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

Thanks as ever for the kind words IB! Star Boy is actually gonna be part of a cute subplot coming up fairly soon as it turns out

I agree Tranquility would be nice in the real world right now...I kinda miss the days when superheroes didn't necessarily have to be combat-effective to be seen as worthy; Raven in the 80s Teen Titans and Cypher from the New Mutants were both good examples of that, and both of them have had to be reinvented to stay relevant nowadays which I think is a bit unfortunate.

I like all your reasoning about various leadership choices...I think Night Girl was my first new leader in this series and I loved writing her as leader. It's a position where someone with relatively limited powers can still shine

Here are my votes:
(1) Blok, because Wisdom of Solomon
(2) Chlorophyll Kid, because in the TOS Subs, he was #2, behind Polar Boy
(3) Shadow Lass, because Talokans always have their own agendas, and it could be interesting.

Shady is an interesting choice! It'd be good seeing how she operates in a role where she might not always have the option of avoiding direct confrontation

MARS
Husband Hill, Legion of Superheroes Headquarters

ROLL CALL
Legion of Superheroes
Brainiac 5 aka Querl Dox: team leader, 12th level intelligence
Chameleon Boy aka Reep Daggle: Durlan shapeshifter
Chlorophyll Kid aka Ral Benem: chlorokinesis
Color Kid aka Ulu Vakk: color manipulation
Colossal Boy aka Gim Allon: growth powers
Comet Queen aka Grava: flight, gas generation
Dawnstar: translightspeed flight, interstellar tracking
Diamond Damsel aka Iris Jacobs: living diamond
Dragonmage aka Xao Jin: dragon magic
Elastic Lad aka Jams-Ols 5: super elongation
Element Lad aka Jan Arrah: elemental transmutation
Firecrest aka Staq Mavlen: weredragon
Gas Girl aka Tal Nahii: can transform into any gas
Invisible Kid II aka Jacques Foccart: invisibility
Kid Computo aka Danielle Foccart: cyberempathy
Light Lad aka Darvan Locke: anti-gravity control
Matter-Eater Lad aka Tenzil Kem: can eat inorganic matter in all its forms
Mwindaji: tracker infused with White Lantern energy
Neon aka Zoe Saugin: infused with Green Lantern energy
Nightwind aka Berta Skye Haris: wind control
Phantom Girl aka Tinya Wazzo: intangibility
Polar Boy aka Brek Bannin: cryokinesis
Quislet: energy being, temporary animation
Shadow Lass aka Tasmia Mallor: darkness generation
Shrinking Violet aka Salu Digby: shrinking
Stone Boy aka Dag Wentim: ability to transmute to living stone
Sun Boy aka Dirk Morgna: heat and light generation
Supergirl II aka Laurel Kent: invulnerability
Tellus aka Ganglios: telepathy and telekinesis
Timber Wolf aka Brin Londo: super-strength and super-agility
Ultra Boy aka Jo Nah: deputy leader; ultra-energy which can be directed into any one of strength, speed, flight, invulnerability, flash vision, penetra-vision at a time
Wildfire aka Drake Burroughs: anti-energy being

Oversight Watch
Dev-Em: Kryptonian physiology
Makkia Vei: psychological manipulation
Mandalla aka Tari Wahlmunn: thoughtsphere projection
Power Boy aka Jedediah Rikane: density manipulation
Ron-Karr: ability to become 2-dimensional

Over 30 heroes gathered in the Legion of Superheroes’ large meeting room, most of them members of the Legion itself. Five individuals in particular sat apart from the rest of the assemblage however, all of them looking defeated at a table behind Brainiac 5’s mobile chairpod. The Legion whispered and gossipped amongst themselves as they all wondered why the Oversight Watch were here and why the Watch’s leader 89 conspicuously wasn’t. “If I could have everybody’s attention?” Brainiac 5 addressed the room once the last Legionnaire took their seat. “Thank you all for attending this emergency meeting so promptly, I appreciate that very little notice was given. For those Legionnaires who have been unable to return planetside in time, this meeting is being broadcast on our ultraviolet channel.”

“Ultraviolet?” Sun Boy’s brow arched. “That’s as secure as it gets! What’s the situation, Brainy?”

“Yeah, what gives?” Laurel Kent chimed in. “We only finished our last meeting like two hours ago!”

“You’re all familiar with the Oversight Watch either personally or by virtue of our mission logs, so we can dispense with introductions.” Brainiac’s pod hovered across to one side of the room silently. “Makkia, please share with the rest of the Legion what you brought to me earlier.”

The Coluan woman stood up and regarded the room for a second as she took a deep breath. “Thank you, Brainiac.” She looked over the Legionnaires very deliberately, maintaining eye contact with some a fraction of a moment more than others. “I know I don’t have the best history with this team; far from it. I hope we can overcome personal prejudices today though for the greater good. 89 -- I’m sorry, 89--” She shuddered, her face screwed up in raw emotion. When she looked down at the floor and hid her face behind her hand she noticed that some of the newer Legionnaires gazed upon her with pity or compassion, but some of the more senior members rolled their eyes or made hushed sarcastic comments to one another.

“It’s okay, Makkia.” Dev-Em stood beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I can do this.”

With wet eyes, she smiled weakly at her Kryptonian teammate and returned to her seat. Dev-Em addressed the room as a whole, his tone more commanding than the Legionnaires were accustomed to hearing from the roguish agent. “Earlier today, the Oversight Watch were tasked with investigating a crisis in the Talok system.”

“Talok??” Shadow Lass snapped to attention. “What’s happened to my homeworld?”

“Talok VIII is fine,” Dev-Em reassured her. “For now, anyway. What I’m about to tell you is highest clearance information...it could cause widespread panic if this news reaches the rest of the United Planets.”

“What news?” Tasmia demanded. “By my ancestors, just tell us what’s happened!”

“To put it simply,” Dev-Em replied bluntly, “Talok III seems to have vanished entirely.”

Excited chatter broke out amongst the Legionnaires until Wildfire’s voice overpowered the rest of his team. “What do you mean vanished?” he asked the Kryptonian. “That’s nuts, if a whole planet were to just up and leave an inhabited solar system we’d know about it; even leaving aside that nobody’s noticed a whole world of people are missing, the gravitic effects alone on the other worlds in that system--”

“I didn’t say it has vanished,” Dev-Em corrected him, “Just that it seems to have. It’s escaping detection from technology, normal sight, even my super-senses. But 89 agreed with your assessment, Wildfire - she couldn’t see how it could disappear without causing any consequences whatsoever, so she took the Oversight Watch in to investigate further.”

“So what actually happened and who do we have to hit?” Timber Wolf joined in, leaning forward over his console.

“We have our suspicions as to who’s behind the vanishing of Talok III, but well...maybe I should just show you our shuttle log.” Dev-Em looked across to Brainiac 5, and the Coluan man nodded slightly. The lights in the room dimmed, and a large holographic flat screen appeared before the gathered heroes.

The Legion watched the recorded playback as all six Oversight Watch members sat aboard their ship, preparing for their mission in their own ways. 89 piloted the small vessel, sitting stiffly in the pilot’s seat. Next to her, Ron-Karr was checking the navigation console and rambling about something to his team’s leader in an almost entirely one-sided conversation. Dev-Em and Power Boy sat beside one another, physically close enough for the intimacy between them to be clear but nonetheless totally professional in their body language as they chatted idly. Mandalla and Makkia Vei sat behind the boys, poring over psychomedical texts together on an omnicom.

An alert sounded at the navigation console, and Ron-Karr checked some coordinates before looking out the viewscreen at the void of space outside. “We’re here,” he advised 89, “It’s like the Science Police said, it’s as if Talok III just imploded. These are definitely the right coordinates, but look - there’s nothing out there!”

89 checked Ron-Karr’s readings herself, then stood up and faced the back of the small shuttle to address the rest of her team. “Dev-Em, get out there and tell me what you can see,” her command came through her voice modulator. “Talok III obviously hasn’t been destroyed, so there must be something out there that will tell us what’s going on here.”

“Of course,” Dev-Em nodded as he left his seat. He only took one step toward the airlock though before stopping in his tracks. “That’s weird…” He glanced down curiously at the floor between his feet. “For a nano there I thought I heard -- Rao!” A gash suddenly shredded through the shuttle’s floor, and explosive decompression sucked all of them out into space. The shuttle’s camera lurched and rolled with dizzying speed, movement happening in such a blur that it was impossible to discern what was happening for a few moments. The view suddenly stabilised with a shudder, and the Legion could see the Oversight Watch floating amidst the debris of their shuttle in outer space. Like the Legion, the Watch all had automatically activated transuit technology in their outfits so none of them were in any immediate environmental danger. While the sextet struggled to regain their bearings, the same unseen assailants who’d presumably destroyed the Watch’s vehicle were now coming for the team’s individual members.

The whole assault was over with frightening speed. Makkia Vei and Mandalla were the first to fall; aside from their transuits the two women had no way to defend against an attack they couldn’t see coming. From the expression on Mandalla’s face she’d been trying to use her power when she was taken down, but apparently it wasn’t enough to save her. Some invisible force slammed into both women simultaneously and they careened backwards through the vacuum. Dev-Em and Power Boy were the next targets. 89 and Ron-Karr, both of whom had obviously been deemed lesser threats, could only watch helplessly as the two strongmen on their team were battered about like some ghostly cat playing with its toys. Ron-Karr abruptly vanished himself, though the lack of reaction from his remaining teammates made it apparent this was a result of him having used his own power to become two-dimensional rather than anything nefarious.

With the fight taking place in space there was a complete lack of sound. Still, from the way Dev-Em and Power Boy glanced over at 89 it seemed apparent she’d issued some kind of command to them. Hiding behind the ship’s leaking fuel cells, 89 could be picked up by the camera hastily assembling some kind of device. In the foreground Dev-Em threw his assailants off with a herculean shrug, and Power Boy made his own unique escape by lowering his density until he was completely intangible. The two men zipped away in opposite directions, and 89 revealed herself from behind the fuel cells. Whatever she’d planned on doing however, she never got the chance to carry this out. Some invisible force of destruction ripped into the fuel cells, and a soundless explosion suddenly filled the holoscreen. The camera abruptly shut off, and when the lights in the room came back up a somber pall fell over the heroes.

“I looked for her,” Dev-Em broke the gloom. “She...she’s gone. 89 told us she could hit these things with some kind of area affect weapon so Jed and I had to give her enough room to work, but all we did was expose her to attack. Whatever those things were, we had to admit defeat in the end. They were strong but I don’t think they were as strong as me. Still, Jed couldn’t risk becoming tangible again when for all we know he might have materialised inside one of the things and Ron-Karr’s cutting edge isn’t much use against monsters we can’t see. Eventually they would have killed everybody they were able to kill so we decided to regroup.”

“Who do we know that’s neutrino slick like that?” Comet Queen asked. “It was like you were fighting space ghosts!”

“Space spooks!” Quislet chirped. “Fun!”

“Fun?!” An outraged Mandalla jumped to her feet. “Those things killed 89, they nearly killed me and Makkia! You’ve got a weird definition of fun, you little creep!”

“It’s not Quislet’s fault, Tari.” Makkia placed a hand on Mandalla’s elbow. “It’s an energy being from a different dimension entirely, it doesn’t understand mortality and loss the way we do.”

“Well maybe it shouldn’t be on a team of superheroes,” Mandalla grumbled, returning annoyed to her seat.

“Quislet’s impropriety notwithstanding, the Legion of Superheroes will of course investigate this phenomenon,” Brainiac 5 spoke up calmly. “Given that we have very little idea what we’re walking into, obviously the Legion’s leadership election will need to be placed on hold until we’ve resolved this mystery.”

This announcement got the Legion chattering amonst themselves once again, and this time it was Phantom Girl who broke through the noise. “Brainy, you can’t just declare that!”

“Phantom Girl’s right,” Polar Boy supported Tinya. “There’s nothing in the Legion Charter that empowers you to make that kind of unilateral decision--”

Brainiac 5 gave Polar Boy a look of withering condescension. “Polar Boy, please don’t embarass yourself further by continuing to speak as though there’s anything related to the operations of this team you could possibly teach me. Surely none of you are so enslaved to protocol that you’d be willing to completely upend the Legion’s chain of command in the midst of a mission upon whose success rests the wellbeing of an entire planet?”

The Legion mumbled amongst themselves until Tinya spoke up again. “Brainy. As soon as this mission is over, we count the votes and announce our new leader.” She met Brainiac 5’s gaze with a look of uncommon steel, and though she didn’t need to say anything further they both knew she wasn’t going to let this go.

“Of course,” Brainiac 5 replied. “This is not a dictatorship, Phantom Girl. I’m simply doing what’s best for the Legion.” He immediately shifted his attention to the rest of the team and continued speaking as though the room weren’t thick with tension. “Firecrest, Invisible Kid, Quislet, Shadow Lass, Mwindaji, Nightwind, Dragonmage, Kid Computo, Neon, Light Lad and Diamond Damsel; the Oversight Watch and I will meet you in the hangar in ten minutes for take-off.”

“Wait a nano, that’s it?” Ultra Boy protested. “Brainy, you saw those things tear a shuttle to pieces; you’re not gonna take me or Wildfire or--”

“You are the deputy leader of the Legion of Superheroes, Ultra Boy.” Brainiac 5 gathered his things and started walking out of the room. “Your best efforts at leadership will be necessary here in the improbable event that I fail. Oversight Watch, come with me please.” He finished what he had to say and walked out while various of the more boisterous Legionnaires registered their complaints in a less than polite fashion. The Oversight Watch stood and followed him as a group in awkward discomfort.

“Hang on!” Timber Wolf exploded. “You still haven’t said who you think the bad guy is!”

“I don’t think it’s a bad guy at all, Timber Wolf,” Shadow Lass gathered her cape around her. “The last time anything of this scale happened to my home system, Talok himself was responsible. Something else else tells me that this time we will find it is one of the other old gods we must face...Malias the Invisible Queen.”

“Invisible Queen?” Color Kid queried. “Do you really think so, Shadow Lass? She wasn’t anywhere near powerful enough to do this kind of stuff when we met her, and besides - Crystal Kid turned her to crystal and we handed her over to the Science Police, remember?”

“Uh, yeah.” Power Boy scratched the back of his neck. “About that…”

**********
A couple of hours later, the surviving members of the Oversight Watch and twelve members of the Legion of Superheroes hurtled toward the Talokkian system in a Legion cruiser designed to carry twice as many people. As Tari Wahlmunn watched the stars zoom past on the other side of a small viewscreen in the ship’s main corridor, she was glad that the ship was big enough for her to be able to get some space from everyone else.

“Cred for your thoughts?” Power Boy approached Mandalla and rested against a nearby handrail.

“Do you remember when we were at the Academy?” she asked, still staring out the window. “I don’t know if I was as starstruck by the Legion of Superheroes as some of you guys, but I believed in them; I still wanted to join the Legion more than anything...and now the older I get, the more I realise they’re just a pack of childish elitist jerks. It really rubs me the wrong way, you know? The whole galaxy treats them like they’re legends straight out of myth and the reality is they’re just a bunch of overprivileged nassheads.”

“Aw, they’re not that bad,” Jed disagreed gently. “I mean sure, some of them are jerkier than others but it’s not like we’re all a pack of space scouts either. I love Dev, but he can be a stubborn nasshead himself sometimes…and Ron and Makkia were no angels before the Watch formed, Tari.”

“Maybe not, but they never pretended like they were angels either.” The young bronze-skinned woman flicked him a bitter glance and turned back to watch the starscape outside.

“Do you know what I think?” Makkia Vei joined the pair, making sure she was close enough that her voice wouldn’t travel down the corridor to be overheard by anybody else. “I think it’s interesting how Brainiac 5 didn’t choose any of the Legionnaires who openly dissented with him in that meeting even if they might objectively be a better fit for this mission. Querl Dox has a 12th level intellect, he must be able to see that Ultra Boy or Phantom Girl’s combination of power and experience is a better risk against an unknown threat than untested new recruits like Mwindaji and Neon...and what about those strange remarks about their leadership election? All is not well in Legion HQ, I think it’s safe to say.”

Mandalla began to form an answer when she saw Nightwind too now walking towards them. “Has everyone on this whole sprocking ship just decided to come hang in the corridor?” Tari exploded.

“Sorry if I’m intruding,” Nightwind intoned calmly. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry to hear about 89, and I’m sorry about Quislet. What he said back on Mars was really thoughtless.”

“I can’t speak for Tari or Jed, but I appreciate the thought,” Makkia replied. “You don’t need to apologise for Quislet though; I understand that it must be difficult for a Teallian lifeform to adjust to life in a universe it’s not really suited for in any way. Its power must be quite a boon if you’re willing to forgive its social failings and the Teallians’ innate need to colonise new territories to give it a place on your team when so many other candidates have been turned away.”

“I can’t imagine Quislet would want the responsibility of colonising anything,” Nightwind joked wryly.

“I suppose I could be wrong,” Makkia spoke thoughtfully, “I mean nobody can ever really know the motivations of such an alien creature, though Quislet did help the rest of its race invade the United Planets once at least that I’m aware of. Still, I suppose the Legion of Superheroes have far more experience in managing dangerous members within their own ranks than we have so I’ll defer to your judgement. I suspect you’re here to speak with these two moreso than me anyway, I’ll give you three some privacy.” She gave Nightwind a disarmingly warm smile and headed back into the bowels of the ship to rejoin the other heroes. Nightwind turned and watched Makkia Vei leave, genuinely unsure whether the Legion had just been insulted or not.

“She has that effect on people,” Power Boy remarked convivially, easily recognising the expression on Nightwind’s face. “Even as long as I’ve been in the Watch, you’re never really sure if she’s sizing you up or taking a jab or laying down foundations to get you to do something for her in a week’s time.”

Nightwind turned on Power Boy and Mandalla with a mix of concern and anger on her pale yellow face. “How can you work with someone like that, Jed? How can either of you?? You both took the same classes at the Academy that I did, what happened to you both?”

“We grew up, Nightwind.” This was Mandalla, and her voice was stone cold. “When we were all kids, we were brainwashed to think the Legion’s way was the only way and you know what? It really isn’t. You all look down on us like we’re doing something wrong but the Oversight Watch accomplish just as much good as you do. We just do it in a different way.”

“But Makkia Vei was a member of the Fatal Five! And Ron-Karr was in the sprocking Legion of Supervillains! How can you possibly be okay with working with two known criminals?”

“You forget I grew up on Takron-Galtos,” Mandalla stood inches from Nightwind’s face. “Don’t try and talk to me about the irredeemable evil of criminals because it’s a conversation that won’t end well, Nightwind.”

“Hey, hey…” Power Boy stepped between the two girls and gently forced them to step apart. “We’re all friends here, okay? Berta, we’re not kids; we know that Makkia’s opportunistic and she makes whatever the best choice is for Makkia. She’s smart though, she knows the Oversight Watch is the best place for her to be so she’s not gonna jeopardise that by trying to destroy us with her mind games. And Ron-Karr might have been in the LSV but come on...you’ve read the same datafiles we have, it’s not like he ever actually did anything terrible while he was with them. He just wanted to feel important after the Legion rejected him, the same as Mandalla and I did. And here, we do feel important and we do make a difference. I mean, it’s easy for you to judge us. You made it into the Legion. What were we meant to do, take an SP post on some backwater planet somewhere like Visi-Lad or Lamprey did? Join the Legion of Substitute Heroes like Crystal Kid?”

“Okay, fine. I’ll back off.” Nightwind took a step back with her hands raised in mock surrender. “Since you mentioned Crystal Kid, I did want to ask you both one more thing though...”

**********
“Why didn’t you tell us the Invisible Queen had been freed from her containment facility?!” Shadow Lass jabbed her finger into Dev-Em’s chest. “You know what Red Son did to the Talokkian system! Why do you think she’d be any less of a threat?!”

“Woohoo!” Quislet cheered the conflict on. The rest of his exuberant outburst was muffled beneath an emerald muzzle which suddenly popped into existence around the front of his microship.

“I think you’ve gotten yourself into enough trouble today,” Neon teased him, the muzzle obviously her creation. “You need to work on your inner monologue, little guy.”

On the other side of the ship’s passenger compartment Kid Computo, Light Lad and Diamond Damsel watched the unfolding scene. “Wow,” Kid Computo elbowed Light Lad to get his attention. “Shadow Lass sure has got guts taking on a Kryptonian, huh?”

“Mon-El’s her partner,” Diamond Damsel bobbed down to join the hushed conversation. “Somehow I doubt physical power is going to intimidate her, Danielle.”

“We didn’t find out that the Invisible Queen’s crystallised body had been taken from where it was being stored until after we took on the mission to investigate Talok III’s disappearance,” Dev-Em explained with shortening patience. “We still don’t know that she’s behind this, Shadow Lass - for all we know, the Gil’Dishpan have teleported the whole planet somewhere. There are any number of parties who could be behind this, assuming it’s somebody we know in the first place.”

“Don’t condescend to me!” Shadow Lass raged. “You said yourself back on Mars that you suspect who it is - if not Malias, then who?”

“Hey Legionnaire, newsflash!” Ron-Karr grabbed Shadow Lass’s arm before she could stab her finger once more at his teammate. “We don’t need to tell you zip! The Oversight Watch don’t answer to the Legion of Superheroes, lady!”

“I suggest very strongly that you remove your hand from me, Ron-Karr.” Shadow Lass’s voice was utterly calm and controlled, but more full of menace for it. Mwindaji was closer to Shadow Lass than the other Legionnaires and while he didn’t react overtly, his stance changed to that of someone expecting a fight to break out. The other Legionnaires in the room tensed as well, all of them ready and waiting to follow Shadow Lass’s lead.

“Ron, come on pal.” Dev-Em diverted his teammate’s attention from the furious Talokkian before him. “This isn’t the time or place.”

“Dev-Em is correct of course,” Makkia Vei joined the conversation as she entered the room. “Please accept our apologies, Shadow Lass. I’m sure that Ron wouldn’t have acted without provocation, but we’d normally be above that. We’re not ourselves after what happened to 89.”

“You want to talk about provocation?” Tasmia Mallor shook herself free of Ron-Karr and stormed towards the green-skinned woman.

Before the situation could devolve any further, the comms breeped politely and a holographic screen appeared showing Brainiac 5 on the bridge; Staq Mavlen could be seen behind him in his human form checking console data. “We’ve come within what would normally be visual range of Talok III and its moons; as the Oversight Watch have reported, neither the planet nor its satellites are visible. Before we approach any closer, I’d like to ask Dev-Em, Quislet and Neon to exit the ship. I suspect that this will bear no fruit, but I’d like the three of you to see if your sensory enhancements can help provide any additional insights. Mwindaji, Kid Computo, I’ll need you two on the bridge please.”

“Makkia, can you please try and keep things under control while we’re gone?” Dev-Em asked his teammate before staring pointedly at Shadow Lass. “Some of us have work to do.”

He’d just started heading toward the airlock when he heard Zoe’s voice behind him call out playfully. “Hey, muscles! Why are you taking the long way when the Neon Express is right here?” She gave an exaggerated bow and pointed out a green revolving door she’d made in the hull to her left.

Despite the mood in the room Dev-Em gave Neon a smirk and allowed her to usher him through the archaic spinning door, tipping an imaginary hat as he walked through. He supposed she must be using her Green Lantern-derived power to simply phase them through the hull, but he had to appreciate the showmanship. It was nice to see that not all the Legionnaires were completely devoid of humor.

On that note, Quislet’s sleek shiny microship came zooming through. Dev-Em barely knew the Teallian hero, but what he did know led him to believe Quislet embodied the ancient Kryptonian myth of the Paw of the Koa-Ruhl; wish for one of the Legionnaires to be a little less boring and a little more fun-loving, and Quislet is what you got. “Spread out,” Dev-Em took command. “If these things are here, we don’t want to make it any easier for them to hit us than it needs to be.”

“Quislet doesn’t need you to tell him how to hero!” the little Legionnaire protested but he obeyed nonetheless, zipping off to circle around the Legion’s cruiser.

Zoe supposed that she should probably feel a little put out that the Kryptonian thought he could give them orders, but what he’d said made sense; besides, he was ridiculously cute. She took position a few hundred feet away from everyone else and envisioned a massive satellite dish, scanning the full electromagnetic spectrum for any presence other than themselves within tens of thousands of miles. “I’m not getting any useful readings,” she admitted after a minute. “How about you guys?”

“Quislet can’t see anything either!” the Teallian hero’s shrill voice rang out over their comms. “Maybe whole planet really did go boom!”

“I’m not picking anything up with my telescopic or x-ray vision either,” Dev-Em added, “We may as well return to the others.”

The trio reconvened and had just started heading back to the ship when before their eyes, the long shaft connecting the bridge to the rest of the ship broke into shredded pieces and the cruiser careened in different directions. An instant later, the ship’s stardrive exploded in pyrotechnic silence.

“Maybe we don’t need to find bad guys!” Quislet exclaimed while Neon and Dev-Em stared in mute shock.

“Looks like bad guys found us!”

NEXT: THE INVISIBLE DESTROYERS!!!

Another fun outing, raz!

Nice conversation between Nightwind and Jed/Tari. I wonder, did you consider having Jed point out that Blok of all Legionnaires was also a reformed villain?

Glad to see that many Legionnaires are properly wary of Makkia. Whew, the sheer number of underhanded comments she snuck in to keep the trio off-balance and prime them towards discussing Legion membership. And inserting Quislet as a barb into the discussion of morality, too.

Brainy's mission team is interesting. Not only did Makkia observe that none of them openly dissented in the meeting; but it's also full of relatively new members. None of the physical heavy-hitters are along either, with Diamond Damsel and Neon (who's more of an energy caster) and the magical Dragonmage being the strongest; no Mon-El, Blok, Jo or Wildfire. And interestingly, the two he has specific tabs on - Quislet and Firecrest - are along. And no Dawnstar, only Mwindaji for tracking.

Poor Polar Boy gets insulted by Brainy, but Tinya, who made nearly the same objection, doesn't. Brainy picks his battles, I guess, as Brek is more likely to take that in stride.

Funny how Zoe of all people is helping lighten the tension - though gagging Quislet is exactly the somewhat more assertive move I'd expect from her You captured her Reboot personality quite well, IMO; she wasn't shy to make a snarky comment, but she did know when to step back as things were getting too heated.

Great illustration of how undetectable enemies are so dangerous. Could 89 still be alive, I wonder? If Talok III could be disappeared, so could 89.

And what a cliffhanger! Doesn't look good for our heroes...

Hi Raz,

I've clearly got some catching up to do. So this review is gonna be a little all over the place.

Aww poor Lullaby Lad. Gravity Kid is super dedicated and that's great. But he might need to learn work/life balance.

Oooo plant invasion part two!

a ladies night out with Berta, Laurel, Grava...and Dawnstar?
I like that Laurel's sensible enough to not try and tick more people off and hid a bit. Not that i think she could especially with that outfit.
Oh Grava. of course she doesn't wear anything else. lol and she's such a sweetie and glad she was so welcoming to Dawnstar. But i would have totally reacted the same way Berta and Laurel did.

Of course Dragonwing and Chemical kid are sneaking out.
Nice save Polar Boy and in no way is his power lame. CK, might need a training session where he gets his but kicked.
Hahaha love Sun Boy's lines and this whole part. "What Brainy's not the only one who cracked a science text." Haha. Everyone does forget how smart Dirk actually is. his party boy ways over shadow it. but its one of the things i like about him. he's always surprising you.

Tinya just floats down and passes through the group and to Brainy's lab. Let's see what he's got cooking.
Tinya makes an interesting point about the students living there and their battle practices and approach. But i get her confidence. But as we've seen in other boots her power can save her but only for long...

Watching the team fight all these plants is fun and gives us some nice personal moments. like the girls coming to the boy's rescue. Tenzil eating a hole in the wall. great use.
"Just Eat!" haha.

Of course brainy would design certain spots for Tinya to come in through.
Brainy and Dream Girl to the rescue.
Brainy and Dream girl make a good team and oh Ivy...baby Ivy.
idk about this device. it sounds like it has a whole host of other problems. yeah not liking that device. I agree cutting her off could be bad for the baby.

wait she can create planets? Wow!

Nura" of course you can recognize plants by sight." haha.
loving all the banter from this post.

So glad Ral isn't hurt.
Grava is great with Ivy and i love that she's all about it. her, ral and ivy really do make a cute little family unit.
Oh boy looks like Brainy's actions are coming back to haunt him.

Oooo Alek Arcane looks to me a bad we haven't seen the likes of in a while. dark magic and undead attendants? hmm...is he an avatar of the Rot now?

Loving Mwin and Tinya's moment its not often we see people have trouble with the tech in the legion and its good to show case how wide spread the universe is on that. . that's a great idea an alert algorithm makes total sense.

Oh Elastic Lad...as much as no one else may like it i wouldn't mind seeing one post where its him rambling for the entire time connecting dots and recounting so many theories and histories.

Hmmm interesting new tec development and really handy. Color Kid looked excited at first but then Brainy trounced that.
Brainy sure is taking a lot of risks lately...and I'm with Color Kid. third times a charm in some cases and I wouldn't want to risk be blinded again.

Oooo a mystery from inside the sun.
I always enjoy when Crystal Kid shows up, Academy Grads night out!. Still think it was a great idea that the Subs got the old headquarters and that its a museum. its reminiscent of the JLA and the hall of justice just before the New 52 hit where it served both functions and I believe they did it in the Young Justice cartoon as well.

Love Grava the ultimate groupie!
I don't like Dawstaw but you make me feel a little bad for her...only a little....ouch foot and mouth Dawnstar.
ooo Laurel that was brutal.

Remind me again why Crystal Kid isn't a member? was it he buckles under pressure?

and so the fight begins. never mind the Other fight begins.
I love that through all of this Nightwind is still professional and defers to Dawnstar per protocol. it will make for an interesting mission.

Wow, she took laurle out and quick!
"I don't care how pretty you are." oh Grava. lol. and now she's frozen!

Good leading skills by dawnstar and i had a feeling they would have issues. good call Nightwind. Bobb just might be the last shot they have.
Cythonna an ice goddess nice.
Oh no the team is about to get it and then bam Zoe! love it and the image of the team flying in was great.
Wow she took out Zoe...and Mon'el...and Jo. this isn't good.
wait Firecrest has circuity in his uniform...Brainy what did you do?
She broke interon?! damn she is crazy powerful and Blok is doing amazing taking her on. I have to agree with everyone it was fun seeing someone he could actually take on.
More powerful than Darkside?
Nice save Laurel and IK.Kryptonite for the save! I looked through the info you posted and wow she's pretty powerful. Blok is really taking some hits. Yay Bobb did save the day!

The Invisible Queen's been stolen!

Consulting Imra is the right thing. I know none of them want think Brainy could be losing it again but...Also glad she could help with Ivy.

Vi, Gas girl and Calorie Queen's time on Lallor was sure eventful too bad the funeral was interrupted i really wanted to see what Duplicate Boy OG had to say to Vi. maybe someday we'll get to find out. . It's cool to see you explore Lallor a bit more with the mutants they have there. this kind of reminds me of the morlocks from xmen. excpet in this case the government seems to be in favor of the "morlock" lallorians.
I like how you explain the funeral rites and why there's a delay. it makes sense instead of having so many funerals.
Brittle is the most inventive and i like him a lot.
good battle
Ha another Amp. she's a character we all are finding a use for. love it.
Gas girl expelled from Lallor all together. this is big!

That ritual to bring Invisible Queen back was creepy. blindings wow. love the description of this part of Talok III. its oddly beautiful.

Poor Gas Girl but Vi makes a good point. I wonder if those agents have something more dastardly planed for Lallor. I hope the Dominators aren't back and up to their old tricks on Lallor!
But I'm glad she's not leaving s I do like Gas Girl and she does sound like a good fit for the Espionage squad. .
I'm glad Nightwind apologized to Dawnstar. it was the right thing to do. But I liked that she was just like "we may not just be compatible. which is so true. not everyone is meant to be friends.

That was a tense moment between PG SG and Brainy. i know he's just stating facts but damn they sure feel harsh. " to play school teacher". wow.

The Luqiti orb.. ooo i loved seeing Wonder Woman use this. these warrior monsters are going to get everyone! Malais is so cruel keeping them blinded and chained to her. Grair's transformation was harsh but weirdly elegant. but that might just be Invisible Queen's regal nature when I picture her shoving his head into the The Luqiti orb.

I always enjoy seeing Ayla with her nephews.
Good job Tenzil. I'm glad he could get Gas Girl to feel more apart of the group. Haha "what there are spoons here too." love it.

Tranquility Bay mission: was really well done. Poor Colossal Boy he really is upset by Yera's decision to not let Mwin's help.
Tranquility is pretty cool character. hopefully we'll see her again. Cham's detective skills were on display this whole mission. love it.
Fundament's pretty powerful and of course he's a religious nut. I had forgotten that about him thank you for the refresher. But of course its Christianity that brings out the worst in him. Humans always take the worst from it instead of its best lessens.
Loved how Cham's plan worked out.

No 89 is dead!?
Makkia Vei is a tricky one and used her skills well on the team to divulge information. because she's so tricky i wouldn't trust a thing she says including her little break down about 89.
Ultraviolet channel? hmm
Quislet would think space ghost are fun. Don't totally disagree with Mandalla.

Brainy and Tinya are going to come to blows. i can see it coming!

Mandalla's thoughts aren't wholly wrong.sometimes the LHS has its issues but what group doesn't. But i don't know if they are as bad as she's saying.
Diamond Damsale ha! such a good point about Shadow lass and M'onel. a kryptonian is nothing to her.
I'd walk away Ron-Karr walk away!
ahah nice job shutting Quislet up Zoe! love it!

Oh no the ship exploded! I hope Brainy was able to save everyone in time!

Can't wait for more!!!

Thanks for all the detail Omni, you have done a good recap!

To address a few specific points:

* Brainy & Nura are a good team I think, glad you liked them. I think she has that same quality as Kara where she can be flirty and he doesn't really know how to deal with it. I think also as much as she would never admit it, it must be nice for Nura to have a peer who first and foremost respects her for her intellect...even Thom who loves her second-guesses her a lot. Being super hot and having a power which was initially not that reliable has really cast a big shadow for her to have to come out of.

* Alek Arcane! I have resisted writing his bio just yet because I want you guys to discover him in story but I don't think it's spoiling anything to say he will be a much darker type of threat than the Legion are used to and Arcane is a surname that has a pretty distinct legacy in the DC universe...

* I am not sure if there was ever a reason given in canon for Crystal Kid not making it into the Legion; I assumed originally it was because his power only lasted as long as he concentrated on it but personality could be a factor too as the SW6 batch seemed to find him too annoying back in the day.

* I like the morlock analogy for the Lalloran mutants; my original idea was much more blatantly morlock-like but they are definitely meant to evoke that...except for Amp and the new Duplicate Boy, the rest of them are based on old reader suggestions from the BITS thread somewhere on this board! I need a new Dupe Boy for story reasons, but Amp is just cool as I'm sure we all agree

* Also you're probably right not to trust Makkia's display of emotion (and she's certainly not getting any more trustworthy anytime soon!) On the other hand I think I just wrote Kid Computo's most kickass scene ever, so I hope y'all are pumped for the next chapter!

Hi Raz,

I finally caught up from Blok getting the powers of Shazam to now!

I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve read. Having not read much fanfic, I was a little hesitant on the different format and how it would affect pace and plotting. But it’s been no problem at all.

From the choreography of the big battles, through the lovely background touches in the locations, to the smaller character moments and side missions it’s all been great fun.

I’ve liked the pacing and no scene has outstayed its welcome or got in the way of other plots. There’s been plenty of tension. There’s also an extra bit when your plots get close to my scattered notes for Bits. There’s a little sigh of relief as they go in parallel for a couple of beats and then you go off in another direction.

I’m impressed at the large cast you’ve used. When I saw 40 Legionnaires, I wondered how you well you would do it. But it never feels as though any of them are forced into a scene just to give them an appearance. Having read a lot in a few sittings, I’ve noticed that everyone on the team has had something to contribute. The missions with smaller groupings alongside the larger arcs really help with that.

I’m enjoying the use of your own creations as well, as it can be a big task to come up with something that will work against the Legion. Just ask Mr Levitz.

The change of name to Judgement League was ominous and your recruits are a lot more interesting than the villains of history plucked out of time back in the Adventure days.

I really liked the conceptual virus too, as something very different from the norm. There’s a pleasant streak of horror in some of the threads too which I quite like.

One of the first disappointing comics I can remember getting was a Teen Titans Annual where Marv was trying to launch a group called the Vanguard into their own book. I was reminded of them when I saw White Dwarf in your Heavensent. I did a quick check as I thought they would also have had a Red Giant or something in their ranks. But they were Anti-Matterman, Black Nebula, Drone, Scanner, Solaar and White Dwarf. Dull as dishwater, which fortunately your Heavensent aren’t. Void is really going to have to catch a few more people if he/it turns up again though. Always sooo close.

Having a healer on the team in these deadly times fills a big power gap (and handily allows you to make the most out of some of the combats). It was a big surprise that it turned out to be Mwindaji as a White Lantern. Well played on Universo’s attitude towards Mwindaji too.

I loved the brief visit to Ch’p’s world and wouldn’t mind a member from that neck of the woods (possibly literally woods here).

Speaking of our animal buddies, I recall the Atomic Knights on doggy steeds. This seems to have been nicely combined in the Post Atomic Knights. Really well done if this was your creation.

Your take on Quislet is making me look at him more closely in the reread thread. Likewise, your vision of a Bounty possessed Dawnstar was an excellent, dark portrayal of where things could go. It’s a hint of what the ads for v4 looked like promising. Instead she was wasted when she appeared.

Dawnstar’s reaction has been good to see. I recall he going out dancing in one of the Baxter issues? So, it’s something she’s done, however grudgingly.

I remember there being an Invisible Destroyer from the Silver Age who fought Green Lantern. With all of the recent Lantern goings on recently, I was wondering if that name sparked something here.
Looking forward to the next instalment!

Yeah, I've been waiting to see what sort of connection to Anton Arcane Alex has. Physical descendant? Spiritual reincarnation? Some from column A and column B?

Again, love your original characters, Diamond Damsel and Elastic Lad. (Although I didn't expect to like Elastic Lad, he's growing on me, and he's narratively useful for info-dumps, and spares Brainy from always having to be Exposition Lad.) Love, love, love that you are using Laurel Kent, Nightwind and a dragon-form Fire Lad, and yet still have room for classic characters like Phantom Girl and Shadow Lass and Ultra Boy.

When Brainy left in v3 there was a massive gap. A lot of that was due to years of not having others in the team fill the same role, even in a different way. Occasionally Dirk, Nura and Lar looked likely and later Harmonia. I think Lyle in the reboot/ threeboot did this too? So having someone like Elastic Lad comes in very handy.

Hi y'all...Alek Arcane is gonna be in the background for a bit but when he decides to make his move it'll be appropriately creepy and gross

I am glad you liked what you have read so far, thoth....you covered a massive amount of story, I am impressed! I actually never got into reading or writing fanfic till I found this board and had the same concerns about pacing and how it would transfer from comic pages to prose. While you lose some of the visual impact though I think it's great for being able to examine character stuff more and spotlight characters who aren't as visually flashy.

re: Void....he does suffer a little bit from the Mano problem where he's so lethal when his power actually works that you risk him looking like a loser if he never gets a chance to actually kill anyone. I tried to deal with it by making him slow-moving enough that he's actually not that hard to evade if someone's got enough room but I also think those characters work best in small doses so you don't have to keep contriving reasons why the heroes got away this time.

It's funny you mention Ch'p's world, stay tuned....

The Post-Atomic Knights were definitely meant to evoke the giant dalmation steeds, I am glad you picked it up! And I remember that scene you mentioned with Dawnstar dancing, that was kind of what inspired me to have her try and go out with the girls actually!

The Invisible Destroyers did initially come from when I was looking for Green Lantern-related bad guys to throw at Zoe; in the end they don't really have anything to do with GL's enemy but never let a good name go unused I say

TALOKKIAN SPACE
45 seconds ago

ROLL CALL
Legion of Superheroes
Brainiac 5 aka Querl Dox: team leader, 12th level intelligence
Diamond Damsel aka Iris Jacobs: living diamond
Dragonmage aka Xao Jin: dragon magic
Firecrest aka Staq Mavlen: weredragon
Invisible Kid II aka Jacques Foccart: invisibility
Kid Computo aka Danielle Foccart: cyberempathy
Light Lad aka Darvan Locke: anti-gravity control
Mwindaji: tracker infused with White Lantern energy
Neon aka Zoe Saugin: infused with Green Lantern energy
Nightwind aka Berta Skye Haris: wind control
Quislet: energy being, temporary animation
Shadow Lass aka Tasmia Mallor: darkness generation

Oversight Watch
Dev-Em: Kryptonian physiology
Makkia Vei: psychological manipulation
Mandalla aka Tari Wahlmunn: thoughtsphere projection
Power Boy aka Jedediah Rikane: density manipulation
Ron-Karr: ability to become 2-dimensional


Sitting apart from his teammates in the passenger compartment of a Legion cruiser, the young sorceror Xao Jin opened one eye mildly annoyed at the ruckus going on around him. He’d been trying to meditate and hone his powers for the combat which no doubt lay ahead but Shadow Lass starting a fight with various members of the Oversight Watch didn’t make that an easy task. In the end, he decided to find a more quiet place to gather his strength. He got up and left the room a moment after Makkia Vei entered, nobody else any the wiser in all the commotion.

Walking down the ship’s main corridor, he came across Nightwind in heated conversation with Power Boy and Mandalla. He slowed his pace; Shadow Lass had four other Legionnaires in there to back her up if necessary, but Nightwind was outnumbered here. Swiftly, he thought better of it; he remembered Berta’s many stories about the Academy, he doubted very highly that she needed any assistance from him of all people against two of her fellow alumni.

Distracted as he was, Xao almost walked into Kid Computo and Mwindaji’s paths as they rushed past him a moment later. He apologised politely, but the two had already jogged through the irising door that led to the bridge. Not even a second after that door had closed securely behind them, alarms sounded through the vessel and large gashes appeared in the corridor where they’d left Dragonmage and the others.

As soon as Dragonmage, Nightwind, Mandalla and Power Boy realised what was happening, it was too late. The corridor had been fully shorn from the ship ahead of and behind them and Dragonmage, Power Boy and Mandalla all looked at one another in a panic as they saw the rest of their vehicle drifting away from them in pieces. They all turned to Nightwind to see her down on one knee, her face distorted in furious concentration.

“I’m keeping the air in,” Berta spoke quickly through gritted teeth, “But I can’t do it long!” She looked up desperately at Dragonmage, and he instantly understood. Their transuits would protect them all from any environmental damage but they’d obviously been targetted by whatever had assaulted the Oversight Watch here the first time around, and allowing explosive decompression to send them all hurtling outside would leave them at as much of a disadvantage now as it had the Watch when they’d first suffered the same fate. Xao Jin closed his eyes and concentrated, weaving one particular dragonform which had become very common to him during his time with the Legion.

A moment later, the four of them were enclosed within the snaking torso of a translucent jade dragon. “You’re a champion, Xao!” Nightwind breathed a sigh of relief as she collapsed to sit against the dragon’s interior. “I don’t know if I had another nano in me!”

The dragon tore through the remaining portion of the Legion cruiser just in time for the ship’s stardrive to rupture, the force of the explosion hurtling their dragon head over serpentine tail through the void of space. Grimacing, Xao barely managed to hold the dragonform together around them. “Is anybody injured?” the young mage asked.

“We’re all fine,” Mandalla replied. “Just a little rattled...I just wish I could use my power on whatever’s out there without having to worry about affecting anyone on our side.”

“Hey Dragonmage,” Power Boy asked, a curious gleam in his eye. “Am I gonna be able to phase through this thing?”

“Most certainly,” the Legionnaire replied. “I wouldn’t advise it though, I think we should--”

“Thanks!” Jed grinned, interrupting him. His skin faded in color and he passed through the dragonform surrounding them before Power Boy took on the darker shade which let them all know he’d now increased his density to superhuman levels.

“I respect his courage,” Dragonmage sighed, “But I really wish he’d stayed in here with us until we formulated a plan.”

“Something else else tells me,” Nightwind breathed wearily as she watched her purple-skinned friend tackled by an unseen assailant, “Jed’s gonna agree with you before too long.”

**********
Ron-Karr’s whole world had exploded in sound and light, and he instinctively flattened his form and closed his eyes against the din. A moment later he gingerly opened his eyes again and saw that Makkia Vei and Shadow Lass floated nearby, both of them wounded. Shadow Lass was covered in nasty looking gashes and Makkia Vei had less visible signs of damage but was nonetheless unconscious. He guessed that his hyper-thin state must have protected him from whatever that explosion had been, just like a feather reed’s slender stalk allowed it to survive one of Venus’s frequent megahurricanes. The sober realisation dawned upon him that if the explosion had sent something flying at him from even a slightly different angle, he might be dead now. Light Lad was fortunate enough to have been standing close enough to Diamond Damsel for her invulnerable form to shield him from all but the most superficial damage, and of course Diamond Damsel herself was completely unharmed. It was then that Ron-Karr saw that the rest of their cruiser was now just so much jagged and charred debris shooting away from them. With the lot of them spread throughout the cabin as they had been, Diamond Damsel couldn’t possibly have protected all of them to this extent. “How the sprock are we still alive?” the Neptunian man wondered aloud in awe of the destruction all around them.

“I don’t think I’ve ever reacted so quickly in my life,” Light Lad answered, the surprise evident in his voice. “I created a field to deflect the debris away from us…it took a lot out of me, but I’m kind of impressed with myself to be honest!”

“Wait,” one eyebrow raised on Ron-Karr’s paper-flat face. “How do your powers work in outer space? There’s already no gravity!”

“Micro-gravity,” Darvan smiled wearily. “I don’t really get it, but Brainiac 5 seemed to think it would work -- oh sprock, Brainiac 5 and the others! They’re in that mess somewhere!” He immediately started flying toward the field of debris which had been the front portion of their ship.

“Light Lad, wait!” Diamond Damsel started to caution him, but she was too late. He’d not progressed more than a foot or so before some invisible force slammed into him with bonecrunching impact.

“It’s them!” Ron-Karr almost shrieked. “It’s the same things that killed 89!”

“Be a man about it for goodness’ sake!” Shadow Lass chastised him, dragging Makkia Vei’s limp form behind her as she approached Ron-Karr. Tasmia herself was only holding on to consciousness by sheer force of will, but she knew if she surrendered to the pain she’d be dead for sure. “And come closer, I can hide us all in darkness. Diamond Damsel, do you think you can handle whatever these things are while we collect Light Lad?” Tasmia Mallor wasn’t entirely confident that hiding them in darkness would help; it certainly hadn’t made any difference in her previous encounters with Invisible Queen. She was the most senior Legionnaire here though...until Brainiac 5 joined them, she needed to do something to prevent the grip of panic from setting in.

Ron-Karr was the next to fall, howling in agony as they all saw the shape of an enormous fist with spiked knuckles deform his flat torso. Thankfully some function of his weird power protected him from being ripped like the sheet of paper he resembled, but he still joned his Coluan teammate and Light Lad in unconsciousness.

“Shadow Lass, do it!” Diamond Damsel bellowed. “Dev-Em said they were weaker than him so I doubt they can hurt me!” She charged in the general direction of the villain who’d taken out Ron-Karr with her arms outstretched and hit only a glancing blow, but she was confident that it’d be enough at least to ensure it focused on her as a potential threat.

Shadow Lass didn’t bother responding verbally as she saw Diamond Damsel’s head lurch to the left thanks to an invisible punch. She knew her teammate was deliberately acting as a decoy to give her a chance and the Talokkian heroine needed to take advantage of that. As she wrapped herself and her charges in a shroud of darkness, Tasmia wrapped her tattered cloak around her free hand a few times then chanced reaching for the still flat Ron-Karr. She could feel the hyper-sharp edge of his arm even through the protective layers of fabric but this would be enough to keep her from losing fingers at least.

While she hoped that her power hid her from these destroyers, it didn’t impede her own vision at all. Shadow Lass saw a great green dragon emerge dramatically from a field of debris in one direction as the similarly emerald glow of Neon’s protective aura approached from elsewhere.

“Thank you, ancestors,” Tasmia silently prayed. “Now please just let me stay alive long enough for backup to make a difference.”

**********
The bridge of the Legion’s cruiser was still mostly in one piece, albeit a completely useless piece sheared away from the rest of the ship as it had been. Inside the tumbling room Brainiac 5 turned to Firecrest, Mwindaji and Kid Computo who’d all been protected by the Coluan’s forcefield belt.

“I guess you called me and Mwin to the bridge for nothing, huh?” Kid Computo quipped in an effort to fight her fear. “I don’t think we need to try and find our mystery bad guys anymore.”

“Quite the contrary,” Brainiac 5 replied, completely unfazed by the certain death they’d all just narrowly averted. “We know that we’ve been assaulted but we still have no clear way to detect our assailants. If Mwindaji can track their location precisely or if you can hone in on any computerised components, that will be of immense aid. In the meantime Kid Computo, synchronise all of your flight rings with mine. We need to fly clear of this wreckage so that we can discern the status of our teammates and the Oversight Watch.”

It was no effort for Danielle to comply, and still ensconced in Brainiac 5’s forcefield the Legionnaires flew through the drifting remains of the corridor which had moments ago linked them to the rest of their ship. When they reached open space, they saw Diamond Damsel and Power Boy both fighting a losing battle against invisible opponents while Dragonmage, Nightwind and Mandalla were all safely contained within a translucent jade dragonform. Neon, Quislet and Dev-Em were flying back to lend a hand but Brainiac instantly realised that not everybody was accounted for.

“I can’t see them,” Danielle Foccart offered, “But I can sense Shadow Lass and Light Lad’s flight rings as well as Makkia Vei and Ron-Karr’s comms equipment and transuits. They’re all together, so I guess Shadow Lass is using her power to hide them.”

“Smart girl,” Firecrest winced as he watched Power Boy double over.

“But Brainy,” Danielle continued, “there’s something else...there’s definitely technology behind this, but it feels so vague. It’s like watching something move in a fog, I know it’s there but I can’t get a handle on it. And I know this is gonna sound crazy, but it feels almost...alive?”

“Crazy is not the descriptor of an educated sentient,” Brainiac huffed. “It could be some type of techno-organic lifeform like the Linsnarians or the Namonites. Lead us to Shadow Lass’s contingent and then concentrate on our enemy, Danielle. I have more faith in my forcefield to protect our allies from this threat than Shadow Lass’s power. What about you, Mwindaji?”

“I sense nothing!” the tracker from Kirinyaga noted curiously. “I have never known a quarry to hide from my power when obviously it is within our presence, but that is exactly what I am encountering now!”

“I expected as much,” Brainiac 5 responded. “But it’s always good to confirm a theory.”

“Those two are getting slaughtered out there,” Firecrest observed as Diamond Damsel was battered from one opponent to the next. “Brainiac, let me out and I’ll go help them.”

“Your fire-breathing ability is useless in the vacuum of space,” Brainiac 5 countered.

“Then I guess we’re lucky that isn’t the only power I have these days, aren’t we?” While he spoke, he triggered the change into his weredragon form. Discomfort could be discerned from his tone, but the transformation was no longer agonising.

“I doubt this is the best course of action,” Brainiac replied, “But I understand your desire to contribute.” He deftly moved controls on his belt, switching the forcefield off long enough for Firecrest to fly off toward Diamond Damsel. Before Brainiac 5 could reactivate the field however, a thunderous blow to the back of his head knocked him out cold.

“How many of you basstichess are there?!” Firecrest protested as he turned to lash out at where Brainiac’s assailant must be located. He felt his claws rake against something, but didn’t feel that he’d deeply penetrated whatever armour this invisible thing wore. A moment later, an enormous invisible arm smacked into his waist and sent him flying. The blow itself was frighteningly powerful, but it was a web of electricity crackling through his entire body which actually knocked him out.

“Are you sprocking kidding me?!” an exasperated Kid Computo exclaimed. “Brainiac sent him on this mission with that stupid stunweb still active?!” She reached out with her power and reactivated the forcefield barely in time to prevent herself and Mwindaji from being collected by the blow which reverberated around them. Firecrest had floated just outside of the field’s range, but Danielle commandeered his flight ring and started reeling him.

Mwindaji had already begun using his power to heal their leader, and as he looked up toward Danielle his face was bathed in the same white glow that was knitting Brainiac 5’s skull back together. “Do not despair,” he tried to calm the younger girl. “Brainiac 5 will be restored to health in a moment and it seems that our reinforcements have arrived...look!”

Danielle saw Quislet’s microship approach with Neon not far behind and her heart sank. If Brainiac 5 had seen fit to send Firecrest into battle with the stunweb he’d inserted into his suit….she used her power to confirm her fears and raised her flight ring to her lips. “Quislet!” she shouted. “Get back, just give me a nano and I’ll--”

“No time!” Quislet trilled excitedly. “Quislet can’t see bad guys,” the Teallian explorer reasoned as his ship flew its erratic path through the battle, “But Quislet can guess where bad guys are!” The hull to his ship slid open, and the spark of life which actually was Quislet leaped out in the direction of whatever had injured Firecrest. To the tiny hero’s disappointment, he found he’d misjudged. He was just darting back to the safety of his ship when whatever they were fighting deformed the vessel as though it were a discarded tin can. The ship could still have been salvaged had the damage not set off the implosion device that Brainiac 5 had instituted within, but Quislet had no way to combat that. His ship seemed to crunch in on itself until it ceased to exist, and simultaneously so did he.

“What the sprock was that all about?” Neon’s jaw dropped. “Did these invisible things do that??” The distraction dented Zoe’s concentration just enough so that when a ferocious two-fisted blow found the middle of her back, the only thing which saved her spine from snapping was her emerald aura. She tumbled into the void, a fading green ember.

“Oh no, you don’t.” Danielle reached out once more and stopped Zoe’s flight into space; she was beginning to reach her power’s limit though. Danielle had never realised before how much constant adjustment Brainiac 5’s forcefield belt required against repeated impacts; she supposed with Brainiac’s 12th level intellect it was a simple matter for him to devote the smallest portion of his consciousness to the task, but Danielle Foccart was far from a 12th level intellect. Maintaining his forcefield against super-powered punches while she kept Zoe and Staq from drifting into oblivion and also kept track of everybody’s flight rings who she couldn’t see was starting to give her a headache. “Damn it Brainy,” she muttered, “Any time you want to wake up and lend us a hand here…”

“I am awake thanks to Mwindaji,” the Coluan man’s voice replied groggily, “If not entirely alert just yet...but Kid Computo, you just need to use the tools available to you.”

“Oh my god, are you sprocking kidding me?!” she exploded. “I’m already keeping your sprocking forcefield going and Firecrest and Neon’s flight rings--”

Mwindaji offered a now fully healed Brainiac his hand and helped him stand. “Danielle,” Brainiac 5 interrupted her rant, “Neon’s flight ring is not the only functional piece of jewellery she wears.”

Kid Computo stopped mid-sentence and her eyes became wide as saucers once it dawned on her what he was suggesting.

“Ohh yeahh,” she cracked her knuckles with a wicked smirk.

“Brightest day, motherflorgers.”

**********
Power Boy felt a heavily armoured forearm squeeze around his throat, his opponent taking him from behind. Floating in open space like this, Jed had no leverage; he doubted this creature was significantly stronger than him but he wasn’t having any luck trying to pry his way loose either. He’d really wanted to avoid having to use his power to phase through the thing’s grip as he knew he’d face the same dilemma as when he’d turned intangible last time. Without being able to see these things, he might materialise inside one of them and that would be lethal for them both. He was swiftly running out of options though; he certainly wasn’t going to be any more use to anyone if he allowed himself to be strangled than he would by becoming intangible.

He’d just made the decision to reduce his density when the creature jolted and inexplicably released him. Power Boy turned around to see why he’d been freed and found Dev-Em hovering nearby, the Kryptonian’s eyes smoldering red. “Nobody chokes out my boyfriend,” Dev-Em scowled.

“Well...nobody else,” Power Boy winked at his lover. Jed swung a mighty fist where he guessed his assailant might be, and for the first time since encountering these things he felt that he’d laid a solid and very satisfying blow as unseen armour plating deformed around his knuckles. “Thanks for the save, babe.”

“Any time,” Dev-Em replied, looking over the battle. “We really need a focused plan of attack though...there are only a few of us who can fight these things one-on-one, everyone else here is going to start…” He paused as the vivid memory of 89’s death flashed into his mind’s eye. “...They’re gonna start getting hurt if we don’t shut this down.”

“Yeah…” Jed’s flirtatious tone faded immediately as he shared the same visceral memory. “Yeah, let’s start by helping her.” He gestured at Diamond Damsel who was being held from behind by one of the invisible attackers while another repeatedly struck her torso.

Before either of the men could make a move, an emerald beam of pure concussive force slammed into the creature punching Diamond Damsel; for a fraction of a second, its outline was visible and the heroes had their first visual confirmation of how big these things really were. It must have been easily nine feet tall and built like a Khundian Star Destroyer, all armour and spikes. A second beam smashed the one holding Diamond Damsel while sending Diamond Damsel herself tumbling head over heels till she used her flight ring to right herself. Guessing that the energy blasts had come from Neon, Diamond Damsel looked around till she found Zoe Saugin surrounded in her familiar nimbus of emerald light. “Not that I’m ungrateful for the help, but could you leave me in one piece next time you’re...saving me..?” Her angular features turned down in a sharp frown as she realised Neon was just hanging there limply. “How..?”

“I’m a Green Lantern!” Danielle Foccart’s excited voice rang out over all of their comms. “I took over Zoe’s ring till she wakes up!”

“Legionnaires, Oversight Watch, form on Neon’s position.” This much calmer voice belonged to Brainiac 5. “Kid Computo can use Neon’s power ring to shield us while Mwindaji heals those who need it and I’ll decide our next move from there.”

“Your next move?” a throaty woman’s voice responded. “I should think your next move would be to surrender.” Everybody who was still up and about glanced around, urgently trying to find the woman who’d just spoken.

“Where have these two gone?” Diamond Damsel swung cautiously at nothing. “No way I believe those hits took either of them out.”

“They’ve all stopped attacking,” Dev-Em noted grimly. “I don’t like it.” He scanned the surrounding area with every enhanced sense he possessed, but it helped not at all.

“I should think you’d be grateful for an end to the violence,” the woman’s voice continued.

It was maddening; like everyone else here, she was only audible at all because of the comms equipment they all possessed so it was impossible to pinpoint her location using her voice. Still, Dev-Em knew he should be able to sense her in any number of other ways. Then it dawned on him...he couldn’t sense Shadow Lass, Light Lad, Ron-Karr or Makkia Vei either.

As if on cue, Malias the Invisible Queen shimmered very much into visibility. She was reclining on some kind of elaborate transparent throne, her legs casually crossed. To her left, one of the giant armoured men appeared with Shadow Lass hanging limply from his outstretched arm. His armour was plated, almost medieval in appearance, and though it too seemed to be composed of some kind of transparent plastic it covered his entire body without even eye slits to reveal any organic foe within the shell. The prominent spikes which so many of the heroes present had felt were finally made threateningly visible. So large was the bulky villain that he could only fit two of his fingers and his thumb around Tasmia Mallor’s throat and it was obvious that he’d be able to snap her neck with the barest effort. Another of the armoured men appeared to Invisible Queen’s right hand side, this one holding Makkia Vei in the same pose.

“For those of you whom I’ve yet to have had the pleasure of meeting,” Malias greeted the assembled heroes, “I am Malias the Invisible Queen; these are but two of my Invisible Destroyers and I assure you they are capable of slaying your comrades at my first command. Now I know how you people think...even now your feverish little minds are formulating plans to overpower my men, to rescue the Shadow Champion of Talok VIII and her little green friend; but let me also assure you, these are not all of my Invisible Destroyers, and the ones you can’t see hold two of your men’s lives quite literally in their hands as we speak. So...let us discuss your surrender, shall we?”

Dev-Em balled his fists. “If you think we’re gonna--”

“You have us at a distinct disadvantage,” Brainiac 5 interrupted. “As I see it, surrender is our only option.” He deactivated his forcefield to the vocal shock and disapproval of some of the others.

*********
While Legionnaires and Oversight Watch members argued back and forth, one man watched from a safe distance with a heavy heart. Brainiac 5 had asked Invisible Kid to maintain his power since well before they’d entered Talokkian space and to take no action in the event of a fight so that when the Legion and the Oversight Watch were inevitably taken captive Jacques could follow in secret, could find out how the Invisible Queen was maintaining this effect over such a wide radius and free the heroes to restore normalcy to the region once more. Jacques had been on the bridge when the Invisible Destroyers attacked, had been protected like everyone else inside Brainiac 5’s forcefield, and had cleared the battle site altogether when the forcefield was briefly dropped, just as Brainiac had instructed him to.

Intellectually, Jacques understood the logic behind the plan; if they didn’t allow Invisible Queen to capture them they might never be able to locate her themselves. He didn’t feel at all comfortable however just sitting back and watching his friends, allies and his youngest sister surrender themselves to this monstrous woman; he felt worse still that Brainiac hadn’t seen fit to tell any of the others his plan. They knew that Invisible Kid had been given another task, but none of them knew that Brainiac had intended on making them all his sacrificial lambs from the very beginning. When Jacques had raised his objections, Brainiac had told him that he needed the others to react genuinely to the prospect of defeat if their ploy was to succeed. Again, it was something that Jacques could understand but even for Brainiac 5 it was coldly lacking in sentiment. An unwelcome question came to Jacques not for the first time; how had Brainiac 5 even known that Invisible Queen would take them captive rather than simply kill them all? Not for the first time, he refused to entertain it. He wasn’t sure he’d like the answer.

While he’d been lost in his thoughts, the Invisible Destroyers had placed helmets and manacles upon all of the heroes. The Legionnaires and Oversight Watch were linked to one another by thick cables, all of the restraining equipment made of the same weird transparent plastic as the Invisible Destroyers’ armour and the Invisible Queen’s throne. From the way his friends reacted, Jacques guessed that the helmets deprived them of their vision. He supposed this must be Invisible Queen’s equivalent of blindfolding her captives to keep her secret hideout secret. Finally, Jacques Foccart realised with a guilty sense of relief, he was going to be useful.

He followed them from about a dozen feet back as they led the heroes away from the debris, Invisible Queen taking a rear position as her throne revealed itself to contain hidden propulsion equipment. Jacques was satisfied at least that nobody had seen him; he certainly hadn’t seen either Malias or the Invisible Destroyers until she’d seen fit to reveal them all, so it made sense to him that they’d be equally unable to see him while his power was in effect.

Just as Jacques had this thought, Malias the Invisible Queen raised her hand and the Invisible Destroyers stopped in their tracks. Malias also stopped moving, and for the first time stood from her throne. She turned around while her throne seemed to grow a secondary seat from its own mass and to the abject horror of Jacques Foccart she stared straight at him.

“Invisible Kid, isn’t it?” she asked with an indulgent smile. “Don’t be shy, come up here...take a seat next to your queen.”

TO BE CONTINUED!!!

Yikes, what a cliffhanger! I wonder what Malias intends to do with her "king". I'm not surprised she can see him though, she's just that powerful.

Good job giving those heroes whose powers normally wouldn't work well in space - like Nightwind and Light Lad - something to do.

Laughed at Jed's line re choking. Looks like he and Dev have a healthy, kinky sex life.

Kid Computo is the MVP! I would love to see her go up against Larfleeze. Oh, the look on his face...

So it seems that Quislet's ship-bomb and Firecrest's stunweb activated accidentally? I'm fairly sure Brainy didn't intend for them to be self-disabled in battle. Quis' was more clearly an accident (damaged ship + bomb = boom). Firecrest's was a bit elss obvious for me.

Smart plan by Brainy. Too bad it won't work... but maybe he has another ace up his sleeve?

Just when I was thinking that Jacques was doing so much better than his usual trapped-under-some-rubble/ exposition lad/ plot mover role, with a nice long range espionage plan too. I also wondered briefly about different levels/ sources of invisibility and who could see whom, but I stopped that as I read the end A very nice twist there Raz.

Two of Brainy's plans blow up in his face. Mind you, he wasn't expecting to win that combat, so it might not derail his plans as much as the cliff hanger suggests. I don't think the others will see it that way when the dust settles though.

Nice to see you use the Invisible Destroyer name. The who's who entry I recall was an invisible guy in a costume. A mr foccart or something he was called... Your version captures more of the destroyer feel.

Mwindaji can stay as he has super-healing, but Atomic Doggy joining means that it's over for Timberwolf. Actually, one of the Post-Atomic doggies really would make for a very visual, yet familiar, non human character.

Looking forward to the next part Raz.

At last, an explanation for why Brainy hasn't made force fields for everyone in the Legion - here you explain that Danielle can't keep up with the calculations needed to extend the field - so the forcefield could perhaps be maintained by anyone in a static/unassailed position, but not in battle, when they'd need it.

Brainy's always a few steps ahead of everyone else, but it's no guarantee that he's taken the right course. I'm enjoying the suspense of whether or not he foresaw what would happen to Quislet and Firecrest, as well as how capture by the Invisible Queen will turn out.

Gas Girl expelled from Lallor! I'm sure we haven't seen the last of that story and look forward to what Ord's will might contain.

"You must travel to Lythyl and put a trellis behind the plant that's doing very nicely thank you despite no one visiting it with water."

haha I nearly didn't put Jed's choking line in cuz I thought it was a bit too spicy, but I surrendered to my baser nature One of these days I gotta draw and upload my reimagined Power Boy costume, it's very stripperiffic

The bit with Brainy's forcefield belt was inspired by a scene in one of the old Levitz issues where Brainy gives Ayla his belt to use and she can't figure out how to work it, so Nura takes it off her in a huff...I figure "user-friendly" for Brainiac 5 doesn't necessarily mean user-friendly to 99% of the rest of the known universe

thoth - LOL @ Ord's will Sooner or later Lythyl will get a Legionnaires and Supporting Cast Memorial Garden at that rate

lol! does your Gravity Kid still have his super revealing outfit too? I can just imagine the sexual tension when Jed and Tel next meet, especially if they’re both showing off a lot of skin!

Queer as Folk: the 31st Century edition

MARS
Husband Hill, Legion of Superheroes Headquarters
Landing gracefully on the rooftop of the Legion of Superheroes’ home and headquarters, Dawnstar stretched her aching limbs and cracked her neck which was knotted with tension. It might be the middle of the night here, the two moons of Mars making their mismatched journey across the sky above, but she’d just spent the better part of the afternoon on Triton helping to track down a missing group of school children and she was exhausted. She was looking forward to a quick sonic shower and a long uninterrupted sleep.

“Hey, pretty lady.” Even if she hadn’t recognised Wildfire’s voice instantly, the distinct glow of his containment suit was unmistakable as he approached from the building’s rooftop entrance.

“Oh,” Dawnstar answered awkwardly. “Hello, Drake.”

“Hey,” he repeated himself just as awkwardly. As the winged woman walked past him, he decided to just lay it all out in the open. “Uhh Dawny...can we talk?”

She turned to face him and saw that he was rubbing the back of his helmet, his visor facing the ground between them. It was a very human gesture of vulnerability, and it reminded Dawnstar why she loved him so; despite his constant anxiety about his perceived inhumanity, Drake Burroughs was one of the most human people Dawnstar had ever met.

Right now however, his human fallibility was one of the things that hurt her the most. “I’m sorry Drake, I’ve been operating at peak capacity for hours. I really need to rest.”

“I know,” he said perhaps a little too urgently. “I’ve seen your duty roster. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were taking on all the work you can to avoid talking to me, Dawny. I thought after I brought this up on Luna we’d discuss it properly...instead, I feel like you’ve just doubled down. I don’t know what I’ve done, but--”

“You weren’t there for me,” she spoke quietly. “Or..or you won’t be there for me.”

“What..?” He cocked his head, clearly confused. “What do you mean? Why won’t I be there for you? Dawny, I’d die for you!”

“On Durla,” she answered, her voice breaking. “When the Infinite Boy called on the Legion’s aid, when we reunited with Colossal Boy and Chameleon Girl--”

“Dawny, that’s crazy!” Wildfire protested. “I wasn’t even on that mission, you can’t blame me for--”

“Drake, be quiet and let me finish.” She didn’t raise her voice, but there was something raw in her tone that gave Wildfire pause. She spent a moment composing herself and continued. “On Durla, I met a woman named Bounty. She was...Drake, she was me. The Infinite Boy had summoned her from the future to track down Chameleon Girl. She was me, but she was me possessed by some kind of psychic entity. And when that entity saw me, it saw a younger version of the victim it had already broken. It saw fresh meat. And if it weren’t for the Infinite Boy, I’d be under that animal’s control right now.” She cleared her throat self-consciously and wiped tears from her eyes with the back of her sleeve.

“Grife, Dawny.” Wildfire reached out to console her. “Why didn’t you tell me this before? Man, if I’d been there--”

Dawnstar pulled away from him. “You’d have done what exactly, Drake?” she spat with unexpected venom. “Because from everything this Bounty creature said, not a single person in the Legion of Superheroes even noticed when it took possession of me - when it takes possession of me in the future. I’m going to be cuckolded and tortured physically and mentally by an evil monster at some point in my future, and every time I look at you all I see is that thing’s face reflected back at me taunting me with that fact. I can understand that none of the others would see it happening; I don’t like it, but I understand it. But you? You, Drake? That’s what really hurts. You say you love me, but you won’t even realise when I need you most.”

Silence hung between them like a mortician’s shroud. “Dawny..” Wildfire eventually spoke. “Dawny, I--”

“Wildfire! There you are!” Chameleon Boy’s voice pierced the gloom, and Wildfire and Dawnstar saw him along with Phantom Girl and Gas Girl rushing upstairs to the roof. “Did you switch your comms off? We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

“Is everything okay up here?” Phantom Girl asked, having instantly sensed that they’d interrupted a delicate moment.

“Everything is perfectly fine,” Dawnstar answered, her usual mask of icy professionalism restored. “Are we needed for a mission?”

“Brainy’s team just disappeared off the map,” Chameleon Boy replied. Though he too sensed the high emotion in the air, he knew that had to take second place right now. “Ultra Boy’s pulling a rescue team together and he wants all of our heavy hitters; that means you, Wildfire.”

“I’ll come also,” Dawnstar offered. “You may need a tracker.”

“We probably will need a tracker,” Phantom Girl agreed, “But it’s not gonna be you, sorry Dawnstar. We checked with Laurel in the monitor room and she told us you’ve just come back from a mission. You know the rules, it’s important that you recover.”

“Very well.” Dawnstar was too worn out to argue. “If you need me, I will be here.” She left the other Legionnaires alone and walked into the building.

Wildfire balled his fists. He wanted more than anything else to go after the woman he loved, but he knew the Legion needed him more urgently right now. “I’ll join the ship when you take off,” he growled before walking to the edge of the roof.

“I’m not really sure what that was all about,” Phantom Girl confided once she was certain that both Wildfire and Dawnstar were out of earshot, “But something tells me it’s for the best we didn’t have to go out there with the two of them together.” She arched her eyebrows for emphasis and descended through the roof of the building.

“Um, Chameleon Boy?” Gas Girl asked as she followed Cham downstairs to the hangar, “Has Violet had a chance to speak with you..?”

“About your Lalloran situation?” Cham responded, taking two steps at a time. “She has, and I’ve got an idea how to tackle it...let’s talk about it on the way.”

**********
ELSEWHERE
Jacques Foccart was frustrated and confounded.

Once the Invisible Queen was confident that the rest of Invisible Kid’s teammates and allies had been shackled and secured with sensory-deprivation helmets, she’d removed all of their flight rings and comms equipment. Jacques had been spared the indignity of the restraints, but he had been forced to hand over his flight ring along with everyone else (though he’d at least had the presence of mind to discreetly activate the ring’s distress beacon before handing it over). An enormous armoured vehicle had shimmered into view not far from the site of their recent battle, and the Invisible Destroyers had ushered everybody aboard none too gently at the Invisible Queen’s behest. Jacques had never seen a vessel like it, though it was clearly made of the same weird substance as the Invisible Destroyers’ armour and it obeyed the same design principles. It was an imposing beast, all armour plating and jutting spikes.

Once inside the ship, Jacques had been isolated from the others in a cell which was small but comfortable. He’d felt the slightest hint of motion before inertial dampeners kicked in, then he’d sat on the cot which had been provided and tried to dwell on anything other than his mounting concern for his sister and his friends. The first thing he’d noticed was that this room was seamless; even the door had been absorbed back into the wall once he’d been safely locked away, and everything in this room was made of the same weird substance. It were as if he’d been imprisoned inside a clear molded cube. The logic didn’t track though; surely if the whole vessel was transparent, then he should be able to see the others through its walls? Instead, just as with the Invisible Destroyers’ armour, it seemed that anything inside it was hidden from view even when the vessel’s shell could be seen. He reached out to touch the wall with his right hand while his left hand patted the cushioned mattress he sat upon. The textures were completely different, one steel hard and the other agreeably soft. Jacques was certain that Brainiac 5 had already figured out what this peculiar material was, but it was beyond him. He realised that all he could do for now was sit and wait.

It wasn’t too much longer before Jacques Foccart saw a tiny marble-sized planet grow swiftly larger through the hull of the vessel, until it became obvious that the polymer-shielded world was their destination. As they approached closer though, he realised that this wasn’t a polymer shield like the one which enclosed his homeworld Earth; it was made of the same material as every other invisible object here, and he only saw the planet it enclosed when a port opened up to allow them access. Mon Dieu, the Legionnaire named Invisible Kid marvelled, Does the range of her power recognise no limits?? The planet was obviously Talok III, and presently the ship docked in the hangar level of what seemed to be a government building which had been repurposed to suit the Invisible Queen’s needs. Once they’d landed, the outside world faded from view entirely, giving Jacques the uncomfortable illusion of standing in a featureless void. Jacques pounded on the walls with both fists, roaring for Malias to attend him. He knew the gesture would likely be meaningless, but he’d had enough of waiting and the utter lack of anything at all within visual range was unnerving him greatly. The futility of the protest overcame him after a couple of minutes, and he sat defeated once more on his cot.

It was precisely at that point when Malias the Invisible Queen opened the door to Invisible Kid’s cell, for all appearances looking like she’d just opened a portal into this unnatural limbo from the real world. It took a deliberate act of will on Jacques’ part not to leap through the open door immediately, and when he saw one of the enormous Invisible Destroyers standing behind Malias he was glad he’d restrained himself. “How was your trip?” she asked in an absurdly normal tone of voice.

“Are you mad, woman?” Invisible Kid exploded. “What game are you playing here? Where are my sister and my friends?”

“Oh, that’s right! That pretty young thing is your baby sister, isn’t she?” Malias looked like the proverbial cat who’d swallowed the canary, and Jacques instantly regretted revealing their relationship. “How nice to have family so near! My beloved siblings are long gone of course, but as little as you think of me I assure you they were far far worse. But we don’t need to talk about ancient history when a promising future looms close for both of us...come, Invisible Kid. Walk with me.”

“I want to know that my sister is safe,” Jacques scowled, unmoving.

“She’s fine,” Malias gave a thin-lipped smile. “They’re all fine. You have the word of Malias the Invisible Queen, the Unseen Mistress of Horrors herself.”

“You’ll forgive me if that does not fill me with comfort,” Jacques retorted grimly. “I want to see her. I want to see all of them.”

“Of course,” Malias decreed magnanimously. “You must believe me, Invisible Kid - I have no desire to make an enemy of you, such a meager request can be easily granted. Come.” She waved him closer with fingers more bony than seemed healthy.

Wary, Jacques followed. He did briefly consider assaulting her now, holding her hostage and forcing her lackey to free his friends, but it was too risky. Jacques was certain she’d keep Danielle alive as long as possible to use as her bargaining chip if necessary, but that left over a dozen other prisoners she could kill on a whim. Besides which, there was something about the way she carried herself that left Jacques uncertain if he’d actually be able to defeat her one-on-one. The Invisible Destroyer took up their rear, and the trio made their way through a glass maze of a building which clearly didn’t disorient the villains in the slightest. “Here,” Malias announced, distracting Jacques from his hapless efforts to map their path in his mind. “My faithful servant, if you please?”

The Invisible Destroyer stepped to one side and opened a hatch in a wall that Jacques hadn’t even noticed was there. On the other side was a cell larger than the one in which Jacques had found himself, but similarly designed. As the Invisible Queen had said, his sister appeared unhurt but anxious. She still wore the helmet which had been placed upon her head earlier but her shackles were gone. “Brainy..?” Danielle Foccart asked tremulously. “Mwindaji..? Can anyone hear me? Why can’t I hear myself??”

She wasn’t alone in the room; Light Lad, Mwindaji, Neon and Dragonmage were all trapped in the same helmet-induced sensory void with her. While Light Lad and Neon were only now groaning their way into painful consciousness, Dragonmage sat in lotus position trying to bring his power to bear past his feelings of helplessness and fear. Mwindaji had found his way to one of the walls and was running his hands across it in an effort to understand his surroundings. All of them were completely oblivious to Danielle’s pleas, and seemingly oblivious to anybody else in the room with them. “Danielle!” Jacques bellowed hoarsely. “Ma soeur! Legionnaires!! I am here, I will find a way to help you! I swear it!”

“Invisible Kid, please.” Malias didn’t move to interrupt him, but simply gave an indulgent smile. “They cannot hear you, don’t strain yourself further.”

“I want to see the others!” he turned on her. “All of them, Invisible Queen! The Legion and the Oversight Watch!”

“Honestly, there’s no need for histrionics.” She nodded at the Invisible Destroyer and he closed the hatch again, cutting Kid Computo’s cries off abruptly. “I’d have thought it clear by now that I bear no malice toward you, Invisible Kid. Your accommodations aboard my vessel were certainly more comfortable than those of your friends, and I’ve brought you to your sister as you asked. I’m more than happy to show you the remainder of the ship of fools you brought here with you.”

Invisible Kid’s blood ran cold at that moment. He’d been so preoccupied with worrying about everything on a larger scale that he hadn’t given any real thought to how she’d been treating him specifically. “...Why?” he asked suspiciously. “Earlier...you said that you were my queen, and I took it for a figure of speech but if you think for one moment that I’ll swear allegiance to you just because of our similar powers--”

“Swear allegiance?” Malias interrupted with a throaty laugh. “Invisible Kid, I want far more than your allegiance. I want you to reign alongside me as my consort!”

Invisible Kid’s face contorted with disgust. “Your...your consort? Truly, you must be insane!”

“I’m not insane, Invisible Kid.” She approached him brazenly, her face mere inches from his own and the intense white of her eyes painful to behold.

“...But if you want your sister and your friends to continue drawing breath for much longer, perhaps you’ll consider becoming my Invisible King.”

**********
It had been seventeen standard minutes since Querl Dox had been unceremoniously dumped wherever he was. He presumed that some of his allies were here with him at least, it was the most likely justification for Malias to have left him deprived of his senses. If she just wanted him confined to an invisible space, he believed it was well within her abilities to drop him in an unseen cell. No, Querl believed that she wanted to ensure her captives specifically couldn’t see or hear one another, to rob them of their ability to communicate.

Querl Dox had other ideas.

The Invisible Queen had removed his forcefield belt, his omnicom and his flight ring but she’d not noticed the telepathic earplugs already inserted into both ears nor the pair that were hidden in a secret pocket in his left cuff. The Coluan man had always planned on being captured, and he’d had the foresight to realise he’d need an alternate form of communications when that happened. He hadn’t planned on these bothersome helmets blocking access to anyone’s ears, but he had a way to get around that.

Brainiac 5 stood up and hesitantly called out to a couple Legionnaires. He couldn’t hear himself and he assumed none of the others would hear either, but it would reassure any guards monitoring him that he was grasping helplessly for hope. His probing fingertips found a wall, and Brainiac felt his way along it until he came across the light silky sleeve of a garment.

In the time it took the person to flinch and pull away, Brainiac had already ascertained their likely identity; the Invisible Queen’s arms were bare, the Invisible Destroyers were armoured behemoths, and Kid Computo’s jacket was made of thicker material. The other heroes all wore much more form-fitting outfits, leaving only Makkia Vei with her delicate billowing sleeves. Before she could move away, he grabbed her arm firmly with one hand and tapped a staggered rhythmic pattern on her forearm with his free hand. Once he felt her relax, Brainiac slowly moved his hand up her arm until his palm found her shoulder, her neck and finally the base of her skull.

<Makkia>, he projected her name mentally. <I’m holding a pair of telepathic earplugs close to your brain stem, don’t react.>

<Brainiac 5?> she queried. <How did you know it was me?>

<Tactile cues, and you recognised the binary code I was tapping. I wouldn’t credit many non-Coluans with such swift interpretation.>

<You may have credited me too highly>, she replied dryly. <I could tell that it was an effort to communicate but not all of us are 12th level intellects, Professor Dox. Regardless, you obviously planned for us to be defeated so I assume you’ve already planned our next step?>

Brainiac 5 was uncommonly surprised. <What makes you think-->

<Oh, please>, Makkia interrupted him. <You assembled a team of predominantly neophyte Legionnaires with almost no heavy hitters, absolutely nobody with any advantage over invisible opponents, and you walked into the exact ambush the Oversight Watch warned you about. I also noticed you brought along your healer, so clearly you weren’t intending on remaining defeated for long. As soon as I realised we were supposed to lose, I feigned unconsciousness and decided to wait for the next phase of your plan to reveal itself. So tell me...what is the next phase of your plan?>

Brainiac didn’t bother trying to disguise his scheming, at this stage he saw no point. <The Invisible Queen made a mistake bringing us here>, he answered directly. <I reasoned that she would be using either technological or magical means to boost her power. Kid Computo said earlier that this technology felt almost alive, and I believe she was more correct than she’d assumed. With the benefit of having been in close proximity to this device for so long, I think all of the Invisible Queen’s technology is a product of one techno-organic lifeform...once we find its neurological core, I am confident that Danielle can liberate it from Invisible Queen’s control.>

<Wonderful>, Makkia rejoined, disappointed that the depth of her sarcasm didn’t transmit via their telepathic link. <But we need to liberate ourselves before we can liberate anything else, Brainiac.>

<That won’t be a problem>, Brainiac 5 assured her confidently. <If you believe we’re truly trapped in these devices Makkia, you’ve grossly underestimated the Legion of Superheroes.> Just as he finished talking, he heard something for the first time since he’d arrived here. It was a scratching scraping sound which quickly turned into metal rending around him, and then he saw reptillian claws shred his helmet into strips. Brainiac immediately shaded his eyes against the sudden influx of light, Firecrest’s wiry weredragon form a hazy silhouette to the Coluan.

“Give yoursself a nano,” Firecrest hissed as quietly as possible. “It’ss a little overwhelming being able to ssee and hear again all of a ssudden.” Staq freed Makkia as well then moved on to their remaining cellmates Shadow Lass and Ron-Karr, who were only now beginning to come around. “Sshadow Lasss iss bleeding badly, Brainy,” a worried Firecrest announced. “Sshe really got banged up when the cruisser exxploded.”

“How did you get free?” Makkia asked, blinking rapidly while she waited to acclimatise to the light. “I’d have thought the Invisible Queen would have made your helmet proof against your claws and flame breath?”

“Sshe did.” Staq pointed at his discarded helmet, sitting unmolested in a corner of the room. “Sshe alsso made it big enough to fit a dragon man’ss head. All I had to do was sswitch back to my human form and it sslid right off...and lucky for all of you, it didn’t occur to her to make our individual helmetss proof againsst everyone elsse’s powers. Otherwisse I wouldn’t be able to do thiss.” He grabbed Tasmia’s head in both taloned hands, then with great care began slicing her helmet away.

“There’s no need to lower your voices,” Brainiac announced. “If these helmets being torn to pieces aren’t raising any alarms, we hardly need to whisper.” He walked across the featureless cell to where Tasmia Mallor lay in agony and evaluated her condition as well as he could. “When you’re finished freeing Shadow Lass and Ron-Karr, tear her cape into strips,” he instructed Staq. “Some makeshift bandages should help her until Mwindaji locates us.”

“Ssure, Brainy. I--” A rustling thumping noise from above caught all of their attention, and they all stared wide-eyed at one another. A moment later, an almost invisible grate fell from the ceiling and blended in seamlessly with the floor upon impact. From a darkened vent, a lithe figure wearing a black bodysuit with red highlights came down after the grate and landed gracefully in the midst of the imprisoned heroes.

Makkia’s jaw dropped. “...89? How..?!”

“I’m glad you’ve freed yourselves already,” the supposedly deceased leader of the Oversight Watch greeted them all. “Saves me some trouble.” She held out one hand, three pairs of goggles dangling from her open palm.

“Now...let’s go depose a monarchy.”

TO BE CONTINUED…!

hah! I had a hunch 89 would still be alive. Nicely done, though!

I love Staq using his transformation to free himself.Good thing Queenie overlooked that! I wonder how Brainy was planning on getting free though, if Staq weren't there? Good thing they're in the same cell.

Makkia touched upon the same thing I noticed - Briany had all newbies on the team. She deduced a step further, though.

Invisible King, hee. I wonder, why did Queenie pick Jacques? Because they share the same powers? Or is there something deeper?

Glad Dawny finally told Drake the truth. Who is their tracker going to be though, if they will use one? Tellus?

Nice moving the Gas Girl/Lallor plot further. Though Gas Girl is lucky she asked Cham, rather than say Vi or even Tinya. She could have gotten an earful for asking the wrong Legionnaire during this crisis

I wonder who else Ultra Boy will bring along. Mon, Blok, Jan, Ayla? It's gonna be a big fight, for sure!

Somewhere in 89's past lives she must have been a reality TV star because she's pretty good at the dramatic entrances

...and Staq wasn't the only one Malias underestimated...we'll see why Brainy was so confident about escaping soon

These last two installments really amped up with these Invisible Destroyer's and their queen. I can't believe how savage those things are and how they took out the team. I couldn't believe that Brainy surrendered at but then when you made it clear that was his plan it made sense. Even his team choice which i thought was more about needing those there that would follow him somewhat blindly was the reason. But it was all about making sure the back up was available.

Malias wants Invisible Kid II to be her king...hmmm I wonder what it is about him. is it the powers similarities?

The infighting between the two squads is interesting. Espcially among Power Boy, Mendalla, and Nightwind. it gives very to different perspectives on how those from the academy view the Legion and their work.

Brainy figuring out a way to communicate with Makkia via with those helmets on was cool using both the coded tapping and then the earplug at the back of her head was well done. i like that trick. and then Staq's new mutation process coming in handy to get the helmets off and then what wait 89 is alive? I feel like this is more of a trap and that Malais is just waiting for them.

I can't wait for the next installment!

I am just envious as all hell that you can juggle such a large cast so well, with classic members and newer members and even original characters interacting with the illusion of it being effortless!

Good stuff, as always, and fun to see characters I don't use as much, like Quislet and Invisible Jacques, get their moments on-screen.

Thanks y'all! Set, I don't think I would be able to do it if I didn't like the characters so much...it doesn't really feel like effort, even though sometimes I need a few charts with 7 different coloured markers to figure out what's happening to who next


It's fun when Brainy gets a chance to actually use his intellect for something other than exposition I am surprised by how much I like writing Brainy and Makkia together, it's not often he really has a good foil who can more or less keep up with him