MARS Husband Hill, Legion of Superheroes Headquarters
ROLL CALL Brainiac 5 aka Querl Dox: 12th level intelligence, team leader Color Kid aka Ulu Vakk: color manipulation Elastic Lad aka Jams-Ols 5: super-elongation Fire Lad aka Staq Mavlen: fire-breathing Neon aka Zoe Saugin: infused with Green Lantern energy Night Girl aka Lydda Jath Krinn: photosensitive super-strength Polar Boy aka Brek Bannin: cold and ice generation
Through one of many cavities torn through the Legion’s headquarters, Polar Boy spared a glance for the Science Police vessel currently speeding away into the upper atmosphere. The ship was en route to Takron-Galtos with three members of the Heavensent inside. Blok and Mon-El flanked the vessel from outside and Polar Boy knew that more Legionnaires were on board the ship along with several members of the prison world’s own Workforce, so he was confident that the Heavensent wouldn’t be a problem for a while.
He turned his attention back to his more immediate surroundings. In Brainiac 5’s multilab, the Legion’s leader and Elastic Lad instructed the former Green Lantern named Neon in constructing an elaborate cube of hardlight machinery around the very ordinary-looking Fire Lad. Along with the other former members of the Substitute Heroes present, Polar Boy couldn’t quite believe how much Staq’s appearance had changed over the years; it had happened so gradually and Fire Lad had so convincingly argued that it was a normal Shwarian transformation that none of them had realised the drastic extent of his mutation. Looking at this athletic blue-eyed blond before him now though, nobody would believe that he was the gaunt flame-crested hero that Fire Lad had eventually become. “So what’s the verdict, Brainy?” Polar Boy asked, hugging himself against what any Tharrian would consider an uncomfortably low ambient temperature.
“With the damage to my laboratory which was done today in addition to that which had already been done, regrettably we will not have access to scanning equipment with any real accuracy for a few days.” Brainiac sighed. “Still, Neon’s attempt to replicate my technology should suffice for now.”
“Well excuse me for not being a 12th level technerd,” Zoe rolled her eyes.
“Gosh, don’t be sore!” Elastic Lad rushed to boost her spirits. “Without your help we’d be in a darned terrible spot right now, Neon! Sure, we could take a guess at Fire Lad’s condition, but Brainiac really doesn’t like to guess without a good amount of data and--”
“As I have stated previously, no scientist worth the designation should ever resort to something as puerile as guessing,” Brainiac 5 shook his head in disgust.
Fire Lad knocked on the inside of the enclosed device. “Hey, you think we can have this conversation later?” Though muffled, annoyance was clear in his tone. “Some of us kinda have a personal stake in your little science experiment here...and I want to go check on Arqiia anyway, she must have a ton of questions.”
“Of course.” Brainiac 5 turned his omnicom around so Staq could see it. Before Staq could complain that the lines of data meant nothing, Brainiac continued. “Despite Void’s interference, we seem to have succeeded in restoring you to your true genetic norm. Congratulations, Fire Lad. Bearing in mind a final analysis will need to be compiled once my multilab has been restored, but preliminary readings indicate you are very much an average non-fire breathing Shwarian male specimen.”
Everyone else in the room aside from Elastic Lad seemed utterly baffled, and Color Kid finally said what they were all thinking. “But...we saw him turn into a giant dragon...thing.”
“That’s the good news!” Elastic Lad burst out gleefully. “In this form, Fire Lad has no powers at all! But he can trigger a transformation into what would have been his ultimate mutation! In that form, he’s stronger than his base form, more resistant, he’s got super cool wings and horns and gee whiz, there’s no reason he needs to leave the Legion of Superheroes at all now! Then once we make sure Quislet can get back from Teall where he went after his ship got destroyed we’ll be back to full strength! Isn’t that swell??”
“Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves,” Brainiac 5 said coolly. “We will need to ascertain that Fire Lad has control of his faculties in his mutated form, and we will need to clinically determine the capabilities of that form as well as any inherent vulnerabilities...as for Quislet, well, Quislet is another matter entirely.”
“But there’s hope, right?” Night Girl approached the emerald construct and squinted against its brightness as she placed a hand up against Staq’s on the other side.
“Hope is inconsequential,” Brainiac 5 replied. “Fire Lad has something better than hope...he has me.”
********** MARDRU Moorte Island, Quarantine Medical Research Facility and Hospital
“F-faster!” Chlorophyll Kid stammered, his flight ring propelling him through the few remaining untouched corridors of his homeworld’s premier medical facility at breakneck speed. Lights flickered all around and snaking vegetation filled the hospital behind him. “The p-plants are g-gaining on us!”
Also behind him were Comet Queen with a nurse inelegantly slumped over one shoulder and Phantom Girl cradling a newborn infant. “Grava, fly ahead!” Phantom Girl commanded her younger teammate. “Whatever’s empowering these plants, they can’t do anything to hurt me and Ivy’s small enough that it’s no strain to keep her phased along with me!”
Tinya Wazzo’s face was much paler than usual and her forehead was shiny with sweat; it gave Comet Queen pause but Grava couldn’t deny that her Bgtzlr comrade had a much higher chance of survival against this weird threat than she did. “Whatever you say, starshine! Hold your breath though, I’m gonna make like a nebula and mist up this place!” Comet Queen zoomed ahead and the gases streaming from her scalp billowed out behind her until Phantom Girl’s visibility was reduced to only a few feet ahead. Tinya didn’t complain though; she knew as well as the others that when Grava had chanced across a herbicidal formulation for her cloudy plume she’d provided the trio of Legionnaires with their best weapon against these murderous plants.
As vines and thorny branches recoiled from Comet Queen’s poisonous wake, Phantom Girl felt surprisingly light-headed. She couldn’t possibly have inhaled any of the dangerous gases, both she and the child named Ivy were safely untouchable to just about anything in this plane of reality. “Seal the passage!” Tinya barked at her teammates when she saw that Grava had almost joined Chlorophyll Kid on the other side of a bright red band indicating a forcefield projector. “We’re both intangible, we’ll fly straight through!” Grava came to a sudden halt on the other side of the projector, and as clumsy as the maneuver was, Chlorophyll Kid borrowed the hand of the nurse slung over Grava’s shoulder to activate a fingerprint scanner mounted on the wall. With a fizzling sound, a translucent red plane of energy bisected the corridor and Tinya and the baby flew straight through just as she’d said they would. Their flight path wavered as soon as they were on the other side though, and Phantom Girl solidified as she barged painfully shoulder first at the floor. Holding Ivy as safe as she could within her crossed arms, Tinya skidded across the floor on her back and came to a painful stop against an empty bed.
Comet Queen immediately lay the nurse on the bed and crouched down to Tinya’s level. “Parse me to the c-span, are you still shiny?”
“...I’m fine,” Phantom Girl grimaced in a voice that sounded very much not fine. “Grava, can you please take Ivy for me?” She held the crying infant out and Comet Queen took her without question. Tinya tried to stand, but again felt herself overcome with vertigo and almost fell against the bed. Grabbing it quickly to steady herself, her shoulders slumped and her head bowed with the effort of simply staying erect.
“Ph-Phantom Girl, are you s-sure you're okay?” Chlorophyll Kid queried anxiously. Satisfied that Grava’s cloudy wake and the hospital’s forcefield would keep them safe for a moment, he approached the girls. “You look - you look like Nurse Dentley did just before she p-passed out!”
“I told you...” the nurse groaned weakly, “Call me Diyah…” She struggled to raise her head for a moment before the effort became too much for her and she instead resigned herself to staring helplessly at the ceiling. “...I think these things...infected me with some kind of poison before you Legionnaires arrived...may have done the same to...you all…”
“But Phantom Girl’s a space ghost!” Grava protested. “Nothing can touch her when she’s not here! And they grabbed a good hold of me till my stardust hurt their grabby vines but I’m nova bright, starshine!”
“They did touch me…” Phantom Girl trembled with the effort of standing. “Only...briefly, but...when I picked up Ivy...must have been...must have been enough…” She could push through her weakness no longer and eyes rolling back in her head, Tinya Wazzo collapsed to the cold floor.
Chlorophyll Kid rushed to help her, but the ailing nurse named Diyah Dentley found the strength to lean on one elbow and wave an arm before him. “Stop…” she warned breathlessly. “We don’t know what kind of...poison they used...if it’s still on her...Comet Queen’s species might be immune but…” She passed out again before she could finish, but Chlorophyll Kid grasped her meaning clearly enough. Like Diyah, he too was a native of Mardru; he was just as vulnerable to this affliction as she clearly was.
“G-Grava, do you know h-how to ch-check their v-vitals?” he asked his golden teammate.
Transferring the no longer crying infant to the crook of her left arm, Comet Queen smiled helpfully. “I might not be getting a job on Medicus One anytime soon starshine, but a meteor couldn’t have hammered first aid stuff into my head any harder than Duplicate Damsel did back at the Academy.” She rapped her knuckle against her skull for effect and without causing any discomfort to Ivy at all Grava took both the nurse and Phantom Girl’s pulses, pressed the back of her hand against their foreheads and gently rolled them to their sides. “They’re solar flare hot,” she worried aloud, “I think when the nice nurse lady wakes up again we better ask her where they keep the medicine down here.”
For the first time, Ral Benem looked around his surroundings and realised why it was so deathly still on this side of the field. A large plaque was affixed to the wall, a morgue directory written on its brassy surface in Interlac. Chlorophyll Kid gazed back at the plants which even now had summoned reinforcements and pushed up against the quarantine forcefield, and he gave a bitter laugh and slumped to the floor against the wall while the lights strobed lazily around them all. He heard Grava’s voice but it was muted and unintelligible beneath the sound of his own heart pounding.
...How had a routine trip to his homeworld turned into a hopeless siege in a hospital morgue of all places..?
Ral cast his mind back to the three Legionnaires’ arrival. They’d not had any contact with the hospital since reaching planetary orbit, and when long range scanners showed all three kliks of this island overgrown with vegetation they knew there was something wrong here above and beyond the curiosity of an old friend’s summons. They’d contacted Mardru authorities immediately, and while neither Chlorophyll Kid nor Comet Queen carried the kind of presence to sway local Science Police, Phantom Girl happily did. As one of the longest serving members of the Legion of Superheroes, Tinya had helped Ral convince the Mardru authorities to keep a wide berth of Moorte Island until after the trio of heroes investigated and gave the all clear.
Moorte Island had so utterly been reclaimed by its own plant life that the Legionnaires had found themselves unable to land their cruiser. When the three of them descended under the power of their flight rings, the sight which greeted them was oddly disconcerting. Only the barest hint of Mardrui architecture could be seen beneath a canopy of vines and thick leafy branches, and their only obvious entrance was an almost deliberate clearing several metres wide which led through the shade of whispering trees to the shattered front lobby of the hospital.
Chlorophyll Kid had been to this place once before, several years ago. He knew that there was the bare minimum of biological staff here, all possible functions carried out by medically programmed droids to lessen the chances of any disease making its way off of this remote rock in the ocean. Still, he’d expected to find some staff. He found it chilling that they’d not come across one doctor or nurse, or even a patient for that matter. Then they’d encountered Nurse Dentley hiding with Ivy in a freezer meant for biological samples and the Legionnaires had discovered first hand what had caused the plants to rise up in an attempt to swallow Quarantine and everything in it; their enemy was no plant controller, it was the very plant life of Moorte Island itself.
The Legionnaires had fought and then they had run. At some stage the plants had released a bizarre spore cloud which hampered their flight rings’ communication abilities, leaving them all well and truly alone in this hellish place. Chlorophyll Kid spared a concerned glance for the females trapped here with him. As far as he knew, every living mammal on this island was gathered right here in this corridor...and he had no idea how long that would hold true for Phantom Girl and Diyah.
“O-Okay, let-let’s take a s-second and th-th-think,” Chlorophyll Kid declared. He realised his stuttering was getting worse and took a moment to breathe and centre himself. “Okay,” he said again with slightly more authority. “Nurse….Diyah, s-sorry; what can you tell us? W-What kicked all of this off?”
The nurse’s head lolled and she gazed wearily at the baby gurgling placidly in Grava’s embrace. “...Ivy,” she found the voice to say. “I don’t know why...how...but they started coming for Ivy just after she was born, her mother was the first victim...Eletha...Eletha noticed it first…” Her eyes filled with tears at the memory of her friend who’d fallen victim to the plants just prior to the Legionnaires’ arrival. Chlorophyll Kid’s own eyes grew damp in sympathy.
“Eletha was your friend, starshine?” Comet Queen touched Chlorophyll Kid’s arm. “The one who called us here?”
“Once upon a time, she was my only friend.” Ral’s face betrayed his pain. “Mardru used to b-be a very d-different place...all our p-plant life was dying of Anthratic Blight and our b-best scientists all worked to stop it before our whole w-world turned b-barren.”
“That’s how you got your powers, right?” Comet Queen prompted.
Ral nodded. “I was working in one of the dozens of labs Mardrugov sponsored to f-find a cure...and I fell into an experimental h-hydroponic solution. It m-made me really s-sick for a week, but then I got better overnight and I found out I could make plants grow f-faster. Even back then it was a weird p-power...nobody even really thought of it as a power to b-begin with. I was s-sent here to be st-studied like a bl-blindrat until Mardrugov were satisfied that what I had wasn’t dangerous or-or c-contagious. And while I was here, I met Eletha and she-she-she…” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again. “...Sh-she made me smile. She made me smile, Grava...and now she’s g-gone because I didn’t get here fast enough to help her.”
Comet Queen squeezed his arm. “Chlory, you can’t think like that! Bouncy taught us in the Academy all you can do is try your best but sometimes even your best isn’t gonna be enough...but it’s not your fault!”
“Grava’s...right,” Conscious once more, Phantom Girl forced herself to a seated position against the wall. “From what Diyah said earlier on...before everything went crazy and we had to go on the run...only a few plants were mobile at the start...they didn’t know how bad it was going to get, and by the time they knew...that weird spore cloud cut off their comms just like it did ours...we couldn’t possibly have known...how much danger this island was in.”
A queer creaking noise resonated through the corridor and they all looked in vain to find its source. “We need a plan…” Phantom Girl tried to stand, then thought better of it and relaxed against the wall again. “I’m effectively useless...if Comet Queen can...reach our cruiser, maybe she can call for reinforcements…”
“But we’d have to switch off the forcefield for her to g-get out,” Chlorophyll Kid reasoned. “And we’ve got no defence against those plants without G-Grava...and anyway, I-I don’t want to risk her getting c-caught by those things.” He blushed a warm red at this confession and found himself unable to meet anyone’s eye.
“What I don’t get…” Diyah frowned, “...Isn’t your whole thing plants..? Can’t you force them back, Chlorophyll Kid..?”
“Th-that’s not how my power works,” Ral admitted with shame in his voice. “I can only make plants g-grow faster, and that’s the last thing we n-need right now.” Something else else occurred to Chlorophyll Kid suddenly and he shot Diyah a curious glance. “Who are Ivy’s p-parents? Maybe there’s a clue there why these plants keep coming after her?”
“Nobody knew,” the nurse replied. “...We found her mother staggering outside the main hospital building, she was suffering from extreme shock. Quarantine doesn’t have a maternity ward, but...the best doctors on Mardru are...were...here.” Her face contorted with pain once again as she corrected herself, realising that every last one of her colleagues was surely now dead. “Her mother’s name was Antonine,” she continued. “Antonine Arcane...she wasn’t in any condition to tell us how she got to Moorte Island...or who the father was. She lived long enough to...name Ivy, and then...then those things attacked…”
“Oh.” Chlorophyll Kid’s face grew ashen as he looked down to see the pouches on his belt rustling of their own accord. “Oh no.” His loose-fitting costume was lined with several hidden pockets, and they all started to poke and jostle him now as well.
“Chlory, what--” Comet Queen began to ask, but she was cut off by the sound of Chlorophyll Kid’s costume shredding as over a dozen different species of plants grew outwards from him. Phantom Girl was still too affected by the earlier attack to phase, and found herself as helpless as anybody else in the room when the Legionnaires and Nurse Dentley were suspended in grappling cocoons of hardy Zuunian creepers. Comet Queen clutched on to Ivy as fiercely as she could, but the plants in the end were simply too many and too powerful. “Don’t worry!” Grava cried out. “I’ll rot these ones hyperfast!”
“You will not risk the Avatar of the Green!” a creaking voice hissed. The rest of the plants which had grown forth from Chlorophyll Kid’s seed pouches had now intertwined, filling one whole side of the room. Chlorophyll Kid, Comet Queen, Phantom Girl and Nurse Dentley watched in gaping horror as the combined plants formed a face some seven feet tall. Reaching tendrils grew forth from the thing’s mouth, bringing Ivy toward it. Simultaneously, the Zuunian creepers tightened their grip on their helpless captives.
“You don’t tell a Legionnaire what to do, bark face!” Comet Queen balled her hands into fists and plumes of smoke started to billow forth from her scalp. The Zuunian vines holding her had a much higher resistance to herbicides than any of the native Mardrui vegetation, and Grava had to create more toxic mists to affect it. The vines holding Grava weakened, but the room had become so full of acrid smog now that all the others including Ivy herself had begun rasping for air.
“Grava, stop it!” Chlorophyll Kid hacked. “You’re g-gonna kill us along with these things! Besides, I’ve g-got an idea...get ready to fly as fast as you can!” One of the many extraterrestrial seeds the Mardrui plants had coopted from Chlorophyll Kid was an Earth sequoia. The gigantic redwood was of no use to the Moore Island plants in these confined quarters, but ironically its unwieldy size and strength was exactly what made it perfect for Ral’s purposes. He concentrated briefly and an enormous trunk suddenly shot straight up through the ceiling of the room, the ceiling above that one, and in no time at all through five other levels until it broke through to the open sky above.
“Nova burn!” Comet Queen squealed exuberantly. Taking advantage of the plants’ weakened state she snapped through the creepers gripping her, grabbed Ivy and shot up alongside the redwood trunk faster than anyone else in the room could react. By the time the Mardrui plants sent the clutching branches of the sequoia after Comet Queen, she was hundreds of feet up with Ivy cradled close to her flat chest. The sudden exposure to outside air had the side-effect of dispersing Comet Queen’s wake more effectively and Ral, Tinya and Diyah swallowed huge lungfuls of clean air.
Unfortunately, they weren’t the only ones to get a recovery boost. The plants strengthened their hold on Nurse Dentley and the Legionnaires, more and more vines covering them until Ral couldn’t even hear his own pained bellow any longer. A moment before consciousness was about to leave him, he felt a falling sensation and found himself in a dogpile with Tinya and Diyah outside the cocoon of greenery. “...Whatever you try…” Phantom Girl challenged the looming plant face through gritted teeth, “We’ll find a way to fight you, Green Avatar...or whatever you’re called. Legionnaires...don’t quit.”
Chlorophyll Kid appreciated the sentiment, but he doubted very much that Tinya had it in her to phase all three of them again. He made a grim decision. “Phantom Girl...take Diyah...go find Grava and bring the rest of the Legion. I’ll keep him busy as long as I can.”
“I can’t just...leave you here!” Tinya protested.
“We both know you’ve got the best chance of getting her to safety!” Ral snapped. “And whatever happens to us, neither her or Ivy asked for this and they don’t deserve it! Please PG, let me save someone.”
It didn’t escape Phantom Girl’s attention that Chlorophyll Kid’s stutter was gone...nor did it escape her attention that he was right. She looked across at Diyah as the nurse hid her face behind her hands and sobbed helplessly. Tendrils were already reaching for the three of them, Tinya had to act now; she might not even be able to get them far in her current state, but she had to try. “We’ll come back for you, Chlorophyll Kid!” Phantom Girl looked at her teammate with a pleading expression as Zuunian creepers shot harmlessly through her. “I promise!” Fighting back her lightheadedness she grabbed Diyah around the waist and tried to avoid the plants as she followed Comet Queen’s flight path; as little chance as she had of escaping these things in her current state, Phantom Girl knew that chance would be improved if she didn’t exhaust herself trying to keep them both intangible for the whole flight. The plants didn’t know any better and had stopped actively pursuing her, considering the Bgtzlr woman a wasted target.
Chlorophyll Kid brought himself a fraction of a second by enlarging the vines reaching for him until they ran out of space to snake around him, but the plants soon tried another tactic and Ral found himself trapped in a slowly closing cage of thorny vines. “Wait, tell me something before you k-kill me!” Chlorophyll Kid desperately grasped for time. “Avatar, why are you after that girl Ivy anyway? She’s j-just a baby, she can’t possibly be a th-threat to you!”
“Ivy Arcane is the Avatar of the Green!” the mouth decreed in a tone of rustling menace. “For too long, the Green has held no sway in this plane! We have been devastated on far too many worlds to empower an avatar as we have in times past! The mortal mage Alek Arcane used his magicks in combination with our own power to give us that which would ensure the Green’s survival in this sterile time; a human/plant hybrid! The human side of Ivy Arcane will allow her to thrive and evolve in ways that her plant side never could alone!”
“Then why --ahh!-- why are you tr-trying to kill her?!” The thorns had begun to pierce Ral’s flesh, and he was starting to think this might be the end of his road. At least hopefully Comet Queen and Phantom Girl had gotten the others to safety, he had to concentrate on that small victory.
“Kill her?” The plant-man seemed genuinely astonished. “We are not trying to kill the Avatar of the Green, not after all the work we have devoted to ensuring her birth! We are protecting her, fool! Alek Arcane used us, he manipulated his daughter’s pregnancy to ensure the Avatar of the Green would be primed for his own plots and schemes as soon as she came into this world! We have made the mistake of trusting humans once too often...none of you can save her from the predations of her grandfather so we will take her ourselves and train her in the use of her abilities far from his reach! That you must die for us to achieve our objectives is unfortunate, but we can not muster too much sympathy for worlds of species who have strived to wipe out plants from every land where they set foot!”
“Wait!” The thorns constricted around Chlorophyll Kid’s calf and rivulets of blood ran down his boot. “Wait, damn it! Nobody needs to die!! If what you’re saying is tr-true, you can’t possibly keep Ivy safe from Alek Arcane for long! He doesn’t even need spells to defeat you, just a d-decent herbicide! Sprock, one flamethrower and y-you’d all be done for!”
“What other option do we have?” the plants asked. “His own daughter Antonine barely escaped his power to seek refuge upon this island!”
“I’m with a gr-group of heroes,” Chlorophyll Kid explained hurriedly. “Comet Queen and Phantom Girl, they’re my t-teammates; and there are a whole l-legion more of us, all with different powers! S-Sprock, a handful of my teammates have enough power to reduce all you plants to ash! And if you k-kill me now, they’ll come and they’ll do it! But if you let us t-take Ivy with us, we’ll p-protect her! We’ve fought sorcerers before, we’ve fought d-demons and gods! He can’t beat us all!”
For the first time, Ral felt the embrace of the thorny vines slacken ever so slightly. He could tell he was getting through. “You’ve s-seen my power!” he continued. “We can keep her s-safe, but I can teach her to keep herself safe! If she’s got the same ability to c-control plants that you do, I can show her how to use it!”
“If she is to act as our avatar in this world, she will need to know her human side as she does her plant side,” the plant-faced man considered Ral’s proposition. “That is not a gift we can bestow...but we have seen that your own influence over plant life is vastly inferior to anything Ivy Arcane will be capable of, so let us bestow a gift which is within our ability to offer. We could not empower another in this manner, but you already have an affinity with the Green. It is a more simple matter for us to enhance this affinity and make you a more efficient guardian.”
“O-Okay,” Ral agreed hesitantly. “So what do I need to--”
He never completed the rest of his question; the sensation of hundreds of burning needles drew only screams of agony from the man named Ral Benem.
Kando Vyr didn’t look up from his omnicom as he walked from the elevator to the front door of his new Titanopolis apartment. The thirteen year old platinum blond had left his homeworld of Naltor a week ago to start work at Titan’s prestigious Time Institute and the Time Institute had been kind enough to help him find affordable accommodation not too far away.
The research work at the Time Institute was fascinating, and the young genius had already begun brainstorming ways he could apply the things he was learning there to his own projects. Most exciting of all he’d already met his scientific inspiration Harmonia LI as well as reserve members of the Legion of Superheroes Bouncing Boy and Duplicate Damsel. There had even been a real Legion of Superheroes battle right outside the Time Institute on his very first day! Bouncing Boy had kept him too busy with orientation tasks for Kando to have really seen a lot of it, but he was reading news files now that filled in the blanks for him. The question on everybody’s lips it seemed was the identity of the mysterious white hooded stranger who’d fought alongside Dream Girl, Matter-Eater Lad and Stone Boy that day. He was no Legionnaire, but nobody seemed to know who he was.
Kando absent-mindedly bumped into his front door and gave it an annoyed glance. “Silly thing should have opened as soon as the security scan recognised me,” he thought to himself. Out loud, he uttered a voice command and the door finally slid obediently into its recess. Kando made a mental note to notify building management before he left for work the next morning and was grateful that at least the internal light system was still working properly. The living room of his modest apartment became instantly illuminated, and Kando nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw a broad-shouldered bearded man in a simple red and blue hooded jumpsuit standing by the far wall.
“You’ve done well at hiding your tracks,” the stranger snarled as he stomped forward, “But I knew if I was patient enough I’d find you playing hero sooner or later.”
“Who-who are you?” the young boy stammered, backing off toward the front door. “How did you get into my apartment??”
“My best friend is Chameleon Boy,” the taller and far more muscular man responded, “I know how to be sneaky when I need to be...and I’m surprised you don’t recognise me, you’re telling me people never grow sprocking beards in your stupid future?” Unbelievably, the man grew in stature until he was nearly nine feet tall and his brown hair brushed against the ceiling.
“Colossal Boy??” Kando asked incredulously. “From the Legion of Superheroes?? What are you doing here??”
Gim Allon pinned the boy to the floor of his apartment with one incredibly strong hand, knocking the wind out of him. “I knew you’d get it eventually,” the former Legionnaire grunted.
Staq being able to transform at will is pretty cool and i agree with Brainy that they need to take the proper measures to make sure everyone is safe. Its going to be cool to see the full extent of his powers. Elastic Lad's enthusiasm is always great to see. finding the bright side always.
Ha! "Hope is inconsequential.... he has me." that made me laugh out loud. such a Brainy line.
Mardru's adventure is intense! Grava too the rescue! I never thought of all the different uses her gases could produce. thanks!
Ral becoming a mentor to Ivy and a avatar of the green! that's cool. I like how you brought in elements of Swamp thing. Be interesting if Alec Holland made an appearance. Ral got a power up grade and so did Staq...are the rest the subs in for something along the same lines?
CB is after Infinity Boy? but does he realize this is the one from before his transformation?
Also refresh my memory but when/how long has Year been missing?
I love your take on Brainy, he's such a curmudgeon its great to read, especially juxtaposed to Elastic Lads uber-chirpy nature - great characterisation Raz!
Zoe is nicely snarky too while still trying her best to help, which is well done.
Interesting take on Fire Lad's development - am I right in thinking he can turn into a dragon of sorts now? Cool! (or perhaps Hot would be a better exclamation there ) Though that doesn't leave much chance for Marya to make the Big Team now, which is a shame. I wonder if Staqs personality will change with his body? Looking forward to seeing what you have planned next for him, and if Aquilla will return and how their kind of relationship will progress.
Again, I need to praise how well you take the weaker and less well established characters and give them great respect by showing how versatile and useful they can be - your Chlorophyll Kid and Comet Queen really do shine. And nice to see you are going to use Ivy as, if I remember correctly, other than talk to plants and generally jump around a lot, she didn't get a fair crack at the whip in the 5 year gap stories. Introducing the Green nto the Legion mythos is a fab idea as it can lead to all sorts of wacky storylines that I know you can deliver on. Also, you showed Tinya's determination and loyalty well without it seeming out of character, she really is one of the most experienced of the team and its good to see her use that.
Gim is desperate to find Yera, though it seems he has the wrong Kid Infinity in his grasp - really happy that you are using this character and also looking forward to seeing how you take that story forward too.
Great stuff Raz, you write some of the best characters and keep the action and suspense coming with every new post which always makes it a pleasure to read your work. That only really leaves me with one thing to add...
More, more, more!
Legion Worlds NINE - wait, there's even more ongoing amazing adventures? Yup, and you'll only find them in the Bits o' Legionnaire Business Forum.
Happy new year, all! Thanks for commenting as usual, much appreciated
I actually didn't realise I had been going through and upgrading all the Subs one by one till Omni mentioned it! Stone Boy already got his upgrade when he gained the power to move in his stone form, and I gave Night Girl a power-up way back when I started writing this series by saying that Mordru's shadow demons in Legion of 3 Worlds permanently increased her strength reserves...that only leaves Polar Boy and Color Kid of the original Subs and I'm pretty happy with them where they are (for now, hehe...)...we'll see over the next few months what exactly all this means for Fire Lad and Chlorophyll Kid anyway.
Yera last appeared in April 2014 (the story is here if anyone would like to refresh their memory), though in-universe I'd say only several months to a year has gone by; there's only been one leadership election since then so that tracks.
I am glad y'all caught that Gim has the wrong Kando Vyr, I didn't want to actually come out and say it so I was hoping the story made it clear. Y'all may remember I mentioned something about a couple of unexpected Legion guest stars coming up...well one of them will appear the very next instalment!
Thanks for reading, everyone! This year will mark the 8th year since I started writing this series by bringing Infectious Lass back from the 21st century and it has gone way further than I ever expected! Not bad for something I started doing just to try and teach myself some writing discipline
EDIT: that link doesn't go to the exact post on the page for some reason, but it's the post from April 9 anyway
I actually didn't realise I had been going through and upgrading all the Subs one by one till Omni mentioned it! Stone Boy already got his upgrade when he gained the power to move in his stone form, and I gave Night Girl a power-up way back when I started writing this series by saying that Mordru's shadow demons in Legion of 3 Worlds permanently increased her strength reserves...that only leaves Polar Boy and Color Kid of the original Subs and I'm pretty happy with them where they are (for now, hehe...)...we'll see over the next few months what exactly all this means for Fire Lad and Chlorophyll Kid anyway.
I noticed too, and thought you were purposely powering up Legionnaires you felt needed a boost!
Originally Posted by razsolo
Yera last appeared in April 2014 (the story is here if anyone would like to refresh their memory), though in-universe I'd say only several months to a year has gone by; there's only been one leadership election since then so that tracks.
I am glad y'all caught that Gim has the wrong Kando Vyr, I didn't want to actually come out and say it so I was hoping the story made it clear. Y'all may remember I mentioned something about a couple of unexpected Legion guest stars coming up...well one of them will appear the very next instalment!
This is one of the subplots that has me hooked the most, so I'm eager to see what happens next! Also noticed that Gim got the wrong version of his guy
Love your various nicknames and insults: Tachyon calling Lydda "Beehive", Grava calling Chuck "Bouncy"...
Fire Lad as a dragon, very interesting and logical development of his power. It could be funny if he just suddenly changes forms, as long as he keeps his consciousness - but certainly more effective if he learns to control and change on command. Brek's struggle to talk him down from angry dragon state (and for Brek to face some of his own dragons) was very well done.
Elastic Lad is so 1950s. Is he channeling the original Jimmy Olsen - or maybe Leave it to Beaver? He does play off well against Brainiac 5.
Grava's power takes on a whole new threat when adding the power of different gases. I'm curious to see what you do with Ivy.
I didn't think Laurel's "S" was terrible - it looks a bit yin-yang, and she should have something distinctive from the 20th century Super S.
And comment to Set: the hair idea was really cool!
Elastic Lad was indeed my attempt to give the Legion an updated version of a 1950s character, I wanted to see if I could carry it off without making him just the comedy relief and it seems to have worked I guess as people don't hate him lol
Ivy is just a baby for now but she is definitely gonna bring some interesting things along with her now that she's in the Legion's lives!
MARS Husband Hill, Legion of Superheroes Headquarters
With Element Lad’s help, the Legion had made emergency repairs to one of the smaller rooms in their medical facility and reinforced the interior walls to make the room fireproof. The reinforcements seemed to have been unnecessary, but when Staq Mavlen opened the door and saw the hunted look on Arqiia’s face as she cowered on her bed he was glad they’d taken the precaution nonetheless.
“Who are you?” the Mercurian woman snapped. “Am I a prisoner here??”
“Not at all,” Staq replied in a tone he hoped was soothing. He caught his reflection in the mirrored surface of the viewing window and realised why she hadn’t recognised him; this blond pink-skinned youth seemed nothing like the bony hairless Fire Lad she’d briefly met. Still, he felt some tinge of the connection they’d once shared and he hoped the same held true for Arqiia. “My name’s Staq,” he continued, taking a seat near the foot of the bed. “We met before, I’m also called Fire Lad. I’m one of the Legion of Superheroes, we saved you from the Heavensent. Do you remember?”
She glared suspiciously at him, but that suspicion soon lessened slightly. “Why do you look so different?” she demanded.
“Long story,” he smiled wryly. “I look different, but I’m still the same person...and I still want to help you, Arqiia. Can you tell me what happened after we last met? You and Void disappeared, and our trackers couldn’t find a trace of you.”
“I remember now,” her eyes blazed with anger. “You didn’t save me from the Heavensent, you trapped me with one of them! We were in a space...a space that wasn’t a space, and Void wasn’t there but Celestine was and...and I don’t know how much time passed in that place, or if time passed in that place, but suddenly we were back in your building once more and Celestine had her hand at my throat!”
“That was an accident, Arqiia.” Staq wondered whether he should change into his mutated form; this room might be fireproof, but in his current state he certainly wasn’t. He decided against it; a giant horned dragon-man with a loose grip on his own humanity might not be the best approach to avoid escalating tensions, Staq noted sardonically. “I’m so sorry that you went through that but you have to believe we would never have intentionally put you in danger. I wouldn’t put you in danger. We stopped the Heavensent for good this time, you’re safe now.”
“You killed them??” The artificial woman was confused; as much as she was terrified of the Heavensent, part of her still couldn’t help but idolise them.
“No, no!” Staq fanned his hands in front of him. “We don’t do that...they’re in prison though and they’ll stay there for a very long time.”
She seemed to accept this answer, and visibly relaxed. After a moment, the beady embers of Arqiia’s eyes met Staq’s. “So...what will happen to me now..?”
Terrified, Kando Vyr looked up into the looming face of a nine foot tall Gim Allon. The former Colossal Boy’s hand was spread across Kando’s chest, easily pinning him to the floor of his own apartment. “W-What do you mean I’m gonna help you find your wife?” Kando stumbled over his words. “Why would I know where Chameleon Girl is??”
“I might not have ever been the smartest Legionnaire,” Gim growled, “But I’m not an idiot either. She only left me after she met you. Even if you didn’t have anything to do with it, you must know why she left, where she is now!”
“Are you crazy?!” the young Naltorian’s voice cracked with fear. “I’ve never met Chameleon Girl, I’ve only even seen her in holos two or three times!”
Gim frowned. This wasn’t going at all how he’d expected it would. He had assumed Kando might feed him a line about protecting the sanctity of the timestream, he’d even been prepared for a fight, but this boy seemed completely dumbfounded. More, Kando was clearly frightened but he wasn’t doing anything to defend himself. None of it made sense; Gim had seen the Infinite Boy working with Dream Girl, Matter-Eater Lad and Stone Boy on Marella Tao’s newscast. He might have worn a new costume, but how many other heroes had the ability to summon Thanagarian Hawk-Police from thin air? Once Gim had seen him in action in Titanopolis, it had only taken a little more investigation to unearth Kando Vyr’s address. Why now was this experienced hero from the future cowering in confusion?
Before either of them could utter another word, the front door of the apartment slid open with a subtle whoosh. Without releasing Kando, Gim’s head snapped toward the new sound. Silhouetted in the doorway was a white-cloaked figure; the Infinite Boy. Gim Allon’s face contorted as he struggled to come to terms with the two identical youths now before him.
From where he was pinned to the floor, the younger Kando couldn’t quite make out this newcomer. Still, he recognised this might be his best chance to escape unscathed. “Whoever you are, get help!” the immobile boy bellowed. “Call the Time Institute, tell Bouncing Boy and Duplicate Damsel that Colossal Boy’s gone crazy!”
“Let him go!” the Infinite Boy barked.
“What the sprock’s going on here?” Gim snapped back. “How can you be in two--”
“I said let him go!” the elder Kando interrupted with a note of panic. He held his cloak wide open with both hands, an eternal starscape yawning inside. An animalistic roar suddenly filled the apartment and before Gim’s stunned eyes a lycanthropic monster almost as tall as himself charged forth from the cloakspace. The creature was solid muscle covered entirely in long brown hair, and Gim realised as it knocked the breath out of him that it was far stronger than he’d anticipated. The vaguely humanoid creature knocked the former Colossal Boy on his rear, grazing Gim’s head painfully against the ceiling and smashing both a coffee table and a three-seater couch to shrapnel along the way.
Pulling his hood over his downcast face, the Infinite Boy stepped away from the doorway and disguised his voice as best as he was able. “Go!” he shouted at his younger self. “Get out of here, I’ll take care of Colossal Boy!” The younger Kando didn’t need to be told twice, and in a matter of seconds he was halfway to the elevator. The Infinite Boy turned his attention now to whatever creature this was he’d hurriedly summoned from the timestream to fight Colossal Boy, and his eyes grew wide with horror. “No, don’t kill him!”
The shaggy creature straddled Gim Allon and raised one powerful arm to eviscerate its prey with razor-sharp talons. As it slashed downwards, Gim reacted just in time to shrink down to his normal size and squirm aside. Spittle rained down on Gim’s face as the monster’s claws shredded the floor only inches from his torso, and Gim looked up into a face so dark that it seemed in perpetual shadow. The only features visible were the two amber slits of the creature’s eyes and a mouth filled with fangs made to rend flesh from bone. The monster’s hot breath was like a gust of fetid wind, and Gim knew he had to act now if he was going to survive.
“Off you get, Furball!” Still lying on the floor, Gim slammed both fists into the hirsute creature and simultaneously shot up to twelve feet in height. The sudden growth spurt destroyed one of Kando’s remaining lounge chairs but it also added momentum as he shoved the monster into the ceiling with a satisfying crack. The beast he’d nicknamed Furball growled in response, but Gim couldn’t help but notice the sound was one of discomfort rather than pain. Gim conversely roared in agony as Furball’s claws ripped bloody streaks into his his left arm.
Gim grimaced. He could hear the Infinite Boy yammering something in the background but he couldn’t afford to focus on that now; this critter’s strength and durability far outstripped his own, the only way Gim could match him was in cunning. With Furball squirming in his grip, Gim shrunk down just enough to give himself room to maneuver. He grunted as he hefted Furball aside, slamming the monster into the man who’d summoned him in the first place. The Infinite Boy and Furball both crashed into a wall, the impact smashing an ornamental holo-projector to pieces. The Infinite Boy slipped to the floor in a dazed heap, but Furball was already pivoting to attack again. Gim ran toward the apartment’s outer wall, almost scraping his head against the ceiling. He could hear Furball behind him, and at the last possible instant Gim threw himself down on his belly in the wreckage of Kando Vyr’s living room. The creature’s pounce took him over Gim’s prostrate form and just as Gim had planned, Furball charged through the wall itself. Its howls faded into the wind as it began a 47 storey plummet into the streets of Titanopolis below. Too late, Gim wondered if he’d overestimated the creature’s strength; he’d been desperate to save himself, but he didn’t want to kill Furball even if it was just a dumb monster. Cradling his wounded arm, he made his way to Kando Vyr’s new makeshift window and clucked his tongue at the sight which greeted him. “...Sprockin’ unbelievable…”
Furball’s ill-considered leap had taken it into the path of gravcars below. It bounced from the roof of one vehicle to the next with greater dexterity than anybody could reasonably expect from such a bulky lifeform until one final flex of its massive legs sent it soaring a hundred feet across the traffic to land on an open balcony. It turned and gazed back up where it had come from, and though Gim couldn’t hear it from so far away he could imagine its low rumbling growl. He couldn’t just leave the creature there, no normal Titanian would stand a chance against it.
Gim turned back to the Infinite Boy; the boy from the future was still moaning his way back to full consciousness and Gim knew he was going to have to handle this himself. “Great,” he muttered. “This thing’s stronger than Timber Wolf and nearly as agile, and I’m probably gonna get myself killed just trying to get over there so it can dice me up and eat me...suck it up Allon, nobody lives forever.”
Cursing himself for having surrendered his flight ring when he left the Legion of Superheroes almost a year ago, Gim Allon took a running leap and threw himself into the biting winds of the Titanopolis evening sky. He increased his size dramatically, showcasing the power that had given him his heroic codename as crowds of people below suddenly saw a bearded colossus of a man over 200 feet tall appear above them. Praying that he could time this right, Gim reached out easily and hooked fingers as large as tree trunks on the edge of the rooftop of the building that Furball had found itself on. The building immediately creaked in protest at the weight it was now being asked to support, but before it could crumble Gim shrunk back down to his normal size and clutched on to the edge of the rooftop for dear life. When he slapped hard against the skyscraper’s chrome wall his shoulder almost dislocated and his injured arm throbbed maddeningly, but he held fast. Gim painstakingly pulled himself over the edge of the roof, and when he’d done that he stretched out on his back and released a long hissing exhalation through gritted teeth. A moment later, a shadow fell over him and Gim Allon heard a familiar low rumbling growl. He raised his head to see Furball advancing slowly from where the creature had just clambered up the side of the building. “Oh, you gotta be kidding me…” Gim groaned. Furball pounced once more, fangs and claws bared.
Gim hoped that he’d estimated correctly how much stress this rooftop could take as he once more exercised his power and grew to three times his normal size. Furball landed on his stomach and tore deep red stripes down his chest, but it was better than being torn apart as he surely would have been at normal height. All of the size-changing in such a short period of time had begun to make Gim lightheaded, but this fresh pain cut straight through it and left him fully alert once more. Crying out in shock, he grabbed Furball with both hands and held him high overhead. The creature writhed and slashed at the air, but it no longer had any leverage to mount a successful assault. Still, as much as it looked like an angry teddy bear at the moment Gim knew its strength was far greater than he could afford to match in the middle of this crowded city. He needed to find a more permanent way to deal with Furball without killing the creature.
As if on cue, the Infinite Boy floated overhead and looked down upon the growling beast and the gigantic man holding it. “Shock, you look like you’ve been through a meat grinder!” the cloaked hero uttered.
“No thanks to you!” Gim shouted back. “Would you please send this thing back to whenever you got it? I know I came on strong, but I get the message; I’ll behave myself, alright?”
The Infinite Boy considered his opponent’s words. Honestly, Kando had no more idea of Furball’s point of origin than Gim did. Once upon a time he’d not only have known, but the creature would have acted purely as a living extension of Kando’s own will. These days, the timestream just threw him whatever it deemed appropriate to deal with the problem at hand...and if that might mean he unleashed a super-strong werewolf monster on Titan, so be it. Kando sighed at his own limitations and flicked a hand at the snarling creature. Furball disappeared back into the timestream, and the Infinite Boy landed on the roof by Gim Allon’s head.
“I don’t know what drove you to scare the nass out of my younger self,” he addressed Gim sternly, “But even though I might only have a fraction of the power I used to have, I’m still a Naltorian; I foresaw you attacking him and knew I had to help him despite the risk of interacting with my own earlier incarnation.”
Gim had shrunk back down to his normal size again, and Kando offered him a hand to get to his feet. “So...you mind telling me what was worth jeopardising the whole timestream for, Colossal Boy?”
********** MARDRU Moorte Island, Quarantine Medical Research Facility and Hospital
Comet Queen zipped across the sea like her namesake, her cloudy wake dissipating swiftly on the ocean breeze. Phantom Girl and she had found a lifeless rock jutting out of the sea and once they had contented themselves that the plants of Mardru had no ability to harm them there, Grava had left Ivy in the care of Phantom Girl and Nurse Dentley. Phantom Girl was still too weak to risk going back to Moorte Island, but Comet Queen wasn’t going to leave Chlorophyll Kid there to face those murderous plants on his own. Grava had felt the icy grip of panic for a moment when she hadn’t been able to raise Ral on his flight ring, but then she remembered that the plants had somehow managed to block the Legionnaires’ radio comms. She would need to wait till she saw him herself to know that he was safe, and patience unfortunately had never been one of Grava’s stronger traits.
She found the island easily enough; this far out at sea, there was precious little other land to distract her. Comet Queen circled the angry border wall of vines and thorns and allowed her cloudy trail to settle on the clutching vegetation. The plants responded to Grava’s power instantly, pulling away as though they’d suffered an electric shock. As Grava found the front of the medical facility though, she noticed that it wasn’t just the creepers and branches affected by her power which were retreating...the foliage all across the island seemed to be growing thinner by the minute. Comet Queen wondered whether Chlorophyll Kid had somehow managed to come up with some way to hurt the plants after all, and she descended into what was now a large open patch behind the damaged building.
She saw movement inside the building, heard the rustle of countless branches twisting and reshaping, and while she was still trying to gauge what exactly these plants were up to Grava saw a bulky figure exit the research facility. He was covered from head to toe in wooden armour, wiry vines holding thick plates of bark together over his torso, limbs and head. Comet Queen presumed that the plants had found some way to create artificial soldiers and she readied herself to immerse the golem in toxic gas. When she saw the figure’s exposed face, her own features lit up and Grava almost knocked him to the ground with the force of her embrace. “Chlory! Starshine, you’re okay! I was so scared!!”
Inside the wooden armour, Chlorophyll Kid squirmed under a barrage of kisses. “You came back for me!” he smiled warmly once he finally managed to get an arm’s length from Grava.
“Of course I did, silly!” She stepped back and looked him over properly. “Ivy’s safe with Phantom Girl, I wasn’t gonna leave you here with these creepy creepers!” She looked around warily at the retreating plant life. “We better make like a rogue planet and shoot outta here though before they come after us again!”
“That’s not going to be a problem anymore,” Ral said quietly but firmly. “The Green and I have come to…an understanding, you might say.”
“An understanding? What kinda understanding?” Grava suddenly blinked and her mouth dropped open. “Hey! Chlory, your stutter’s gone!”
“I’m going to take responsibility for keeping Ivy safe and for training her until she’s old enough to serve her role as Avatar of the Green,” Chlorophyll Kid explained calmly. “And in return, the Green...improved me.” He held his hands splayed before him and with a look of detached curiosity he watched as his own power effortlessly extended the wooden armour over his fingers to form long artificial talons. With a soft creaking noise, the wood transformed itself once more and the claws became rigid bracers covering his forearms.
“Parse me to the C-span, that’s nova-bright Chlory! It is nova-bright, right? You’re shiny?” She regarded him with concern.
“It’s a good change...I can do so much more now, the Green have helped me exceed my potential. But the change isn’t just physical, Grava….I’m going to need to adjust to this new role. Still, the danger here is over. We can return home now.”
“Yay!” Comet Queen impulsively kissed him on the cheek once more and the two took to the sky. As they flew, a small neurotic voice inside Grava’s head asked her if this really was a good change. Chlorophyll Kid would never have been able to make this kind of armour before today, and she knew that he found his stutter infuriating at times; she knew that she should be ecstatic for him. Still, there was something in his voice and something in the way he carried himself now...it was subtle, but he felt different.
Different doesn’t mean bad though, Grava told herself silently. Taking one last look at the remains of Moorte Island behind her, she repeated that phrase many times more as they soared over the ocean waves.
NIce demonstration of Ral's power up! I wonder how this will affect his budding relationship with Grava?
Good show, displaying Gim's tactics, his strength and fitness. Too often he is shown merely relying on his large size, it was good seeing how athletic he is.
MARS Husband Hill, Legion of Superheroes Headquarters
As they entered a small classroom containing most of the Legion Academy, Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl pondered the diversity of their class. While Dragonwing and Chemical Kid joked obnoxiously and loudly, Variable Lad sat at their side with a polite smile; Oaa was included in their fun but he was far more reserved than his more extroverted friends. Across the room Kid Quantum and Glorith worked together quietly on a project, and behind them Gravity Kid sat with his chin on his fist completely oblivious to the rest of the class as he pored over his own work.
“Attention please, everyone!” Lightning Lad commanded. Variable Lad, Glorith and Kid Quantum immediately looked up at their teachers. Gravity Kid continued editing for another half a minute before he grudgingly saved his work and slid his tablet across the table, and Marya and Hadru spent that same time stifling their snorting giggles behind their hands.
Imra and Garth turned toward the open door. “Come in, Arqiia.” Saturn Girl smiled warmly. “We’ll introduce you to the others.”
Some of the students had seen Arqiia around the base over the past week, but none of them had been introduced to the Mercurian woman yet. She entered with mild apprehension, her eyes darting from one face to the next. She wore a black bodysuit adorned with yellow and red piping in flame outlines to compliment the actual fire which blazed from her scalp. “Hello,” she ventured awkwardly.
“With Laurel having graduated to the Legion, we have room for another student.” Imra addressed the group as a whole. “Arqiia’s taken the codename Fire Lass and she’ll be your new classmate.”
“Excuse me?” Variable Lad raised an arm. “May I please ask what your powers are, Fire Lass?”
“Oaa.” Chemical Kid deadpanned. “Her head’s on fire and she’s called Fire Lass. Come on pal, this isn’t quantum surgery.”
Arqiia looked to Saturn Girl for approval before replying. “I was created to exist on the planet Mercury,” she explained. “I am told that my resistance to temperature and radiation extremes is far higher than the average United Planets citizen, and I was also created with other physical adaptations to suit life on that planet. Also, I can breathe fire.”
“Hang on,” Dragonwing piped up. “She’s got the exact same power as me? That’s not fair! We can’t both get into the Legion!”
“My sister and I beg to differ,” Lightning Lad retorted cheekily. “But we did take that into consideration when Fire Lad suggested Arqiia’s enrolment, and because your powers are so similar you’ll be happy to know that you’re going to be Fire Lass’s mentor, Dragonwing. It’ll be your job to make sure she settles in with the rest of the class smoothly.”
“What??” Dragonwing was aghast. “I came here to join the Legion of Superheroes, not to be a sprockin’ babysitter!”
“Then I’d have thought you would appreciate the opportunity to show us what you can do when you’re given a position of responsibility,” Saturn Girl replied coolly. “I have to leave now, I’ve got an appointment with Fire Lad; I trust you’ll all give Fire Lass a warm welcome.”
Chemical Kid chuckled. “Warm welcome, heh. Man, Lullabye Lad sure picked the wrong week to go visit his family.” Dragonwing shot him a baleful glare.
**********
In one of the many cafeterias dotting the Legion’s base, Jacques Foccart glumly pushed kedjonou around his bowl. The chicken stew’s fragrant aroma was normally enough to lift his mood but he could barely muster the appetite for it at all today. A red-gloved hand suddenly waved before him, jolting him from his melancholy.
“Mars to Jacques, hello!” His younger sister pulled up a chair and sat opposite. “Didn’t you hear me? I said hi like three times!”
“I apologise, ma soeur.” He mustered a weak smile. “I am somewhat distracted.”
“No duh!” Danielle teased him. “I haven’t seen you like this since Arora Beaubier dumped you for that dopey moopsball player way back when...those two deserved each other, you ask me. What’s wrong this time, sadface?”
“It is Drura,” Jacques admitted morosely. “Danielle, I have done a terrible thing and I don’t know if she will ever talk to me again.”
Danielle rolled her eyes. “Jacques, you’re such a drama queen. Whatever you did wrong, it’s obvious to anyone that you two are into each other to a gross degree. I’m sure she’ll be fine when she cools off, what did you do anyway?”
Jacques opened his mouth to speak, but a high-pitched whine sounded before he could start. The Foccart siblings traded a perplexed glance, and sitting at a table across the room Mwindaji looked up from the letter he was writing to his mothers. A tiny aircraft flew through the room, midnight blue with red highlights. The ship was slightly larger than a football, with only a sleek dorsal fin breaking its rounded shape. Though Mwindaji was still too new to the team to make the connection, Invisible Kid and Kid Computo recognised straight away that the ship’s design seemed to be an updated version of their teammate Quislet’s microship.
“Quislet back!” the Teallian explorer announced to the room. “Legionnaires like Quislet’s new ship? Teall helped build it because Quislet best hero ever!”
The ship came to an instant halt and hovered in place, the engine’s whine subsiding slightly. Now that it was motionless, the others could clearly see Quislet’s familiar sigil emblazoned in red on both sides of the ship’s fin. “Welcome,” Invisible Kid forced a smile despite his grey mood. “Your new vessel is tres chic, my friend.”
“Have you spoken to Brainiac 5 yet?” Kid Computo queried. “I don’t think he’s too happy with you at the moment, little guy.”
On that note, the Legion’s leader entered the room. “My emotional state is irrelevant,” Brainiac stated plainly. “However Quislet, if you wish to resume your membership with the Legion of Superheroes there are matters which need to be discussed.”
“How did you even know he was back?” Kid Computo joked. “Have you just been wandering the corridors waiting for a chance to make your entrance somewhere?”
“Obviously, I created a security alert to notify me upon Quislet’s return.” Brainiac’s reply was completely humorless. “Now I need Quislet to accompany me to my multi-lab.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “Your services may also be of use, Kid Computo. Please come with us.”
Without waiting for a response, the Coluan turned and walked out. With a shrug of her shoulders, Danielle Foccart stood up and followed Brainiac 5 and Quislet out of the cafeteria.
**********
ZWEN Wentim Valley, Retail District
Driving winds brought with them icy sleet that chilled every Zwennite to the marrow. Clutching their insulated hoods close to their faces, Dag Wentim and his younger brother Waiane rushed into the dry comfort of one of their hometown’s most exclusive malls. Once they were inside, they stepped away from the entrance and over a panel of heated air. There, they removed their parkas, beanies, gloves and scarves and crushed the special fabric down into a pouch small enough to hang off of a belt loop.
Waiane took a look around the expansive mall. Other than themselves, less than a dozen shoppers wandered this normally crowded space. Many stores were closed, and those still open were staffed by autoregisters or the occasional Zwennite bored out of their mind. “At least it’s not busy,” the would-be Legionnaire named Lullabye Lad volunteered cheerily.
Waiane’s brother was in fact already a Legionnaire, the heroic Stone Boy. On any other world, that name would carry more recognition than the name he’d been given at birth but the Wentim family had helped found Zwen’s society generations ago and Dag and Waiane Wentim were two of this humble planet’s favourite sons. “Really?” Dag snapped sarcastically. “It’s not busy, Waiane? Do you think maybe that’s because it’s Hibernation Eve?”
“Eesh, what crawled up your butt?” Waiane recoiled in annoyance.
Dag sighed. “I’m sorry, I’m just tired and grumpy. I didn’t get two nanos to rest after Dream Girl, Matter-Eater Lad and I got back from Titan before you and I had to leave again to get back here in time for dinner with Mom and Dad tonight. I was really hoping we’d get a chance to relax at home with some hot shashnog, but it turns out somebody forgot to buy Mom and Dad a gift before he left Mars!”
Waiane’s pale cheeks flushed with color. “I know, I should have done it last week...things have been weird with my dumb boyfriend lately; since Laurel Kent graduated to join the Legion of Superheroes as a full member, Tel’s been like ultra into studying. It’s dull as all nass--”
“Language,” Dag interjected automatically.
Waiane rolled his eyes. “Anyway, he was meant to come with us...he still hasn’t met Mom and Dad and now he’s gonna have to wait another six months because apparently becoming an intern to the Legion of Superheroes is more important than meeting his boyfriend’s family. So I’ve been a bit distracted, you know?”
“Don’t be too hard on Tel,” Dag advised his little brother. “Everyone knows how important Legion membership is to Gravity Kid, and I know first hand how frustrating it can seem when you’re the one being passed over for membership while a dozen other heroes get a spot on the roster.”
“Ugh I guess,” Waiane acquiesced in a tone which said he was tired of discussing it. “Let’s go find some gifts for the folks and get out of this retail graveyard.”
Hibernation Eve was one of the unique quirks of Zwen culture; the planet’s lengthy rotation meant that for six standard UP months half of this world was plunged into cold and darkness. To survive this sunless stretch, the natives of Zwen all entered a period of hibernation where their bodies petrified into a protective (but normally very immobile) stone form. Hibernation Eve marked their last hours of activity before a long sleep, and it was traditionally a time to celebrate the bonds of family and loved ones by sharing gifts, food and drink. Stone Boy and Lullabye Lad no longer followed the hibernation cycle of their people since they’d left their homeworld, but they still celebrated the same holidays and they were still grateful for the chance to be with their parents tonight knowing that it would be a long time before they’d see them again.
“What about a new battery for the portachef?” Dag asked. “Dad’s always complaining about how he has to recharge it now whenever they go travelling.”
“A battery, Dag?” his younger brother asked in disgust. “Nobody wants a battery for a gift, trust me.”
“Okay, smart guy. We need to come up with something though, the mall’s gonna be closed soon.” Outside a nearby window, Dag noticed someone running down the otherwise empty street. “Huh. I guess you’re not the only one doing last minute shopping!”
Waiane looked across in time to see an oddly dressed teenager in pursuit of the first boy, and cocked his head. He recognised the second boy from somewhere, but he couldn’t quite place it….then he saw the second boy’s friend slowly but surely bringing up the rear and his eyes grew wide. “Dag! Look!!”
Stone Boy instantly recognised the inhuman Kid Chemo. Formerly a member of the Judgement League, he was a sentient creature composed of toxic waste who existed inside a transparent humanoid casing. “What’s Kid Chemo doing all the way out on Zwen?” he wondered out loud. “Earth is light years away!”
“It’s not just Kid Chemo!” Lullabye Lad added. “That other jerkwit was Sharpshot Kid, I remember his stupid retro space cowboy outfit now!”
“Okay, stay here and call the Science Police.” Dag pressed a hidden control at his belt, running an electrostatic charge through his clothes which changed his civilian wear to his Stone Boy outfit. “I’m going to go see what those troublemakers are up to.”
“What? No way! I’m coming with you!” Waiane mimicked his brother’s action and donned his own far more flamboyant costume.
“You’re absolutely not coming with me,” Stone Boy changed to his stone form even as he pointed a domineering finger at his brother. “Those two are dangerous, and they may not be alone.”
“Exactly!” Lullabye Lad protested. “You’re crazy going after them without backup!”
“Maybe so,” Stone Boy agreed, “But Mom and Dad will kill me if I let anything happen to you. Besides, kid brother...I’m the one with the flight ring.” He held up his fist with a smug grin and before Waiane could say anything else Stone Boy was flying through the mall to face the teenage villains outside.
“Hey!” Lullabye Lad called out after him as he sprinted in futile pursuit. “That’s cheating!”
As soon as he left the building, Dag was grateful for his stone form’s protection against the cold. He could hear the howling winds and he could see the icy rain smacking into him, but he felt none of it. He was glad also that the retail district was practically deserted on Hibernation Eve, it meant there would be far fewer innocents at risk. The falling sleet and snow was already masking the others’ trails, but Kid Chemo’s stomp was weightier and his flat round footprints far more distinctive. Within moments Dag had located the two villains and their prey, and just in time. He dropped to the footpath directly in front of Sharpshot Kid just as the teen marksman opened fire and the gun’s outdated projectile bounced harmlessly off of Stone Boy’s torso. “Weren’t you two pardoned for your crimes along with the rest of the Judgement League?” Stone Boy asked. “Why would you want to throw away a second chance like that?” Dag heard a door slam behind him and hoped that meant the boy they were chasing had found refuge somewhere.
“Stone Man??” Sharpshot Kid exclaimed. “I don’t know what you’re doing here, but you’re not going to stop me from helping my friend!” He raised his free hand, and with a series of clacking noises a more advanced firearm came to life in his palm. He shot a laser that glanced across Stone Boy’s eyes and although the attack didn’t cause any permanent injury it did blind him.
Dag stumbled back with a startled shout, his arm flying up too late to protect his vision. He heard Sharpshot Kid’s footfalls receding into the distance, and when the exploding dots before Stone Boy finally faded they were replaced with the faceless visage of Kid Chemo. Two raised metal discs were mounted where Dag would expect to see eyes, and they gave the mute villain a disconcertingly passive appearance even while one of his large arms smashed into the side of Stone Boy’s head and knocked the Legionnaire into a nearby snowdrift. “You’re pretty strong for a guy made out of lime green gunk,” Stone Boy grunted, “But I’m not exactly a slouch myself.” With added momentum from his flight ring he charged Kid Chemo through a wall, scattering clothes racks in a closed fashion outlet as the two grappled on the floor. The darkened store was illuminated by a strobing red light, and Dag knew that a silent alarm would soon bring Science Police.
In the melee, Stone Boy noticed that Kid Chemo’s transparent casing had deformed slightly where he’d been smashed through the wall. It popped back into place now, but Dag was relieved to know he could damage the casing without it shattering. One of Kid Chemo’s arms reached out, and a stream of acid shot forth from finger ports. Stone Boy dodged most of the corrosive fluid and it swiftly dissolved a pile of dresses into lonely fibres, but the few stray drops which did strike him burned pea-sized holes into his epidermis. It was almost impossible for Stone Boy to feel pain in this form, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be damaged and it certainly wouldn’t prevent him from being killed. Conversely, he had no idea how he was going to hurt or even restrain Kid Chemo.
Stone Boy shoved Kid Chemo aside and gained some distance across the store. Think! Dag chastised himself. He doesn’t talk so I can’t distract him with conversation; I’m not sure how well he understands Interlac at all! For that matter, I’m not sure how well he thinks, or if he’s really even alive! His flight ring saved him from another stream of acid, and another rack full of clothes found its demise. He racked his brain to come up with something that would resist Kid Chemo’s corrosive attack. Fabric, steel, plastic and stone were all equally vulnerable...it seemed the only material which could survive direct contact with Kid Chemo was the flexible casing of his own containment suit.
The room was suddenly flooded with light and two Science Police droids hovered in place at the hole in the wall Stone Boy and Kid Chemo had left behind them. “Unknown sentients, you are instructed to cease and desist activity and await further instruction,” one of the droids breeped. For its trouble, it received a double-handed blast from Kid Chemo and swiftly melted into a squealing mess of metal and plastics.
The second droid fired a completely ineffective taser at Kid Chemo. “Combatant identified as Dag Wentim, aka Stone Boy,” it announced. “Secondary combatant identified as metahuman Kid Chemo and likely primary aggressor; Law enforcement cooperative tactic engaged.”
Kid Chemo’s arms swung around in a ponderous arc to fire upon the second droid, his tiny ports whirring to life once more. Sudden inspiration struck Stone Boy and he snapped his fingers, creating a brief spark. “Of course!” Dag shouted excitedly. “His containment suit!” He stormed the villain and intertwined his own hands with Kid Chemo’s. Acting quickly, Stone Boy crushed every one of Kid Chemo’s fingers with so much pressure that the access ports became uselessly deformed and unable to fully open. Acid still dribbled forth and ran painful looking rivulets down Dag’s arms but he could deal with that later. Stone Boy turned to look at the SP automaton. “Have you got some kind of restraint that’ll hold him?” he asked.
“Affirmative,” the droid breeped. “Please stand back.” Dag obeyed, and the droid fired a magnetic bola which whipped around Kid Chemo and left him wrapped in a metal cocoon. Some of Kid Chemo’s corrosive fluid sizzled through the metal ribbon, but Stone Boy was satisfied that it would hold him till something more permanent could be arranged.
“Thanks,” Dag patted the droid appreciatively. “Sorry about your partner unit - I’ll be back to make a statement, but the danger’s not over yet.” He left the droid behind to clean up and hoped he wasn’t too late to save a life tonight.
**********
In the darkened bowels of a half-completed cinemaplex, 14 year old Roban Rosito hid behind a waste recycling unit with his knees clutched to his chest. Roban had just finished his shift at the diner when his night of insanity had begun. He’d been working alone all day, the rest of the diner’s staff choosing to stay home on Hibernation Eve with their families. Roban would have preferred to have spent the day with his own parents, but he needed the penalty rates to fund his trip to Zuun where he’d been accepted into one of the UP’s most prestigious chemical research institutes. All of that was the furthest thing from his mind now though; since that crazy kid with the guns and his pet acid monster had begun stalking him through Wentim Valley, Roban had been consumed only with fear for his own survival.
The bang of a gunshot pierced the silence, and Roban had to bite his lip to prevent himself from crying out. “Come out come out, wherever you are!” a singsong voice echoed through the empty building. “I’ll make this quick, Roban - I promise! One shot to the head and it’s all over!”
Roban cautiously peered around the side of the waste recycling unit. The external walls in the next room hadn’t been fully constructed yet; if he could sneak out that way before this crazy teenager caught up with him, he could double back the way they’d come in and he might actually stand a chance of getting out of this mess in one piece.
He had just about worked up the courage to make a run for it when Sharpshot Kid’s voice rang out again. “Roban, it’s nothing personal! I made a promise to my friend and I have to keep it, that’s all! I guarantee you, my way is gonna be a lot less painful than his!”
Roban was frightened, but he was beginning to get angry now as well. Did this maniac expect him to be grateful that he was only going to shoot him in the head? Roban had no idea who these people were or why they’d targeted him or how they even knew who he was - he was a nobody, one average Zwennite among a whole world of average Zwennites. He did know one thing for certain though, if he didn’t get out of here now he might not get out at all. As quietly as he could, Roban stood up and bolted for the bracing cold of outside. He slipped on a patch of melting snow and the fall saved his life as a bullet passed straight through the empty space his skull had been occupying a nanosecond ago. Roban scrambled backward in the wet snow. “Why are you doing this??” his voice cracked with emotion. “I don’t even know who you people are!!”
“You can call me Sharpshot Kid,” the dark-haired gunslinger replied as he casually took aim once more, “And believe it or not, what I’m doing now makes me the best friend you ever had.”
“For someone with the word sharpshot in his name, you’re pretty bad at shooting people!” This voice came from behind the villainous teen and he spun on his heel to see that Lullabye Lad had followed him through the construction site. “Where’s your friend Light Lass? Don’t the three of you normally run together?”
Sharpshot Kid levelled one firearm at Lullabye Lad while his other gun stayed fixed on Roban. “She threw a tantrum when Kid Chemo asked us to kill this guy,” he explained. “I guess that’s why she’s not his best friend, huh?”
“You know, normal people go out clubbing with their friends, not on murder sprees.” Waiane had been using his power to induce sleep on Sharpshot Kid while he’d been talking, and he frowned now in realisation that it wasn’t working. “How are you fighting my power?” he asked.
“Gotta keep some secrets,” Sharpshot Kid winked at the neophyte hero. “Don’t worry, you’ll both be dead before you have to worry about it too much.” He fired both guns simultaneously as Lullabye Lad shouted in protest. While one of the bullets tore through Waiane’s gut and came dangerously close to severing his spine, the other bounced off of Roban’s suddenly petrified head harmlessly.
“Guess you earned your name after all,” Waiane mumbled. Bleeding out on the floor, he smiled despite the awful pain. “But I guess I earned my name too...might not be able to put you to sleep….but my power worked on that kid…” He was shivering now, icy cold overpowering the bullet wound.
“Congratulations, idiot.” Sharpshot Kid advanced on Lullabye Lad and pointed a gun down into his face. “What you just earned is getting killed first. Then I’m gonna swap this model out for a plasma gun and Roban’s dead anyway.”
A furious roar assaulted their ears, and Stone Boy collected Sharpshot Kid with a flying tackle before he could make good on his threat. Stone Boy slammed him so hard into a vertical beam that it bent the beam slightly, then while Sharpshot Kid was dazed from the impact Dag crushed his weapons and closed his stone fists over Sharpshot Kid’s hands hard enough to hurt without causing any real damage. “Try pulling another secret gun out of somewhere and I’ll break every bone in your hands,” Dag growled through clenched teeth. “To start with.” He looked over his shoulder toward his brother. “Waiane, turn to stone...use your power on yourself if you have to, it’s the only way we’re gonna keep you alive till I can get you to a hospital!”
“Sorry I didn’t listen…” Lullabye Lad muttered weakly, “But couldn’t let him...kill that kid…”
“Waiane!” Stone Boy exploded. “I’ll yell at you more later but I can’t do it if you’re dead! Stone! Now!”
Lullabye Lad coughed once, and then his pained expression was frozen into place as his flesh and bone became solid rock. Satisfed that his little brother was safe for now, Stone Boy turned back to Sharpshot Kid who’d been squirming in his grip this whole time. “As for you, you little psychopath...why did you two target this poor kid in the first place? Who is he?”
“It’s not what it looks like,” Sharpshot Kid complained. “I was doing Kid Chemo a favour, you shockin’ nasshead!”
“What it looks like is attempted murder!” Dag shouted into his face. “No wonder that Light Lass girl didn’t want to tag along this time, you and that walking chemical factory are going to rot in Takron-Galtos for this one, kid!”
Absurdly, Sharpshot Kid laughed in Stone Boy’s face. “You think Light Lass gives a crap about murdering people, moron? She didn’t want to come because--” He realised he was about to say too much and stopped mid-sentence.
“Because of what?” Stone Boy demanded. He applied slightly more pressure to Sharpshot Kid’s hands and the villainous teen emitted a high-pitched whine. “Kid, you just tried to kill my brother - do not test my patience any more than you already have!”
“--because that is Kid Chemo!” Sharpshot Kid’s words tumbled out in a panic. He saw the perplexed expression on Stone Boy’s face and realised he was going to have to tell him the whole story now. “We’re from the future, remember? This is all history for us! Roban Rosito is gonna become a chemical engineer and he’s going to have some kind of accident and spend the rest of his life as a walking tank of sentient acid and he’s not even gonna be able to talk to anyone without a shockin’ radiotelepathy micro-transmitter!”
“But if Kid Chemo kills his past self…” Stone Boy started to put the pieces together.
“--then it might create a paradox and stop our future from ever happening or maybe even screw up the timestream completely!” Sharpshot Kid completed the statement. “We know that! That’s why Light Lass didn’t want to help, she thinks we’re both crazy! But it also means my best friend isn’t gonna have to spend the rest of his life paying for one stupid mistake! He’d rather be dead than have to live as Kid Chemo, but Kid Chemo is basically immortal! This is the only way I can help him!”
Stone Boy’s rage faded as he considered the implications, and he released some of the pressure from Sharpshot Kid’s hands. “Kid...I don’t think you’re crazy, but I’m not going to let you murder anybody. There has to be another way. We’ll talk to Brainiac 5, he’s good with this stuff.”
“You think we didn’t already try that?” Sharpshot Kid scoffed. “Our Brainiac 5 had a whole bunch of years worth of being smart on top of yours; if he couldn’t help us in the future, what makes you think he’ll be able to do it now?”
Stone Boy shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry, kid. I really am. But this isn’t the way you help a friend.”
Two more Science Police droids arrived and Stone Boy watched with deflated spirits as they escorted Sharpshot Kid to a mobile cell. Dag picked up his brother under one arm and Roban under the other and flew the two petrified boys to the nearest medical facility.
“Some Hibernation Eve this turned out to be,” he mumbled to himself as the three disappeared into the darkening night.
**********
TITAN Titanopolis Spaceport
Under the cold fluorescent lights of Titanopolis Spaceport’s sole dining establishment, hundreds of sentients of various races consumed an equally diverse variety of food and beverages. In this crowd, Gim Allon and the boy from the future named Kando Vyr blended right in.
“Colossal Boy...Gim…” Kando struggled for words, “I appreciate how badly you must miss Yera, and I’m not going to insult your intelligence by pretending like I don’t have at least an idea why she left you; but you must know I can’t help you with this. History has no record--”
“Oh, screw history!” Gim slammed a fist on the table and for a brief moment Kando wondered if they were going to have to fight again. Gim closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself then continued at a lower volume. “Kando, your history changed the nano you came back to this time and got stuck here! You’ve been hiding yourself all this time trying not to make an impact on anything, but don’t you get it? You existing here at all is already changing your timeline and if you’re already changing your timeline why don’t you at least try to change it for the better?”
The Infinite Boy pondered Gim’s words. Of all the Legionnaires who’d been displaced in Kando Vyr’s home time, Chameleon Girl was the only one who had retained her full memories; Kando had no doubt that Yera had left Colossal Boy the way she did because she knew that her child was destined to become one of the galaxy’s most horrific monsters if she stayed with her husband. Of course, Gim didn’t know about any of this but nonetheless it proved his point. Kando Vyr’s personal timeline had already been changed long before now, and he’d harboured doubts since the day he arrived that he even had a home era to return to any more. Was his reluctance to interfere with the timeline really motivated by concern for the sanctity of the timestream, or was he just scared he’d never see home again?
Kando’s shoulders slumped in resignation. “Fine. I’ll help you find her, Colossal Boy. I’m not going to make Chameleon Girl do anything against her will, but you deserve to at least know why she left.”
A wide grin lit up Gim Allon’s face and he pumped Kando’s fist enthusiastically. “Thank you! Thank you so much, you don’t know what this means to me! So how does this work? Can you just summon her here or do your powers tell you where she is at any given time?”
“Nothing that easy, I’m afraid.” The subtle starscape effect of the Infinite Boy’s powers came over Kando as he spoke. “My abilities are a far cry from what they used to be. Still, I should be able to drum up a tracker for us.” He waved his arm out to the side, and a woman with deep brown hair and eyes appeared beside the table. She wore dark blue pants with a grey stripe down each leg, white boots and a grey bomber jacket emblazoned with the Legion of Superheroes insignia on each shoulder. White gloves adorned each hand, and a huge handgun was holstered at her hip. Gim didn’t recognise the make of the weapon, but something about the woman seemed awfully familiar. Maybe if she wasn’t so caked in dust and dirt it would be clearer, but as it was he only had a dim sense that he should recognise her.
The strange woman’s hand flew to her weapon but she loosened her grip as her gaze settled on Gim. “Gim Allon? Didn’t recognise the famous Colossal Boy with that beard...what do you want with me?”
“I’m looking for my wife,” Gim replied. “Kando here says you’re a tracker?”
The woman smirked, a mischievous gleam in her eye. Gim noticed now that she had a tiny tattoo on the right side of her face, a symbol similar to Timber Wolf’s icon. “I’m not just a tracker...I’m the best tracker you’re ever gonna meet.” She took her hand from her gun altogether and offered it in greeting.
“The name’s Bounty.”
**********
EDITOR’S NOTES: * Sharpshot Kid and Kid Chemo were two members of Earth-Man’s Judgement League; they had been recruited (along with a new Light Lass) from an unspecified point in the future. Lullabye Lad probably remembers them from this little altercation * Chameleon Girl (and a bunch of other Legionnaires) met Infinite Boy when the Infinite Man stranded Yera and pals in the future. She found out some pretty frightening stuff there about the child she and Gim were destined to have, and that story can be found here * Bounty might be a familiar name for those of us who read the adventures of the 5YL Legion, but if you don’t know who she is yet let’s just say there may or may not be an interesting revelation coming up soon…
I'm not completely surprised that Arqiia entered the Academy, but it was a great scene! Loved you hitting the nail on the head, that Dragonwing and "Fire Lass" (nice code name, nice homage) have the same pwoer set, pretty much.
You write Gravity Kid extremely well - the over-achieving, ambitious type, we all know people like that...
Nice twist with Kid Chemo. You foreshadowed it well, yet it was still quite a gut punch. nice use of Lullabye Lad's power.
I had been wondering if Yera and Gim were still fated to birth a horrible monster baby, and I'm happy you addressed that.
Bounty! Now I'm very curious to see if your Bounty has the same history as the comics Bounty...
Thought y'all might like to see a pic of the Heavensent I have been working on so you can put characters to the names - for some reason I can't embed pics properly from my mobile so i attached the file anyway)
So I haven't caught up completely, but loving the obscure references to Anton Arcane (arch-foe of the Swamp Thing), and of 'Arora' Beaubier (totally not of Alpha Flight) as an old girlfriend of Jacques. Neat little shout outs / Easter eggs for comic fans. Laurel's new codename is cool. I've always struggled with what to call her, coming up with 'Adamantine,' but this is actually better and more on-theme.
Having Chlorophyll Kid be connected to 'the Green' is a logical development, and while I would have been opposed to it a few decades ago, when it seemed that DC wanted to connect everyone to the Green or Red or some other elemental essence, even figures like the Red Tornado and Firestorm, but these days that's been walked back, and I'm back to being okay with the idea.
Thanks y'all! IB, you will be happy to hear the drawing is 99% practice...try being a comic book obsessed fat nerd kid with no friends growing up and you'd be surprised the kind of skills you have time to develop lol
Bounty is probably pretty much exactly who you're expecting her to be as well
Set: I am glad you got the references/homage! I nearly kept the correct 'Aurora' spelling but I thought that was making it a bit TOO obvious...I really like Adamantine as a codename for an indestructible character but I feel like it wouldn't be Laurel if she wasn't putting SOMEONE'S nose outta joint
I also picked up on the Aurora reference, tee-hee! Nice nod to Jacques and his French-speaking (well, somewhat) roots
Originally Posted by razsolo
Thanks y'all! IB, you will be happy to hear the drawing is 99% practice...try being a comic book obsessed fat nerd kid with no friends growing up and you'd be surprised the kind of skills you have time to develop lol
Lol, you have a leg up on me there... I got good at studying and writing, but that's it!
hey Raz, sorry it's been a while since I've had time to write a comment for you.
I really enjoyed the scenes with Gim tackling Kid Infinity - the fight against Furball was well written and I expected Gim to lose so it was really good to read him being used as a smart character as too often he's just a walking target. His fear and worry about Yera, and Kando's hesitancy to tell Gim about their potential killer child was well done. Totally surprised by Bounty - she's fairly hardcore badass so it's going to be interesting seeing her interact with Gim and potentially your team.
Ral and Grava continue to be a cute couple - and I'm really looking forward to seeing how you develop him. Your love of the Subs continues to shine through
Nice little moment with Jacques wanting advice on how to deal with the mess he made of the situation with Drura, and trust Quislet to ruin the moment! Interesting that Brainy was immediately on his case though, wonder what that's leading to? For some reason Jacques seems to attract angsty moments doesn't he? Bless him.
Fire Lass? Well why not? I', looking forward to seeing what you do with her, and whether or not her and Staq ever become a couple. Dragonwing's concern was well done too, you write her brattiness well.
Stone Boy and lullaby Lad's little side trip was great fun - Hibernation Eve! What a great idea, and what a weird culture that must be. Do they all spend their last few days awake eating lots to help survive the cold and make sure they don't wake up to very mouldy cupboards? Only time will tell, I guess... about a thousand years or so Kid Chemo wanting to kill him past self so he never becomes the creature we know and are disgusted by was a nice little twist. I wonder if his past self will go into that field of science now knowing that potentially he'll be living out life as a gooey chemical mess for eternity? You brought up Lullaby Lad's relationship with Tel, and that made me realise we haven't seen Jed and the Oversight Watch for a while now - any plans?
This was fun Raz, thoroughly enjoyed it and looking forward to more, more, more!
Legion Worlds NINE - wait, there's even more ongoing amazing adventures? Yup, and you'll only find them in the Bits o' Legionnaire Business Forum.
Hi Harbi, I am always happy for feedback whenever I can get it
Ral (and Grava) are gonna get some more shine soon and we'll see some maybe surprising developments arise from their adventure on Mardru...Brainy and Quislet will get their spotlight much sooner though and I daresay it might be a bit more dramatic!
Glad you liked Stone Boy and Lullabye Lad's little side trip to Zwen...it occurred to me that of all the Legion family relationships I have got in my fic, those two as brothers are probably the ones that I have written the least. If there were two of me I would do a Legion series and an Academy one (but then I would wanna do one with the Subs and one with Lamprey and Turtle and one with the Heroes of Lallor and this is why I need to be rich enough to spend all day writing I guess lol)
I do have some definite plans for the Oversight Watch it turns out, though tbh I probably won't get a chance to explore them till toward the end of the year
MARS Husband Hill, Legion of Superheroes Headquarters As they wandered through Brainiac 5’s multilab, Chlorophyll Kid and Comet Queen noted how quickly and thoroughly repairs had been carried out here since the various assaults which had taken place upon their base recently. In Comet Queen’s arms, the infant Ivy Arcane slept soundly.
“Oh, here he is!” Grava whispered for the sleeping Ivy’s benefit (though comically, it was louder than her normal speaking voice). On a slightly raised platform surrounded by holoscreens, Brainiac 5 stood with his back to them. He was wearing a white headband and was hunched over something they couldn’t see from this angle. A hovering tray at his side contained a dozen different tools whose purpose was a mystery to Grava and Ral; they did notice however that each of the holoscreens bore technical diagrams resembling their teammate Quislet’s microship.
Beside the platform, Kid Computo watched with her arms folded across her chest as Brainiac worked. Danielle’s expression wasn’t easy to read, but it seemed in some way negative. When Danielle heard Grava, she looked across and was visibly startled at the sight of Ral Benem in plated wooden armour. “Chlorophyll Kid, is that you? What are you wearing? And whose baby is that?”
“Hello, Kid Computo.” Chlorophyll Kid’s tone was more self-assured than Danielle recalled having heard from him before. “Our trip to Mardru was more eventful than we’d anticipated. I’ll explain the full story later, but we actually came to see Brainiac 5 when he has a moment.”
“I’m almost finished here,” Brainiac muttered without looking up. “And...that’s the last add-on. Kid Computo, could you please confirm that my adjustments to Quislet’s vessel have taken successfully?”
Brainiac 5 pressed a button to his side and a cylindrical forcefield the size of a drink thermos descended from the ceiling. Inside the golden field a small spark of energy bounced from one wall to another. When the field abruptly switched off, the energy spark leaped into the microship that everybody now realised Brainiac had been working on all this time. “Finally!” Quislet’s instantly recognisable voice trilled sarcastically. “Brainiac found the one thing that might kill Quislet! Boredom!”
“Everything’s ready to go,” Kid Computo announced after a couple of moments. “But just for the record, I’m still not wild about it.”
“Not wild about what, starshine?” Comet Queen asked. She saw Quislet’s new and sleeker microship rise from Brainiac’s workstation and gasped dramatically. “Parse me to the C-span! Bossman, did you give my shiny little shuttle a makeover? I love it!” Quislet flew circles around Grava’s head while she beamed adoringly.
“Quislet made new ship himself!” the alien explorer bragged. “Teall helped because Quislet so great! Brainiac just put a bomb in it so he can make Quislet go boom!”
“What??” Comet Queen screeched. Ivy stirred and murmured disapprovingly. “What do you mean, you put a bomb in it?” Grava hissed only slightly more quietly.
“Quislet is unquestionably a useful asset to the Legion of Superheroes,” Brainiac explained calmly as he removed the magnification eyepiece he’d had strapped to his head. “But Quislet is also dangerously reckless. He is directly responsible for our most recent altercation with members of the Heavensent, and this lapse in judgement resulted in the destruction of his previous vessel. Experience shows that Quislet does not learn from his mistakes as the rest of the Legion do. In addition to this, very little is known of Teallian physiology or psychological makeup. Quislet is immune to conventional telepathy unless he chooses otherwise, and we have only Quislet’s word that he is even the same entity who inhabited his previous microship, or for that matter that he is the same entity who initially joined the Legion of Superheroes. There is a not insignificant risk in allowing Quislet to retain ongoing membership in the Legion of Superheroes, a risk which presents itself with no other member.”
“Blah blah blah!” Furious, Comet Queen handed Ivy to Chlorophyll Kid and jabbed a finger at Brainiac’s face. “Tell us about the bomb, bossman!!”
Brainiac sighed as though talking to a child. “I inserted a device into Quislet’s vessel which can be triggered by one of three people; the leader of the Legion of Superheroes, the deputy leader, and failing the presence of one of those two, the most senior Legionnaire present. If it is deemed that Quislet is about to embark on a course of action considered to be catastrophic, this device allows for Quislet’s vessel to be destroyed in a manner which endangers no bystanders. Quislet will have no choice but to return to Teall, and his ongoing membership in this team can be assessed anew by whomever the current leader might be.”
“Quislet is a person!” Comet Queen protested. “Not--not some toy for you to turn off and on when you feel like it!”
Chlorophyll Kid moved forward to stand by Grava’s side in solidarity. “Quislet, how do you feel about this?” Ral asked.
“Quislet think Brainiac silly!” the tiny Legionnaire answered as he continued circling their heads. “But Quislet think Legionnaires all silly!”
“It’s not silly!” Comet Queen blurted out. “It - it’s wrong! It’s flying into a black hole wrong!!” She turned and ran out of the lab in tears.
Brainiac watched her leave then turned to Ral as though one of his teammates hadn’t just fled from his presence in hysterics. “You wanted to speak with me, Chlorophyll Kid?”
Chlorophyll Kid scowled at him, and Danielle found herself looking away awkwardly. “It can wait,” Ral said darkly. He turned and left the same way Comet Queen had departed.
“Wooh!” Quislet exclaimed in glee. “Brainiac really did it this time!”
********** EARTH Metropolis, Weisinger Plaza As Drura Sehpt approached the building that had once been her home, she noticed how it had changed since it had housed the Legion of Superheroes. The basic external structure of the L-shaped building was still the same but a large ornamental pond filled much of the once empty plaza, and flowering plants from various worlds floated upon it. Surrounding the pond, hovering hardlight planes held families picnicking as well as tour leaders expounding on the history of the plaza and its amazing occupants.
Atop the building, enormous gleaming statues of the Legion of Superheroes stood in inspiring poses; its three founders fronting the team they’d birthed, with every Legionnaire up to Gas Girl flanking them. In front of the main entrance of the building now called the United Planets Museum of the Superhero, a hologram cycled through life-size images of every member of the Legion of Substitute Heroes since that team’s inception. The Subs might be far less popular than the larger Legion whose statues dominated Weisinger Plaza, but this was after all their home now and they deserved some kind of representation here.
One of those Subs came out now to greet his old teammate. “Drura!” Pete Dursin beamed. “Welcome to the new digs! Well, new for us - I mean, obviously you used to be based here with the rest of the Legion of Superheroes, huh? Umm, anyway, right this way.” Careful to keep a safe distance, the quilled hero also named Porcupine Pete gestured for Drura to enter the building.
“It’s good to see you again, Pete.” Infectious Lass gave him a warm smile and entered the main lobby, feeling a little self-conscious as she walked past her own hologram and a couple of giggling alien children whipped out their cam to record the coincidence. “And I love what you’ve done with the place! I mean considering the last time I was here it was basically a shrapnel-ridden hole in the ground…”
As they walked past a golden statue of the deceased Double Header, Porcupine Pete and Infectious Lass reflected on the evil that Earth-Man and his cronies had inflicted; not just on this building, but on them and the people they knew. “Yeah, things are very different now,” Pete gave a subdued smile. “Earth still isn’t perfect, we Subs have been keeping busy fighting xenophobe movements as well as setting up the museum here. In fact, the rest of the Subs are in Europe somewhere right now helping the Science Police bring in some crazies White Lightning rounded up to try and get Earth-Man out of jail.”
“You should be really proud,” Drura commended her friend. “All of you...the Subs have come a long way since we used to be the laughing stock of the galaxy.” She followed Pete into a turbolift and watched the lobby fall away before them through plexiglass walls. Icons of heroes past and present flashed past them as they sped through the massive complex.
“I don’t think we’ve come a long way at all,” Pete replied. “I think maybe everyone else is just starting to realise we’re not going anywhere and they’re just starting to catch up.” He winked at her and waved an arm toward the door as it whooshed open at a restricted level. “Milady?”
Drura walked out into a spacious area filled with comfortable furniture, recreational games and an autochef. “Okay, this is definitely better than the rec room in our old base,” she laughed.
“I’ll give you that much,” Pete assented. “Grab a seat and I’ll get us some drinks...enough about us anyway, how’s life in the Legion? How’s Invisible Kid?” Drura could hear the slightest tightness in his voice as he mentioned Invisible Kid, but she knew that by talking about it he was trying to make it normal; trying to get past the unspoken thing that Pete and Drura had shared before she joined the Legion of Superheroes to a place where they could just be friends again.
“He’s...ugh, honestly, I don’t know.” She slumped into a seat and lay face down on a brightly coloured table. Pete handed her a drink with a concerned expression and took a seat opposite her, avoiding anything with a plush covering after one too many quill-related accidents in the past. “Thanks,” Drura continued, sipping the live culture he’d selected for her. “Mmm, that’s good -- so we kind of had a thing...he did something…honestly, he did something really bad and something that was a massive breach of trust, and I yelled at him and I just don’t know if I can look at him the same way again, you know? I don’t know if I can trust him again, Pete.”
“Wow.” Pete sat back and brushed the quills on his forearm absently. “I...I don’t know what to say. I thought you guys were really happy..?”
“We are. We were. Oh Pete, I don’t know!” She pouted and stirred at her beverage miserably. After a second she inhaled sharply and gawked at him with wide eyes. “Oh Pete, I’m so sorry! This is probably the last thing you want to hear about...let’s change the subject.”
“No no, Drura, it’s fine!” He smiled encouragingly. “I mean, look...I’m not gonna pretend it’s not a bit awkward, but I want us to be friends. And friends can talk to each other about stuff, right?”
“I - I suppose so,” she replied shyly. Before she could say anything more, a distinctive breeping noise sounded. “Pete..? What’s that?” she asked.
“I’m not sure,” he admitted, heading over to the wall where he revealed a hidden security panel. “None of the alarms here have ever actually had to be used, believe it or...Oh, great.”
“What is it?” Drura repeated, leaving the table to join him.
“Look for yourself.” He deactivated the alarm and redirected the security monitor feed from the main lobby to take over the cartoon that was playing on one of the rec room’s many large screens.
A group of five had entered the museum, two men and three women. Their leader seemed to be a man in yellow and green, a golden Interlac B across his chest. As Pete and Drura watched, he vomited a stream of corrosive fluid at a reception droid and the device melted away almost instantly. The Subs’ database identified the man as Bile and a text caption appeared on-screen advising as much.
A young blonde woman in an orange and red outfit shot bursts of flame at two hardier security droids, slagging them as effectively as Bile had before her. She was identified as Inferno.
The woman labelled Gazelle had red-tinted skin and a shock of red hair to match. She wore a red bodysuit with a yellow animal head motif across her torso, and she pounced with preternatural speed and dexterity to disable the lobby’s fire suppression sprinklers with several well-placed jabs and kicks.
The last two were unidentified. The woman was a voluptuous redhead in very complimentary black leather, her outfit dotted with the occasional red or black X; the man wore tight purple pants, a loose-fitting white shirt covered in some kind of basic pattern neither Pete nor Drura recognised, a purple bandana tied loosely around his neck and a pointed white mask. They could just barely see the exposed skin of his face, which was green and warty.
“You said the other Subs are on another continent?” Infectious Lass asked. “I’ll call for backup from the Legion; we’re too outnumbered to take them on our own.”
Pete rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry about it, I haven’t faced these jerks myself but I’ve heard all about them. They’re called the Legion of Substitute Villains and if you and I can’t take them before the Science Police get here to cart them off to jail I’ll give back my flight ring.” He activated a signal leading to the nearest SP base and started walking toward the turbolift. “I’ll keep them distracted in the lobby; if you head out the window you can probably take them all down with the flu before they even realise you’ve followed them through the front door.”
“Well...if you’re sure, I -- wait, the Legion of Substitute Villains? You have your own arch-enemies now?”
“Please don’t give them any ideas,” Pete sighed just before the turbolift doors closed between them.
********** In the lobby downstairs, the green-skinned member of the Legion of Substitute Villains surveyed the damage his teammates had done with a frown. “Bile, you promised zat we would ‘ave fame if we destroy zis museum...but zere is naught ‘ere but lifeless robots! ‘Oo will spread word of our deeds?”
“Patience,” the Legion’s leader replied after his power melted a hole in one of the internal walls. “Those Substitute Heroes will be here any nano now, you watch. They live here somewhere, they’re not gonna let this go. Anyway, it’s a sprocking museum; worse comes to worst, we can just find some patrons and take them hostage. That’ll make the news for sure!”
Gazelle executed a flawless backflip from where she’d been perched on a raised dais behind Bile and landed facing him. “We really do need a new gimmick,” she mocked him. “Taking hostages hasn’t worked out too good in our capers so far, Bile.”
A melodic ding sounded, and the villains all glanced around. “The turbolift!” Inferno shouted. As soon as the doors slid open, she filled the lower half of the capsule with flame. “I don’t get it,” the young pyrokinetic muttered as she approached the smoking turbolift warily. “There’s nobody in there?”
“Hi!” Porcupine Pete suddenly dropped from the ceiling where his quills had kept him safely pinned. “Ah, sprock - that’s hot!” He danced from one foot to the other, at the same time shooting a volley of quills at the would-be villains. Gazelle’s reflexes and agility saved her and the team’s other redhead screamed as she dived for cover behind the statue of Double Header, but the other three quickly became human pincushions.
“Kill you for that!” Inferno raged, sheathing herself in flames to burn away the spiky projectiles while Pete gracelessly hopped and skipped out of the charred turbolift.
“I don’t think so.” Infectious Lass made her entrance, casting an invisible net of Tharrian fever virii wide enough to catch Bile, Inferno and the green-skinned man. While Drura would have liked to infect all five of them, she couldn’t risk projecting her power over so wide a radius without affecting Pete as well. Bile was instantly staggered, moaning in pain as he clutched at his head. For Inferno however, the effect was much more dramatic; the virus that caused Tharrian fever thrived in high temperatures and there was nobody here hotter than Inferno. She wavered on her feet for a second, then slumped to the floor without a word.
“Infectious Lass, non?” The green-skinned man seemed unfazed by her attack, and it occurred to Drura that whatever his race he must be immune to the virus. “I am ze Tongue, and I am very much a fan! I apologise for my impropriety but I must get…’ow you say...ze insurance before your spiky friend gives me ze jabs once more!” With a sickly slurping noise, his elongated tongue shot out and wrapped itself around her three times, squeezing firm without actually hurting her.
“First of all,” Infectious Lass squirmed in his grip, “This is a little too intimate for a first date. Secondly, if you know who I am and you still made skin to skin...well, tongue to skin contact...you’re sillier than your fake French accent suggests.” She decided to err on the side of caution and pumped a flood of low-level diseases into his system. Her gambit paid off and his prehensile tongue slipped with a wet slap to the floor, followed in short form by its owner.
“Per’aps later…” he burped queasily, “I may ‘ave your autograph, oui..?”
“Why does he have that terrible accent?” a bemused Pete asked. He saw Bile preparing to heave once more and raised both arms toward him. “Nuh-uh, pal. The first shot was a warning, I hear one more retch outta you and you’re gonna be picking quills out of places you didn’t even know you had for a week.”
“Gazelle, do something!” Bile hollered.
“Florg that,” Bile’s teammate shook her head vigorously. “I like a good scrap as much as the next fem but the way I see it, my options here are get a face full of spikes or spend three days in bed throwing up. I’m out.” Making sure to keep her face covered, Gazelle leaped through the museum’s front window and ran while Science Police sirens sounded nearby.
“Bile, right?” Infectious Lass approached the fuming Bismollian. “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?”
“You’re so damn smug, aren’t you?” Bile spat. “All of you Legionnaires, looking down your nose at anyone you deem not good enough to be in your sprockin’ club! You’ve got no idea what it’s like to be a reject!”
Pete laughed in his face. “Pal, you’re playing to the wrong crowd. Do you know how many times Infectious Lass had to try out before she made it into the Legion? And I’m still not there, but I’m doing my best anyway! Don’t blame us because you gave up the first time things didn't go your way!”
“It doesn’t matter anyway,” Bile grimaced. Despite the fever and the pain of dozens of quills piercing him all over, there was menace in his expression. “Because we’re still gonna have the last laugh. X-Bomb Betty, blow this place to pieces!”
Infectious Lass and Porcupine Pete realised they’d both forgotten about the Legion of Substitute Villains’ final member. In unison, the stunned heroes looked across to the statue of Double Header where the attractive young woman cowered. She peeked out cautiously and gave a nervous giggle. “...Uhh, so, funny story...my scientist father gave me the power to create an explosion with the force of 150 million megatons. Except like...I can only do it once..?” She hid behind the statue again and continued in a tiny voice. “...Please don’t hurt me, I just wanted to be famous.”
In almost no time, Infectious Lass and Porcupine Pete were waving goodbye to Shvaughn Erin as she escorted most of the Legion of Substitute Villains away in a Science Police vehicle. “I hope the Science Police find Gazelle,” Pete mused. “As soon as the rest of the Subs get back we’ll give them a hand.”
“Don’t worry too much,” Drura reassured him. “From what Shvaughn said, Gazelle doesn’t sound like she’s too much of a threat to the general public...and if need be, the Legion of Superheroes have two trackers now. I’m sure that either Dawnstar or Mwindaji would be happy to assist.” She turned to face her ex-teammate. “Pete…I just wanted to say thanks.”
“Thanks?” the homely hero looked perplexed. “Thanks for what? I should be thanking you, it was our house they attacked!”
“No, I mean…” The afternoon breeze had blown stray lavender hairs against her face and she took a moment to brush them behind her ear. “...What you said to Bile; I know you weren’t talking about me and Jacques at all, but it really resonated with me. I do care for him a lot, what he did wouldn’t have hurt so much if that wasn’t true. But I can’t just throw in the towel because he made a mistake. When the Legion of Superheroes rejected me I tried and tried and tried until I finally made it; surely I owe my relationship that much, right?”
Pete picked at a loose quill on his thumb and gave her a genuine but lopsided smile. “Well...I’m glad I could help, I guess?”
“Come on,” Infectious Lass hovered a few inches above the ground. “Let’s go finish those drinks.”
********** TAKRON-GALTOS Cell MGA-80-06-63 In a dimly lit room a mile below the surface, the blond Braalian teenager codenamed Magno stood in a relaxed position while his teammate Ion stood rigidly beside him. The Imskian woman was a few inches taller than Magno, and she watched like a hawk as Takron-Galtos techs performed a routine check on the electromagnetic couplings keeping their prisoner in stasis.
The prisoner in question was the cyborg Immortus, leader of the so-called Forever Soldiers. Immortus was 23 feet tall and composed of charcoal grey inertron which would have been intimidating had he been in any condition to be a threat. He was insensate now though, the red lenses inset in his armour devoid of any light. The Legion of Superheroes had stopped the Forever Soldiers before they could really cause much mischief, and Immortus had sat in this cell gathering dust ever since. Still, Takron-Galtos regulations stipulated that two members of the Workforce should be present any time the prison planet’s staff had direct contact with the cyborg due to his power level, so here they were.
One of the techs stopped what he was doing and groaned slightly. Before his workmates could enquire as to his health, he had doubled over roaring in pain. Magno and Ion leaped to his aid, but as they reached him the other two techs followed suit. Flustered, Magno looked helplessly from one tech to the other.
“We need to get them to a medbay!” Ion barked, slinging the first man’s arm over her shoulder so she could help him out of the room. “And check on the rest of his team!”
“You’re right,” Magno agreed, Ion’s decisiveness jolting him into action. He activated his comm unit while using his magnetism to convert some of the panelling in the corridor outside to makeshift stretchers. “Gear, this is Magno - give me a health check on all of the Forever Soldiers and while you’re at it, send a med-unit to my location."
“Little busy, Dyrk!” Gear’s anxious voice shouted back. “But Silverback’s free, so I think you’re on to something! They did something to our techs, infiltrated them with some kind of parasitic bioplastics! They went right through our - oww - scanners!”
The signal abruptly cut out, and Magno and Ion locked eyes for a second before everything went to hell. The techs’ combined screams of anguish reached a crescendo as pink slime oozed forth from every orifice, finally silencing them. In less than two seconds the weird substance had burst forth from their pores as well, coating their bodies entirely and turning them into eerily silent featureless pink plastoids. The plastoid that Ion had been carrying threw a punch at her which she barely shrunk in time to avoid. The electromagnetic couplings holding Immortus in place deactivated with an anti-climactic whisper, and while Magno turned his power to the task of holding the suddenly mobile cyborg in place the remaining two plastoids rushed the brave teen and slammed him into a wall.
Less than 5 inches tall, Ion was literally beneath the plastoids’ attention. She sprinted across the comparatively vast distance between her and Magno and checked his vitals. As the three plastoids moved into formation around Immortus, glowing embers of life switched on across his dark surface and Ion put out a general alert to the whole team. “Workforce, we need backup now! Magno is unconscious, Immortus is up and about -- Abyss, gather the team and get here--”
She stopped mid-sentence, her brown eyes growing wide as an almost imperceptible whine arose from the three plastoids and a steadily intensifying nimbus of light blinked out suddenly to reveal that the plastoids and Immortus were no longer there.
“It’s too late,” Ion found her voice. “Immortus is gone.”
“It’s not just Immortus,” Gear’s voice replied.
“...The Forever Soldiers have escaped Takron-Galtos!”
hahahhaa, Ze Tongue! one of my favorites! and X Bomb Betty!
I have been wanting to use them for ages and couldn't figure out how, I can't believe it took me this long to remember the Legion of Substitute Villains lol
Previous Thread
) Though that doesn't leave much chance for Marya to make the Big Team now, which is a shame. I wonder if Staqs personality will change with his body? Looking forward to seeing what you have planned next for him, and if Aquilla will return and how their kind of relationship will progress.
![[Linked Image]](https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4610/40023835002_966a8cc709.jpg)
