. “Before we take that vote, I’d like to suggest an alternative if you don’t mind. Hear me out…”

**********
SOMAHTUR
1476 miles above the planetary surface, Science Police Quarantine Station Alpha

ROLL CALL
Infectious Lass aka Drura Sehpt: disease transmission and immunity
Invisible Kid II aka Jacques Foccart: invisibility
Light Lad aka Darvan Locke: anti-gravity control

Jacques Foccart stood facing the hull of the Legion’s cruiser. While the vessel didn’t have physical windows, realtime ultra-high definition feed from external cameras could be projected on any of its internal surfaces to present the illusion of an open view outside the ship. Right now Jacques was looking at the transparent polymer screen which surrounded Somahtur, and beyond that the milky grey waters of the oceans below.

“This is your first time here too, right?”

Jacques turned to see his teammate Light Lad approaching. “Oui,” the second Invisible Kid nodded. “I must confess, I did not expect to face such adversity upon our arrival. We have been in negotiations with the Science Police for nearly 45 minutes now attempting to bypass Somahtur’s security screen.”

“Well, yeah, it’s not really that surprising.” Darvan Locke stood beside his teammate and gazed down upon the world below. “Don’t forget, most Somahturians don’t have the control of their abilities that Drura does. The quarantine guidelines here are super strict, but there’s a reason they’re strict. We saw with the conceptual virus what can happen when someone takes advantage of a Somahturian’s natural symbiosis with viruses and bacteria.”

“I see your point.” Jacques joined Darvan in looking down upon the planet. “If I am to be honest, I am somewhat anxious about the reception we may face on Somahtur. Drura did not seem tres enthused with the idea of my accompaniment.”

“She’s probably just anxious herself,” Light Lad clapped a hand on Invisible Kid’s shoulder. “Kent was saying this is the first time she’s been back home since she left to join the Legion of Superheroes in the first place. It’s always nerve-wracking bringing your partner back to your hometown, let alone when you haven’t been there for a while yourself.”

“Oui,” Jacques nodded. “I am certain you are correct. Thank you, Light Lad.” He smiled up at his Winathian comrade, but he couldn’t help but feel there was more to it than that. He supposed he’d just have to wait till they finally made their way through this tedious quarantine station to the world that lay beyond.

**********
On the bridge of the same cruiser, Drura Sehpt surreptitiously muted an open communications channel and addressed Dr Richard Kent Shakespeare sitting by her side directly while they waited for the quarantine station’s Science Police to conclude their investigation into Kent’s medical credentials. “Thanks again for asking Light Lad to come,” she smiled. “It’s so silly that Jacques is jealous of you, I mean the only reason we’re even going to Somahtur in the first place is to escort poor Durran Mahn’s body back to his family; it’s not like I’m stealing you away for a romantic getaway!”

“I suppose love makes people act silly sometimes,” Kent returned his friend’s smile. “You’re very welcome though, if I have to spend a few days with Darvan to help you out that’s a burden I can manage. Never mind that though, I’m confident Jacques will come around to me sooner or later. How are you feeling about coming back to Somahtur after all this time away?”

Drura sighed. “Honestly? I’m honoured to be able to personally make sure Durran is returned to the Husatic Seas, but I haven’t seen my family for an awfully long time. I know they weren’t happy about me leaving Somahtur all those years ago, I’m worried about how they’re going to react when I finally come home and I’m going out with a Terran...and I’m more worried that Somahtur is going to prove too much for Jacques to take on. It’s one thing to accept that your girlfriend is a walking disease factory when you only really ever see that as a weird superpower, it’s going to be a totally different thing when he sees what my world is actually like and what it really means to be Somahturian.”

“Jacques does love you,” Kent replied. “Anyone can see that. He might have to get used to some culture shock, but I think it’ll be good for him to see where you came from...and you know, I think this trip will be good for you too Drura.”

“I suppose,” she answered with somewhat less certainty. She thought about her parents and her siblings she’d not seen in so many years. They had never understood why Drura had felt the urge to leave behind the only home she’d ever known for the life of danger and insecurity she’d chosen in its place. In truth, she’d not had any contact with Somahtur at all until after her lengthy sojourn in Earth’s 21st Century. When she’d returned from her exile to Earth’s past she had been overcome with a desire to make amends with her own past. She’d called her family, and she’d been disappointed but not surprised to find that her relationship with them had been strained almost past the point of any repair at all. There had been improvement since then, but it was painstakingly slow and Drura wasn’t at all convinced either she or her family were ready for a face to face meeting yet, Still, what choice did she have? She knew she wouldn’t have been able to live with herself if she came back to Somahtur and didn’t at least try to see them.

“Dr Shakespeare? We’re ready for you to enter the quarantine station.” The Science Police officer’s voice was tinny and sharp, and it startled Drura out of her introspection. She quickly unmuted the channel and replied with thanks, and Kent made his way to the airlock to begin the next time-consuming step of this visit to his friend’s homeworld.

**********
More than four hours later Drura Sehpt was finally unpacking in the room she’d been assigned at the Science Police’s headquarters in Aficuhr, Somahtur’s capital city. She was alone; Invisible Kid, Light Lad and Kent Shakespeare each had their own rooms in a segregated dormitory for off-worlders. The Science Police had refused to allow any of the men to share a room due to the risk of cross-contamination were any of them to fall ill; they would have been horrified to know that Jacques was actually sleeping with a Somahturian so Drura had decided it was prudent to keep that particular relationship a secret for now.

The room was comfortable, but it was a comfortable cage; there were no windows and an opaque forcefield barred the doorway. The four travellers had needed to submit a log of their expected movements for the three days they were staying here and while they were free to change these plans at any time, Drura was the only one of them who could do so without a Science Police escort. She also had to wear a transuit while she was here, a restrictive measure to which all four of them had to consent in order to prevent any possible transmission of disease. All in all, Drura’s homecoming so far had been about as welcoming as she’d expected. Her flight ring breeped at her, and Jacques’ hushed voice sounded out. “Drura...open the entry field, ma chere.”

“What..?” Confused, she nonetheless entered a command at a wall-mounted console and the field flickered off. “Jacques, what’s going on?” she asked into her ring. When she received no response, she poked her head out into the corridor. It was empty to the left and right so she shrugged her shoulders and switched the field back on again, then almost screamed when he appeared right in front of her. “Jacques!” she hissed. “What are you doing here??”

“I thought you would be happy to see me!” he retorted, slightly hurt. “It took me some time to leave my room without being detected and to find you.”

“Do you know what kind of trouble we’ll be in if anybody finds out you’re here?” she snapped. “The only reason Kent was allowed through quarantine is because of his history with me and because he was the only doctor in attendance when we found Durran Mahn’s body! You and Light Lad are Legionnaires and we still had to practically beg for you both to be allowed planetside! This isn’t a game, Jacques!”

Jacques held Drura’s arms gently. The transuits given to them at the quarantine station were made of a synthetic polymer unlike the flight ring-generated fields the heroes were accustomed to, and they crinkled as they brushed against one another. “I have upset you,” he realised. “Drura, I am sorry. But I came to Somahtur because I wanted to see where you came from and to be with you at a difficult time. I want to be here for you, I cannot do that trapped in a tiny room in another building.”

You came here because you couldn’t stand the idea of me being alone with one of my oldest friends for a week, she thought bitterly. Surprised at her own reaction, she flinched involuntarily. “I’m sorry I snapped,” she said quietly. “But Jacques, this is partially why I was reluctant to invite you along. Somahtur...it’s not like other UP worlds. There’s a different standard of behaviour that’s expected, different rules in place. You can’t just roam around when and wherever you want, it’s not safe.”

“Drura,” Jacques tried to explain, “I am a Legionnaire. I have been a Legionnaire for longer than you--”

“I’m not scared you’ll get injured!” She yanked herself free of his grasp and paced the room. “You’re on a planet of disease-carriers, most of whom have never seen a sick person in their life! Nobody here has any control of their ability because they’ve never had to control it! And even assuming your transuit doesn’t get damaged and you don’t get accidentally infected with some virus your immune system can’t handle, do you have any idea how much progress you’d set back if you were seen wandering around without an SP escort? As strict as Somahtur’s quarantine regulations are now, it wasn’t that long ago that offworlders weren’t allowed on my planet at all! If I’d tried to come back here a few years ago, I would never have been allowed to leave again! You being here right now is jeopardising all of that!”

Jacques bowed his head in shame. “I see. Drura, I am sorry...I have been selfish and reckless. The last thing I could ever want is to upset you, I will go back to my quarters.”

Instantly regretful, Drura’s heart sank. She reached out to touch her lover when her flight ring sounded again and broke the mood. “Drura,” Kent Shakespeare’s voice filled the room, “I just wanted to know if you’re ready to go meet with Durran Mahn’s family? I did one more run through on the autopsy report, I think it’s as complete as it’s ever going to be.”

“Kent…” Infectious Lass gave Invisible Kid an imploring look.

“Go,” Jacques said just loud enough for her to hear. “I understand.”

The pretty Somahturian girl sighed. “...Sure. Give me ten minutes to change clothes and I’ll meet you outside SP Headquarters.” They said their goodbyes and Drura gave her attention to Jacques once more. “Jacques...I’m sorry, I suppose being here has me on edge more than I thought. Having to escort poor Durran back to his family and...and everything else I guess…”

“Je suis also,” he returned with a weak smile. “You must have a lot on your mind. I wish that I could take you in my arms but I know that this is not the right time or place. I will leave you to complete your duties with Dr Shakespeare and see you in the morning, ma chere.”

“Thanks.” She squeezed his arm now, but their transuits felt almost like a physical expression of the tension between them. She wished too that he could hold her until it went away, but he was right. This wasn’t the time or the place. She moved toward the entry console and once Jacques shimmered out of sight she opened the field for a few seconds. Confident that he’d slipped away, Drura changed into a bodysuit of almost velvet-like blue and purple patches. Intricate white stitching bound the whole thing together and a matching waist-length cape with shimmering white interior was attached to her shoulders. No Terran would recognise this as a solemn outfit, but to Somahturian tastes it was perfectly appropriate for the task which lay ahead of her. Regarding her reflection in her room’s full length mirror, Drura found herself fondly recalling the holomirrors of Earth which showed a 360 degree view of their subject. There were some things Drura missed about life on Somahtur, but the relatively lower level of technology encountered in daily life was not one of those things. With mixed feelings, she opened the field one final time and left her room.

Several minutes later, she met Kent in the street outside. While normally she’d not think twice about giving him a friendly embrace, she was acutely aware how scandalous it would seem for a Somahturian to have physical contact with someone who was so clearly an alien right outside the global headquarters of the Science Police and she settled instead for a wave of her hand as she approached.

For his part, Kent had spent part of the trip here researching Somahturian social mores and asking Drura for tips on how best to conduct himself while he was here. The deep violet and emerald patchwork bodysuit he’d chosen to wear complimented hers well. He picked up on cues from Drura and the two engaged in small talk for a few minutes while both being cautious to maintain at least a couple of feet space between themselves. Finally, they entered a waiting vehicle and flew off into the cloud-filled night sky.

Unseen, the aptly named Invisible Kid watched them leave from where he sat atop a two-storey high sculpture outside the Science Police building. He knew that he shouldn’t be doing this, but as much as he told himself he was being silly his rational side was losing the battle to his emotions.

I suppose, Jacques Foccart mused to himself as he took off in pursuit of the aircar, Love makes people act silly sometimes…

**********

This was a good installment and the things your building towards.

Going home to meet the parents is hard enough but going home to your significant others culture is literally so strict about off worlds that it basically forces your relationship to be non existent seems almost unbearable. But sadly i don't side with Jacques on this one. Dura laid it out for him pretty clear and i just know this isn't going to end well.

Kent and Dura's friendship is really cute.

I liked the meeting and how Brainy spent his time. I'm surprised he wasn't a little bit up set by Laurel's code name choice.
Vi's explanation to Mwindaji was well done and made a really good case. But so did Shadow Lass and she makes a good point that people change.

I'm really curious to see what Brainy will do for Staq and what Sun Boy has to say.
looking forward to more.

Hey Raz, this was great!

I loved the opening scene with Marya and Hadru and Laurel discussing what was going on behind the closed doors - just like kids wanting to know what the adults are up to, and Brainy's coolness about Laurel's new code name is strange - but then so is he. I hope you're not building up to his having another breakdown as you write him so well it would b a shame to see him incarcerated again.

Glad to see more of Light Lad and Infectious Lass, and really good to tie this in with your conceptual virus storyline by returning poor Durran Mahn's body home. Jacques jealousy will get himinto trouble, but still it's nice to see you build on his character as he was always a cypher. Kent wearing the appropriate mourning clothes highlighted his intelligence - I imagine as a doctor he's used to needing to accommodate other races customs at times like this.

Somahtur seems almost Victorian in it's social customs, I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do with this world!

And as ever, I'm buzzing for more, more, more! Preach!

Thanks y'all! Brainy's plotline is probably gonna be a slow burner so nobody needs to worry about him going off the rails (YET, hehehe)...

I have really been getting into building Somahtur, it's kinda fun how a lot of Legion worlds have so much room for development! Ditto for developing Drura and Jacques, two characters who have been around forever without really being fleshed out a lot

As a huge Laurel Kent fan, I'm eager to see what Sun Boy's 'solution' might entail.

Also looking forward to seeing what you've made of Somahtur. We've only really seen Drura, and there's no real indication whether or not her dress style, etc. are in any way indicative of her people's stylistic choices (all curvy flowing lines and blobs of color, for instance). Some Legion worlds we've visited, like Orando and Durla, others, like Naltor and Starhaven, seem less well developed. There's just so much left to play with!

Honestly, I don't even know if, canonically, Bgtzl is just a single world out of phase with Earth, or an entire out of phase solar system, or galaxy, or *universe,* possibly with it's own super-hero teams, super-villains, cosmic menaces, etc! (I'd prefer it just being a single planet, occupying the same space as Earth, but out of phase, and somehow deriving energy/gravity/etc. from our universes sun, rather than develop an entire other universe, with Bgtzln Titanians and Bgtzln Daxamites and Bgtzln Green Lanterns or whatever...).

Ooh, just read up a bit, and I love Ruby Rogue. Jaquaans are so underused, comparatively, and it's fun to see someone with elasticity/stretching powers. It's amazing how dynamic they can be with characters like Elasti-Girl from the Incredibles, or Madam Rouge, from the last Teen Titans cartoon, compared to how kind of flat they appear in live-action or on the comic page.

We'll definitely find out what's in store for Laurel sooner rather than later...and your Bgtzl comments reminded me I've got a story I wanna do there at some stage! (though tbh it's probably gonna be a while before I get around to it)

Stretching powers are weird; I love them in comics and cartoons and in fact one of the first characters I played in a roleplaying game was a prototype Elastic Lad, but I think it's just too much suspension of disbelief for me to accept them in live action....no matter how good the visual effects are, there's just no way to make it not look silly with a real person (as far as I've seen anyway)

For stretching powers, I've got to agree.

In martial arts movies, I like big showy (not-terrible-effective-IRL) movements, like sweeps and crescent kicks and all that Shao Lin stuff, over the close-in fast-and-brutal stuff we see in a Bourne type movie, where you can't really see what's happening. For stretching powers, it seems to be the opposite. The stretching that I've liked (all animated, so far) has been like Elasti-Girl and Madame Rouge in the Incredibles and Teen Titans, all fast, fast, fast, whip-crack attacks and crazy acrobatics, whereas in the Fantastic Four movies, it seems like Reed's power uses are just too slow, and it sort of highlights how 'uncanny valley' and 'silly' it all looks. And, obviously, in comic books, with static images, it's always going to be slow, slow, slow, since it's nearly impossible to make the power look dynamic and fast in a static image, it seems.

It doesn't help the powerset that it's chief proponents are characters that don't use the power as much as other attributes (Mr. Fantastic, more of a genius than a stretcher, Elongated Man, more of a detective and husband than a stretcher), or have stretching as a sub-power of greater shapeshifting ability (Martian Manhunter, Elastic Man), so there really aren't a lot of people in comic book 'selling' the power, compared to people who shoot fire or read minds.

SOMAHTUR
Aficuhra, Ophusatic Bay

It was early evening by the time Durran Mahn’s family had finished saying their goodbyes to their beloved son and brother and were ready to send his body to its final destination. Kent Shakespeare had felt privileged to be one of the very few offworlders to witness the viewing rituals of the Somahturians, but returning Durran’s body to the Husatic Seas was something that this world considered sacred. Even the Terran doctor responsible for navigating the miles of red tape and the light years of space it had taken to get Durran home was not welcome here. Dr Shakespeare took no offence; Drura had already advised him that this was a private process, so Kent had organised to meet with Light Lad and leave Durran’s family to their grief.

Drura on the other hand was most definitely a Somahturian, albeit one who’d been absent for many years. For her role in bringing Durran Mahn home, she was welcomed with open arms. Before she came here, Drura had felt anxious that she might have lost this connection with her people. Instead, she felt warm memories flood back to her tinged with sadness as she recalled the few other funeral services she’d attended before leaving Somahtur for the wider galaxy. Standing on the dirty beige sands of Ophusatic Bay with Somahtur’s pendulous moon hiding behind low cloud cover, she stood at a respectable distance while Durran Mahn’s family kneeled over him. The waves lapped gently at the shore, each time washing over more of the dead boy’s body. Kent and his associates had done a good job of hiding the physical damage Durran had suffered upon his death; Drura knew that it was a lie to present him like this as though he were simply sleeping, but it was a lie she was comfortable with.

“You know, he admired you a great deal.” Drura flinched at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. She turned to see an older man standing beside her, his indigo hair run through with white streaks. His antennae drooped and wrinkles lined his chalky skin.

“Really?” The pretty heroine cocked her head. “I had no idea…I mean I was never fortunate enough to meet Durran while he was alive. You’re Durran’s…brother in law, right? I’m so sorry, I’m absolutely terrible with names.”

“No need to apologise, and it’s Grel.” He gave her a brief smile before looking back at the rest of the family on the shoreline. “It’s true, he followed your exploits even when you were in the Legion of Substitute Heroes.” At this he gave a small chuckle. “The number of hours that boy spent defending the Legion of Substitute Heroes…to be honest I think we were all happy when you joined the Legion of Superheroes just to stop him getting into so many arguments with people.”

“Oh!” Drura blinked in surprise. “That’s…I don’t know what to say!”

“Did you know,” Grel continued, “That the very reason Durran left Somahtur was that he was going to follow in the footsteps of his hero Infectious Lass? He’d even designed a costume for himself, he was going to call himself Infectious Lad.”

“Oh no…” Drura’s hand covered her mouth. “You all must hate me…I’m so sorry…”

“Sorry? Whatever for?” The older man seemed genuinely confused. “Infectious Lass, you inspired something in Durran that most Somahturians will never know. You gave him the vision and the confidence to see himself as somebody who could make a difference in the United Planets beyond our little world. I love Somahtur and I have no desire whatsoever to leave my home, but I’m not blind to reality either. If our young ones don’t start embracing our place in the United Planets, the United Planets is going to leave us behind. I watch news holocasts, I see the gap in technologies and culture between us and other worlds, and that gap is only going to broaden if more Somahturians don’t make the effort to prevent it from happening.”

“But still…” Drura held herself. “Durran would be alive today if he’d stayed here…”

“What happened to that poor boy was horrendous,” Grel replied, “But make no mistake, he wouldn’t have changed a thing. I’m sure you know he met Invisible Kid and Kid Computo once, very briefly. They rescued him from those xenophobes who’d been instilled as Earth’s defenders for a while. Anyway, Durran recorded a message for us about that incident once he was taken back into quarantine and it only reached us last week with UP bureaucracy being what it is, but I’d never seen that boy so excited about anything in his life. He may have been safe if he’d stayed on Somahtur, but he wouldn’t have been happy. Think on all that you’ve encountered since you left Somahtur, Infectious Lass; have the good times been worth the bad?”

Infectious Lass considered the man’s words. That he took for granted a message sent from Earth could take so long to arrive was proof of what he’d been saying. Culturally and technologically, Somahtur really was behind the curve in a lot of ways. Drura also thought on her life as a Sub and a Legionnaire, of the adventures she’d had in between. She thought about the friends she’d made, the worlds she’d seen, the legends she’d met. She thought about Jacques. It was worth it. She wouldn’t have changed a thing...and she knew that if Durran Mahn had felt even a fraction of the thirst for new experience that had driven her to leave Somahtur, he’d agree too.

“Grel..? Infectious Lass? The tide’s about to take him if you’d like to come join us.” This was Grel’s wife and Durran’s eldest sister. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying, puffy cheeks having distorted her facial markings. Grel placed an arm around her shoulder and Drura followed a few steps behind. Infectious Lass stood silently with the family and together they watched as the grey waters of the Husatic Seas washed over Durran Mahn’s corpse.

Once the dead boy was fully submerged in the viscous tideswell he was dragged into its embrace. With the cloud cover obscuring any natural light it didn’t take long at all before he was out of sight, and soon a sprinkling of rain made it clear that the mourners would have to think about taking cover. Led by his mother and father, every member of Durran’s family knelt in the soupy waters and raised a cupped handful to their lips whereupon they drank deep. Seeing that Drura was still standing back, Durran’s mother Cahie looked up at her with twinkling jade eyes. “You won’t join us?” she asked, an imploring note in her voice.

Drura was staggered. “I...I don’t want to intrude,” she stammered, tears welling at the woman’s generosity of spirit.

“Nonsense,” Durran’s father responded. “Young lady, you brought our son back to us. Durran’s soul can find peace now that his flesh has returned to the seas from which we all once came. If it weren’t for you, his biological cycle would never be complete. He’d never find rest. You deserve this as much as any of us.” His voice cracked toward the end, and Drura felt her heart leap into her throat. She came forward and went down on one knee, forgetting about the transuit she’d been mandated to wear until she realised she was still dry. Making her choice, Drura removed the polymer sheath and cupped water in both hands as Durran’s family had done.

Millions of years ago the Husatic Seas had been the birthplace of what would one day become the Somahturian people. In returning their dead to these waters, the Somahturians ensured that the viruses and bacteria they shared a symbiotic relationship with would still live in the seas long after their own skin and bone had rotted away; by drinking these waters, Somahturians directly ingested viruses and bacteria they might never come into contact with any other way. It was the most visceral symbol of their symbiosis, and the purest affirmation of life that they knew. Grateful to be a part of it all, Drura’s tears rolled down her cheeks and mingled with the thick ocean waters which rolled back into the deep.

Soon, the tide was almost knee-deep. The Husatic Seas might be highly revered by the Somahturians, but their treacly pull had also drowned more than one careless person. As the rains grew heavier and distant thunder rumbled, Infectious Lass and Durran Mahn’s family left the would-be Infectious Lad to complete his final homecoming alone.

**********
TITAN
Titanopolis Spaceport

ROLL CALL
Dream Girl aka Nura Nal: Naltorian precognition
Matter-Eater Lad aka Tenzil Kem: can eat inorganic matter in all its forms
Stone Boy aka Dag Wentim: ability to transmute to living stone

On many other worlds, the presence of three Legionnaires might inspire excited reactions from bystanders. Titanians however were generally more reserved, a very deliberate trait which came from the intense training they all endured from birth in order to control their telepathy. As Dream Girl, Matter-Eater Lad and Stone Boy made their way through the gleaming open hallways of Titan’s premiere commercial spaceport they attracted little more than the occasional hushed whisper or sly glance from the crowds of people surrounding them.

“What’s the big mystery?” Matter-Eater Lad asked as he chomped down on a rusted wrench. “What drama is your power getting us into this time, Dreamy?”

“The last couple of times the Legion have faced trouble on Titan it was due to Fearstorm,” a flesh and blood Stone Boy pondered out loud. “Though I suspect if he was causing chaos again Tellus or Blok might be more suited for this mission than any of us.”

“Boys, it’s not my power that called us here this time,” the stunning Naltorian replied. “Though you might not be wrong assuming it’s precognition. I don't really know that much more than either of you for a change!” She stepped onto a moving walkway and cast her gaze up at the curved plexiglass ceiling above them. The ringed planet Saturn loomed massive in a rose-coloured sky, even the biggest starship dwarfed by its magnificence. “Look at that,” Nura Nal changed the subject. “Titan might be one of the dreariest places in this system, but it certainly has one of the prettiest views...and none of these people appreciate it in the slightest. How sad for them.”

“So there is a mystery!” Tenzil raised a pointed finger dramatically. “I knew my nose was twitching for a reason!”

Dream Girl recognised the reference immediately and gave Tenzil’s arm an impish slap. “You’re the one to blame for getting Thom hooked on those silly Elongated Man’s Enigmas of History holos! I should have guessed it had your name all over it, Tenzil Kem!”

Stone Boy watched his two teammates play and considered not for the first time how human the Legion of Superheroes really were. For a lot of his time in the Legion of Substitute Heroes he’d seen them as almost flawless examples of heroism to aspire to, but he had to admit there was something much more comforting in seeing that they could be as absurd as the Subs had been at times. He was distracted from any further musings on the topic when Dream Girl grabbed both men by the hands and abruptly dragged them from the moving walkway and down a side corridor.

“This way!” Nura announced breezily. “All of our questions are about to be answered!” She stopped at a large oblong doorway barred by a privacy field and released Tenzil and Dag so she could brush hair away from her face as she leaned in toward a retina scanner. An invisible beam of light passed over her lively blue eyes and with an obedient *breep* the software announced the presence of Ms Nura Nal and her two guests and allowed them entry. On the other side of the field, an executive lounge awaited the three. The ceiling and one entire wall was made of plexiglass so as to give them the same view Nura had just been admiring, and on the far side of the room was an extensively well stocked bar with an autochef and three servodroid attendants. A recreational annex contained a variety of entertainment options, and the rest of the space was filled with comfortable chairs and working surfaces for business travellers. Without waiting for her teammates, Nura instantly made a beeline for a young man sitting by the window with a glass of Naltorian rosewater tonic in his hand; two more fragrant glasses waited for Dream Girl and Stone Boy with an unopened can of crankcase oil put aside for Matter-Eater Lad.

The youth swivelled in his seat just before Nura announced herself and stood to greet her with a dazzling smile. “Thank you all so much for agreeing to come,” he addressed all three of them. “I’m sorry we couldn’t meet again under better circumstances.” With his platinum blond hair and icy blue eyes, he could almost pass as Dream Girl’s younger brother.

“You do look familiar,” Matter-Eater Lad’s eyes narrowed, “But I’m fuzzy on it...give us a clue!”

“Of course, I’m sorry!” The teenager blushed slightly. “I’m so used to knowing the Legion where I came from, I forget that I haven’t really spent much time with a lot of you in the here and now. Maybe this will help!” A subtle change came over him, but one which divulged his identity straight away to the two men. Though he still looked mostly normal, every shadow which fell across his form now revealed a shining starscape.

“You’re the Infinite Boy!” Stone Boy snapped his fingers.

“Guilty as charged,” the hero from the future responded.

“Has Jaxon Rugarth gotten his Infinite Man on again?” Tenzil asked dryly, “I mean Stone Boy thought we were underpowered for Fearstorm, so a cosmically powered crazy man who hates the Legion and can access forces from any point in time is probably right up our alley.”

“The Infinite Man isn’t why I asked Dream Girl to bring a team to Titan,” the Infinite Boy replied, “But you’re kind of on a parallel track, Matter-Eater Lad...have a seat and I’ll bring you all up to speed.”

**********
SOMAHTUR
Aficuhra West Residential Development, the Sehpt Household

Drura Sehpt’s heart was in her throat as she stood at the doorway to her family’s modest home in outer Aficuhra’s suburban sprawl. The earlier rainfall had grown swiftly into a full-blown storm and thunder cracked open the skies above her at regular intervals while sheet lightning illuminated the sea of joined houses that filled these streets. Once she’d left the Mahn family Drura had donned her transuit once more so at least she was dry, but that memory sparked her to take it off once again now that she was under the cover of her family’s patio. Her parents would be utterly aghast if their daughter came home hidden away from the embrace of small life like some frightened offworlder. Come on Drura, she bit her lower lip. You’ve stared down whole gangs of supervillains, surely you can face one night with your relatives. Finally, she screwed up her face and mashed the glowing doorbell.

A peal of thunder drowned out the doorbell’s chime, but soon enough it rolled back into its recess and a younger teenage boy stood in the open doorway. Wearing a sleeveless bodysuit patterned with colliding shards of lime and orange, one of his antennae was pierced and his deep purple hair was shaved close to his scalp. It was only by the distinctive butterfly-like facial markings shared by all of the Sehpt family that Drura came to the wide-eyed realisation this was her baby brother Daiehle.

“Dai!” Drura used her pet name for him. “You’re so big now!” All of the anxiety she’d felt a moment ago evaporated and she ran to embrace him.

The younger Sehpt took a step back, and just like that Drura’s fears resurfaced. “Poppa and Mamma are waiting in the kitchen,” Daiehle said flatly. He turned and walked back into the small house without another word. Drura followed, and couldn’t help but notice none of the digital portraits lining the cracked walls included her.

When they reached the small kitchen, their mother had her back to them programming the beverage maker by the family’s ancient autochef while their father sat at the dining table. “Hello Drura,” he muttered without any enthusiasm.

“Poppa,” she acknowledged him weakly. “Momma...where’s Jorrha?”

“Your sister is working,” Drura’s mother answered without turning around. “Someone has to help us pay bills in this house until Daiehle is old enough to work.”

“Haven’t you been getting the creds I’ve been sending?” Drura asked with quick concern.

“When they arrive,” her mother bit back sharply. “Maybe you’ve been gone so long you’ve forgotten how the United Planets treats Somahtur. Sometimes it takes months for your Legion of Superheroes money to reach us all the way out here. Do you still like your dakhsha sweetened?”

“Yes please,” Drura answered timidly.

“Well don’t just stand there,” Drura’s father huffed. “Sit down, girl.” Drura’s brother also moved to take a seat but their father stopped him. “Help your mother, Daiehle.”

Rolling his eyes, the boy waited for his mother to finish pouring their drinks then grabbed a mug for himself and his sister. He set Drura’s down before her and mumbled something under his breath before slumping into a seat at the far side of the table.

“...It’s nice to see you all again,” Drura ventured shyly. “I’ve missed you all so much...there’s so much I miss about Somahtur.”

“You can’t miss us that much,” Daiehle snorted. “It’s not like you ever tried to come back before now.”

“Dai, that’s not fair,” Drura protested. “For a long time I couldn’t come back. Maybe you’re too young to remember, but Somahtur’s quarantine laws used to be way stricter than they are now; there were restrictions on coming and going.”

“Used to be,” the surly teen parroted.

“Daiehle, that’s enough,” their mother said firmly. She rubbed the space between her antennae and looked at her daughter wearily. “Drura, why have you come back? You chose your life, and it seems quite clear that it’s a life which doesn’t include your family. Why are you trying to involve yourself with us now after we’ve spent all of these years learning to live without you?”

Drura felt a surge of emotion. “Mamma...Mamma, I’m so sorry, I never meant to hurt any of you...I just needed...I needed something else, something other than spending the rest of my life in a tiny house waiting to meet somebody with a socially acceptable viral load so I could live my life like...like…”

“Like us,” her father finished her sentence for her, his grey-flecked eyes meeting hers unwaveringly.

Drura stared into the warm thick culture in her cup, downcast. A thicker silence filled the small kitchen. Finally, her mother sat opposite her and with a sigh of resignation gripped her daughter’s hands in her own. “The important thing I suppose is that you came back...don’t say anything,” she preempted, “I know you’re not staying; but it’s something. It’s...oh!” She pulled away from her daughter as though she’d been burned.

“Mamma..?” Drura’s eyes widened with concern as she gazed upon her mother’s horrified visage.

“...I should have expected given what you told us but I wasn’t prepared...you’re so...alien now.”

Drura had inherited her own lavender eyes from her mother, but looking into those eyes now was like looking at a stranger. “Mamma! I’m still your daughter!” the Legionnaire protested.

“But the organisms inhabiting your body…” Now that they’d come into contact, Drura’s mother gaped at her trembling hands in shock. “Oh Drura, what have you become? You’re sharing the most sacred part of yourself with every single alien you come across? Is that what you left us for?”

Drura had expected judgement, but never in a million years would she have imagined the tone of shame underlying her mother’s accusation. She was horrified and sad, but she also felt something else she wouldn’t have expected to feel...righteous anger. Drura stood up, cleared her throat and stepped away from the table to give herself a few seconds to collect her wits. As far as she knew this might be the last time she ever came face to face with her family and she wanted to make sure they knew why that was.

“I love you,” she said unwaveringly as she looked upon all of them one by one. “I love all of you, that could never change. But yes, Mamma. I do share that part of myself with others...not because I don’t value my identity as a Somahturian, but because my identity as a Somahturian has given me the opportunity and the responsibility to go out into the galaxy, to meet other lifeforms and to help other lifeforms grow...and that’s why we have this sacred bond with small life in the first place. It’s not so we can hide away on this little world for the rest of our days sealing ourself off from any path of advancement, it’s so we can help others. I’m glad I’ve made friends who helped me realise that and who love me and I’m sorry you can’t see that’s a good thing. I hope one day that will change but until it does, maybe it’s a mistake for me to be here.” She turned and walked out of the room privately praying that one of them would reach out, but none of them did.

Drura Sehpt opened the front door and flew into the storm, her tears lost in the rains of her world.

**********
Upset as she was, it never occurred to Infectious Lass to don her transuit again until she was within sight of her dormitory. She was soaking wet beneath the transparent sheath and she was certain she’d be interrogated by overzealous Science Police, but miraculously she made it all the way to her quarters unseen. She let herself in and just as she was about to remove the transuit again she jumped at the sound of Invisible Kid’s voice.

“Jacques!” she hissed as her lover appeared by her side. “You can’t be here, but...but I’m glad you are.” She sat on the edge of her bed and grasped his hand, focusing on the gleaming flight rings they both wore to fight back her tears. “The way they looked at me when they realised I had Terran microbes inside me...oh Jacques, it was horrible!”

Completely baffled, Jacques Foccart crouched down so that he could meet Drura’s eyes but before he could say anything she continued. “They think...they think I’ve debased myself so badly...I don’t know how to make them understand what you mean to me! You, the Legion, the life I have now…” She could contain her broken heart no more and sobbed into his shoulder.

Jacques still didn’t understand, but his heart broke right alongside hers seeing how distraught she was. He drew her in close and said the first thing that came to mind. “Drura...I am confused, it seemed the Mahns had welcomed you with open arms. Tell me what happened, ma chere.”

“Not the Mahns,” she shook her head. “My family! I…I...” Trailing off, she pulled back away from him and narrowed her gaze. “What do you mean, it seemed the Mahns had welcomed me with open arms..? Did you speak to Kent?”

Jacques realised his mistake immediately. “Drura, I must tell you the truth. I...followed you. I know that you told me to return to my room and I know now that is what I should have done, but I was driven by my emotion--”

Drura laughed bitterly, tried to wipe tears from her cheeks and then laughed again as she realised she couldn’t even touch her own skin through this damn polymer.

“I came straight back here,” his words tumbled out in nervous scattershot. “I waited for you to return, so that I could apologise--”

“I literally just got finished telling my parents how you love me and how you help me be the best person I can be,” she cut him off. “And now I find out what, that you’re following me around because you don’t trust me? That satisfying your jealousy is more important to you than respecting the one thing I’ve ever asked you to do for me??”

Jacques was crestfallen. He spoke her name, but it was too late. Drura stood up and marched to the door. “It’s time for you to sneak back to your room, Jacques. I know you can sneak around at least, and I don’t see why the UP’s relationship with my world should suffer just because you can’t respect your relationship with me.”

He considered arguing, but thought better of it. She was too upset right now to discuss this rationally, but what hurt more was that he knew she was also right. Head bowed, he shimmered out of view and waited for the forcefield barring the doorway to switch off. From the empty hallway, his disembodied voice said “I’m sorry, Drura. I love you.” The field was back on before he’d finished saying her name.

Dejected, Jacques Foccart walked into the Somahturian night. As soon as she was confident that he’d left, Drura took off the transuit which right now felt more suffocating than anything she’d ever known and cried herself to sleep.

**********
MARS
Husband Hill, Legion of Superheroes Headquarters

Sitting on the floor outside the Legion of Superheroes’ meeting room, an anxious Laurel Kent wondered how many more of her classmates she was going to be forced to watch become Legionnaires before her; Gravity Kid was a shoo-in...while Chemical Kid and Dragonwing were probably the next best accomplished in the use of their powers they weren’t really team players. Neither of them had even bothered to keep her company out here for more than a nano while she waited for the Legion’s verdict on her internship. Lullabye Lad? Why not? Sprock, Variable Lad and Glorith would probably beat her at this rate. She heard the sound of a door clicking open and immediately sprung to her feet. Brainiac 5 was the first to exit, deep in conversation with Fire Lad. Sun Boy came out right behind them, eyes darting around the corridor as though looking for someone. Ignoring Dirk Morgna, Laurel rushed straight to the Legion’s leader. “Brainy..? Um, Brainiac 5? I was just wondering, did you all get to vote on my internship?”

“No,” the Coluan replied, not even looking her in the face long enough to watch her face drop.

Laurel heard a gleeful scream, and an unusually jubilant Nightwind rushed to hug her. “This is the best!” Berta grinned. “Congratulations! I mean it’s still gonna take me a while to get used to calling you Supergirl, but--”

“What’s going on?” Laurel pushed her friend away crossly. “Who cares about a stupid codename if I’m being booted back to the Academy full-time?”

“I don’t have time for this,” Brainiac 5 said curtly. “Sun Boy, you initiated this decision. I’m delegating to you the responsibility of informing Laurel Kent of her new status.” Without waiting to hear the outcome, he walked off brusquely with Fire Lad.

“What status?” Laurel snapped. “Will someone please tell me what’s going on??”

Sun Boy beamed smugly, his chest puffed out. “Well...after you told me why you took on Supergirl’s name, it got me to thinking. Your behaviour as a student and an intern has been pretty impressive, Laurel. It was your plan that nearly stopped Kara when she became Satan Girl and took the rest of us out, you took on Celestine without a second thought, and you had a clever way to make sure you had the best chance you could possibly have fighting her under the circumstances. I thought about how that’s really prime Legionnaire behaviour, and once I stated my case to the rest of the team a lot of them agreed with me.”

“So I’m not being booted back to the Academy full-time forever till I die?” she asked, still not following where he was going in the slightest.

“You dope!” Nightwind teased, slapping her friend with one of the straps hanging from her forearm. “He’s saying we took a vote and, well…

...welcome to the Legion of Superheroes, Laurel Kent!”

**********

Laurel Kent, Legionnaire!!! wow!!!! Laurel mustered a lot of support ! Great job having Dirk suggest it and great job keeping the suspense going

Poor Drura! I wonder how she and Jacques will resolve this. the service was beautiful. Her family’s reaction hit home - for personal reasons - and you handled it very well

nice seeing Infinite Boy again, curious to see what you will do with him

Thanks for your comments IB! Admittedly, Drura's story ended up exorcising a lot more of my own demons about my family relationship than I had intended.

While the Drura/Jacques stuff is almost 100% pure soap opera, I'm glad the stuff with Drura's family resonates more deeply

I'm also glad I finally got to Laurel's Legion membership being realised...I have been holding off till now to post an updated roster, I'll probably give it another day or two then go for it.

Infinite Boy is about to have an unexpexted spotlight, one which will also bring back at least one former Legionnaire