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

Hey Raz, you've some really nice work here.

Love your picture of the Shazam Blok, it would be nice to see him be really pushed now he's so powerful.

Really not sure if I agree with Brainy's bomb, surely he could just shut Quislet's ship down without having to destroy it. Nice that Danielle was so torn up about helping with it, and Grava's response was great.

Also it's great that you are dealing with the Jacques and Drura situation. Very sweet how Pete reacted, hopeful, upset and all conflicted but willing to support Drura anyway.

The Legion of Substitute Villains are just great! Possibly your best creation actually and I am envious that I didn't think of them first.

“What did you possibly hope to achieve here today? You people didn’t even stand a chance against two of us, what would you have done if all of the Subs had been here?” - ha, there's really no reply other than to hang your head in shame and leave to that. I laughed out loud the first time I read that line.

Gazelle the coward and Bile both made me laugh at just hoe ineffective they were. Ze Tongue sound gross - was he a re-boot character as I don't cognise him. X-Bomb Betty was absolutely the most useless character ever it's hilarious so I want to use her in my stories now!

Poor Magno and Ion, the Forever Soldiers are hardore! Looking forward to seeing the big bash when the legion go for them.

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

Thanks Harbi! I actually wasn't intending on using Blok for a while, but I will step it up a bit and can now promise some magic lightning-fuelled punches coming up for you next instalment!

Brainy....might be making some more controversial decisions in the near future...

You're on a roll because there will be some more Jacques & Drura romantical storytelling very soon as well!

Glad you like the Legion of Substitute Villains...the Legion have such a history of off the wall losers (I say with love) that I'm surprised it really took until 5YL before they started playing with some of the wackier aspects of their published history

I actually wrote a post with some footnotes for that last instalment but my computer decided to eat it apparently...Bile is my homemade Bismollian, but the others are all canon. Ze Tongue fought Umbra in the reboot just after she joined the Legion, and X-Bomb Betty was a tryout reject from when the SW6 Batch Legionnaires had their own title. Her line about her power is almost exactly what she said in her one comic appearance lol

I can't remember who it was that said they'd like to see Shadow Lad's reaction to what went down with Kara but you won't have long to wait, we are gonna have a visit to Talok VIII next up! (plus an update on the search for Yera!)

Hey Raz,

The scene with Staq and Aquiii was well done. Her confusion and his sympathy were so real and Staq seems to really care for her and sending her to the academy was a good idea. Fire Lass i like it and i liked the moment with her and Dragonwing. I wonder if this will force Myra to work harder. Although just because Aquiii goes to the academy doesn't mean she has to or will end up in the Legion.
Agreed i like Gravity Kid's determination.

Gim's battle with Kid Eternity was wicked cool. the image of Gim sliding down those building was my favorite visual of his probably ever as i don't recall him ever doing that in the comics.

good brother sister moment with Danielle and Jacques. I liked that she called him a Drama queen.

I understand Grava being worried about Ral. when ever cosmic entities get involved this can go bad quick. Although i think Ral will be OK.

AWWWWW man! i really had hoped Quislet was gone. but i guess a bomb in his ship is better than nothing as i'm sure he will do something to get detonated.

I loved your visit to Zwen. it sounded so picturesque and Hibernation Eve is an awesome tradition and makes total sense for a world that hibernates like they do. Kid Chemo and Sharpshot kid chasing Chemo's younger self. i wonder if they changed history somehow and created a divergent timeline.

The Future sure is coming back to haunt people a lot lately. I hope Lullaby Lad is OK!

Bounty... hmmm nice. Did Gim ever ask Dawnstar and if so did she refuse?

Enjoying the pics of the Heaventsent and Blok.

Dura and Pete's battle was fun. You use Dura so well and Pete did a good job to. I liked how X-Bomb better and Gazzlle both gave up. Bile. lol.

So i guess you know you've made it when you've got your own arch nemesis super team lol .

Oh man the Immortus sounds like he's going to be a big problem. the technicians becoming those plastioids was grotesque but kind of cool.

looking forward to the ride!

Hi Omni, thanks for commenting...that made me LOL because I think we all know you're absolutely right


He did ask Dawnstar actually! You can see what her reaction was here

Glad you liked the pics and the detour to the warring Subs...and Immortus will get some more spotlight next up!

DEEP SPACE
Gim Allon’s personal cruiser

ROLL CALL
Bounty: feisty future mystery woman, tracking powers
Gim Allon: ex-Legionnaire, growth powers
Infinite Boy aka Kando Vyr: Legionnaire from the future, ability to summon beings from the timestream

Having made final adjustments to the navcontrols of Gim Allon’s four-seater spacecraft, the woman named Bounty reclined in her seat. She rested one leather boot on the ship’s console, flakes of dried mud dirtying the plastic dashboard. Her other leg dangled as she rocked back and forth in the seat whistling tunelessly.

In the pilot’s seat beside her, the former Colossal Boy cleared his throat. When that sparked no reaction, he spoke up. “Bounty..? Your foot?”

“What about it?” she asked bluntly.

“Can you not?” he sniped back, gesturing to her boot on the console.

Bounty rolled her eyes and stamped both feet on the floor of the vessel. “I still don’t get why you’re so intent on chasing your ex halfway across the galaxy anyway,” she huffed. “Doesn’t ruffle my feathers either way but seems pretty obvious she’s just not that into you, big fella.”

“She’s not my ex,” Gim countered, “Yera’s my wife and I love her. They don’t have love in whatever dystopian future the Infinite Boy dragged you from?”

Bounty laughed at that. “Settle down, Allon...like I said, doesn’t bother me whether you want to play stalker or not.” She cast a mischievous glance over her shoulder toward Kando Vyr sitting behind them. “I mean normally I get paid for these kinda gigs; must be nice being able to pull people outta the timestream and compel them to do whatever you want...huh, kid?”

Kando blushed beneath his gold-trimmed hood. “It’s not like that.”

She laughed again, a sound tinged with bitterness. “It’s exactly like that...but don’t worry about it, I’m not above using people to get what I want either. Speaking of which...third planet on the left.”

Gim called up a map of the solar system they’d just entered. This shuttle was an older model, and the Infinite Boy had to lean over Gim’s shoulder to see the display screen clearly. The Infinite Boy squinted and then looked out the shuttle’s viewscreen as they passed the rainbow-hued rings of an enormous violet gas giant. “I recognise that planet...” Kando muttered. “Are we..?”

“I wasn’t paying attention earlier,” Gim answered, “But yeah. If I’m not mistaken...Bounty, are you saying Yera’s been back on her homeworld this whole time?”

“Do I look like the Encyclopedia Galactica?” Bounty asked. “How do I know where she’s been hiding out? She’s definitely there now though...holocams out, boys! We’re visiting scenic Durla!”

**********
TALOK VIII
Curster City, Mallor Apartments

ROLL CALL
Mon-El aka Lar Gand: Daxamite physiology
Shadow Lad aka Grev Mallor: Reserve Legionnaire, darkness generation
Shadow Lass aka Tasmia Mallor: darkness generation

The ancestral home of the Mallor clan was an ancient stone villa with hanging gardens, an oasis of colour in the midst of seemingly endless desert sands. In the wing which constituted his quarters, Grev Mallor stood at a window with his hands clasped behind his back. Facing his arid place of birth, he maintained a stoic silence in response to the news he’d just been given.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t come sooner, Grev.” This was his cousin Tasmia, the woman who shared the role of Talok’s Shadow Champion with Grev. “I wanted to let you know in person, and the Legion have been so busy…”

“The Legion are always busy,” the warrior named Shadow Lad countered without malice. He turned to face Shadow Lass sitting on a pile of embroidered cushions, her hand firmly clasped with that of her lover Mon-El. “It’s okay Tas, I know you would have come sooner if you could have...and I appreciate that you told me in person; I suppose I shouldn’t even be surprised. Supergirl came from a thousand years in the past, and history is very clear that she died a thousand years ago too. I guess knowing something intellectually isn’t the same as knowing it in here though, huh?” He thumped his chest for effect.

“If it helps,” Mon-El ventured, “She rebelled against Universo and the Red Lantern ring in the end. Kara chose to die so her friends could live, and Mwindaji gave her life back to her. And speaking as someone who has felt powerless in the face of fate before, I can tell you that none of us really ever know what the future holds...ours or Kara’s.”

Shadow Lad gave the Daxamite a half-smile. “That’s a funny sentiment coming from someone who’s worked with Dream Girl for so long.”

“I guess what I’m saying is that I’m not convinced we’ll never see her again,” Mon-El continued. Out of nowhere, the muscular Daxamite then tilted his head to one side as if listening for something. A moment later, both his own and Shadow Lass’s flight rings breeped.

“Mon-El, Shadow Lass, sorry to interrupt your personal time but you’re needed.” The voice belonged to Brainiac 5. “The Forever Soldiers are on Talok VIII, we’re en route to confront them now.”

“The who..?” Shadow Lad asked.

“The Legion faced the Forever Soldiers on Zuun recently,” Mon-El answered him. “They’re meant to be incarcerated in Takron-Galtos right now. Brainiac, what are they doing here of all places?”

“I’ll explain when we collect you both,” the Legion’s Coluan leader replied. “We’ll be arriving momentarily.”

“Dawnstar’s already outside,” Mon-El announced, standing up. “I thought I heard her entering the atmosphere just before Brainy called.”

“You can hear Dawnstar flying??” Grev’s jaw dropped. “From miles up??”

Tasmia laughed. “Why are you so shocked, little cousin? You worked alongside Mon, you should know how amazing he is.” She joined her lover on the way to the window and pecked him on the cheek.

“It’s easier when you’ve known someone for years,” a mildly embarrassed Mon-El explained. “It’s really no different to how you two might recognise each other’s footfall in the corridor outside because you’ve had so long to become accustomed to the sound.”

“It’s...a little different,” retorted the bemused Shadow Lad. Just as Mon-El had said, Dawnstar’s graceful form was alighting on the sand below the window. Above and behind her, the Legion’s cruiser was slowing to a stationary hover. Grev, Tasmia and Mon-El descended to meet their Starhavenite comrade on the ground below and Shadow Lad extended a greeting. “Hello Dawnstar...do you have time for a drink or perhaps something to eat?”

“Thank you but no,” the aloof heroine declined. “Shadow Lass, Mon-El, are you ready to leave?”

“Of course,” Mon-El nodded. “Grev, thanks for your hospitality. I’m sorry we were interrupted, if everything goes smoothly with the Forever Soldiers I’m sure we can swing by again later.” A mischievous twinkle gleamed in Tasmia Mallor’s eye as she knew exactly what her cousin’s response would be.

“What? No, I’m coming with you!” Shadow Lad protested. “Talok VIII is my home, if these Forever Soldiers are a threat you’d better believe I’m going to help stop them!”

“Spoken like a true Shadow Champion,” Shadow Lass smiled. “Come on, cousin...let’s join the others and let Dawnstar do her job.”

While Mon-El and Dawnstar flew under their own power, the Mallor cousins boarded the Legion’s cruiser to find Brainiac 5, Blok, Invisible Kid and Infectious Lass inside. After they’d all exchanged greetings, Shadow Lad approached Brainiac 5 in the pilot’s seat. “I hope you don’t mind me inviting myself,” Grev said, “I know I’m not an active Legionnaire anymore, but I want to help.”

“Yes, I expected as much,” Brainiac replied simply.

Shadow Lad stood by in awkward silence for a moment before he decided to just say what he wanted to say. “Also...Tasmia told me about what happened with Kara. I wanted to extend my sympathies.”

Brainiac 5’s attention didn’t waver from the flight controls for even a second. “Supergirl’s power was an asset to the Legion, but she’s certainly not any more indispensable than anybody else on the team.”

“What?” Shadow Lad was taken aback. “No, I meant...I know she cared for you a great deal--”

“Be that as it may, there’s no benefit to dwelling on what can’t be changed.” Brainiac turned to face Shadow Lad, his expression completely neutral. “If it fulfills some emotional imperative of your own, I accept the sentiment however. Thank you.”

“...Don’t know why I expected anything else...” Grev muttered to himself, heading back to join the others.

In the back of the cruiser Invisible Kid sat on his own, staring out a window in maudlin contemplation. On the other side of the ship, Infectious Lass looked over to him for what seemed like the hundredth time since the Legionnaires had left Mars and for what seemed like the hundredth time, she turned back to her own window without saying a word and sighed in frustration. Seated in the row behind her, Blok politely excused himself from his conversation with Shadow Lass and rested his heavy stone chin on the empty seat beside Drura. “I hope I am not intruding,” he spoke to Drura as softly as his gravelly voice allowed. “But I could not help but notice there seems to be some tension between you and Invisible Kid, Infectious Lass.”

Drura’s lavender eyes turned up toward her giant teammate. “Is it that obvious?” she asked, before immediately answering her own question. “Oh, who am I kidding? Of course it is. Something else else happened on Somahtur and I want to talk to him about it, but I don’t know how.”

“You are aware that I have a portion of the wisdom of Solomon now,” Blok smiled gently, “That wisdom is telling me that the best way to talk to someone is just to talk to them.”

“I have no idea who Solomon is, Blok.” Drura gave him a teasing smile in return. “But it’s good advice regardless. Thank you.” She craned her neck to give him a kiss on the cheek, then took a deep breath to steel herself and crossed the aisle to sit next to Jacques Foccart.

“Bonjour,” he greeted Drura meekly.

“Bonjour yourself,” Drura bumped her shoulder against his.

They both started talking at once, and both apologised at the same time. “You go first,” Jacques submitted.

“Okay...look, Jacques, what you did on my homeworld; you disrespected me and it’s not right. I don’t want to feel like I can’t trust you. I was angry with you. I still am, to be honest. But I love you. And I want us to work this out.”

Jacques held her hand in his and stroked her chalky white skin. “I am sorry, Drura...truly. I know that I crossed a line. I want to make it right with you.” He looked up from her hand to meet her gaze. “And I love you too.”

“Legionnaires,” Brainiac 5 announced, “Mon-El and Dawnstar have located the Forever Soldiers. We’ll be making the rest of our way there using our flight rings to maintain the element of surprise, let’s move out.”

“We’ll finish this discussion later,” Drura squeezed her lover’s hand before releasing him, and the two made their way to the open doorway.

“Brainiac, you haven’t mentioned,” Shadow Lass realised as she followed Infectious Lass and Invisible Kid, “Do we know what the Forever Soldiers are doing on my homeworld? None of them are Talokkian and there’s no strategic value to this region; even the nomadic tribes tend to steer clear of this part of the desert.”

“I have a strong suspicion that the answer to your question also explains how they escaped Takron-Galtos,” Brainiac replied. “The data supplied by Gear following their escape matches teleportation experiments that were abandoned six decades ago on Colu. Various factors I don’t have time to expand upon right now dictate the range of that teleportation method quite precisely, and there are only two inhabitable planets which meet the possible spatial coordinates.”

“But how did you know they’d be here and not wherever else?” Shadow Lad continued the line of questioning.

“I did not,” the hyper-genius admitted as he activated his forcefield belt and a nearly impenetrable nimbus formed an inch from his body. “Ultra Boy and Mwindaji have taken a separate team to Anndrann. I knew that Mwindaji and Dawnstar would both be equally capable of tracking them as necessary. Now, if there are no further enquiries--?” He gestured at the open doorway, and the Talokkian heroes joined everyone else in departing the vessel.

In the middle of the vast hot desert below, an armour-plated spacecraft lay partially submerged in golden sands. Inside was an odd assemblage of supervillains; the floating Brain Globe of Rambat called Medulon, the chrome gorilla appropriately named Silverback and the three-armed Ruby Rogue watched with various degrees of impatience and boredom while a thoroughly unremarkable middle-aged Coluan man in a loose-fitting white and purple jumpsuit spoke to the group’s leader Immortus on an internal comms channel. Immortus was far too large to fit in the ship’s bridge, and was unhappily forced to travel in the cargo hold. “I apologise for the poor accommodations,” the Coluan acknowledged his leader’s discomfort, “Once we are safely ensconced on your asteroid I’ll make it a priority to renovate the ship to accommodate your frame, Immortus.”

“See that you do,” the cyborg shot back. “For now, just be satisfied that my gratitude for our freedom overrides the insult to my dignity.”

“Of course,” the green-skinned man nodded. “Now that the ship’s batteries have recharged after fuelling your teleportation, we can be on the way momentarily; we should reach our destination in less than an hour, I will alert you upon approach.” He disconnected the channel before Immortus could have the final word and made his way to the navigation controls.

<I would urge greater caution in your dealings with Immortus> Medulon’s telepathic voice irritated the Coluan’s brain. <Our leader’s lifespan may be functionally without end but his patience is certainly not, Gar Lao.>

“Stay out of my brain,” Gar retorted with bite. “Better yet, focus your attention on Silverback’s mind. It has been some time since you reinforced his commitment to our cause, Medulon.”

The gorilla in question didn’t seem to mind the inference that Medulon had influenced him telepathically, but he did react swiftly to a tearing sound on the other side of the bridge. “We’re under assault!” he growled, vaulting over the captain’s seat while the others were still just beginning to react to the unexpected sound. Silverback launched himself forward as Mon-El tore his way through the bulkhead, and the gorilla bounced ineffectively off of the Daxamite’s chest. To his credit, Silverback recovered before he’d hit the ground and rolled back into a crouching position in one fluid motion.

“Sorry about the damage to your property,” Mon-El announced, the other Legionnaires behind him. “Presuming that this ship does actually legally belong to one of you, of course. But I’m afraid the only place any of you are going is straight back to--” His monologue cut short by an agonized cry, the hero staggered in place.

<You may be impervious to physical injury> Medulon’s ugly voice filled their skulls, <But your mind belongs to Medulon, Daxamite!>

“You leave him alone!” Shadow Lass protested. She stepped in front of her lover and drowned Medulon’s sphere in a flood of darkness.

“There’s not enough room for us to fight efficiently on this bridge,’ Brainiac 5 analysed the situation coolly. “Blok?”

“Of course,” the stone giant rumbled. He grabbed the ship where Mon-El had already damaged it, and with barely any effort, simply ripped the entire vessel in half.

“My ship!” Gar Lao whined, grabbing hold of anything he could reach to retain his footing as it came apart around him. The battle was well and truly joined now, Ruby Rogue stretching toward Shadow Lass while Silverback wrapped himself around Blok.

“Legionnaires, scatter!” Dawnstar shouted at the rest of her comrades outside the ship as she took to the air. Shadow Lad and Infectious Lass followed suit just in time to avoid being squashed as the now free Immortus slammed down into the sand where they’d all been standing. Protected by his forcefield, Brainiac simply watched placidly.

“I am afraid that a more immediate threat has demanded my attention,” Blok said politely as one hand closed on the nape of Silverback’s neck and removed him with the amused patience one might have for a needy pet. “I am certain that one of my friends can deal with you as you require, Silverback.” Blok effortlessly flung Silverback more than a hundred feet away, confident that the villain’s superhuman resistance would protect him from serious injury. He then charged into Immortus while the cyborg was distracted with trying to rip Dawnstar out of the sky.

On what was left of the ship’s bridge, Gar Lao made a discreet exit under the cover of Shadow Lass’s darkness. Mon-El winced in pain as he struggled against Medulon’s assault, and Ruby Rogue wore a vicious grin as she closed on Tasmia Mallor. “Don’t worry,” she taunted, “This one will be dead as soon as I constrict -- eh?!” The Jacquaan woman was surprised when something invisible slammed into her and knocked her off-course. She collected herself and retracted back to her normal stature. “How did she do that?! I thought she only had those ridiculous shadow powers?”

“Shadow Lass does indeed have shadow powers,” a disembodied voice replied, “It is Invisible Kid who can turn invisible, Ma’amselle. I had thought our codenames might give that away, but perhaps I have credited your intellect too highly, non?” Still unseen, Jacques’ fist deformed Ruby Rogue’s face.

“I don’t have to see you to crush you!” While her face regained its normal shape, all three of her arms windmilled wildly.

<You are foolish to believe that your power inconveniences me in any way> Medulon spoke directly to Shadow Lass. <My telepathic senses are advanced far beyond the primitive limitations of your optics...and now I believe I shall have your Daxamite lover slay you for your insolence.> Before he could make good on his threat, the unfamiliar sensation of physical pain rocked the Brain Globe as Shadow Lad charged him from behind with a sheared piece of the ship’s bulkhead. Grev smashed it at full force against Medulon’s spherical casing, causing a barely visible crack to spread across it. Echoes of panic and pain washed over the minds of everybody present, and before Medulon could shred Grev’s mind in retaliation he was abruptly encased in a thick coating of ice and dropped insensate to the floor.

Wisps of super chilled air drifted from Mon-El’s lips as he picked up the inert villain. “The methane seas of Rambat are cold,” the Daxamite explained as Shadow Lass took her place by his side, “But even Brain Globes aren’t completely resistant to temperature extremes. He’ll remain sedated now till he wakes up in a prison cell. Thanks for the assist, Shadow Lad.”

“My pleasure,” Grev replied, discarding his makeshift weapon. “I took a gamble that if he was focused on hurting you he wouldn’t be as aware of the rest of his surroundings till it was too late.”

A man’s shout attracted their combined attention, and they saw the surreal spectacle of Ruby Rogue’s serpentine arms coiling around an empty space which soon revealed the translucent form of Jacques Foccart as she squeezed him tighter and tighter. “I told you!” she gloated. “It was only a matter of time, Legionnaire!”

“Don’t worry Jacques,” Mon-El lowered Medulon again and stepped forward with the Mallors flanking him. “We’ll--”

“No...allow me.” A descending Infectious Lass came to a halt just above Ruby Rogue. The Jacquaan woman’s sadistic grin soon changed to an expression of panic as she realised just who she was facing now. “My powers may not be much good against an inertron-shelled cyborg or a metal gorilla,” Drura continued, “But creepy women who grab on my boyfriend are right up my alley.” Flooding Ruby Rogue’s system with bacteria specific to Jacquaa, Drura watched as the villainess went limp and passed out.

“Merci,” Jacques panted, taking a moment to recover. “That woman is tres wicked!”

Mon-El grabbed a section of the destroyed ship and reshaped it into a makeshift prison. “I’ll make sure these two stay out of mischief,” he advised, “Why don’t you all go see if Brainy, Blok and Dawnstar need a hand with the rest of the Forever Soldiers?”

“If Blok needs our help, I think we all have a far greater problem on our hands,” Shadow Lass teased him gently. “But you don’t need us getting in your way here either.” She gave Mon-El’s arm an affectionate squeeze and led the others to the sounds of battle in the desert beyond.

Under the blazing sun, Immortus laid blow after blow upon Blok. The cyborg would have reduced any normal sentient to a bloody smear by now, but even before he’d been empowered by the Rock of Eternity Blok had been tougher than just about any normal sentient. With that extra magic on his side, Immortus was barely even a nuisance.

“I do not know if you can feel pain within that shell,” Blok said calmly as an inertron fist smashed against his face harmlessly, “But at the very least you must be able to recognise that you are wasting your time here. Surrender before I am forced to retaliate, Immortus.”

“Pain??” Immortus ranted. “I’m made of inertron, you fool! Inertron feels no pain! Perhaps I can’t damage you directly, but let’s see how well you fare once I charge you through the crust of this hellish planet!” He grabbed Blok around the waist and bootjets flared to life. Surprising Immortus, Blok didn’t budge even a millimetre.

“You do not feel pain?” Blok queried as placidly as if the two were having a casual conversation. “That is valuable knowledge, thank you.” With both arms, he gripped the giant cyborg’s free arm and wrenched it from its socket with an almighty rending sound.

“What are you doing?!” Immortus screamed. “Stop!!” He released Blok and redirected his bootjets at the Legionnaire.

Blok held Immortus’s ripped off arm up as a makeshift shield against the blinding flare of the jets, then discarded it as the cyborg took off in an unbalanced arc. Taking pursuit, Blok easily caught up to Immortus and straddled his back. Blok wrapped his powerful gold-flecked arms around either side of the villain’s head and twisted until the cyborg’s head came clean off. The directionless body careened into the desert sands, and Blok flew back to his wide-eyed comrades with Immortus’s disembodied head under one arm. “Immortus’s frame is composed of self-regenerating inertron,” Blok explained. “He will recover, but with damage so extreme it will take time.” He looked around the battle site curiously. “Has anybody seen Dawnstar and Brainiac 5?”

**********
Nearly a mile away hidden behind sloping sand dunes, a middle-aged Coluan hugged the desert’s burning surface as he sped away from the battlesite on a flatbed hovercraft. I can rescue them from Takron-Galtos as easily a second time as I did the first, Gar Lao reasoned, But I cannot help the Forever Soldiers or myself if I too am a prisoner.

“Thank you for leaving such an obvious trail,” an elegant woman’s voice startled the fleeing villain. “Even were my tracking powers not capable of finding you, a blindrat could follow the mess you’ve kicked up in your wake.” Lao’s head snapped to the left to see the winged Legionnaire Dawnstar keeping up with him effortlessly. Obviously shaken, the villain lost control of his vehicle and dived straight into the golden sands. The impact threw him forward and Lao winced at the thought of the injuries that awaited him hitting the ground at this speed. Just before the moment of impact, Dawnstar gripped him under the arms and Lao’s stomach lurched as she used their combined momentum to power a dizzying loop in mid-air. As they began to descend, her enormous white wings spread wide and flapped enough times to slow their roll. The whole maneuver was complete in almost as brief an amount of time as it took the Coluan to process what was happening, and before he knew it he’d been dumped rudely but safely into the hot sands after all.

As he clambered to his feet, Lao saw that they’d been joined by another Legionnaire. Brainiac 5 descended from the endless blue skies, an expression of distasteful judgement on his green face. At his side in a perfect force sphere, Silverback roared in protest and slammed his fists against his transparent prison. “I would not recommend that course of action,” Brainiac addressed Gar Lao coldly as his villainous Coluan counterpart drew a handgun.

“And why would that be?” Lao sneered. “As far as I can see, your vaunted forcefield is keeping my more aggressive ally from tearing you limb from limb. I’ve studied you Legionnaires enough to know that you cannot project multiple fields, Dox.”

A blur of motion rushed past Lao, knocking him aside as Dawnstar snatched his weapon and stood behind her leader. “That was risky,” Dawnstar admonished Brainiac. “What if I’d not reacted in time?”

“I know your capabilities,” Brainiac answered simply before giving his attention to the middle-aged Coluan before them once more. “What I don’t know is what he hopes to achieve by siding with the likes of Immortus and his cronies. I’d think that any Coluan would possess the intellect to see the depths of that particular folly.”

“I wasn’t ever meant to take an active part in their field operations,” Lao answered. “Nor am I like the rest of those short-minded fools. I wouldn’t expect you to know or care, but my ancestor was Sato Lao, a man who sought to bring an everlasting peace to the galaxy. His destiny remains a mystery, but when I found his journals I elected to improve upon his noble mission.”

“...Sato Lao…” Dawnstar wondered aloud. “Why does that name sound familiar..? Oh! Brainiac! When the Infinite Man sent us to Earth’s past--”

“--You and five other Legionnaires prevented Sato Lao from destroying the planet,” Brainiac 5 completed her statement for her. “Yes, I’ve read the mission logs.”

“What??” Gar Lao was shellshocked. “You met my ancestor?? That’s impossible!”

“It’s certainly implausible but a great many implausible things are possible,” Brainiac 5 countered. “Still, that doesn’t explain your alliance with these miscreants here and now, Lao.”

“Sato Lao thought that Earth was the most dangerous planet in the galaxy,” the villain recovered quickly from his initial shock. “And he was correct, but that’s ancient history. We have well passed the point as a galaxy where the elimination of any one planet would make any meaningful impact to the rest of interstellar society. The only hope for peace in the long term is to wipe out 75% of all sentient life and allow the remaining survivors to form a new society from the ashes of the old. Immortus fancies himself a ruler of worlds, but with the right encouragement he can just as easily become a destroyer. Medulon has contempt for all species aside from his own, and Silverback and Ruby Rogue are loaded guns seeking to be fired. I have chosen my weapons wisely, and you may imprison us now but know that one day we will wreak chaos unlike anything you’ve ever seen.”

“Your ancestor was murdered by a Terran man over a thousand years ago,” Brainiac 5 muttered as he placed cuffs on the other Coluan man, “And while your own life is less likely to end with such violence, it will likely end with just as little fanfare. Your mission has amounted to nothing before it even began, Lao.” Brainiac saw fast-moving shadows approaching across the desert landscape and looked up to see Mon-El approaching with Shadow Lass and Shadow Lad.

“...As a great many things in life end before they can be said to begin…” Brainiac 5 mumbled almost imperceptibly.

“I’m sorry,” Dawnstar spoke up, “Did you say something, Brainiac?”

Querl Dox blinked and shook his head. “Hmm? No...nothing of import. Let’s escort these villains to the local Science Police and put the past back where it belongs.

...In the past.”

**********

The Legion sure is efficient! Wrapping up the Forever Soldiers plot in a snap. What happened to the poor technicians who became plastoids, though?

Nice to see Grev in action, and Tas and Mon giving him the news about Kara was a nice touch. As was Brainy's stoic reaction... Oh, Brainy.

Dawny is such a treat to see in action, as is Blok.

Happy to see Drura and Jacques finally talking it out!

Alas the poor techs were red shirts, but they're in a better place now...I thought about giving the Forever Soldiers some more development, but sometimes it's nice just to have an excuse to write a punch up with no grand plots...they'll get another chance to shine, no doubt

Next: some more on Gim and pals, and a turning point for Fire Lad!

Hey y'all, I have been drawing again....may I present Arqiia in her Fire Lass costume! I wanted to make her reminiscent of Fire Lad without just being a direct copy

Raz, I love your artwork, Arqiia looks suitably fire boy-esque that it's a good association without being a definite copy. Nice work.

Also, just noticed your story above, i must have missed it when you first posted it. Will give it a good read through and review for you tonight or tomorrow when I have time. Hoorah, another segment of your story to look forward to, always a good thing!

Raz, hi, finally got around to reading your latest batch through.

I like your snarky Bounty, she's a keeper! And Gim going to Durla will be fun, other than Reep going there to regain his powers back in the day with Brande I can't recall ever seeing that much of it so I'm definitely looking forward to reading what you come up with, It'll be good to see how Yera reacts as well, as she left for the best of reasons so will she be happy to see her husband again or has she established a new life now?

The scene with Tas and Lar telling Grev about Kara was well written, with the individuals philosophies and outlooks being well highlighted without a big emotional drama, it read as a nice understated adult conversation around a sad subject.

Trust Brainy to ruin it with the call to arms

Jacques and Drura sorting out their differences was nicely done, neither are big loud characters so it was good you avoided an explosive argument between them and settled for the conversation between two sensitive people that are hurting. Along with the scene where Grev learned of Kara' s fate you have shown how mature these characters have become.

I wish I'd thought of Silverback, I really do love gorillas!

Blok dealing with Immortus was the highlight for me, his cool approach and solution were very well done, thank you for showing us what the power of Shazam had done for him. If he wasn't thoughtful and strong enough before he certainly has taken both those traits to a new level.

Brainy being unemotional and calculating is the logical way for him to deal with his grieving but we all know it's going to end in tears sooner or later. Looking forward to seing where you take this story.

As usual I'm left wanting more, more, more!

Thanks Harby...Gim's motley crew are getting closer to taking the main spotlight so we'll see all of that stuff soon

I stole Silverback from Set, he is a great character concept I have got some plans for where I wanna go with him but he might have to wait his turn behind the 500 other characters who keep sticking their hands up for stories lol

Brainy's story is probably a slow burn, I think it might be a bit before that really eventuates...I am glad you liked Blok's fight as well, it is kinda fun having someone on the team who can just calmly stand there and take punches till he decides to act!

MARS
Husband Hill, Legion of Superheroes Headquarters

ROLL CALL
Kid Computo aka Danielle Foccart: cyberempathy
Quislet: energy being, temporary matter animation

Danielle Foccart poked her head into the Legion of Superheroes’ mission monitor room where Quislet’s sleek new microship flew in erratic patterns around the room. “Hoo boy!” the Teallian hero squealed with glee. “Quislet make his best time yet!”

“Uh, Quislet..?” Kid Computo cocked an eyebrow. “...Who are you talking to? For that matter, what are you doing?”

“Quislet on monitor duty!” he exclaimed, veering off at almost a right angle barely in time to avoid smashing into one of the room’s walls. “Brainiac says Quislet not allowed to monitor from his ship outside, so Quislet has to be cooped up in this little room till Polar Boy takes his turn! Boring! At least Quislet make good conversation with himself!”

“Okay, but--” Danielle flinched involuntarily as he came dangerously close to taking out one of the consoles. “But what are you doing in here? Flying around like that? Shouldn’t you be paying attention to the feeds?”

“Kid Computo should see for herself!” Quislet chirped happily. “Come on board!”

Danielle gave a defeated shrug and reached out with her cyberempathy. Alien as the microship was, she found that she needed to exert more effort to really interface with it properly. Still, the Teallians might not use conventional electronics but whatever they did use was close enough that her power served.

“Oh! Oh, wow!” She took a step back, momentarily overwhelmed by the influx of data. She could sense the room the same way Quislet’s microship did, but she wouldn’t have the first clue to describe what sensory information it was actually taking in. It was some kaleidoscopic mess of light and energy patterns which shouldn’t work but somehow paradoxically did. She could also sense that he’d projected energy patterns of his own around the room using wavelengths not visible to the naked eye. What looked to any outsider like chaotic flitting about was actually Quislet navigating an obstacle course that only he could see. Something else else else then occurred to Danielle. “Wait a nano…” she wondered aloud, “You’re always zipping around like a maniac! Is this what you do all day??”

“Quislet didn’t get to be best Legionnaire without practice!” he replied. “Practice makes Quislet perfect!”

On a more pedestrian note, Danielle now realised too that all active alert feeds were being fed directly to his microship; whatever else he was doing, Quislet really wasn’t neglecting his duty. She couldn’t quite figure out exactly how the datastream was working though, and trying to figure it out was hurting her head. Danielle disengaged her power’s connection and pinched the bridge of her nose till the world around her felt normal again. “...Won’t lie, I’m not gonna be in a rush to do that again.” She leaned against the doorway, hands in her jacket pockets. “Actually….Quislet, I came looking for you for a reason. I guess I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“Quislet better than okay! Quislet great!” He looked and sounded the part, flying a dizzying series of loops before her eyes.

“I mean..you know, with the device that we inserted into your ship. I guess I owe you an apology...I wasn’t really all that comfortable with it anyway, but when Comet Queen reacted the way she did, it made me see that I should have listened to my conscience in the first place.”

“Brainiac’s bomb silly!” Quislet finally stopped flying and hovered at Danielle’s eye level. “But Kid Computo silly too if she thinks Quislet sad! If Quislet’s ship go boom, Quislet just get a new one and come back better than ever!”

“Well...if you’re sure....but anyway, I am sorry for what it’s worth.” She had the strangest impression that this was as close as the odd little creature had ever come to genuinely trying to comfort someone, and as little as it was working she had to admit she was touched by the effort.

“Sorries are silly too!” Quislet trilled. “Too much fun to have to waste time being sorry!” Abruptly, he did a little backflip and continued. “Hoo boy! Speaking of fun, Quislet better call some Legionnaires!”

“Why, what’s happening?” Even as she asked the question, her own power reached out and she picked up the alert that Quislet had just received. “Museum robbery in Marsopolis, huh? Element Lad, Neon and Mwindaji are all on base, can you tell them what’s going on and to meet me on the roof?”

“Quislet on the case!” came his excited reply. “Kid Computo go have some fun!” Danielle flew off down the corridor, shaking her head in bemused wonder at her weird little extra-dimensional teammate.

**********
DURLA
Frozentown Marketplace

ROLL CALL
Bounty: Legionnaire from the future, tracking powers
Gim Allon: ex-Legionnaire, growth powers
Infinite Boy aka Kando Vyr: Legionnaire from the future, ability to summon beings from the timestream

Gim Allon looked out from beneath the musty purple hood of one of the two cloaks he and his strange travelling party had stolen earlier that morning. To his left, the mystery woman Bounty wore the other cloak and to Gim’s right, the Infinite Boy had the gold-rimmed hood of his own white cloak pulled down to hide his features.

Frozentown was a unique place on Durla; while most Durlans lived a barbaric life of isolation in barren nuclear wastelands, a growing number of the shapeshifters wanted to join the wider society of the United Planets that existed beyond their world. Under the guidance of the tireless Ambassador Grb, a town had been built in one of the planet’s less radioactive valleys where Durlans could come to sample and acclimatise themselves to the realities of off-world life if they wished. Such a town was not a welcome concept to many Durlans, and more than half of the off-worlder population here were Science Police intended to prevent reprisals from the more violent extremes of Durlan society. For the most part there was an uneasy detente, but Durla’s cultural xenophobia made itself loud and clear with the name of the place. The town’s original name J’siej Yy had not been adopted easily by foreign tongues; the Durlans often referred to offworlders as frozenforms due to their inability to change shape, and so it was that their town became Frozentown.

For all the Science Police presence, there were precious few other off-worlders here; Gim had met Ambassador Grb once, and from discussions with him the former Legionnaire knew that he, Bounty and Infinite Boy would immediately be recognised here as outsiders. If Yera really were here as Bounty had assured him, Gim didn’t want news of his presence to frighten her off before he’d even seen her. Thus, the oversized and very unpleasant smelling disguises.

“You couldn’t have grabbed a couple of clean tattered blankets for us to wrap ourselves in?” Bounty sniped at the Infinite Boy.

“These were the clean ones,” Kando retorted. “Trust me, you don’t want to see what the dirty ones looked like.”

Gim almost stepped on something small and slithering, only noticing it as it burrowed a hasty tunnel into the sludge beneath his feet. “We get it,” he snapped at Bounty. “You don’t like it here. None of us do. The sooner you do what we brought you here for, the sooner we can leave. Find my wife, Bounty.”

The brunette gave a heartless laugh and gestured at the crowd around them. “Look around you, Allon. The best tracker in the galaxy couldn’t pick one specific Durlan out of this crowd. I narrowed down her location as far as I could; maybe you two could contribute something to this moronic quest at some point, huh?”

Gim bit his tongue and locked eyes with Kando for a second. The two men peered around the crowded marketplace; with its free-standing tents and pungent carts of produce, it was a far cry from any real UP town but Ambassador Grb had done the best he could with the resources available. There were two Science Police for nearly every three citizens, but those citizens bore the appearance of more than a dozen different alien races. There was also the familiar orange-skinned humanoid shape that the UP mandated all Durlans wear as their standard appearance off-world, and the green tentacled body that those Durlans who’d never left their homeworld claimed as their native form. Bounty’s words grated, but they weren’t untrue. She really had done the lion’s share of work so far in service of a task she had no stake in at all. Consciously realising how useless he felt made Gim’s cheeks flush hot red.

It seemed Kando had come to much the same realisation. “If Bounty can’t find her,” he suggested, “Maybe I can try something different...a telepath might help?”

“Maybe,” Gim conceded. “I...hey, wait.” Without another word, he pushed his way through a sea of robes and exotic body types.

“Colossal Boy? Gim!” Kando hissed to no avail. He turned to Bounty.“We’d better follow him before he gets himself into trouble. Come on.”

“You don’t have to ask me twice,” Bounty smirked. “Some trouble might actually make this trip worthwhile!” Hand on the blaster beneath her robe, she followed the Infinite Boy through the crowd.

Gim finally caught up with the subject of his attention at a stall selling some kind of sour-scented gourds. The Durlan he’d pursued was a good four or five inches shorter than him, wearing a drab grey robe which obscured all of their features even when they raised one limb to trade Frozentown currency for three of the amber vegetables. Gim had seen something that sparked a memory gleaming around the Durlan’s neck though, something small and golden hanging from a thin chain. “Excuse me?” He touched the Durlan’s shoulder gently.

“Can I help you?” The voice tipped him off even before she turned around. She’d disguised her appearance but had never bothered to mask her voice...and hanging around her neck she wore the wedding ring that Gim Allon had once placed lovingly on her finger.

The shock of seeing her husband here shattered Yera’s disguise. Her hood fell back from her face as she gazed up with wet eyes at the man she’d left months ago. “...Gim..?”

“Yera, I…” He’d rehearsed what he was going to say to her at least a hundred times, but now that he was here raw emotion took over. He choked on his words and his own eyes filled with tears as he trembled helplessly.

“Gim...Gim, what are you doing here?” She reached up with the feminine orange hands which had held him so many nights and cradled his face. “...You grew a beard,” she said stupidly in something that was half-laugh and half-sob.

“Yera...Yera, why?” he found the strength to continue. “Why did you leave me?”

“Hey, you found her!” Bounty shoved her way rudely through the crowd to their side. “Good work Romeo, can we get out of here now?”

“Who is this?” Yera turned on the newcomer. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously as her antennae wiggled slightly atop her head. “...Do I know you from somewhere?”

“Hey, I’m not the one who can pretend to be anyone they want, how should I know if we’ve met? But seriously, can we go now?”

“No, I’m sure we’ve met,” Yera continued unabated.

Yera Allon reached for Bounty’s hood and in a blur of motion Bounty grabbed her wrist. “Hey. Handsy much?” She released Yera’s hand and Gim instinctively moved between the two women to defend his long absent wife.

Rubbing her wrist with her other hand, Yera decided she’d worry about the woman later. She turned back to her husband and asked sharply, “Gim, what are you doing here? I left you and the Legion to protect you, you big lump!”

“Protect me from what?” he shot back with equal concern and annoyance.

“I--I can’t tell you,” she avoided his worried gaze. “How did you even find me?” she changed the subject, finding the nerve to meet his eyes again.

“This is Bounty,” Gim introduced his reluctant companion. “She’s a tracker, she was summoned to help us by--”

“What is he doing here??” Yera cried shrilly, pointing an accusing finger at the Infinite Boy who’d finally made his entrance.

“Chameleon Girl, hi!” Kando Vyr greeted her breathlessly. “Guys--”

“Honey, it’s okay.” Gim placed a hand on his wife’s arm. “Kando summoned Bounty to help find you, he’s helping us--”

“Why??” she bypassed her husband altogether, jabbing a finger into Kando’s chest. “You of all people must know why I’m doing this, why would you jeopardise that??”

“Chameleon Girl,” Kando struggled, “Yera...we can talk about this later but--”

“What kept you so long anyway, short stuff?” Bounty teased Kando. “Get lost in the crowd?”

“Honey, please.” Gim reached for his wife whose earlier shock was now replaced by mounting fury at the Infinite Boy. “If you’re in trouble, please let me help. Kando brought me here, he’s not going to stop us from being together--”

“What sick game is this?!” Yera railed at the Infinite Boy. “Do you know what I’ve gone through because of your stupid future? What I’ve given up?? Look at me when I’m talking to you!”

Kando, who had been craning his neck this whole time to look at something on the other side of the market’s stalls, suddenly removed his hood and fixed Yera’s glare with a resolute stare of his own. “Yera. I get you’re mad, and you can yell at me all you like later but you guys need to see this! Look!” He pointed, and all three of them followed his line of sight to see the upper half of a very distinctive red armoured helmet disappearing into the sea of sentients beyond the marketplace.

“Isn’t that…?” Yera began.

“...Radiation Roy??” Gim completed her question. “What the sprock is he doing on Durla?”

“Finally!” Bounty grinned wickedly. “Now things get interesting!”

**********
MARS
Marsopolis, Zo’ok Plaza

ROLL CALL
Fire Lass aka Arqiia: Legion Academy student fire-breathing
Staq Mavlen aka Fire Lad: weredragon

In a different time on a different world, Staq Mavlen and the woman named Arqiia might have made a curious couple wandering through a plaza crowded with tourists. On 31st century Mars though, a gaunt grey-skinned woman with a flaming scalp and her unassuming blond escort weren’t anywhere near the strangest pair of sentients. Aliens of all sizes and shapes meandered through Zo’ok Plaza or stopped at any one of its many galleries and museums, and a few of them even paused to nibble at the fragrant potted flowers on either side of the thoroughfare until Science Police droids politely but firmly dissuaded them.

“How are you finding the Legion Academy?” Staq asked the taller woman at his side.

“Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad are adequate teachers,” Arqiia responded after a moment of thought, “And the rest of my classmates have accepted my presence, but Dragonwing seems to bear an irrational dislike of me.” She paused and then corrected herself. “An irrational dislike of many things.”

“Try not to take it personally,” Staq advised. “Dragonwing’s got a chip on her shoulder the size of Deimos but she’s young...she’ll grow out of it.”

“I do not know what it is to be young,” Arqiia stated bluntly. “I was created in my current state of being.” She stopped walking and looked down at Staq Mavlen. “May I ask a question?”

“Of course,” he smiled. “You don’t have to ask permission.”

“How did you come across your purpose?” she questioned.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” Staq’s brow furrowed. “You mean...my purpose generally in life, or..?”

“You tried out to join the Legion of Superheroes several years ago,” she expanded. “And they turned you down, but you pursued the path of a hero nonetheless until you fulfilled your original purpose of joining the Legion of Superheroes. My fellow students are all driven to pursue heroism in their own ways. I was created to serve the Heavensent; I know now that path was wrong, but I feel no sense of purpose to replace that in my life. I joined the Legion Academy at your suggestion, but I do not feel the same drive to be there that my classmates evidence.”

“I...don’t know how to answer that, I have to admit.” Staq shrugged helplessly. “I’m not really one for deep philosophical questions, I just know it’s the right thing to do. I have power, and when you have power you need to protect the people who don’t. Maybe you should ask Saturn Girl about it?”

“I will,” Arqiia nodded. She kept walking, Staq by her side.

He wondered what was going through her mind; he couldn’t imagine what it must be like to just be dropped into the world as a full grown adult without any life experience. He also couldn’t help but wonder how she felt about him or for that matter how he felt about her. Since the incident with Brainiac 5 and Elastic Lad’s machine, Staq no longer felt the overriding imperative to be with Arqiia, but there was something there. He just didn’t know if it was a genetic compulsion or legitimate attraction. Deep philosophical questions, he thought again sardonically.

Startled yelps and the sound of multiple engines approaching shook Staq from his funk, and he saw half a dozen people in sleek chrome armoured suits riding gravbikes through the crowded plaza without a care for the sentients around them. Two Science Police droids were in hot pursuit, broadcasting warnings to everybody to calmly evacuate the area. “Those squajes are going to get someone killed,” he scowled. Sure enough, an alien tourist was directly in the path of the lead armoured man and had frozen in place. The alien’s body was a slender green stalk, its one enormous blue eye wide with fear.

Acting purely on instinct, Staq flew in to intercept the gravbike. He inhaled deeply, his chest puffing out before he remembered that he didn’t have his old powers anymore. Staq swore under his breath then in a final act of heroism leaped to tackle the alien tourist so he could at least shield him as much as possible from the inevitable impact. He felt an intense temperature surge behind him, and heard the quick roar of a fireball exploding. Both Staq and the alien turned around to see that Arqiia had used her own flame breath to immolate the gravbike. The rider panicked and tumbled off to the side, smashing into one of the potted plants. His bike flew off course and exploded as it slammed straight into the wall of a nearby art gallery. The green alien winked twice with its cyclopean eye and stammered, “Are--are you the Legion of Superheroes?”

“Sort of,” Staq replied with less confidence than he’d have liked. “You’d better get out of here, it’s likely to get more violent before peace is restored.” While the alien hastily waddled away, Staq activated an electrostatic charge which changed his civilian clothing to his Fire Lad costume and approached Arqiia. “Thanks for the save,” he smiled. “You’d better put your costume on too, go keep an eye on that guy you knocked off his bike and I’ll call the Legion in.” The other bikes zoomed past, one of them so low Staq flinched as he felt its wake ruffle his hair. As he raised his flight ring to his lips, he saw that two of the armoured men had turned back on the Science Police droids, golden hardlight shields defending them from police fire. They both manifested long golden lances in their free hands and ran the SP droids straight through. Lances and shields? Staq wondered. Why not, I guess they kind of look like knights…

Staq yelped in surprise as he was suddenly enveloped in a hardlight net and yanked rudely into the air. The would-be knight at the other end of the net increased speed as he raced through the plaza and Staq’s own flight ring couldn’t effectively counter him so he had no choice but to go along for the ride. “Everybody wants to be a hero,” the armoured man sneered, “Well let me show you what happens to heroes when they meet the Post-Atomic Knights, brave guy.” Staq’s heart pounded as he realised the knight was speeding straight for an elevated pedestrian walkway. The gravbike would soar safely overhead, but Staq would be lucky if there’d be enough of him left to even put in a coffin if he hit the ferrocrete walkway at this speed. He tried his flight ring again but it was pointless. There was only one way he was going to get out of this and it was something he’d been dearly hoping he could avoid.

The Post-Atomic Knight heard Staq Mavlen’s agonised roar below and behind him, but he didn’t feel the tug he’d been expecting which would tell him his victim splattered against the walkway. It was then that he realised his net’s tensile strength had been exceeded and the weapon had shut off. That thing would have held ten men, the knight frowned. There’s no way that puny human could have broken free! He circled around slowly and looked down, curious as to where his captured foe had vanished to. A different roar sounded now, one which seemed far more angry than pained. Inside his chrome helmet, the knight’s eyes grew wide as saucers as a horned dragon man soared up from beneath the walkway on enormous leathery wings. The creature was hairless, a flaming mane atop its grey-skinned head. With mounting terror, the knight realised it was clothed in the tattered outfit of the man he’d just tried to kill. The dragon creature unleashed another mighty roar, this time accompanied by a plume of flame which consumed the knight and his bike. The knight’s armour protected him from the worst of the flame, but his bike exploded as had his comrade’s earlier and the man fell out of the sky screaming.

“Lucky for you,” the dragon man’s voice hissed, “The Legion don’t play by the ssame ruless ass you creepss. Nobody’ss dying today.” Taloned fingers deformed the man’s armour as Staq gripped his shoulders and he slowed their descent before tossing the knight into the villain Arqiia had unseated earlier.

“You are in control of your faculties?” she asked. Staq didn’t know if he was imagining it but he could swear there was something in her voice that hadn’t been there before. Awe? Infatuation..?

He didn’t have time to answer when the other Post-Atomic Knights flew in to help their teammates. Staq dodged one of their lances, but another pierced his side and he bellowed wordlessly. He was dimly aware of a golden shield slamming Arqiia down to the ground, but his own rising fury was demanding all of his attention. It felt as though his blood were boiling and he wanted to tear these people out of their armour like food from a can. Stop it, he chastised himself. Whatever you look like, you’re not a monster. You’re a man, sprock it.

Another lance pierced his torso and caused him to stagger back a few feet. Focusing as intently as he’d ever focused, Staq grabbed the lance in both hands and swung its surprised bearer into one of the other Post-Atomic Knights who’d been approaching the groggy Fire Lass. Both men were flung from their bikes and rolled awkwardly across the plaza as their weapons shut off and their bikes smashed through windows. Staq touched his wounds gingerly, his palm coated in blackish blood. Thankfully he healed faster in this form, but it still hurt...and there were still two more of these Post-Atomic Knights on the loose. He had to wrap this up quickly.

Of the four men on the ground, two of them were unconscious but the other two were even now getting to their feet. Staq stalked toward them, making sure all their attention was on him and not Arqiia gracelessly clambering to her feet. One of the men manifested a golden hardlight sword from his chrome gauntlet and waved it uncertainly in Staq’s general direction. “B-back off!” he warned in a wavering voice.

“Really?” Staq growled. “You want to get me more riled up?” He breathed a plume of fire over the man’s gauntlet, melting the delicate mechanism which created the hardlight weapons. The knight cried out in pain and discarded his sparking gauntlet, revealing a hand covered in fine white fur with black patches.

The other knight’s gauntlet had obviously been damaged in the fall, as various golden weapons cycled into half-existence before fizzling out again. Staq ripped the man’s helmet off with one clawed hand and was mildly intrigued to see the man was a canine-like race he’d never encountered before. This knight was also white-furred, floppy black ears hanging limply on either side of his head. The knight growled at Staq through bared teeth, but Staq simply punched him without a word and the villain dropped like a rock.

“Fire Lad!” Arqiia’s voice rang out, and Staq spun to see one of the remaining Post-Atomic Knights coming straight at him with his lance extended. Without missing a beat, Staq grabbed the knight whose gauntlet he’d ruined and hurled him straight at his flying compatriot. The two plummeted into the plaza, and yet another gravbike met its untimely end smashing into the facade of a nearby museum. He looked around urgently for the final member of the troupe, but they were nowhere to be seen.

Trying to downplay how much his wounds actually hurt, Staq approached the fallen knights and dug his talons into the chestplate of one of them. He lifted them up to his eye level which was now substantially higher than anybody else here, and ripped off their helmet so he could meet their gaze. “What’ss any of thiss about anyway?” he snapped. “Why were thosse SP droidss after you to begin with?”

“Oh, now you want to know. Everybody’s happy to pounce on Dalmans as soon as they see us, but nobody ever wants to hear our side of the story till the fighting’s over.” Though the knight appeared visually similar to her teammate to Staq’s eye, her voice was decidedly more feminine.

“What are you talking about?” Staq retorted. “Lady, I don’t even know what a Dalman iss...and even if I did, how do you exxpect anyone would know you’re one when you’re covered from head to toe in ssprockin’ armour?”

“My race is Dalman, you xenophobic krik!” she exploded. “We’re from the planet Dalma!”

“Oh for…” Staq felt his anger threatening to consume him again and took a deep breath to centre himself as Saturn Girl had been teaching him. “It’ss not xxenophobia, it’ss ignorancce! You think I know every member planet of the UP?”

“We’re not a part of your fascist United Planets!” she barked. “Your people tried to recruit our world and when we declined, you took our cultural artifacts anyway so you could stick them in your pretentious museums! We came to take back what’s ours, and as long as my brother is free, our mission’s succeeded!” She made a fist and pumped it into Staq’s forearm, surprised when nothing at all happened.

“Those hardlight weapon generators you guys have are neat, but they’re not going to do you any good while I’m around.” The Dalman woman and Staq both looked up to see Kid Computo descending with Neon. As the two newcomers landed, Neon created an oversized emerald dogcatcher to round them all up and throw them in a pest control van. Danielle whistled as she surveyed the damaged plaza. “Wow Fire Lad, you’re not a big fan of subtlety huh?”

“Kid, I’m a nine foot tall dragon man,” Staq quipped back. “I’m jusst glad I kept it under control...if getting sskewered a couple timess didn’t make me rage out I think it’ss ssafe to ssay I’m good for active duty again.”

“They do look like nasty wounds,” Danielle cringed at the bloody holes in Staq’s torso. “Mwindaji should be able to help you out with that when he and Element Lad finish rounding up the last one of these guys. Hey, are you gonna change your name now? I mean you’re more of a Dragon Lad than a Fire Lad now, right?”

Zoe made the construct holding the Post-Atomic Knights soundproof and turned her attention to gathering the damaged gravbikes together in one place with a giant dustpan and broom. “Guys, no offence...I know you all love your Lad and Lass and Kid names, but it’s the 31st century. I’m sure we can come up with something better...Firemane? Firecrest? Let’s workshop it.”

“Firecrest is a suitable name,” Arqiia joined the conversation. “In my opinion,” she added as an awkward afterthought.

Mwindaji and Element Lad finally joined the others, the sixth member of the Post-Atomic Knights naked from the waist up and slung unconscious over Mwindaji’s shoulders. While Mwindaji took his captive to join the others in Neon’s van, Element Lad set down a satchel gently on the ground. “This fellow told us they were taking back these ancient knives which were stolen from their world,” Jan noted. “If that’s true, I’ll do everything I can to help them through legal channels. I’m not much a fan of anybody desecrating a people’s culture for personal gain.” While he spoke, Jan casually converted the oxygen feeding the various fires around the plaza into non-flammable gases.

“I do not condone the violence of these Post-Atomic Knights,” Mwindaji pondered aloud, “But I understand their passion. I pray the United Planets considers all the factors involved in this incident before passing judgement upon them.” The tracker from Kirinyaga noticed Staq’s wounds for the first time and started. “Fire Lad, forgive me for not earlier seeing your plight! I can heal you if you wish.”

“Thankss, I apprecciate it.” The wiry dragon man visibly relaxed as Mwindaji bathed his injuries in a pure white light; a second later, only the dried blood on Staq’s torso betrayed that he’d ever been pierced at all. “But you know, I think the girls might be right. Don’t call me Fire Lad anymore…

...Legionnaires, ssay hello to Firecresst!”

**********
EDITOR'S NOTES:
* Gim met the Durlan Ambassador Grb waaaay back before I started posting this series here; the story is on my livejournal here if anybody is interested (but you don't need to read it to follow what's coming up)

Coolness! The plight of the Dalmans is very relevant to today’s world. My own country is still trying to get back some bells taken away during our colonization.

Zoe is so millennial. Let’s workshop it! nice new code name for Staq, and it’s a good place for him to be, having to maintain control.

I like how Quislet was actually practicing, and its attempt to comfort Danielle was nice. you have made it so much more likable

glad Yera stayed and spoke to Gim. her reaction to Infinite Boy was very realistic

Glad you liked it IB, I originally had the whole thing written out as a standard bank/museum robbery, but at the last minute I thought I might as well try for something different...I am about to post up the next instalment and Yera in particular is getting a lot of focus!

MARS
Husband Hill, Legion of Superheroes Headquarters

ROLL CALL
Brainiac 5 aka Querl Dox: 12th level intelligence, team leader
Firecrest aka Staq Mavlen: weredragon
Saturn Girl aka Imra Ardeen Ranzz: reserve Legionnaire, telepathy

While Querl Dox quietly analysed data on a hardlight screen, Imra Ardeen Ranzz stood before the crouched form of the 9 foot horned dragon man that Staq Mavlen had become. Even hunched over as he was, Staq was so tall that Imra still needed to reach up to lay her palm against his forehead. A few moments passed in silence, and Imra removed her hand. “Thank you, Firecrest,” Saturn Girl smiled slightly. “You can return to normal now.”

A grunt of pain escaped Staq’s lips as he triggered the transformation which made him an average Shwarrian man once again. He was becoming more accustomed to the discomfort of changing forms each time, but it still hurt. Dwarfed now in the fireproof sheet which had been draped snugly over his shoulders a moment ago, Staq stepped behind a privacy screen to change back into his clothes. “So what’s the verdict, Saturn Girl? Am I cleared for active duty again?”

“I believe the risk is minimal,” Imra replied. She approached Brainiac 5 and the two of them were soon joined by Staq. “I’d still like to continue our meditative exercises for a little while,” Imra continued. “But I don’t think there’s any real danger of you losing control of yourself under the typical conditions the Legion of Superheroes are exposed to.”

“I’d prefer more certainty,” Brainiac 5 added. “However, if you deem the risk to be acceptable then I respect your judgement. Thank you for your assistance, Saturn Girl.” Brainiac 5 handed Staq a neatly folded yellow and red costume. “Your physical and psychomedical readings support Saturn Girl’s statement; I have no issue with you taking your place once more on the active roster, Firecrest.”

“Thanks, Brainy.” Staq took the costume and held it up before him. “New threads? You didn’t have to do that!”

“It is simply pragmatic,” the Coluan hero replied. “This costume has been subjected to the same treatment which allows Elastic Lad’s outfit to elongate and retract repeatedly. It will withstand your transformations without damage.” What Brainiac 5 neglected to mention was that he’d also woven a web of circuitry throughout the fabric which would stun Firecrest into an unconscious state if need be. Comet Queen’s reaction when he’d taken similar precautions with Quislet’s ship had taught Brainiac that other Legionnaires might not understand or agree with what he’d done, but he had no doubt that it was the right course of action; after all a minimal risk was still a risk.

“I appreciate it anyway,” Staq continued. “I have to admit, it’s gonna be nice not to have to tear through a whole outfit every time I want to use my powers. If you two don’t need me for anything else, I’m going to head off...I told Arqiia I’d catch up with her when we were finished here.”

“I’ll come with you,” Saturn Girl joined Staq on his way out. “Wildfire is taking on my husband’s ranged combat class while Garth and the boys are visiting Winath so I’d better go make sure Dragonwing hasn’t incited Drake to homicide yet.” The two left the multilab and almost walked straight into Chlorophyll Kid carrying a giggling child in his arms. “Oh!” Saturn Girl was startled. “Chlorophyll Kid, is this little Ivy I’ve heard about? She’s lovely!” Imra’s normal aloof exterior melted as she allowed the lively infant to clutch at her finger.

“She likes you too, Saturn Girl,” Ral Benem smiled. “I missed all the action with Staq here so I thought maybe we could catch each other up and I could introduce you to Ivy, buddy...I’m just doing the rounds making sure everyone’s met her.”

“The students are going to be in session for another thirty minutes anyway,” Saturn Girl noted. “Why don’t you boys go catch up and I’ll let Arqiia know you’ll be along later, Firecrest?”

“Firecrest?” Chlorophyll Kid raised an eyebrow.

“Come on,” Staq clapped a hand on his friend’s back. “Let’s go for a walk and I’ll explain. Thanks Saturn Girl, I’ll see you soon!”

Imra watched as the two men strolled away with Ivy. Chlorophyll Kid seemed subtly different; both his verbal and physical language indicated a quiet confidence that she’d not seen in him often before. He generally emanated a mild anxiety, wearing it like a psychic shroud for anyone with the ability to sense such things. That was no longer the case at all. Normally such a development would take intensive psychotherapy and Imra decided she’d keep an eye out for any further changes in Ral Benem, but right now all of this seemed very positive.

There was something else that Saturn Girl wasn’t exactly sure how to feel about yet though; Ivy really was adorable and Imra certainly felt no malevolence in the innocent baby girl, but under Ivy Arcane’s surface roiled immensely powerful psionic energies….energies that Saturn Girl had not felt in such an undeveloped psyche since Validus.

Lost in her thoughts, Imra Ardeen Ranzz wandered away down empty corridors.

**********
DURLA
Frozentown city outskirts

ROLL CALL
Bounty: Legionnaire from the future, tracking powers
Gim Allon: ex-Legionnaire, growth powers
Infinite Boy aka Kando Vyr: Legionnaire from the future, ability to summon beings from the timestream
Yera Allon: ex-Legionnaire, Durlan shapeshifting

“I can’t believe that jerkwit wouldn’t listen to us!” Gim Allon muttered as he kicked a rock and watched it bounce down the path leading away from Frozentown. In the distance, enormous purple-tinged mountains shimmered in Durla’s thick atmosphere all around the small village and the sun was a hazy disc high above them.

Having sighted the Terran criminal Radiation Roy in Frozentown earlier, the curious quartet had spent the better part of thirty minutes trying to convince the local Science Police of Roy’s threat before they finally gave up in frustration and decided to track him down themselves.

“To be fair,” the Infinite Boy volunteered, “Even in my time, Radiation Roy was only really ever well known on Earth; and Earthgov did pardon him along with every other member of Earth-Man’s Judgement League so it’s not surprising that the Science Police here on Durla won’t take the word of two ex-Legionnaires and two people who don’t even officially exist in this time that he’s a menace...especially when we don’t have any proof that he’s up to anything on Durla.”


“Of course he’s up to something!” Gim snapped. “He’s a member of the Legion of Supervillains, Kando!”

“Keep your voice down, Allon!” Bounty hissed. “I found us a way past quarantine without attracting attention but there’s no reason we need to push our luck!”

“Are you sure you can track Roy?” Yera asked Bounty in a tone that sounded almost accusatory. “The quarantine around Frozentown exists for a reason, Durla isn’t remotely a safe place for off-worlders. If you’re not 100% certain that this is the way he came, we should--”

“Hey,” Bounty interrupted. “I found you, didn’t I?” She flashed Yera a sweet smile, the sentiment behind it anything but sweet. “Trust me.”

Yera didn’t trust her though. She didn’t trust this strange yet maddeningly familiar woman, and she didn’t trust the Infinite Boy. She didn’t trust their motivations in helping her husband find her after so long, especially Kando Vyr who knew damn well that Yera had left to protect her world, her husband and their friends from a future too horrible to be allowed to exist.

Yera Allon trusted her husband though and she loved him, and seeing him here was like a knife in her heart. She could see the hurt in his eyes and she knew that she’d caused that. She couldn’t risk being with him again, but this time she would tell him why...Gim deserved that much at least. She couldn’t do any of that though until they’d dealt with whatever ridiculous scheme some second-rate supervillain was a part of here on Durla.

“What’s that noise?” Bounty asked abruptly, and they all became aware of a persistent clicking sound.

Yera realised she and Gim had been lost in thoughts of one another and she cleared her throat self-consciously. “Oh grife, I forgot!” She raised her arm to show a wristband with a pulsating display. “Aside from the fact that most of my people don’t like outsiders very much, Durla is terribly radioactive. Durlans have evolved to live with the background radiation but outside of particular areas like Frozentown it’s too dangerous for anybody else. We wear these rad counters so we can warn off-worlders away from anywhere too irradiated for them. You three are going to have to go back, I’m sorry.”

“I’m not going anywhere without you!” Gim protested. “I’m not letting you chase after that nut on your own!”

“Do you have a transuit, Gim??” Yera exploded. She realised she’d raised her voice and consciously lowered it once more before continuing. “This isn’t open for debate, Gim Allon. Durla’s medical facilities are appalling, I’m not letting you give yourself who knows how many different types of cancer just because you’re too stubborn to listen to me! If you’d just let me be in the first place, we wouldn’t even be in this position!”

Gim’s face dropped. “...You don’t want me here..?” he asked, hurt.

Bounty groaned and threw her head back. “No duh, Allon! This is what I’ve been trying to tell you since we started this stupid trip!”

“Shut up, Bounty!” Yera turned on the woman with unexpected viciousness. While Bounty walked away shaking her head in amusement, Yera approached her husband and held his face between her hands. “Gim...Gim, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I love you and I realise now that in trying to protect you I’ve just hurt you. I didn’t mean to do that. But I’m not talking about it in front of these two. Let me go find Radiation Roy and once I know what he’s planning I’ll come back so we can deal with it together…and then we’ll deal with everything else, okay?”

“I don’t want you to go alone,” Gim almost whispered. “Yera, I’ve come all this way...I can’t risk losing you again now.” His eyes suddenly widened as he had a flash of inspiration. “Kando! You’ve got a flight ring from your future Legion, it must have a transuit function, right? Let me borrow it!”

“It doesn’t work that way,” the Infinite Boy explained glumly. “Sorry Gim, my Legion’s rings are all coded to our individual DNA. They won’t work for anyone else. I mean...I can go with Chameleon Girl though..?”

“Oh for--” Bounty exclaimed. “You people are all idiots!” The three of them looked at her mutely. “How are any of you geniuses going to track him without me?” she continued. “Vyr, you stay here with Allon. Me and Durlan Girl here will go find the other idiot and then once we’ve found him we’ll come back with whatever evidence we need to get the SP on his nass!”

“But...the radiation…” the Infinite Boy began.

“Believe me, I’ve got a higher tolerance than you two losers!” Bounty cut him off. “Come on Durlan Girl, let’s get this over with.”

“Come back,” Gim frowned, kissing his wife on the forehead.

“I will, Gim. I promise.” Impulsively, she pulled her husband’s head down and planted a passionate kiss on his mouth. She turned away from the two men and followed Bounty’s hooded figure, and Gim and Kando watched them leave.

“No offence,” Gim muttered to Kando without looking away from his wife and Bounty, “But Legionnaires in the future really suck.”

**********
As soon as the two women had left Gim and Kando behind, Yera had muted her rad counter and the next several minutes had progressed in mutual silence. The landscape was brutally different the further they got from Frozentown, rocky and barren with odd pools of bubbling warm sludge or the occasional gnarled tree trunk dotted here and there to break the monotony. They didn’t come across any other Durlans along their trek, though they did see two or three hooded figures grouped together a couple of times in the distance. Any time they saw another living being, Bounty and Yera both felt inquisitive eyes boring down on them.

“Not that it’s any of my business,” Bounty eventually broke the tension, “But coming back to your homeworld to get away from Allon? Hiding in plain sight? Bold move, Durlan Girl.”

“You’re right,” Yera replied darkly. “It’s none of your business.” They walked in silence another minute or so before the former Chameleon Girl spoke up again. “...You’re in the Legion of Superheroes in the future, right Bounty?”

The tracker laughed. “Whatever that means, sure.”

“What are Gim and I like in your future? Are we together? Are we still in the Legion?”

Bounty counted off her answers on her fingers. “Don’t know, don’t care, and no.” She stopped in her tracks and raised an arm to hold Yera back. They had come to the edge of a ravine, and Bounty dropped to the ground silently. She drew her hood back over her head and peeked over the edge just enough to see below without giving her position away. To her credit, Yera immediately picked up her cue and followed suit.

On the ravine floor nearly a hundred feet down, some kind of staging area had been erected around the various rock formations below. More than a dozen armed Science Police wandered about, and on a raised dais one particular Science Police officer watched with his arms on his hips as two of his fellow officers affixed manacles to Radiation Roy who was spread-eagled on a St Andrews Cross. Wires of various thickness and colors were inserted into his armour and feeding into the cross, and behind the villain it seemed like they all led eventually to an inert ten foot tall sphere. Two circuitry-laden antennae reached out from the sphere another twenty feet in the air. “What are we looking at?” Yera asked in a hushed tone.

“No idea,” Bounty shrugged. “If we had some way to get down there without being seen…” She glanced around the ravine and its surrounds. Aside from one particularly treacherous and very open path leading down, there seemed to be no other safe passage.

“We don’t,” Yera’s eyes narrowed. “But I do. Stay here.” She was gone in an instant, replaced by an insect buzzing around Bounty’s face. Without another word, Yera flew down the steep cliff face, through the mass of Science Police, and landed on one of the wires feeding into Radiation Roy’s armour where she landed just out of obvious view but where her multi-faceted eyes had an almost 360 degree range of sight.

“Are you certain you’re willing to go through with this?” the Science Police officer standing before Roy asked. “I must warn you again, Mr Travich...there is little danger that you will come to any lasting physical harm as a result of this process, but there remains a high risk that you will lose your powers as a result.”

“My powers haven’t done a lot for me,” Roy replied sourly, his voice bouncing off the inside of his rounded helmet. “Nothing but tumors and being beaten up by the Legion of Superheroes more often than I’d like. If they go out taking these alien freaks with them, maybe I will have finally done something good with my life.”

Yera fumed. It occurred to her for the first time that she saw no Durlans down here amongst these Science Police officers...what exactly were they up to down here?

“I assure you, these...freaks...will get exactly what they deserve,” the helmeted officer gave him a smug grin. “Earth may not have been ready to help you reach your potential Mr Travich, but your actions there as a part of the Judgement League did not go unnoticed. Some of us are more than happy to help you rid the galaxy of the aliens that have plagued your world. Why, once this device amplifies and broadcasts your radioactive emissions across the planet there won’t be a single shapeshifter left alive on Durla to pose a threat to your people ever again. Of course there will be some collateral damage; the so-called frozenforms trying to export these aliens off the world where they should have stayed, but those people are--”

“They’re traitors,” Radiation Roy interrupted bitterly. “Species traitors, like Sun Boy or Invisible Kid or any of those other Legion snobs who think they can help aliens steal what belongs to Earth. Maybe this’ll actually teach them a lesson; and if I have to lose my powers to do it then that’s a price I’m willing to pay, Lieutenant Efferie.”

“Please...call me Gonn.” The Science Police Lieutenant slapped a hand on Roy’s crimson chestplate with a flat thud. “History may see you as a villain, but you and I know better Mr Travich. You’re a patriot and your actions here today will help your people immeasurably.” He stepped down from the dais and walked away. He passed by his fellow Science Police officers, smiling and exchanging greetings with them as he went. After a few moments he was finally behind a particularly large boulder, and temporarily hidden from anyone else on the staging platform. The slightest pressure wave brushed over him as air suddenly rushed outwards, and before he knew it he was being held up against the enormous rock with an orange hand around his throat and Yera Allon’s sneering face only inches from his own.

“Before you decide to do anything stupid,” Yera snarled, “Don’t forget I’m one of those shapeshifters you’re so eager to kill.” Her features rippled and changed, and now it was Silver Slasher holding him captive with the razor-sharp talons of her free hand digging into the soft tissue of his abdomen. “I can disembowel you and get out of here before any of your xenophobic cronies even know you’re bleeding out. Now...Lieutenant Gonn Efferie, right? How do I stop this nuclear projector thing you’ve got set up here, Lieutenant Efferie?”

To Yera’s surprise, the lantern-jawed Lieutenant gave her an indulgent chuckle. “You’re Chameleon Girl, aren’t you? I thought I’d seen you around Ambassador Grb’s little experiment in cohabitation. I know the Legion of Superheroes don’t kill, Chameleon Girl.”

“I haven’t been a Legionnaire for a while,” she grunted, and dug her claws in a little more. “So I’d cooperate a little more if I were you. Now tell me about this weapon of yours before you need stitches.”

“Gladly.” While she couldn’t see clearly through his visor, Yera could tell that he was looking her straight in the eye. More, he was utterly relaxed. “I call it my Evolution Sphere, and I paid a man from Colu a lot of credits and waited a long time to see it come to life, Chameleon Girl.”

“How do I stop it?” she pushed on. His unfazed demeanour was beginning to rattle her but she felt confident she was hiding it for now.

“If you really wanted what’s best for Durla, you wouldn’t have any interest in stopping it,” Efferie replied smoothly. “I assume you were eavesdropping on my little chat with Radiation Roy just then? Let me tell you Chameleon Girl, I wasn’t entirely truthful with him. You see, the Evolution Sphere will amplify and broadcast Roy Travich’s metahuman energies across Durla, and it will most likely leave him dead, but I have no interest in killing any of my fellow Durlans.”

“Your fellow--” Yera flinched in shock, and Efferie used the element of surprise against her. He shifted into some weird ten foot high stick insectoid creature native to Durla’s petrified forests and evaded her swipe. Bony limbs clacked as he swiftly repositioned himself behind her, and while Yera was in mid-transition to a different form Efferie himself changed into a bulky purple primate and smashed her head twice into the boulder which had hidden their brief struggle from everyone else. Yera slumped to the ground, shifting back into her default orange-skinned shape as she clutched at consciousness.

“I mean you’re a different story of course,” Efferie continued, delivering a kick to her stomach which was so powerful it lifted her off the ground. She wailed in pain, and one final kick to her face left her oblivious. “Running around with the Legion of Superheroes, marrying that frozenform...disgusting. The Evolution Sphere will do for Durla what the Six Minute War once did; the radiation will enhance our abilities to an extent we’ve never dreamed...but you most certainly won’t be alive to see that, Yera Allon. And then the aliens who would keep us down and the race traitors of Durla will both feel the rage and the power of true Durlans, across the whole galaxy and beyond.” As he finished speaking, he resumed the form of the Science Police officer he’d been wearing before the altercation started.

Far above, the woman named Bounty gazed down in wide-eyed alarm. She hadn’t heard any of Yera’s exchange with Gonn Efferie, but she had seen more than enough to know it would be suicide to hang around a second longer. She flung off her robe and ran as swiftly as her legs would carry her back toward Gim Allon and the Infinite Boy. As high up as she was, her frenetic escape went unnoticed until an errant breeze caught her discarded robe and sent it spiralling down into the ravine.

Gonn Efferie looked up at the tattered cloak, dancing in the ravine’s chaotic air currents like it was some mad ghost. For the briefest of moments he regarded it with detached curiosity, and then he walked back around the boulder to find that several of the other ersatz Science Police had seen it as well. With the limited range of vision afforded by his own helmet’s visor, Radiation Roy remained completely ignorant.

Without saying a word, Gonn cocked his head at half a dozen of his closest men and looked up the steep cliff face. They followed his gaze, climbing the unforgiving path until they were out of Radiation Roy’s sight and then switching to the forms of various native predators to tear limb from limb any outsider unfortunate enough to come across them…

**********

TO BE CONCLUDED!!!

Wow way to up the drama, raz! didn’t expect that twist with the SP’s identity and motive, good show

I love how sensible Yera is in communicating with Gim. Well done

You also write Gim well I can feel his pain

I see that the Brainy subplot re contingency plans is heating up. excited to see where you go with that. I can see it playing out like Batman and JLA, but t could also go anther way...

Raz, another good couple in installments here.

Bounty and Gim sure do great on each other. But Bounty seems to do that to everyone from what i've read here and in Harbinger's work.

I'm not up on my Legion lore but who is Bounty exactly?

The Talok VIII team:
Shadow Lad took Kara's death better than expected and M'Onel made a good point that they don't know if that was the last time they will ever see Kara. Time travel is tricky like that.
Brainy and Grav was hard to read because i just know Brainy is dying inside.
I'm glad Dura and Jaquces were able to work things out

The Forever Soldiers Battle:
Silverback is pretty cool.
I liked the part with Imortus in the cargo bay. How did a Coluian not think to retrofit the ship first? lol

Blok is super powerful and I'm not sure if you intended him to be funny but some of the ways you describe him dealing with the forever soldiers made me chuckle.
Jacques making fun of the Ruby Rouge was another chuckle. " I had thought our codenames might give that away, but perhaps I have credited your intellect too highly, non?”
it is true the convention for naming super powered beings does come down to their power a lot of the time. Something else else i'll need to work on for my own OCs.

Rambat getting taken out was inventive and nice timing on M'Onel's part as Rambat's panic and fear from Shadow lad's assault could have taken them all out.

Dura to the rescue! “No...allow me.” A descending Infectious Lass came to a halt just above Ruby Rogue. The Jacquaan woman’s sadistic grin soon changed to an expression of panic as she realised just who she was facing now. “My powers may not be much good against an inertron-shelled cyborg or a metal gorilla,” Drura continued, “But creepy women who grab on my boyfriend are right up my alley.” Flooding Ruby Rogue’s system with bacteria specific to Jacquaa, Drura watched as the villainess went limp and passed out.
Great lines.

This whole mission is filled with so many laughs and i like that it was a one in done as well.
I like how you write Brainy and how confident he is in his teammates abilities and his contingency plans.

So we come full circle again from the Legion's time trips.

The Arqiia drawing in pretty good. i like when you post pics of these characters we haven't seen before.

I still hate Quislet but i'm glad you gave him something to control him a bit more. Although i like his attitude. if i blow it up i blow it up. i'll just come back with a better one. lol.
It was cool to sort of see what Quislet sees through his ship. I'm surprised we've never seen anyone besides Computo try to do this...Could Imra or any other telepath experience his sense?

A connection between Validus and Ivy....hmmm could there be something about Validus we don't know? IS he Imra and Garth's son in your reality? (double checking before i spin my theories. ;P )

Brainy putting that circutry into Firecrest's uniform was rather devious. i understand his thoughts but did he ever think that could be something used against them? ITs one thing to know your teams weaknesses and having planed ways to take them out. But something that is everyday use like that could end up pretty bad down the road...

Durla and Frozentown.
This is a cool idea. i like that not all U.P worlds would be great places for off worlders. you did great showing the strictness of Dura's world which was so alien and now Durla's is a ravaged radioactive landscape. I was surprised by the Science Police were Durlarian as well. But it would make sense that after all the resentment and prejudice of the Earth Humans towards the rest of the galaxy that other worlds would start to feel that way towards Earth and would find ways to combat them.

So they want to use the radiation to change all of Durla like the six minuet war did but i've got a few questions... did the six minuet war give the Durlarns their shape shifting powers in the first place?
Also if it changes all of them, changes them into what? could be be seeing the modern birth of Yera and Gim's son's form but in her people?

Did Yera meet Bounty in the future she went to?

I liked Gim's line about Legionnaires in the future suck. But that makes me wonder what changes to make the future legionnaires seem like they wouldn't fit into the legion from someone so closely associated with most of its tenure. Does the Legion change or is it the universe around them and they needed more questionable members.

Bounty is in some big trouble!
Can't wait for more!

Thanks y'all! Brainy is definitely crossing some lines and it might get him in trouble soonish if he's not careful

Omni, Bounty is a character from the 5YL Legion...I don't want to give away any more just yet because you're gonna find out a lot more about her in the next instalment....Infinite Boy's future is further ahead in the timeline than Bounty's so this is the first time Yera has met her. It will hopefully be a bit clearer next instalment why Yera's taken such an immediate dislike to her too. The era where Bounty joined the Legion was pretty grim for the Legion, the team had disbanded and the Dominators were controlling Earthgov among other things so some of the members of that time were a lot more jaded or cynical than we're used to seeing in other versions of the Legion.

I think I might be exaggerating her general surliness a bit, but she was always pretty snarky in the comics and she's not super happy about being yanked into the past so she's probably crankier than usual.

re Quislet: the way I see it, his consciousness is so different to organic beings that telepaths can't really get a grip on him any more than they could a robot. He did change his energy structure once in one of my stories so Tellus could make telepathic contact with him, but that's something he has to consciously choose to do; in his default state he's immune to organic telepathy/mind control etc

Validus certainly was Garridan Ranzz in my series...there's not really a connection between him and Ivy as such, it's more that Imra found them similar in terms of them both being children with enormous power at their disposal

The Six Minute War in the comics to be honest I'm a bit fuzzy on....back in the day I was always under the impression that it's what gave the Durlans their powers, but there was a Legion comic where the Legion time travelled and met pre-war Durlans and they were already shapeshifters in that story. To make things easy, I'm just gonna make an executive decision that it was definitely the Six Minute War in my series which made them shapeshifters.

Glad y'all are enjoying it, there's gonna be some high stakes adventuring coming up on Durla next!

DURLA
2 kliks north of Frozentown

Under the hazy Durlan sun in the middle of nowhere, a frustrated Gim Allon paced back and forth. “They’ve been gone too long,” he complained. “Radiation or not, I’m gonna go find them.”

“They’ve only been gone five minutes longer than the last time you said they’d been gone too long,” the Infinite Boy rejoined flatly. “Besides, how are you even going to find them, Gim? We just have to be patient.”

“Can’t you use your power to find Bounty?” Gim threw his hands up. “Haven’t you got like...I don’t know, temporal aberration vision or something..?”

“It doesn’t work like that,” Kando explained. “I might have brought her here, but we don’t have a psi-link; the best I can tell you is that she’s alive, which is a good sign. I’m sure they’ll be back soon, and anyway you know--”

Gim Allon suddenly frowned and brought a finger to his lips, gesturing for the Infinite Boy to be silent. Kando obeyed, and after a second he heard the same noise that had caught Gim’s attention. “Is that...blaster fire?” the young Naltorian asked in a hushed tone.

“Allon! Vyr! A little help??” Both men recognised this voice instantly, and turned to see Bounty running full pelt toward them. She no longer wore her jacket with its distinctive Legion emblem patches, and her arms were lined with scratches and cuts. Likewise, her pants were torn in places and she had three thin bloody lines scraped across her cheek just beside the tiny wolf’s head which was tattooed on her face. She was still some distance away, but gaining ground faster than any normal human should be able to move. Three enormous green cats bounded close behind her, golden stripes visible on their powerful forms. In the air a featherless bird also joined the chase, its wingspan easily fifteen feet across and its razor sharp talons fully extended. The avian creature took the lead, swooping down on Bounty. Glancing back only briefly, she took aim and fired her handgun. The bird veered away, avoiding injury by mere inches.

Without any hesitation, Gim Allon began running straight at the deadly menagerie. They closed on him far quicker than he could do the same, but by the time Bounty sped past Gim he had already grown large enough that she could almost duck right under his legs. “What happened?” he bellowed, having grown now to almost fifty feet. He grabbed the bird in one oversized fist. “Where’s Yera?”

“You will never find Chameleon Girl, frozenform!” one of the emerald tigers growled as it pounced on Gim’s giant shin. “Not unless you share the same afterlife at any rate!” The big cat brought its fangs down on Gim, but before it could bite a chunk out of him it was knocked back by blaster fire.

“They’ve got Radiation Roy hooked up to some kind of weird machine!” Bounty announced, keeping her gun trained on the tiger she’d shot until she was satisfied it wouldn’t be getting up again anytime soon. “I don’t know what they’re planning, but they’ve got him convinced they’re Science Police! Their leader took your wife down, Allon!”

The flying Durlan that Gim had caught flowed like mercury through his clenched fist to become a thick serpent coiled around his wrist. “She will be the first casualty in the rejuvenation of Durla!” the snake-thing hissed.

Livid, Gim shot up in height dramatically. Now 95 feet tall, his arms had become so thick that the serpentine Durlan could barely keep his grip. The former Colossal Boy grabbed the shapeshifter between his thumb and forefinger and none too cautiously hurled him away. “You better hope you’re wrong!” his booming voice filled the barren landscape as his enormous boot threatened to crush both the remaining Durlans on the ground. “Because a hundred of you jerks won’t stop me if anything happens to her!” Though he was enraged, he hadn’t lost control of himself. Gim stomped down on the ground beside the Durlans, throwing them high into the air with the impact. Even at a safe distance as they were, Bounty and the Infinite Boy found themselves shaken as well.

Bounty recovered quickly and shot one of the remaining Durlans, and the last dazed shapeshifter realised now that he had bitten off more than he could chew. He transformed into a tiny winged insect and made a hasty retreat.

Gim shrunk down to his normal human proportions, standing now in the centre of his own giant footprint. He staggered for a second, dizzy from the rapid changes in size he’d just experienced. Kando approached him with concern. “Gim, are you okay?”

“Doesn’t matter,” the bearded hero frowned. “I have to be. Tell me what happened, Bounty. We have to go help Yera.”

“Gim, we’ve gone over this.” The Infinite Boy stood his ground. “The radiation out there is too much for you. Let me go with Bounty, my transuit will protect me.”

“I don’t care!” Gim roared. “Don’t you get it, Kando?! I ignored my instincts and let Yera go on her own, and now God knows what kind of danger she’s in! I’m not going to just sit here and send two more people out there to get hurt taking on my risks for me! I’m going...worse comes to worst, I’m sure those creeps will find me and then I can find out where she is if I need to beat it out of them!” He turned and stormed off in the general direction from which Bounty and the Durlans had come.

The Infinite Boy sighed. “...He’s not going to listen to reason, is he?”

“Doesn’t look that way,” Bounty replied, a mischievous gleam in her eye. “Let’s go shoot some more shapeshifters.” She sauntered off after Gim Allon, and Kando Vyr reluctantly activated his transuit and joined them.

Gim calmed down once he realised neither of them were going to stand in his way, and as he allowed Bounty to take the lead she shared with the two men what she’d seen of Yera’s encounter with Gonn Efferie. “I was too far away to hear anything,” she ended her tale, “But whatever that thing was that they hooked Radiation Roy up to, it looked like he was a willing participant. If I had to guess, I’d say they’re gonna use it to increase his power maybe.”

“I don’t much care to be honest,” Gim replied. He was obviously in a state of discomfort, his expression taut and a sheen of sweat visible on his forehead. “Whatever it is, I’m gonna assume it’s not good. We get my wife and then we smash anything they’re working on. We can find out what their plan was after we bring it crashing down around them.”

The Infinite Boy regarded Gim uneasily. Kando’s own flight ring possessed applications not yet available to the Legion of Superheroes in the present day, and one of those applications was an inbuilt radiation counter. An inconspicuously small holographic display showed Kando that the background radiation levels were increasing slowly but surely, and he could see that this was already beginning to hurt Gim. It was a mystery why Bounty remained unaffected, but she seemed to be a never-ending source of mystery. She had an interstellar tracking ability, super speed, why shouldn’t she have an immunity to radiation on top of that? The radiation levels suddenly spiked noticeably, and Kando prepared himself for what his power of foresight had already told him was coming next.

From beyond a nearby hill, the trio heard others approaching rapidly. Bounty’s trigger finger flexed on her weapon and Gim shot Kando a questioning glance, at which the Infinite Boy gave a subtle nod. Sixteen Durlans barrelled over the hill, each of them wearing different but equally formidable monstrous forms.

Bounty fired wildly into the mob of shapeshifters and a cry of pain told her she hit one of them but before she could identify her victim a purple gorilla bounded forward and collected her in a rough tackle. Gim Allon grew to a height of twenty feet before the first three Durlans reached him. He slapped them aside roughly, two of them changing to spongey limbless creatures to more effectively absorb the impact. Another Durlan burst out of the pack while Gim was off-balance, and mimicking the giant’s own form he slammed Gim into the rocky ground. One of the Durlans was flying overhead, and changed shape now to become a spider-like creature the size of a man. He dropped to the ground, collecting the Infinite Boy as he fell. While four of the Durlan’s hairy chitinous limbs pinned Kando to the ground, his maw opened wide and revealed rows of jagged teeth. “I saw you when we pursued the woman earlier,” the spider-thing rasped. “Your friends are dangerous, but you...you don’t do anything, do you boy?”

“Actually,” Kando replied calmly, moving his head to the side to avoid the creature’s fetid breath, “I’m a Naltorian.”

“Am I supposed to know what that means?” the Durlan snarled.

“I’ll tell you what it means,” Kando said with a hint of smugness, “It means I’ve known this showdown was coming since a couple of minutes after Bounty and Chameleon Girl went off on their own earlier. It also means the reinforcements I called should be arriving right about...now.”

Just as Kando had predicted, a red, blue and gold blur slammed into his Durlan foe and rolled clumsily across the ground with him. The Durlan was left unconscious while his youthful attacker climbed to her feet and brushed her poncho down with her hands, showing off the instantly recognisable crest of the House of El emblazoned upon it. She walked over to Kando’s side and offered her hand. “Infinite Boy, right..? Brainiac 5 sent us as soon as he got your mayday.”

Kando took her hand and stood by Laurel’s side. “Thanks Superwoman - sorry, Supergirl. Your timing’s perfect.” He saw that Chameleon Boy, Dawnstar, Dragonmage, Elastic Lad, Tellus and Timber Wolf had accompanied her, some of them already having entered battle with the other Durlans.

“Any time,” Laurel replied easily. “Let’s help get these guys off your back and then you can tell us what’s going on!” She launched herself at a nearby Durlan who resembled an eight foot tall armadillo-like creature, trusting her invulnerability to counter her chosen enemy’s greater size and strength.

The Infinite Boy marvelled at her youthful enthusiasm. In his own era, Laurel Kent was one of the Legion of Superheroes’ mainstays and she acted with careful consideration at all times. It was difficult for Kando to reconcile the Laurel he knew with this impulsive teenager. She was no less inspiring to watch in combat though, taking advantage of her one passive power as best she could. The other Legionnaires were at least as impressive; Dragonmage’s mystic constructs coiled around their Durlan duplicates while Elastic Lad mimicked their serpentine dance with his own elongated limbs. As similar as the two Legionnaires’ combat tactics might be, their personalities could not be more different. Elastic Lad babbled away at his enemy a mile a minute whereas Xao Jin displayed the quiet discipline that Kando had already seen in a much older Dragonmage. Timber Wolf was a fighting machine, moving almost too swiftly to follow as he threw punches and avoided retaliation from several foes at once. Chameleon Boy had taken the shape of some kind of enormous snake and was assisting his old friend Gim Allon against Gim’s doppelganger, and Tellus hung back from the others and used his telekinesis defensively to shield himself from his attackers.

With the Legion here, the fight against the Durlans was no longer so one-sided, and Kando felt like they might just get out of this in one piece. In all the chaos he couldn’t see Bounty, but he wondered if maybe he could send her home and summon a more powerful fighter now that Dawnstar was here. Just as he cast eyes on Dawnstar circling overhead, a stray burst of blaster fire came from somewhere in the ruckus and clipped her wing. She cried out in pain and spiralled downwards, landing somewhere beyond a small clutch of gnarled thorny trees. The rest of the Legion were distracted fighting their own battles and Kando was sure that nobody else had seen her fall...if anybody was going to help her, it might have to be him. Skirting the outside of the melee to try and evade detection, the Infinite Boy made his way toward the fallen Legionnaire.

**********
While Gim Allon’s doppelganger shifted into the form of a small bird to flit free of Chameleon Boy’s grasp, several more Durlans piled on to the former Colossal Boy. “You gonna be okay there, pal?” Chameleon Boy asked his friend as he too changed shape into a Kathooni wolfbat.

“I will in a nano,” Gim grunted under the weight of his opponents. He increased size exponentially, flexing most of the Durlans away. “Cham, not that I’m complaining but how are you glowing like that?” To Gim’s eyes, Reep Daggle was illuminated by a distinctive amber nimbus no matter what alien form he shifted into.

“Thank Tellus,” the flying canine replied as he chased his avian enemy in circles around one of Gim Allon’s enormous thighs. “I’m not literally glowing, I asked Tellus to give me a telepathic identifier so none of you accidentally target me.” Cham nearly flew straight into the whipping tail of a jade Durlan dragon and quickly shifted into the form of an Earth chimpanzee to grab the tail and swing beneath it safely. “Circumstances aside, it’s good to see you again Gim! What did you do to make my people so angry anyway though?”

“We stumbled across some kind of crazy plot involving Radiation Roy,” Gim explained, peeling away one by one the shapeshifters climbing and slithering up his legs. “Bounty says they’ve got some machine that’s gonna increase his powers...Cham, Yera was investigating and they caught her! We have to lose these jerks and go help her!”

Chameleon Boy evaded the clumsy blow of a yeti-like Durlan and took to the air once more using his flight ring so he could get an overview of the situation. The rest of the Legion were protected from Durla’s harsh environment by transuits (or natural resistance in Supergirl’s case), but Gim’s sickly pallor made it very clear that he wasn’t. Cham wasn’t convinced that Yera should be their highest priority right now, but he also knew Gim Allon well enough to know there was no point in trying to convince him to place his own welfare over that of his estranged wife’s. He scanned the battle looking for Dawnstar, to no avail. Cham called out to her on his flight ring, but the ring emitted a sharp squeal and then nothing but the sound of faint static. “They’re blocking my comms somehow!” Cham cried out.

Elastic Lad’s face suddenly appeared before Chameleon Boy, suspended on a neck dozens of metres long. “Gosh, Chameleon Boy! I don’t think these baddies are using conventional technology to disable our rings, I have a hunch it might be due to rising radiation levels! My comms and my transuit have stopped working, and some of us are looking a little green around the gills - oh gosh, sorry Tellus! I didn't mean anything by that, I hope you don't take offence! We could all be in trouble soon though, most of us don’t have any kind of special defences against radiation and if it’s affecting our flight rings then you can be darn sure it’s not going to be great news for our health either! Sure, we can--”

“Tellus!” Cham barked, cutting off Elastic Lad without hesitation. Reep knew that he was rude to do so, but he had a dark feeling they weren’t going to have time for etiquette very soon. “I can’t reach Dawnstar, can you find Yera telepathically?”

“Great Mother Ocean willing,” the Hykraian’s voice modulator sounded emotionlessly. “Though it is not a simple application of my power to locate a remote mind, Chameleon Boy. I apologise but I will need to remove your telepathic marker.”

Chameleon Boy considered the quandary for a moment. He felt like it was asking for trouble removing his one identifying feature in this constantly transforming fight scene, but he could also see that now the Durlans had taken the Legion’s mettle the balance of power was shifting. Laurel Kent was already being held motionless by some gelatinous form and Elastic Lad wasn’t far behind her. Dragonmage had managed till now to keep his foes’ attention focused on his dragonforms rather than himself, but Cham could see the strain in the young sorceror’s face. Even Timber Wolf couldn’t outmaneuver his enemies forever before sheer numbers overwhelmed him. As a Durlan, Cham himself had a slightly higher resistance to radiation than most of his colleagues but it was far from total immunity. Eventually the increasing radiation that Elastic Lad had mentioned would take its toll on everyone here except for Laurel Kent, and at that point it would be too late for her or anybody else to oppose whatever Reep Daggle’s countrymen were scheming. The sooner they found Yera (and Dawnstar along with Gim’s friends for that matter) the sooner they could mount a strategic retreat to plan their next move. “It’s okay, Tellus!” Cham shouted as he dived down to take some of the heat off of Elastic Lad. “Do what you need to, our priority has to be finding Yera and getting her and everybody else to safety!”

“Very well,” Tellus acceded. He removed his subtle presence from the minds of his allies and aside from the telekinetic dome protecting him from physical assault, devoted all of his focus to finding the mind of Yera Allon somewhere out there. The search was more difficult than he had anticipated, and he considered at one point lowering his shield as well so that all of his power could be redirected toward the task. Finally however, he made contact. On second thought, contact was too decisive a word. He had a vague sense of her mind, but it were as though she were submerged in silt with the weight of the entire ocean above her. Tellus called her name telepathically once and when she didn’t respond to that he called more bluntly, pulling her back to consciousness with the sheer force of his will.

Somewhere else, Yera Allon’s eyes blinked wide open. She screamed, her first sensation one of agonising pain. She had a brief panicked sensation that she was aflame, but as soon as she adjusted to being awake once more she could see that it was not fire burning her up. She was laid out flat against scorching hot red metal, her arms and legs bound tight to its surface. Dimly she was aware of another person screaming, someone close and equally in agony. Yera bit her lip and changed forms, becoming a limbless longworm native to Durlan soil. She fell free of the ropes binding her, collapsing to a metal platform where she reverted to her normal orange-skinned self and quite indelicately threw up the contents of her stomach. Head spinning, she wanted nothing more than to pass out again but she could hear a voice imploring her to remain conscious...no, that wasn’t right. She could feel a voice imploring her, a voice in her mind. “...Tellus..?” she groaned weakly.

<Chameleon Girl, I thank Great Mother Ocean for your wellbeing!> came the relieved refrain of Yera’s old teammate. <The Infinite Boy summoned the Legion of Superheroes to Durla, you are safe now!>

“I don’t think I am...” Yera grimaced, too sickly and sore to realise she was verbalising her thoughts unnecessarily. She fought the inexorable pull of gravity to look up at the source of the screaming she’d heard, and when she saw Radiation Roy spreadeagled before some kind of juryrigged powersphere it all came rushing back to her. Swallowing her bile she stood and leaned against his armour, flinching back immediately when the hot metal burned her. “What’s wrong..?” she moaned. “Why are you making so much noise..?”

Inside his armour, Roy made a deliberate effort to internalise his pain. “This...gadget,” he grimaced. “...Sucks out my power, but by damn it hurts...worth it to kill you freaks though…”

“It’s not going to kill us, you idiot.” Though it’ll probably kill me this close to the source, Yera thought cynically. “Efferie wants to...enhance Durlans....kick our shapeshifting up a notch. The radiation will do that.”

“Why would the Science Police...wanna help you get stronger..?” Roy struggled, his beady bloodshot eyes glaring at Yera from behind thin slits in his helmet.

“They’re Durlans too, Roy...we change shape, remember..? Now be quiet, I’m going to see if there’s still time to stop this.” Yera ignored both the villain’s frustrated exclamations and the knives of pain shooting through her skull and called out to Tellus. She told him about her encounter with Gonn Efferie and after checking her wrist-mounted radiation counter confirmed that the deadly emanations were becoming more powerful each second.

Several kliks away from Yera and Radiation Roy, Tellus mulled over the problem. <Chameleon Boy!> he addressed his squad leader telepathically so as not to upset Gim Allon any more than necessary, <I have reached Chameleon Girl, she is in extreme danger; from what she tells me, we are all in extreme danger! A Durlan extremist named Gonn Efferie has gathered these men about him and they have found a way to harness Radiation Roy’s energies, they seek to amplify your race’s innate shapeshifting abilities!>

“Great,” Cham rolled his eyes. “No way that could possibly go wrong. Elastic Lad! You’re the smartest one here, go help Tellus figure out how to stop this!”

“I don’t think so!” one of the Durlan antagonists growled as he changed into a leafless tree with dozens of thorny branches, each one reaching out to ensnare Jams-Ols 5. “I went to no small amount of effort to set this plan in motion, Reep Daggle. I won’t see it derailed now!”

“Gonn Efferie, I presume.” Chameleon Boy took on the form of a giant squid and grappled the smaller terrorist’s woody limbs before Efferie could get a grip on Elastic Lad. “Let’s have a chat...Durlan to Durlan.”

**********
Elsewhere, Dawnstar groaned and clutched her forehead as she awoke from her crashing impact in the Durlan wastelands. Her hand came away spotted in blood, but she didn’t seem to be bleeding too badly from her head. More concerning was the pain thrumming through her right wing. She tried moving it to see the wound she knew was there, and wailed involuntarily. Biting her lip so hard she almost pierced it, she centred herself again and this time craned her neck to see what she could ascertain.

“Must be hard to see at that weird angle,” a new but oddly familiar woman’s voice spoke up. “Still, you’re probably lucky you didn’t break your neck.”

Very aware that she was too hurt to fly away, Dawnstar turned lightning fast to face the newcomer. “Who are you?” she blurted out as a brunette covered in grazes and scratches approached from a nearby cove of trees. The woman held a gun in one hand, and she bore a tiny wolf’s head icon tattooed upon her cheek. Dawnstar was certain that she should recognise her, but she couldn’t quite determine who the woman was.

“You can call me Bounty,” the woman said with an unsettling smile. “You might say we’re very close in the future, you and I.” She approached Dawnstar and crouched by the injured woman’s side.

“Oh yes,” Dawnstar remembered now, “The Infinite Boy mentioned you when he called for help. Don’t just stand there, help me up. I don’t know how long I’ve been unconscious for, but we have to ensure that the other Legionnaires are safe.” She began to raise her flight ring to her lips, but paused when Bounty levelled her firearm at her. Dawnstar’s first reaction was annoyance, but she then recalled that it had been blaster fire which had brought her down in the first place...blaster fire from a weapon just like this. Her blood ran cold and she lowered her flight ring again.

“Good girl,” Bounty said in a voice which somehow sounded so much more sinister than she had a moment ago. “We don’t need any of your superhero friends here...not just yet.”

“Who are you?” Dawnstar repeated, her eyes narrowed. “The Infinite Boy said that you were a Legionnaire in the future, but what kind of Legionnaire would behave like this? Who -- oh!” She stopped mid-sentence, all the color drained from her face as she finally saw the truth.

“I was wondering when you’d figure it out,” Bounty chuckled. “Like looking into a mirror, isn’t it?”

Dawnstar was too horrified at first to respond. She prayed that this was some Durlan trick, but her power told her there were no Durlans within their immediate vicinity at all. The woman standing before her really was Dawnstar herself, albeit a Dawnstar whose face was lined by cynicism and darkness, whose soulless eyes hid secrets she never wanted to know. And her wings...sacred spirits, where were her wings??

“Get away from me!” the younger woman cried out, adrenalin surging through her system. She couldn’t fly under her own power, but she realised that her flight ring’s most obvious function could do what her wings couldn’t; more clumsily than she’d have liked, Dawnstar used the ring to propel herself upwards and barged Bounty aside as she ascended. She hadn’t made it more than twelve feet before Bounty took aim and fired a hole straight through her other wing. Dawnstar screeched and fell to the ground once more, her concentration utterly broken. She felt a burst of pain in her shoulder which only momentarily distracted her from the galaxy of pain in her wings, and she was absurdly grateful for both sensations. They focused her mind as well as could be expected, kept her awake and would hopefully keep her alive. “You can’t...you can’t kill me!” she pleaded desperately. “I’m you! If I die, you’ll die!”

“You’re only a part of me, sweetie.” Bounty easily closed the distance between the two of them, twirling her gun casually around her trigger finger as she walked. “But don’t fret, I’m not gonna kill you. See, some time in my past and in your future...you’re gonna pick up a very nasty psychic traveller, and then you’re gonna take a backseat to your own life while I have some adventures of my own in this body of yours.” She tapped her temple with a sarcastic smirk. “Somewhere buried away in here I guarantee you’ve been aware of every little thing I’ve done while I’ve been wearing your skin...every person I’ve killed, the excruciating ecstacy of losing your wings...well, some things I guess you should experience for yourself.”

“Why are you telling me this?!” Dawnstar asked, aghast.

“Because honey,” Bounty kneeled down on one knee and held Dawnstar’s chin in her hand with exaggerated tenderness. “I have no intention of letting you walk away from here in any condition to tell anybody. See, I’ve decided I’ve worn out this body enough...time to transfer to the younger model.”

Dawnstar thought that she could see wisps of smoke emanating from Bounty’s eyes and mouth and slapped her hand away. She called out tearfully into her flight ring, reasoning that she no longer had anything to lose, but all that met her was the soft hiss of static. “You won’t get away with this!” she railed, edging away painfully slowly on her one good arm. “My friends will help me--”

“Your friends?” Bounty threw her head back and roared with laughter. “You mean the Legion of Superheroes? Girl, I’ve been in your head long enough now that I know you as well as you know yourself. You don’t have any friends in the Legion, you’ve spent so long perfecting your role as the aloof distant bitch that nobody even noticed when I possessed you the first time...and nobody’s going to notice when I possess you now!” With an insane grin, Dawnstar’s future self leaned down toward her prey, the evil black soul of her enslaver now pouring forth from Bounty’s face like steam from a kettle, moving unerringly toward Dawnstar. Suddenly, the time-displaced woman stiffened and looked at something past Dawnstar, the look on her face changing from smug satisfaction to outright fury. “No!” Bounty bellowed at some other presence. “I won’t let you send me back--!” She drew her gun to fire, and anticlimactically shimmered out of existence.

Trembling uncontrollably, Dawnstar turned her head to see the Infinite Boy standing behind her, his arm outstretched and a look of sympathetic shock across his face. Dawnstar stammered once, twice, then broke down into anguished sobs at his feet. Without saying a word, Kando Vyr sat beside the traumatised woman and held her in the folds of his cloak.

**********
Yera Allon tried to block out the increasingly agonised screams of Radiation Roy and the boils forming on her own skin from his power, and focused on the voice in her head. She knew that Tellus’ power was the main thing keeping her awake right now, but she had to return the favour by keeping all of them alive. Somehow. It had become too difficult to talk, and even her thoughts were weak. <Tellus>, Yera repeated silently, <Say again...Elastic Lad said I have to go...inside Roy’s armour?>

<Elastic Lad says that it will be immeasurably safer for you inside Radiation Roy’s armour>, Tellus relayed. The radiation was now beginning to affect his Hykraian physiology as well, and it was pushing his power to its limits to protect himself and Elastic Lad telekinetically while maintaining a psionic link with Yera...as much as Tellus wished that he could spare the power to include Elastic Lad in the mind link, Yera was secretly glad for his absence. As grateful as she was for Elastic Lad’s help, she wasn’t in any state to deal with his usual overexuberance right now.

<But the radiation is coming from him>, Yera persisted. <His armour is too hot to even touch now, how could it possibly be safer inside?>

<Elastic Lad says that the armour was designed to protect Radiation Roy from the effects of his own power>, Tellus explained, <Furthermore, given the technology you have described, he believes that there is no safe way to disengage Radiation Roy from it without risking an explosion which might kill you both. He says that...the conduit...needs to be disengaged from within the armour itself.> It was clear that Tellus had very little idea what he was describing, but Yera trusted that the chipper hero from Cadmu did. “It couldn’t possibly be worse inside that thing,” she muttered to herself. Another problem presented itself; except for the eye slits, the armour was completely sealed. Yera would have to become something small enough to enter that way, but she didn’t think she had it in her to change shape again once she was inside. She’d have to choose wisely. A coughing fit seized her for almost a full minute, her lungs burning the whole time. She tasted copper in her mouth, and made her decision. <Tellus>, Yera projected, <If I don’t get out of this...tell Violet...tell her I’m sorry.>

She had made a promise to Shrinking Violet that she’d never take her form again but there seemed a symmetry in that she had first encountered the Legion wearing Violet’s form, and she might now leave them the same way. Marshalling all of her willpower, Yera Allon took on the shape of the petite raven-haired woman she’d worn when she fell in love with her husband, shrunk down to millimetres in height, and entered Roy’s armour. She noticed the difference almost immediately; once she’d passed through the metallic shielding, the air was stuffy but cooler. Radiation Roy’s eye leered over her ominously, his pained bellows filling her whole world at this small stature. <Tellus, Elastic Lad is going to have to talk me through this> she projected her thoughts, <...And quickly; the radiation levels in here are a lot more tolerable, but they’re still rising at the same rate.>

The next few minutes were easier work for Yera than she’d anticipated; the most difficult part of this whole process was travelling throughout Roy’s armour without the benefit of a flight ring, but once she reached the conduits where Elastic Lad directed her, unplugging external connections from Roy’s burning crimson shell was simple. In such intimate proximity to the villain, Yera couldn’t help but notice the grotesque tumors that covered most of his body. By the time Yera had travelled from his right arm to his left, the pain had driven Radiation Roy to unconsciousness; even if it hadn’t, he was too crazed with agony to enter any kind of rational conversation with her. If she had been able to speak to the Terran supervillain though, she might have told Roy Travich that she sympathised with his desperate quest to make his deformities mean something. She couldn’t sanction his murderous evil or the xenophobia he’d allowed to consume him, but she understood the need to turn his adversity into something with purpose.

Following Elastic Lad’s direction by way of Tellus’s strained telepathy, Yera made her way across the interior of Roy’s armour to the cable emerging from his right thigh. She thought about her own actions, and how she’d tried to turn her own mistakes into something worthwhile; from her ill-advised replacement of Shrinking Violet she’d found love with Gim Allon and repentance as a member of the Legion of Superheroes. When she’d discovered that she was destined to birth a monster who would kill everyone she loved she fled from that destiny to embrace anonymity as one of many Durlans working with Ambassador Grb to elevate her people’s place in the wider United Planets. In a way this too was repentance, repentance for a mistake she’d not even made yet.

<Chameleon Girl!>

Yera shook her head violently, realising now that Tellus had been calling her for long moments. <I’m sorry> she thought back weakly. <This is getting harder….Tellus, I’m on my way to the last conduit now. I need you...Tellus, I need you to tell Gim that I love him. I need you to tell Gim...Tellus?> It occurred to her now that the Hykraian’s voice was no longer in her head. She called out to him again, but to no avail. I guess it’s up to me now, she resigned herself to her task. She made her way through the darkened hot armour until exploding dots of pain and sickness filled the front of her brain and sleep became too welcome an option to deny….

**********
His power finally stretched too thin to support both his telekinetic shield and his mind link with Yera simultaneously, Tellus’s defences shattered as Gonn Efferie hurled a many-limbed Chameleon Boy at the Hykraian and knocked him for a loop. Cham tumbled and came to his senses in the form of a thick-shelled Vavallan war tortoise. “Elastic Lad, is Tellus..?”

“Gee whiz, I think he’ll be fine Chameleon Boy!” Elastic Lad answered breathlessly, “At least I don’t think you’ve hurt him too badly but without Tellus I don’t know how we’re going to contact Chameleon Girl...what if she can’t find the final conduit in Radiation Roy’s armour on her own?”

Chameleon Boy saw that Dragonmage had already fallen, and Elastic Lad’s extended form was draped limply across the battle site and the many falled Durlans the Legion had already taken down. Dawnstar and the Infinite Boy staggered weakly across the barren wasteland from an alcove of trees not far off, and Timber Wolf leaned exhausted against the giant thigh of Gim Allon kneeling on the rocky ground. Gim’s breathing was laboured, his shoulders slumped. Only Laurel Kent was in peak fighting condition, but the Legion were still in a better state than their Durlan foes. Of the numerous enemies they’d first met here today, Gonn Efferie was the last man standing.

“Give up,” Cham grunted. “Your plan’s as good as over, Efferie. Even if Chameleon Girl can’t finish defusing your insane machine, she’s almost finished the job...Supergirl here can finish off what Yera started even if every last one of the rest of us fall.”

“I’ll never stop...trying to raise our people up,” Efferie snarled back. Weakened by the fighting and the radiation both, he reverted to the faceless tentacled form worn by Durlans across their homeworld. “You’ll have to...kill me first.” He limped toward Cham, holding a blaster out in one shaking hand.

“Legionnaires don’t kill,” Gim Allon groaned from above them. “But we’ll slap the nass outta you.” He backhanded Efferie, sending the villain tumbling into unconsciousness before Gim himself collapsed to the ground. “Find Yera, Cham...find my wife…” His eyes rolled back in his head and Gim himself finally succumbed to sleep.

“...In a nano…” Chameleon Boy breathed. Like Gonn Efferie before him, he was too weak to maintain his current shape and switched painfully back into his orange-skinned default form. Laying on his back, his ribcage rising and falling with each deliberate breath, Chameleon Boy’s world swam before him. “...Find Yera...in just a nano..”

The last thing Reep Daggle saw was Laurel Kent’s worried face looming over him before everything went blissfully dark and silent.

**********
NEXT: AFTERMATH!

Wow, Raz, you really know how to up the stakes!

I really feel for poor Dawnstar. Knowing her future self is possessed and wingless... that can't be easy. Will forewarned be forearmed? As with Yera and Gim, I'm still holding out hope that the future isn't set in stone.

For that matter, if it isn't, anything could happen to the Legionnaires here...

The telepathic marker for Cham is a great idea (and I just hit upon a similar one in MY own fic, what a coincidence!)

Can't wait for the Aftermath...

Thanks IB! I am nearly done with the aftermath and I feel like it is coming together a lot better than the last chapter did so there should be some good follow-up (and at least one surprise development!)

MEDICUS ONE
Earth orbit

ROLL CALL
Brainiac 5 aka Querl Dox: team leader, 12th level intelligence
Chameleon Boy aka Reep Daggle: Durlan shapeshifter
Gim Allon: ex-Legionnaire, growth powers
Infinite Boy aka Kando Vyr: Legionnaire from the future, ability to summon beings from the timestream

Brainiac 5 nodded toward Kando Vyr wordlessly before turning his attention to a console spewing out biometric readings. The Naltorian teenager walked through an archway bristling with sophisticated scanning devices and joined the Legion’s leader alongside Chameleon Boy and the former Legionnaire Gim Allon. “Just as I had projected,” Brainiac 5 declared coolly, “Mwindaji has eradicated all trace of radiation from your system as he has every other person who was exposed to Radiation Roy’s power on Durla six days ago. To the best of my ability, I have discounted the possibility that Gonn Efferie’s scheming resulted in any success. We can safely say the status quo has been restored.”

“Nice to know I haven’t got any weird cancers lurking,’ the Infinite Boy breathed a sigh of relief. “And convenient...you guys are awfully lucky to have a healer in your ranks now!”

“Luck has nothing to do with it,” Brainiac 5 countered. “We recruited Mwindaji precisely because his healing ability is an extremely useful power, and one not replicated by any other Legionnaire. Speaking of which, have you given my offer any more thought? The Legion of Superheroes could use the power of the Infinite Boy, and training can be organised while you’re in probation to assist with your control issues.”

Kando’s mind immediately flashed to Bounty, and the horror that had nearly been inflicted upon Dawnstar back on Durla. Dawnstar had begged Kando not to tell anybody what had happened, but he would always carry the burden of knowing that it was his power which brought Bounty to torment her. “No, I...don’t think it’s such a good idea,” the Infinite Boy deflected Brainiac’s offer of membership. “I mean I don’t know what the future holds for me, whether the timeline I came from even exists anymore, but I feel like joining the Legion in the here and now would just be asking for the Time Trapper to come unravel our universe or something. I’m sure we’ll cross each other’s paths again though.”

“Naltorian foresight?” Chameleon Boy asked.

“Educated guess,” Kando winked. “Maybe next time don’t bring my younger self into things though, huh?” He directed his last comment squarely at Gim Allon.

“Kando, thanks for everything.” Gim took the younger boy’s hand in his and pumped it vigorously. “I mean it, I really appreciate everything you’ve done to help and I’m sorry I came on so strong. I don’t know what Yera and I will do moving forward, but at least now I feel like there is a forward to move toward.”

“I’m...glad I could help,” the Infinite Boy hid his trepidation behind a tight smile. “It’s not my place to say any more but she did have a valid reason to leave, Gim. It may not have been the best thing she could have done, but I understand why she did it. I just hope together you can find a better way.” He bade farewell to Cham and Brainiac 5, and once again the Infinite Boy left the Legion’s lives.

Once Kando had left the room, Brainiac 5 turned to Gim. “I had hoped that the Legion would be able to make use of the Infinite Boy’s unique abilities, but it seems that is not to be the case. Still, that does leave us with one position still available on our roster.

How would you like to rejoin the Legion of Superheroes, Colossal Boy?”

**********
MEDICUS ONE
Airlock 3

ROLL CALL
Supergirl aka Laurel Kent: invulnerability
Ultra Boy aka Jo Nah: deputy leader; ultra-energy which can be directed into any one of strength, speed, flight, invulnerability, flash vision, penetra-vision at a time

Leaning against Medicus One’s bulkhead, the self-proclaimed Supergirl watched as an unwieldy medical transport cell was loaded by two Science Police officers on to a shuttle ready to go to Takron-Galtos. Inside the opaque cube, a semi-naked Radiation Roy could be heard groaning in pain. “I still can’t believe Radiation Roy helped us in the end!” Laurel Kent shook her head. “When I saw him trudging up to us holding a shrunken Chameleon Girl in his palm, I swear to Rao I thought he killed her!”

“I guess he’s not as dense as he looks,” Ultra Boy shrugged. “He must have realised Yera was telling the truth about Gonn Efferie wanting to boost the Durlans’ powers when he saw that she was still alive herself...if he hadn’t finished what Yera started and disengaged himself from that machine though...well from what Elastic Lad and Brainy say, we might have been looking at a different Durla today.”

“I kinda feel sorry for him, you know?” Laurel sighed. “I mean, I know he’s a supervillain but he did the right thing in the end and Chameleon Girl might have died before we found her if he hadn’t brought her to us--”

“Don’t,” Jo interrupted abruptly. “He only stopped Efferie’s machine because he knew it wasn’t gonna kill the Durlans after all...and as for Yera, even a member of the Legion of Supervillains isn’t so far gone that he can’t appreciate when someone tries to save his skin. He was just paying back his debt to her, guaranteed he’ll be trying his best to kill us all next time we meet. Brainy wouldn’t have asked us to oversee his transfer to the prison transport shuttle if Roy was a good guy, Laurel.”

“I guess so,” Supergirl replied, unconvinced. When Roy had brought Yera to the other Legionnaires, his armour had been partially dismantled. Laurel had seen the inflamed tumors bursting out all over his exposed body then; she wondered what it might do to someone’s mind knowing their own power was slowly killing them while the metagene turned everyone else it touched into modern day gods?

“Wait!” a voice boomed from down the hall. “Hold the vehicle!” Mwindaji came running down the sterile corridors of Medicus One, Elastic Lad’s absurdly stretched out torso bringing up the rear.

Ultra Boy approached the Science Police and asked them to pause while Laurel greeted her teammates. “Mwindaji? E-Lad? What is it?”

“Mwindaji had a brilliant idea!” Jams-Ols 5 beamed. “Jeepers Supergirl, his heart is just as big as a moon! It’s no wonder whatever entity was behind the White Lantern ring let Mwindaji keep its power, I really can’t wait to see what happens next!”

“What happens next...what do you mean, what happens next?” a puzzled Laurel asked the two newcomers.

“Well!” Elastic Lad’s extended body caught up to him while he chattered away oblivious to his power’s weirdness, “You know that Mwindaji has been healing everyone who was exposed to Radiation Roy’s power on Durla, right? I mean it’s a shame he couldn’t have gotten here sooner, but he was visiting his parents on Kirinyaga and I’ve read how important parents are to people from worlds where reproduction and socialisation more fits the United Planets norm - Mwindaji showed me some holos of his homeworld, and gosh, it looks so pretty there! I’d love to visit some day! You should see it, Supergirl! Green plants everywhere and the most beautiful avian life!”

While Laurel Kent stared at Elastic Lad in silent confusion and Mwindaji caught his breath, Ultra Boy and the two Science Police officers mumbled to one another trying to figure out what exactly was going on. “Anyway!” Elastic Lad continued, somehow sounding even more enthusiastic than when he’d started, “Chameleon Girl woke up just before Mwindaji and I got to her room, and she’s okay by the way, I mean she’s still feeling super sickly from all the radiation poisoning, but she’s going to be fine after another few weeks of medical treatment; I mean, she would have been fine now if she had let Mwindaji heal her, but she didn’t want him to use his power on her and I don’t know why exactly, but I guess we have to respect her decision - it’s definitely not a Durlan taboo - well at least, I don’t think it’s a Durlan taboo, because Chameleon Boy didn’t object to Mwindaji using his power to heal him so I guess there’s some other motivation-”

“Elastic Lad!” Ultra Boy snapped. “These people have a job to do! Today??”

“Our friend Jams-Ols 5 is very excitable,” Mwindaji gave Jo a warm smile. He approached Ultra Boy and the Science Police and placed one hand on the cube holding Radiation Roy, a thoughtful expression crossing his face.

“He is,” Jo agreed. “But there’s a time and a place for being excitable, and this is neither. Mwindaji, what’s going on here?”

“Chameleon Girl did indeed decline my assistance,” Mwindaji advised, “But she also told me that Radiation Roy brought her to the other Legionnaires on Durla...that he was responsible for saving the day as she had been.”

“I wouldn’t say he was as responsible as Yera was,” Ultra Boy scowled. “He saved his own skin, sure.”

“Chameleon Girl said that Radiation Roy’s power has hurt him as it has hurt others,” Mwindaji continued. Roy’s muffled moans of discomfort told them all that much.

Ultra Boy was beginning to understand where this was going and he wasn’t sure if he liked it. “Mwindaji, one good deed doesn’t erase years of being a jerk,” Jo explained cautiously. “And like I said, he was saving his own skin as much as he was helping anyone else...moreso, really.”

“Perhaps he was,” Mwindaji considered Jo’s words, “But perhaps he found again the respect for life which led him to try and join the Legion of Superheroes once upon a time, Ultra Boy. And I was given this power to nurture life. Could we please open this containment vessel?”

“Absolutely not,” one of the Science Police stepped forward. “Roy Travich is a dangerous criminal.”

Ultra Boy wondered what Tinya would do in this situation and that made his decision for him. Radiation Roy might not deserve the Legion’s help after everything he’d tried to do to them in the past, but Tinya would say that it was people like Roy who sometimes needed their help the most. “Roy is a dangerous criminal,” Jo agreed with the officer, “But he’s one that Supergirl and I are both equally capable of taking down before he can hurt anybody here. Please, Officer...this will only take a nano.”

The Science Police officer who’d stood up to Mwindaji protested, but his fellow officer interrupted. “I’ve seen Ultra Boy in action,” the second officer said firmly. “If he wants to open this thing, he’ll open it. I say we see how this plays out.” He tapped an access code on a small keypad, and the door to the cube sprang open. Inside, a restrained Radiation Roy tensed every muscle group in turn as waves of pain coursed through his body. This cube performed the same function as his armour in protecting him from his own power, but it was vastly inferior. The grind of his teeth and the weak sounds that emerged from his tight throat made that clear. Wearing only a pair of black trunks, almost every other inch of his body was lined in reeking bulbous sores and the Science Police were visibly disgusted. Jo managed to hide the worst of his own disgust, and Laurel instantly averted her pitying gaze. Elastic Lad looked on in open scientific wonder, but of all of them Mwindaji was the only one who looked upon Roy with something else entirely. Mwindaji looked upon Roy with compassion, and he didn’t hesitate in the slightest to reach out and lay one hand upon the tortured man’s chest.

“I can not change who you are,” Mwindaji spoke in his clipped Interlac as a faint white glow emanated from him. “On my world, it is said that it is up to each man to travel his own path. But I can give you the opportunity to travel that path with new perspective.” The glow became brighter and brighter, until Mwindaji’s form was a silhouette in its centre and Roy disappeared altogether. The light suddenly vanished, and Mwindaji stepped back wearing the slightest smile.

“What did you--” the Science Police officer never completed his question, his jaw dropping wide open as he looked upon Roy inside the cube.

Roy Travich looked down at his perfectly unblemished body, whole and free of pain for the first time in years. “I-I'm normal!” he croaked, his voice full of emotion.

“You saved me!”

**********
OUTER SPACE
In orbit around Cargg’s third sun

ROLL CALL
Blok: magically enhanced strength, invulnerability, speed, flight, stamina, wisdom and courage
Dawnstar: translightspeed flight, interstellar-range tracking
Mon-El aka Lar Gand: Daxamite physiology
Wildfire aka Drake Burroughs: anti-energy being

“Dawny, you know you don’t need to prove yourself to anybody,” Wildfire tried to reassure the woman he loved as they took point flying past the homeworld of their former teammate Duplicate Damsel. “You were hurt really bad on Durla! It doesn’t matter if Mwindaji healed you, you should be resting!”

“Drake, I have told you a dozen times that I am fine!” Dawnstar retorted crossly. “Stop fussing so! Mwindaji’s healing ability has already made himself indispensable to the Legion of Superheroes...allow me to contribute to the team in my own way please!” She put on a dramatic burst of speed, leaving Wildfire behind along with Mon-El and Blok.

“Dawnstar takes her role as the Legion’s tracker very seriously,” Blok volunteered. “Until recently it is a role she has filled uniquely; it is understandable that Mwindaji’s membership has caused some hidden insecurities to rise to the surface. I am confident however that she will come to terms with this change sooner rather than later, my friend.”

“Yeah well...nobody asked you, pebblehead.” Wildfire’s bootjets flared to silent life in the void of space and he rocketed after the winged woman.

“Legionnaires, I have located our quarry!” Dawnstar’s voice came over their comms; Wildfire’s communications circuitry was built directly into his containment suit, and the thin sheath of oxygen granted by their transuits gave Blok and Mon-El’s flight rings a medium through which to transmit her call. “Blok, Mon-El, home in on my flight ring and I will take you to the creatures. Wildfire--”

“I know, I know,” Drake Burroughs made an exaggerated sighing sound, “Make like an anti-energy lighthouse.” Though hundreds of miles away from the others already, when Wildfire expelled vast amounts of anti-energy through every opening in his suit they saw the flash of light like it was a new star in the sky. A few moments later, Drake had replenished his energies and the cycle began repeating itself.

Between their flight rings and Mon-El’s enhanced senses, Mon-El and Blok had no trouble locating Dawnstar in the vast openness of space between Cargg’s three suns and they caught up to her just as easily. The star closest to them was small compared to its celestial neighbours, though still billions of times larger than any of this system’s planets. As close to the golden ball of burning gases as they were, it seemed awesomely massive. “I’m afraid I can go no further,” Dawnstar admitted. “My physiology has reached its limits. The closest stardigrades however are feeding upon that area on the sun’s outermost surface.” She made a rough circle with her outstretched hand. “Blok, is that enough detail for you to find them?”

“Indeed it is,” the gold-veined stone giant nodded. “Thank you, Dawnstar. Once I am closer to the star’s surface, the stardigrades will no doubt reveal themselves.” Blok lowered the specially polarised visor that Brainiac 5 had prepared to protect him from the sun’s intense light and he arrowed toward the star almost as swiftly as Mon-El or Dawnstar themselves might fly.

Truthfully, Blok’s curiosity had been aroused when Carggite scientists had called upon the Legion for help with these creatures; since he’d been imbued with a portion of the power of Shazam, Blok hadn’t really come across any force capable of testing his upper limits. Fighting the gravitational pull of even a small star and the extraordinary temperatures of the flares it sent hurtling millions of miles into the ether was the first challenge since Blok had gained his newfound power that he’d really found himself working to face. Even so, the effort was noticeable but manageable. He estimated he’d be able to keep this up for three or four days before he began to appreciably tire. Two sparkling lumps the size of small continents came into his field of vision and Blok realised that today was not the day he would get to ascertain his stamina’s limits; he’d found the stardigrades already.

Docile creatures, stardigrades were multi-segmented lifeforms who looked to be composed of rainbow-tinted puffy plastic. They were far more durable than they seemed, at home equally in the cold vacuum of space or on the surface of a sun such as this one. Stardigrades in fact fed on the prodigious energies emitted by stars, then once they reached their fill they entered a state of semi-hibernation to coast on solar winds until they reached their next food source. Under normal circumstances, up to a dozen or more stardigrades could feed on a given star without any danger to the star or its surrounding environment; Cargg’s trinary solar system however was one maintained with astronomically delicate precision, and astrophysicists feared that the normally harmless cosmic beasts might upset that balance with their feeding. Dawnstar had been called in to find the offending creatures, and with Wildfire’s anti-energy to act as a lure, Blok and Mon-El had been tasked with helping the stardigrades leave Cargg’s system for a more uninhabited locale.

Blok submerged himself in the cosmic furnace of the sun’s corona; his flight ring didn’t survive the dive but Blok himself was never anything more than mildly uncomfortable. The visor was the next thing to disintegrate away, and before it went entirely Blok made sure he had a fix on his two gigantic targets. He charged at the first stardigrade, careful to exert only enough force to lift the creature without hurting it; with the size difference between them, Blok would become an indestructible stone bullet if he wasn’t careful. Not for the first time he found himself grateful for the wisdom of Solomon that resided within him now, and Blok gently disengaged the feeding creature from the star. Once they were surrounded by open space, Blok saw Wildfire’s dim burst of light far far away and hurled the country-wide stardigrade in that direction. Once it was close enough, the creature’s own senses would help it find its way to the feast of energy that Wildfire promised. Blok watched the stardigrade’s flight path for a moment, then turned back to do it all over again with the creature’s mate.

...Half a million miles away, Mon-El’s telescopic vision watched the whole scene take place. The first of Cargg’s suns to have been discovered was a red giant, and as the Legionnaires had entered this system Mon-El had felt its draining presence. The other two stars in this system were yellow though, and he was now far enough from their red neighbour that the yellow stars’ energies made Mon-El more powerful than ever. “Blok is doing just fine,” the Daxamite reported to the winged woman by his side. “And now that we’re close enough I can see the third chubby fellow perfectly on my own. This should be over in no time.”

He turned away from Dawnstar to dive into the sun as Blok had done, but the graceful tracker touched his arm before he could leave. “Mon-El, wait! Please..?”

“Sure,” Mon-El smiled at his companion. “What is it, Dawnstar? Are there more stardigrades aside from these three?”

“No, no, it’s not the stardigrades.” Dawnstar brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, acutely aware of the foolishness of the gesture out here where no conventional breeze could disturb her. “I...Mon-El, are we...friends..?”

“That’s an odd question!” The square-jawed hero was taken aback. “Dawnstar, we’ve been teammates for years now, I’d trust you with my life! In fact, I’ve done exactly that on more than one occasion!”

“That’s not what I asked though.” There was something pleading in her large blue eyes. “Do you consider me to be a - a friend..?”

“Of course I do!” he answered perhaps too quickly. He saw that she wasn’t satisfied and thought on it for a moment. “Dawnstar, what’s all this about?” Mon-El asked more softly. “Is there something you want to tell me?”

“I’m...not ready to talk about it.” Dawnstar found herself unable to meet his concerned expression. “Not in detail at any rate. But when we were on Durla...I came across my future; I mean I literally came across my future, Mon-El. The Infinite Boy summoned somebody who is going to...going to have a tremendous impact on me in the future. And that person told me that something horrible is going to happen to me, in part because I don’t have any friends on the Legion of Superheroes to notice when it happens.” Her eyes were wet with tears now and she swallowed down her emotion. “...And I’ve probably spent more time with you than anybody else on this team other than Wildfire, so I need to know; are we friends, Mon-El? Am I really destined to live a life so far apart from the dozens of people I risk my life with on a daily basis that none of you even realise when I most need your help?” She wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve, holding back tears only through furious will.

“...Oh, Dawnstar.” Mon-El gave her the most comforting smile he knew how to give. “We’re not just friends...we’re family. You, Shady, Jo and Tinya...even Wildfire, as much as I want to crack him one right in the visor occasionally, I consider all of the Legion to be the closest thing to family I’ve known in a thousand years and I well and truly hope that if you ever need my help you know you just have to ask. But listen to me.” He waited for their blue eyes to meet before continuing. “If you feel like you need to forge closer relationships with any of us, you’ve got the power to change that. We’re all of us very different people on this team, but I think you’ll find that somewhere on the scale from Comet Queen’s zaniness to...well, to my moping about dwelling on my exile in the Phantom Zone as I’m wont to do...somewhere in the middle of all of that lie some very welcoming people with shared experiences and common interests and if that’s something that’s missing from your life right now then go and change it.”

“Thank you, Mon-El.” She sniffled self-consciously and smiled back at him. “I’ll think about what you said.”

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” the older hero asked, his tone almost paternal.

Dawnstar nodded, too emotional to speak for a second. She wiped more tears from her cheek and collected herself, and Mon-El felt that maybe she’d begun to unburden herself of some very hurtful weight.

“I’m fine,” Dawnstar laughed at her own vulnerability. “Go corral our stardigrade.”

**********
MEDICUS ONE
Private Ward 2-37

ROLL CALL
Gim Allon: ex-Legionnaire, growth powers
Yera Allon: ex-Legionnaire, Durlan shapeshifting


Gim entered his estranged wife’s small but comfortable hospital room with her name on his lips, only to pause when he saw Dr Gym’ll adjusting the chemical makeup of a transdermal bracelet around her slender wrist.

“Come in, come in!” the short Jaquaan doctor beckoned, his third arm gesturing for Gim to approach while his other two arms were preoccupied with Yera’s bracelet. “I’ll only be another moment here, then you two youngsters can have the room to yourselves!” Unseen by Gim, he gave Yera a wink which was meant to be cheery but instead came off as a little creepy. True to his word, the accomplished physician finished his adjustments soon enough and flashed Gim a broad smile as he waddled out of the room. He stopped at the door to reinforce with Yera that she should feel free to call if she experienced any additional pain and then he was gone.

Gim watched him go with a puzzled expression. “Uhh...did you already pay him?” he asked Yera. “I’ve only ever seen Dr Gym’ll that chirpy when he’s getting paid!”

Yera’s head slowly rolled on her pillow and she gave Gim a weak smile. “He’s just spent the last ten minutes telling me how impressed he is that I didn’t let Mwindaji cure me,” she explained. “Seems our good Dr Gym’ll doesn’t really trust cosmically granted healing powers over traditional medicine, go figure...I think that’s the first time anyone associated with the Legion of Superheroes has acted with anything he considers to be close to common sense...it certainly seems to have improved his mood.” She chuckled, then that became a cough which wracked her fragile lungs.

Once the coughing fit was over, Gim stood by her bedside. He wanted desperately to reach out and touch her, but there somehow seemed to be so much more space between them here in a room alone than there had been on Durla while they were chasing a dangerous villain. “So...I guess the most immediate question is why didn’t you let Mwindaji heal you? You know it’s safe, right? Brainy and the others all vouch for him.”

Yera sighed. It was a defeated sound, but also a sound of relief. “Gim...has the Infinite Boy told you anything about what happened when we’d been sent to his future..?”

“No, damn it.” He turned away from her, struggling to control his frustration. “Nobody’s told me a damn thing, Yera.”

“Then maybe it’s time someone did. Gim, take a seat...please.”

Gim Allon sat by his wife’s side, and slowly, haltingly, the ailing woman began. “Do you...do you remember the Fhrr Maless, Gim..?”

“That Durlan demon or whatever that tried to kill us when the Legion was still on Earth?” Gim frowned. “How could I forget?”

“Sometime in the future,” Yera continued, “In...our future...we’re destined to have a child.” Gim’s first reaction was one of joy, but he saw and heard the despair in his wife and stifled that reaction. “That child,” her eyes watered at the memory, “That child will be...taken...by the Fhrr Maless. It becomes something called the Leviathan, and it kills us and it kills the people we love...it kills...it consumes my homeworld, transforms it into some kind of cosmic horror, and poor Phantom Girl and some other Legionnaire in the future will give their own lives to stop it.”

“Oy Gutt,” Gim clutched Yera’s hand, his awkwardness forgotten now in his overwhelming need to make her feel better. “Honey, if this is what you had to see--”

She shook her head and swallowed her tears. “No...no, this is in our future but it was a part of the Infinite Boy’s past by the time we arrived in his time. The Legion in that time period...some of them had to live through this and some of them only knew of it as a horrible story from their team’s past....Phantom Girl died sending the Leviathan to another plane, but it….sensed my arrival in the Infinite Boy’s time, and it reappeared...it was drawn to me, Gim, that…thing...was drawn to kill me and anybody else I care about. And that’s what I had to see.” Her tears were too strong for her now, and she stared at him silently while they ran down her cheek.

“Yera...honey…” Gim’s voice broke now to hear this secret his wife had been carrying alone for so long and his own eyes watered.

She took a harrowing breath and concluded her tale. “Gim...one of the Legionnaires from that time...the only way we could defeat the Leviathan, save their time period...she had to take me to its core, I had to...I had to free our baby, Gim.” She began sobbing openly now. “I had to...I had to let our baby die, Gim…I had to let our baby die...” She couldn’t speak any more, months of pent up guilt and fear and despair releasing itself finally.

Gim Allon held his wife close, and the months of separation dissolved between them as Yera bawled into his embrace.

They lost track of time, but eventually Yera stopped crying and eventually Gim felt like he could ask her to continue without tearing her heart out. “Yera...why didn’t you tell me? When you came back, we could have faced this together...you’ve been carrying this on your own this whole time..?” His eyes were bloodshot, his cheeks flushed with emotion.

“I’m sorry Gim,” she sniffled. “I just….the other Legionnaires who came with me had their memories wiped before we came home...the future Legionnaires couldn’t risk mindwiping me because I was already psychically fragile from everything I’d gone through...I couldn’t talk to Dream Girl or any of the others about it and I didn’t want to hurt you...and I couldn’t see a way I could stay in the Legion or...or with you and not hurt you. And I hurt you anyway.” She tripped on that last statement, barely restraining herself from breaking into tears again.

“Did you think I was going to just let you go without knowing why you’d gone?” Gim smiled dumbly. “I love you, you stubborn squaj!”

Yera gave a noise that was half-laugh, half-sob, and she craned her neck to kiss him. Gim brought his own bearded face closer to accommodate his wife and they shared a moment of intimacy. “Yera,” Gim eventually spoke, “I don’t know what this is, if you’re punishing yourself or...or what’s happening, but please let Mwindaji help you. It kills me seeing you like this and it’s not necessary.”

“No, Gim…” Yera coughed again and gave herself a few moments to catch her breath. “That’s not what this is...I think…I think this is our chance to still be together. Dr Gym’ll told me I’ll be back to normal health again after a few weeks of treatment...but the radiation had another effect. It...Gim, I can’t have children now. My reproductive system is damaged to the point it’ll take weeks more of targeted treatments to recover. Maybe even months. But Gim…” Her eyes watered, though for the first time with tears of hope. “...I can’t have children. I can’t let Mwindaji heal me, he told me his power can’t differentiate between types of damage. This way takes longer, but I’ve broken our future Gim! It’s all in our hands again! If...if that’s what you want..?”

Gim Allon stared blankly. He didn’t know how to process this; he’d spoken with Yera about children in the past, but it wasn’t something they’d ever seriously considered. Now though...now that the choice was being taken from him, it was like a kick in the gut. Still, if he had to give up the idea of a child to get his wife back....he forced a smile and clasped her hand tight. “Yera...honey...all I ever wanted was you back. It’s all I’ve been chasing since I left the Legion. But we have to…” He steeled himself to continue. “We have to change. If we’re a couple, we’re a couple. I know you had to do everything yourself before you met me and I’m not mad that you left, but Yera, we’re stronger together than we are apart. If this is going to work, we need to be honest with each other. We have to be there for one another, for better or for worse like we promised. I can’t be there for you if you don’t give me the chance.”

“Okay,” she nodded enthusiastically through her tears. “Yes. You’re right Gim, you’re right and I’m sorry. I love you.”

“I love you, honey.” He kissed his wife again, and when he pulled away he took a deep breath. “...So, in the spirit of sharing everything...Brainy asked me to rejoin the Legion. He said they only have one more slot on the roster, and with Chameleon Boy already on the team...Yera, the Legion has been one of the most important things in my life, but if you don’t want me to go back then I won’t; we can make them change, we can force them to take us both back onto the team--”

Yera started coughing again, and waved her hand before Gim’s face to make him stop rambling. When she could talk again, her tone was full of lightness. “Gim, don’t worry. I’m not ready to go back to the Legion full-time anyway...if they need me in an emergency I’m there, but I’ve been doing some good work in Frozentown and I’ve got some ideas for how I can help Ambassador Grb continue that good work from the other side, helping Durlans settle and offering support for them once they’re off-planet and living in the wider UP. I feel like Yera Allon is making more of a difference working with Ambassador Grb than Chameleon Girl ever did with the Legion of Superheroes...but Colossal Boy has been a part of the Legion of Superheroes since before I first heard of them. You should follow your heart.”

“Good advice, Mrs Allon.” Gim Allon leaned down once more to kiss his wife, and the sun rose on a brand new day over the Earth behind them.

**********

nice wrap-up raz!

Good conflict re healing Roy. of course, Jo was right to be on guard. I wonder what Roy will do now - look forward to his development

nice resolution to the Yera/Gim bad future, that still keeps us guessing whether it could eventually come to pass. same with Dawnstar, her reaching out to Mon (and her emotional turmoil) was well done.

Ah Wildfire, such a hothead. Loved Blok’s wisdom and straining of his powers. he’s really one of the big guns now

wonder if Gim realized that Brainy invited Infinite Boy ahead of him

so I think your team’s maximum is 40 members no? I didn’t go back and count but I estimate you have around that number

I've loads to catch up on so this goes back a few posts.

Great scene between Danielle and Quislet, his weird senses are perfect and Danielle realising that she may never fully understand it is great. Quis is a totally alien creature - altenete dimensional home, energy state, weird culture... you know we'll never fully get to grips with it. You obviously like it as you make it so much fun to read.

Frozen Town is a great name and a suitably alien place to hide out in. “Trust me, you don’t want to see what the dirty ones looked like." ha, that reminds me of my last visit to my son's flat... Interesting that Yera realises she knows Bounty - nice touch there Raz. Radiation Roy? Interesting choice of villain, looking forward to finding out where you're taking this plot.

Nice to see Staq is helping Arqiia settle in, it's a telling point that they aren't really conspicious amongst the crowds. “How did you come across your purpose?” - most people never do! Brave of Staq to risk his life like that to save the tourist and good that Arqiia didn't just stand on the sidelines but took out the rogue gravbike. The Post-Atomic Knights - you have a real skill at creating groups and characters with links to canon that I wish I'd thought of. I love, love, love what you've done to Staq - a were dragon is such a great idea. Nice point that it was only after beating them up that Staq asks what's going on. Interesting that the villains are there to recover their cultural heritage - thats a good story line, something that's been troubling the old colonial western empires for a while - what to do with the plunders of their quite savage pasts. Nice save by Danielle and Neon, and god character moment with Jan saying he doesn't like people's cultures being desicrated. And, hello to Firecrest! Good name and a nice all in one story to get him back onto the main team roster.

Brainiac 5 respects Imra's judgement - she must be one of very few he would listen to. Though your Brainy does appear to be creating ways to take down the team, first Quislet's in-ship bomb, now Firecrest's outfit having circuitry to stun him. Let's just hope he's being pragmatic and isn't going mad again, shall we? Nice bit of foreshadowing with Imra sensing Ivy's potential. And I love how you are empowering each of the former Subs, they are really well treated by you Raz.

I like how snarky you write Bounty and how determined Yera is to do the right thing. Both would be easy to have as just cyphers to the story but you give them gret personalities. Legionnaires in the future really suck - umm, probably, though that particular future was one of my favourite boots of the team so I appreciate your referencing it, first with Furball now with Bounty. Really scary that Roy's motivation is to kill a species, what a dark soul he has. Nice try of Yera to scare the SP by turning into the Slasher, pity she was busted so easily though. Wow! great twist that the SP were actually Durlans trying to capture some greatness by enhancing themselves. Their race hate was an interesting point given they were using Roy's very similar Xenophobia to entice him to join them. This is shaping up to be a great story - Six Durlans on home turf against Gim, Bounty and Infinity Boy? My money would be on the Durlans.

Gim and Bounty taking on the Durlans was great - 95 feet tall! That's big! An angry giant is something that most villains would run from. Gim's determination to save Yera is also nicely done, he knows the risks but is willing to take them. Infinity Boy using his precognition to know to call for help was well done - I keep forgetting that that is his native ability, it's good that you don't overuse this aspect of him. Interesting team of Legionnaires, and Kando calling Laurel Superwoman was a nice slip u on his part. If she knows anything about him she'll figure it out and take some confirmation about her choice of code name from it. I love your Elastic Lad, he's totally unique amongst all the characters in the many fics here.

Gim and Reeps friendship is unique in the team and it's nice that you reference it. also, very clever using Tellus to inform the team which Durlan was Cham, very sneaky. Good that reep is clever enough to acknowledge the situation is not going as perfectly as they might hope and also showing how much he knows Gim by not even suggesting that he leaves the battlefield while Yera is missing. And that's never a good way to wake up - being tied to Radiation Roy's sarcophogus while he's emitting lethal doses of radiation - poor Yera! Elastic Lad to the rescue - yay! And Rep versus Gonn Efferie - this is going to be great!

The scene between Bounty and Dawnstar was chilling - poor Dawny! Bounty is a lot more callous than I imagined she would be and her plan to take a younger host is suitably horrific. Being told that she has no friends and noone noticed she had been possessed is prety much ego shattering, Anyone would be in for a tough time trying to sort that toxic mindgame out, especially if they had been as aloof as Dawny. Good that Kando got there in time... just.

Safer inside the armour? Scary! I'm not sure I would listen to that advice. Creeping through Roys armour is not a job for the faint hearted.

Poor Tellus, getting knocked out by one of his teammates, not that Cham meant it of course. And a thick-shelled Vavallan war tortoise sounds like a magnificent animal, what a name!

What a cliffhanger! They're all down and only Laurel left to fix things. Will she be smart enough to do it?

So, obviously she was. I'm glad we saw Infinity Boy again but equally glad he turned down membership of the team. I half expected Brainy to plant something in his clothing given how he treated Quislet and Staq Colossal Boy back on the team? Why, yes please Raz, if you're offering.

So it was Roy who saved the day, nice turnabout. And I'm more on Jo's side of the argument, especially after erading Roy's motivation for being on Durla in the first place. still, getting M'Windaji to heal him was a good thing, highlighting the Legion's innate goodness as well as giving Roy something to think about while he stays on Takron-Galtos for the foreseeable future. I love your Elastic Lad, have I told you that recently? His positivity and non stop talking would absolutely drive me nuts in real life but in your stories he's an absolute gem.

Interesting mission for Blok, Willdfire, Mon El and Dawnstar - you constantly come up with these weird and brilliant side missions that have nothing to do with fighting crime which are really good. I don't know where the idea os stardigrades came from but I need some of that, and what a way to test Blok's shazam enhancements - could he survive diving into a star? Thankfully the answer is yes, of course, but you wrote the suspense leading up to it very well. The best part was of course Dawny openig up to Mon El, funny that she had snapped at Wildfire earlier on - I bet she hadn't spoken to him about it. Their conversation was perfect, between Mon El's doubts if they aare really riends to his assurances that they were family. Dawny's laughter at her own emotional vulnerability is a start I guess.

Gim and Yera - ah, good that they are back together, I do like them. Not so sure about Yera not being healed by M'Windaji though so to permanently end any chance to have children. Couldn't she have been healed up then went for a private operation somewhere to solve that one? Does seem a litle bit martyr like for me, but then who knows what the Durlan procreative system is like, perhaps there isn't an op available? Gim finally hearing what their future may bring was really well written, he's so stoic but even that must have been heartbreaking.

And Gim is rejoining the team while Yera has found a purpose helping her people. Nice ending to their little arc, from start to finish it's been a delight to read.

Looking forward to more,more, more!

Thanks IB...Yera, Gim and Dawnstar have all had some pretty nasty premonitions of things to come now and there probably won't be anything dramatic to come out of that straight away but it will definitely colour the way they approach some things moving forward.

Gim didn't notice that he was second choice, but I'm glad someone did haha...and yep, team maximum is 40 which is now full. Of course, that was based on Earthgov taxation laws and the Legion are based on Mars these days soooo....

You have reminded me though, I meant to post an updated roster so here goes:

BLOK
BRAINIAC 5 (leader)
CHAMELEON BOY
CHLOROPHYLL KID
COLOR KID
COLOSSAL BOY
COMET QUEEN
COSMIC BOY
DAWNSTAR
DIAMOND DAMSEL
DRAGONMAGE
DREAM GIRL
ELASTIC LAD
ELEMENT LAD
FIRE LAD
GAS GIRL
INFECTIOUS LASS
INVISIBLE KID II
KID COMPUTO
LIGHT LAD
LIGHTNING LASS
MATTER-EATER LAD
MON-EL
MWINDAJI
NEON
NIGHT GIRL
NIGHTWIND
PHANTOM GIRL
POLAR BOY
QUISLET
SHADOW LASS
SHRINKING VIOLET
STAR BOY
STONE BOY
SUN BOY
SUPERGIRL II
TELLUS
TIMBER WOLF
ULTRA BOY (deputy leader)
WILDFIRE