Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business Re: Legion Worlds Six - updated 20 Oct 20

Querl was closely monitoring the spread of the destruction upon the planet's surface.

From what both Southern Lights and Atomsmasher observed it had definitely accelerated over the last twenty minutes. The Coluan genius wondered if this was a natural effect of the destructive power feeding upon that which it had destroyed or if there was a power source somewhere that had recently been introduced to the entity. He had not definitive proof one way or another. Querl Dox was aware from his own lived experience that there was technology and magical artifacts upon that world that he could only imagine about.

Talok viii was a world with an almost split personality. Almost two thirds of the planetary population lived lives based upon their ancient traditions so would not entertain luxuriating in the comfort of a standard 31st century lifestyle. Even the Forges whose technical mastery was quite incredible that had a role to update and create new weapons to keep each of the Tribes safe yet had strict guidelines around what they could or could not build limiting their progress. This submission to the archaic did not make sense to Querl. Meanwhile the other portion of the planetary population lived in sterile City states that often did not interact in any meaningful way with the tribe's folks that lived outside their ferro-concrete walls even though they were all clearly related to one another. It was the City Folk that had met and contacted the United Planets and benefited most from their introduction to technologies, philosophies and medicines. All of which would have created a better world for everyone on it. He very much doubted that the City Folks had even tried to openly share the bounty they received for being part of the United Planets.

Brainiac 5 reviewed what he had been sent from his fellow Legionnaires before adding in SP data feeds and planetary satellite information.

"There!" he exclaimed as on the very edge of one of the new feeds he could see something... zooming in, it became clear that a group of Green Lanterns had been captured. Querl ruminated for several seconds before coming to his conclusion - if the enemy they fought could access the Oan power rings energies it would explain the escalation in destruction he had recorded.

<Luornu...> He sent the message through a heavily encrypted personal telepathic channel <It appears that the destruction is accelerating. I believe our opponent has access to Green Lantern rings. You must ...> The realisation struck the Coluan that his message wasn't getting through - something had disrupted the flight ring generated telepathic grid. Entropic forces would find the telepathic signal easy to degrade, leaving them with nothing to carry their thoughts between one and another.

Querl punched in data to a hard-light screen and sent it through to Henry?s control matrix. He only hoped that the holo-man from the 75th century would be able to get the message through to the teams, they were now effectively cut off from each other with time quickly running out.

Andromeda and Retro had flown along the dark corridors as fast as they could, randomly picking which of the forks to follow whenever it had split.

They had finally stopped while Kara focussed her attention onto the sensory information she could pick up. The walls of the strange construction they were in deflected her x-ray vision and made sounds reverberate in an odd way which was both disconcerting and also comforting as she hoped Mon El was having the same problems. If this was the case then at least their pursuers wouldn't have the advantage.

Kara didn't want to admit it out loud but she wasn't sure what to do next. They had hoped to be undetected and able to somehow locate and neutralise the source of this terror but so far, they'd been outgunned by former friends and lost half of her team while getting thoroughly lost in the process.

They had been in a small room for a couple of minutes. Kara was trying every sensory trick she could think of while Retro was examining a hard-light screen from his flight ring showing what it had recorded during their rushed escape here.

"We're not alone." Kara spoke softly. Retro immediately dismissed the read out and turned to face the doorway.

"Who?" he asked quietly.

"Atom Girl... I can hear her heartbeat and breathing."

"Sylva... Is she one of them?"

"Who knows. You ready?" And with that she was gone in a blur of super speed only to reappear a second later with something cupped in her hands.

"Sylva?" Retro asked, the hope clear in his voice, "...is that you?"

Andromeda opened her hands and the young Imskian started to resume her full size.

"It's really you? Oh, Dragon spit! It's crazy here, there's a dozen Green Lanterns strung up by these gooey tentacles...!"

"Where are they Sylva?" Kara asked. The Legionnaires quickly caught up, Kara and Sylva told each other what they had experienced since arriving on Talok viii while Retro kept a lookout at the doorway.

"Oh..." The last word Retro said as he was felled by a blast of Ultra Girl's Red Energy that tore through the door way and smashed into the small room. The attack had happened so fast that Deen Toro hadn't the time to activate his chronal abilities. It was Kara's invulnerable frame that protected Atom Girl from being hurled across the room by the blast. Mon El, Thunder and Ultra Girl strode into the room followed by Tharok. As monstrous as Kara had found the cyborg in the past he now looked far, far worse. His flesh had rotted and there were sickening looking straps of putrid material strung across his frame as there were on her former colleagues. As they approached Kara could see that it appeared to be attached to their skin.

Atom Girl shrunk to her microscopic size and hid amongst the molecules of Kara's costume.

"I am Atrophos and you will be my new hound Kara Zor-El." Tharok's voice sounded as if it had come out from the grave.

Before anything else could be said Kara blasted the group with her heat vision and, in the moment of confusion as her former teammates tried to protect Tharok from the heat she flew upwards and smashed through the ceiling in an attempt to escape.

Mon El's hand grabbed her ankle just as she made it through the hole. In a superspeed blur Kara kicked out at the Daxamite, smashing him squarely in the jaw. His grip loosened enough that she fought free. Thunder smashed through the ceiling feet away from her and smiled as she threw a punch. The blow spun Kara around and smashed her into the wall behind her. Ultra Girl grabbed Kara in both arms and held her tight, the Xanthuan's Red energy swirling around them binding the Kryptonian in place. Mon El came to her side and placed a hand on her shoulder while thunder stood at her other side.

Tharok floated up and approached her. The disgusting ruin of the human side of his face attempted to smile.

As he approached, Tharok suddenly clutched at his face and both Thunder and Mon El left Andromeda's side to help support their Blight master. Kara understood immediately that this was Atom Girl buying her some time to escape. This was an assault that Salu Digby had once used on the Persuader when the team had found out he was poisoning the Decade Game here on Talok vii a year and a half before. The Imskian must have entered the molecules of his eye at microscopic size and was now expanding inside him!

Ultra Girl, standing behind Kara, took a step to her left as she too wished to protect her master. It was the opening that Kara had been waiting for. As Atom Girl exploded out of Tharok's face Kara spun around and head butted the new Legionnaire forcibly on the nose, smashing it bloodily. At super speed she rushed out of the room. Her former teammates didn't immediately follow as they attempted to capture Sylva as she had shrunk back to a microscopic size to escape their clutches.

Kara flew with as much speed as she could summon in the confined corridors. She knew she needed help and the only thing she could think of was to somehow free Soddam Yat and the Green Lanterns.

Hey IB,

I'm not really willing to kill the characters but sometimes things are so intense that sacrifices happen things will come to a brutal conclusion very soon. Going by my drafts there's only three or four posts left. After that we'll see ramifications that will throw up a few interesting character moments.

Thanks again,

C

you continue to raise the stakes and the tension! cutting off comms between the teams... eek!

Amazing scene, Kara and Sylva against overwhelming odds! I love how both are clever enough to realize they can't actually win, so need to be crafty.

Yes! hopefully the GLs are still un-Blighted, they will make a great cavalry...

Eager to read the end, don't get me wrong it's been a great ride, but I'm so curious as to how you will end this!

Home Base Academy staff

Triplicate Girl - Luornu Durgo of Carggg, able to split into three identical duplicates (part of Duplicate Girl)
Cosmic Boy ? Rokk Krinn of Braal, manipulation of magnetic fields
Night Girl - Lydda Jath of Kathoon, incredible strength and durability out of direct sunlight
Colossal Boy - Gim Allon of Earth, increase personal size and mass at will
Wildfire - Drake Burroughs of Earth, composed of sapient anti-energy, extreme strength, speed, durability, space flight, anti-energy blasts
Invisible Kid - Jacques Foccart of Earth, invisibility
Chameleon Girl - Yera Allon of Durla, shape changer

Science Police training staff:

Jumping Jack - Science Police Senior Training Officer Jaxi Delgrado-Hynd of Morshesh 5, hyper awareness, reflexes and agility
Ms Big - Science Police Officer Erikka Chowdrey of Venus, increase her own muscle mass at will
'Brain Girl' - Science Police Officer Ella Drottmi of Titan, telepathy and telekinesis
Dream Boy - Pre-Commando Sergeant Rol Purtha of Naltor, precognition
'Tues El' - Science Police Officer Vae Loct of Daxam, incredible strength, speed, stamina, senses, laser vision, space flight, invulnerability.




Chameleon Girl led her team from the Desert People's cave system into another of the more remote desert dwellers cities. She had left three of the ten students behind to help with the evacuation in the first cave city but had ensured the memory-caster came with her. As the planetary alert had went out almost three quarters of an hour before they were met with a huge crowd of terrified people. Yera made sure to keep her composure despite fighting a strong urge to run. Her acting skills were enough to help calm the students she had brought through as they faced the mass of scared faces before them. She increased her height by 6 inches so as to appear a bit more authorative before she addressed the crowds. It was while there that Nura's warning had come through. Yera took a deep breath before announcing to the students to hurry up - anyone who didn't want to join them was to be left and they needed to focus their attention on saving as many people as possible. She felt the tears in her eyes start to build as she sent thios order across the telepathic grid.


Gim felt relieved in the northern city state as the crowds had quickly organised themselves in long queues that quite quickly passed into Henry's warps. After Nura's warning had ripped across the telepathic grid he began hurrying the city folks and encouraged the students to be a bit more forceful when dealing with anyone who acted belligerently towards them - they didn't have time to care! There was a young powerhouse called Dillon Blackstream who used her speed and strength to literally zoom whole family units in their transport through the warps. There was still no end in sight of the long queue of people formed along the central strip of the city.

<Henry, can you move the warp, just take it along this strip and pick up as many people as you can?>

<It will be draining but I shall endeavour to try>

<Students, get out of the way of the warp...> The warning went out as the spinning honey and violet disc tore along the main boulevard and scooped up close to a quarter of a million people in under 30 seconds.



Science Police Officer Vae Loct of Daxam, was impressed by the work ethic on display from the team he had brought with him. Dragon Girl in particular was quick to help those that needed it while looking out for the next person or group that she could assist. There had been sporadic violent outbursts but the presence of the Daxamite and the students quickly calmed them down. Vae Loct thought it was all going rather smoothly until Nura's warning had given them a strict time limit. After that he had judiciously used his speed and strength to move as many of the city folk crammed into their vehicles as he could. The telepath on his team had issued a broadcast to the crowds to remain calm but hurry up - it hadn't helped as the crowds pushed and shoved each other to get through the warp. Still with five minutes left until they had to leave Vae Loct estimated they had evacuated the majority of the city. They had stragglers, the sick and infirm, along with those that lived too far away from the warp at the centre of the city state still to collect. The Daxamite tutor tried contacting his team across the telepathic grid but it didn't broadcast as he expected.

"Right, guess I'll just have to do it myself then..." Vae Loct muttered to himself before speeding through the city collecting as many people as he could in the process.

Science Police Officer Ella Drottmi had used the twelve students on her team to herd the forest folk through the warp without too many problems. A few hundred had chosen to remain and Ella had respected their decision and wished them well before leading her team to their next destination. They had been at the largest temple of the Desert People for ten minutes when Nura's alert warned them that they only had 15 minutes left. Although nothing else was shared amongst the student body, they had all heard the warning and consequently they each immediately acted with a lot more urgency while keeping their professionalism. Ella was thoroughly impressed.

They had four minutes left when there was a loud crash from within one of the ante-chambers off the main hall. Ella reached out telepathically and observed what was happening through Strobe's eyes. The student had zipped in at light speed to check out what was going on. A large statue had fallen over and the priestess present was crying as she tried in vain to control an anti-grav pad. Strobe walked over to her and kindly offered to assist, while reminding her that their priority was to save the people as objects could be replaced. The priestess turned and slapped the student and started shouting about how aliens and fools were destroying her world. Strobe stood there and let her scream for fifteen seconds before reaching out and gently placing his arma around her. The priestess struggled for a few seconds before wrapping her arms around him and crying once more.

"Come on, let's get you through the warp." Strobe said gently as he guided her out of the ante-chamber.

<Good job Denal, though don't go back for that though, save people okay?> Ella sent.

<Got it teach', no statues only living folks, sure thing!> The student from Dryad replied cheekily.



Cosmic Boy's small team had successfully evacuated the desert township they had warped into and had moved onto a city state. When they got there the locals had already arranged themselves into long queues of families. Rokk was grateful that it was going so easily when Nura's message came through. Elthur Mundo, the student from Carggg called Triple Nova,had again proved his worth after arranging for families to cram onto large public transport vehicles and picking them up to fly through the warp at speed.

With only minutes to go Rokk worried that if could get enough of the population through.

<Rokk> Henry said <Gim had the warps move to collect the queue, I will endeavour to do the same. Please have the students move away from the crowd>

Cosmic Boy immediately shared the order and as the students all took to the air the spinning warp tore along the crowded avenue and deposited the majority of the city's population safely on Senfrathras Minor 6. With the clock counting down Rokk ordered the students to have one last sweep of their areas and hurry back to the warp.

Science Police Senior Training Officer Jaxi Delgrado-Hynd and the large team of students were well into clearing their ninth museum when Nura's warning came through.

<Right folks, time to change priorities. We're going to focus on people now>

They each completed whatever task they were working on as Jaxi called for Henry to warp them to any major settlement that needed their help. Saving culture and historically important artefacts was all and good but saving lives had to be their priority now that time was short.


Luornu Durgo and her small team of students had cleared the Central Council building of the planetary Senate and moved onto a large township of Forest People. They had met the former student Jeffari Assarn there and with her help they had efficiently cleared the area. Nura's warning arrived as they warped to another township 50 klicks away. Jeffari had quickly taken charge of the local population and they hustled the crowds through Henry's warp. With only minutes left before the deadline they had been given Luornu ordered the students to finish up and bring as many of the Forest peole as they could to the warp. She made sure to let the students know that if anyone did not to join them then the students were to respect the views and leave them. They didn't have time to argue. Lornu hoped that the student body wouldn't be too scarred by these decisions once they finally had an opportunity to rest and reflect on this horrific experience.


Invisible Kid and his team of students had cleared much of the galaxy famous Crandrasahaven University campus when they heard the fifteen-minute deadline. Jacques requested Henry warp them to where it was felt they could help the most. They stepped through the spinning warp into a rain-soaked Forest people township. The crowds of locals were overjoyed to see the Legionnaires and an almost carnival atmosphere erupted around them. Quickly Jacques informed the students to get as many people through the warps as they could.

Rish'ha Nor of Lallor felt ignored by the crowds around him as he tried to push them towards the warp. He grabbed one of the massive tree trunks nearby and mimicked its wooden form. As he approached the crowd they began to fall on their knees.

"No! You must leave this place quickly. Get through the warp! Go!" He shouted in frustration. It took a moment for the crowd to acknowledge what he had said before roaring to their feet and running to Henry's spinning warp. He heard people scream that the Forest Spirits had ordered them to leave, which motivated others to join in the rush towards the warp. Rish'ha smiled to himself, it wasn't what he expected but so long as it worked then he was happy with the result.


Ms Big, Science Police Officer Erikka Chowdrey, had finished evacuating any that wanted to leave the sand city of the largest of the Three Tribes of Desert folk and her team were currently involved with evacuating the floating City State in the middle of the wide Dark Sea. Several prominent locals tried to insist that the whole city should be transported off world as it was, in their eyes, a wonder of technology unmatched on any other planet. Erikka very quickly informed them that if they wished to stay with the city, they were welcome to but if they wanted to survive the day then it would be best they didn't remain.

Of the nine students that had joined her there was one that seemed to be struggling. Nada Melthurasan, the telepathic student, was clutching her head in obvious distress.

"There's too many thoughts, I'm struggling to keep filter them out ma'am. I'm so sorry..." The young girl had replied after Erikka asked if she was okay.

"Go back to Home Base and get an hour's rest, we'll be waiting for you when you get back." Ms Big then called Henry for a single person warp.

The Titanian student didn't argue as a small warp spun into existence especially to take her away. The warp had only just closed when Nura Nal's fifteen minute warning rang across the telepathic grid.

After that the tutor didn't give the telepathic student's exhaustion a second though as she hurriedly got as many of the locals through the warp as possible.

Lydda Jath's team had encountered many problems on the small southern continent.

Night time was the biggest one as the majority of the population were asleep. Also, this continent was sparsely populated so communities were spread out and mainly scattered along the continental coastline. She requested more students from the Academy and asked Henry if he could open up multiple warps for them. The holo-man's voice sounded shaky along the telepathic grid as he agreed to support her.

In total Lydda had twenty one students assisting her. Four were speedsters of some form and these were sent to the outlying communities. There were three telepaths that she stationed at the warps of the largest towns and told to broadcast calming thoughts to the crowds as they gathered. Two Braalians had a friendly competition to see which could carry the most through their respective warps. They didn't really keep count though their friendly banter helped relieve some of the tension.

After Nura's warning was shared they started taking things a lot more serious. Ten minutes and countless lives saved later the telepathic grid faltered and the students in more remote parts started to feel panicked. Still Henry's warp spun so they managed to keep their composure together enough to keep the civilians flowing through the warps. With only a minute left to go Lydda insisted Henry contact every student on Talok viii and order them to leave. The holo-man's voice sounded fainter than usual but he agreed.



Science Officer Rol Purtha contacted each of the Forges before sending warps with students to help evacuate them. This undoubtably saved lives as the tensions within each of them was obvious. Traditionally, the major tribes had their own Forge which were responsible for ensuring the safety for their people by providing weapons and innovating solutions raised by opposing tribes. Over the millennia, as the more blood thirsty elements of the Talokean culture were sanitised the role of the Forges became almost just for show. The last Tribal War had been over 400 standard years before. If it weren't for the Decade Challenge and the opportunity it brought to show off their weapon-making skills it was believed that the Forges would have long since vanished as respected institutions.

As so many students had volunteered, Rol Purtha sent four students to each of the nine Great Forges. There were fourteen lesser Forges, that usually would be supported a Great Forge in any formal challenge. Each were sent two students to support their evacuation.

Officer Purtha also asked Henry to ensure the warps from each Forge were not too close together a they would be feeling rather stressed by the time they arrived at their new home and he didn't want any accidental fights between the armoured warriors of Talok before they had a chance to build shelters for the evacuees. Henry's response had been muted but he agreed and ensured there was at least 10 klicks between where each of the Forges warps opened.

Overall, Officer Purtha had been impressed by the efficiency and professionalism the students had shown. Meanwhile he found the Talokean's to be stubbornly frustrating as each Forge insisted in warping virtually their entire compounds off Talok viii.

After Nura's fifteen minute warning Rol had broadcast across each of the student's flight ring on loud-hailer mode for all at the Forges to hear that they had only five minutes until the warps would close - he intimated without quite directly saying that this was due to the energy drain it placed on Henry. Within the Forge's pandemonium ensued as warriors, engineers and staff of all levels rushed to ensure their own personal needs were placed ahead of the machinery they had been shouting about minutes before got through the spinning warps.

Officer Purtha figured that with ten minutes to spare the students would be able to assist the refugees as they arrived on their new home-world. The Forges could rebuild at their leisure, but people would need food, shelter and the appearance of stability so they could get through the next few days as they came to terms with their new life on Senfrathras Minor 6.

On Second Base Hethuk Bran Drommsi, the young Weapon Smith from the Green Rift Forge of the Forest folk of Talok viii tried not to think about the imminent death of his home world as he battled with the Q-Drive controls. Danielle and Gear had arranged for their power to be transferred through Henry's warp control matrix. The system was draining faster than the young Smith could have imagined and he was desperately trying to save the actual physical infrastructure from reacting in a devastating breach.

<Henry get every flight ring wearing body off that world now! We have 30 seconds...>

As Brainiac 5's message blurted across the inter-Base communications system Hethuk could feel Coluan's emotions within the words. The Smith tried not to think of whatever the resident genius knew that was scaring him so, all the Smith had to do was keep the Q-Drive working for 30 seconds more.

Kara froze!

She had evaded her blight corrupted colleagues and flew as fast as she could to the place where Atom Girl had told her there were Green Lanterns in the hope that they could somehow give her some support but she hadn't been prepared for what she would find there.

Before her hung the husk-like remains of several beings along with perhaps ten others all looking like they were having the life sucked out of them... she recognized Soddam Yat and several of Cece's sisters amongst these beings. If Soddam Yat and at least half a dozen of Black Adam's daughters could be defeated and left strung up like this... she shook her head to get rid of that thought before blasting at the tentacles that held the Green Lanterns with her heat vision in an attempt to set them free.

Their rings had been torn from their fingers. The Oan rings each had an obscene tentacle made from the same putrid material as the rest of this awful place snaked through them and were hanging at the centre of the cavernous room. In the green glow that the rings gave off the tentacles pulsed and slowly undulated in a way that reminded Kara of leaches on flesh as they gorged on their obscene sustenance.

She understood perfectly now why this desecration could grow so fast... Atrophos was using the Green Lantern rings to power his expansion!

Taking a deep breath, the Kryptonian hero that the galaxy now called Andromeda tore around the room and ripped the rings from the tentacles. She was surprised at how sluggish the putrid appendages that held them appeared to be. Perhaps, she thought, they were sated.

Kara contemplated the options available to her for a couple of seconds. She doubted if she had the strength to destroy the rings but she could at least try to remove them...

<Querl...> she tentatively sent the message out <I need your help Querl> As she expected there was no response.

Kara Zor-El of Krypton knew what she had to do. She just didn't know how to do it...

In her hand she clutched the Green Lantern rings tightly. The creature she had fought had been draining these of their energy to empower the gross destructive expansion across Talok viii. Kara squeezed her hand, but despite her best efforts she couldn't crush them. The Oan power rings still sang of their ancient emerald might. She knew she had to stop the dark creature housed within Tharok's body from being able to use these rings again but at that moment, exhausted and afraid, she was not sure what to do.

<Querl... please, Querl, can you hear me>

"Telepathy is such a subtle skill... it relies on the weakest of associations so is especially vulnerable to entropic forces." The gleeful voice of the being Kara had run from came from close behind her. Even with her incredible Kryptonian senses it had managed to sneak up upon her.

"You will be stopped. You must know that." As she said it Kara Zor-El knew she sounded stupid, even childish in her uncertainty.

"Oh, perhaps, though perhaps not. The Laws of Time don't apply when you are the personification of the end of everything. Perhaps this is now when the universe is supposed to go dark." again the voice sounded happy, as if the owner were proud of itself.

Kara had still to turn around and the voice had not moved. Perhaps... she thought to herself, she had hurt it as much as it had hurt her. Perhaps it too needed to recover... As it appeared to be giving her time Kara stood where she was and took several deep breaths. She said a silent prayer to her ancestors and wished that Querl was there beside her, if only so she could say goodbye.

Kara Zor-El of Krypton knew what she had to do!

With as much speed as she could manage Kara activated the force field on her belt and spun around. As she suspected Querl had updated the force field - it no longer just filtered out Kryptonite but was the equivalent of one of his full power shields.

There in the air hung to rotten corpse of Tharok, the body that this evil entropic being had possessed to give it a foothold into this place and time. Darkness and cold seemed to seep out of the pores of its host. As she had been collecting her thoughts and turning to face her enemy two of the Green Lanterns, both daughters of Black Adam, tore themselves lose from the tentacles that had bound them and charged at the rotting foul being. They smashed him to the ground and each struck several blows before being blasted off in a wave of darkness. Before he could properly regain his feet Kara flew at Tharok and grabbed him tightly before spinning as fast as she could.

And as she started to spin, she saw Henry's warp appear and several Legionnaires step through looking for Dkyun Mu but it was too late for them to help Kara. There were burst of intense pain that burned her as the creature fought back, disintegrating her atom by painful atom, and still she clung on and spun.

Behind her the Green Lanterns were ushered through the warp just as the magical gods spell sealed this rotting world off from infecting the rest of the universe. The emerald rings in Kara's clenched fist glowed with their power, her indomitable will activating their awesome reserves.

The air turned red around her as she tore through the time barrier.

The bursts of pain increased.

Still she spun.

Southern Lights of Starhaven - spaceflight, magic user
Atomsmasher - Ergus Wraithcat of Betelgeuse, spaceflight, invulnerability, hyper senses, telepathy, radiation manipulation

The Black Witch of Zerox - Mysa Nal of Naltor, channels immense magic energies


With the completion of the Zeroxian gods and mystics spell the world of Talok viii seemed to shimmer as the topmost points of its turbulent atmosphere became mirror-like. Over the course several long seconds the world all but disappeared from perception as its air appeared as a reflective surface to the universe around it.

Above it were several hundred shuttle crafts and cruisers that had been sent to give support with the evacuation. Not all had escaped in time.

In the confusion Southern Lights and Atomsmasher hung in space, both feeling utter shock as the planet that had dominated both of their senses simply vanished.

In their shocked state they had no idea how long they had stayed there before Mysa Nal appeared before them. There were several streaks of white in her raven dark hair that had not been there an hour ago. Her alabaster skin looked drawn around the sharp features of her face.

<Go safely Legionnaires. This day has been difficult for us all, though always mind that by denying the foul creature upon this world a foothold into our time and reality we have saved far more than we lost, a million million million times and more. As hard as that may seem at this moment...> her voice sounded sad, weighed down by their losses.

Atomsmasher sent a telepathic composite image of the sealing off of the world that had been below them along with a single word <Explanation?>

<Bravest of the Wraithcat, even after poor Kara's sacrifice the rot that tore through poor Talok viii would spread whether or not its foul creator remained. It was set in a motion that only by fully removing this most foul cancer could we ever hope to stop it from spreading and destroying everything within our glorious reality long before its allotted time> The Black Witch gave a rare smile and reached out to take one of Atomsmasher's tentacles in her hand. <Your people dance amongst the darkest reaches of space and within the bands of fiery radiation that burns from the stars themselves, living so fearlessly and free. I envy them...>

Mysa looked up and her wistful expression vanished as she turned to Southern Lights.

The young mystic from Starhaven felt a momentary panic.

Mysa Nal floated across towards Southern Lights.

<Within you is a distant soul from a place so far away as to beggar belief. It reaches through to watch our transgressions and learn our truths. It is your role to teach it the ways of this reality. Do not fail us Southern Lights. Be true to your heart and always remember that compassion and love may feel as if they are fleeting yet they are both so much more precious for it>

<The other realm being from the Voligaxxian system! It used that planet to play out some game... is it within me now?> He looked down at his hands, his skin colour had been changed to a pale dusty blue since using his magics to communicate with that strange being from the other realm. He knew it had done more than just alter his skin but as they had rushed here straight after leaving that alien world, he had not had time to contemplate it properly. And even as he contemplated that another thought struck the winged mystic.

< ...what do you mean by Kara's sacrifice?> He asked, looking back up towards her inscrutable face.

<Kara Zor-El has left us and taken the dark soul that instigated this horror with her. She has gone Southern Lights. We cannot do any more than wish her well on her new journey for she will never return> The Black Witch gave a tight smile, more as a sign of her shared pain, before reaching out and putting a hand on the winged mystic's shoulder. <her bravery and selflessness have given us all a monumental gift this day so be sure to look at all you see with the hope that always lives within here> she tapped his chest with fingertips of one hand while wiping the long stray strands of hair off his face with the other. Southern Lights gave a tight smile as his reply.

The Black Witch nodded her head towards the Legionnaires <You both have the most glorious of futures ahead of you. Be safe Legionnaires>

And with that Mysa Nal appeared to dissolve into dozens of dark hook-beaked birds that flew apart and disappeared against the eternal blackness speckled with distant stars and nebulae that surrounded them.

Still Kara spun.

Her arms and face became numb in the agony of the entropic entity's desperate attempts to break free but still she clung onto its foul body and she spun. Faster and faster until the very centuries and eons of humanity's rule of the Galaxy had past... and still she spun.

Around them the stars first appeared distant before vanishing altogether... as predicted, dark energy moved the galaxies and their component celestial bodies apart until they were too far apart for their light to reach each other.

And still she clung on and spun.

The darkness around them was absolute.

And still, despite the blinding pain that caused her wasted and withered body to shake in agony, she clung onto the creature that had possessed the cyborg Tharok and destroyed Talok vii. The Kryptonian hero continued to spin at awesome speeds. The Oan power rings that she clutched started to turn to dust as even their legendary energies started to atrophy beyond the point of cohesion.

Time itself started to decay and still she spun.

She clung and she spun and she carried on clinging and spinning... Kara Zor-El had no idea how long she had enacted this last ditch desperate plan, and in fact the arch of time itself had long withered and decayed so such a concept was simply ridiculous in these circumstances, until the moment when she realised that she was alone. The being she had been holding and forcing into this desolate and empty distant future where there was no life for it to destroy was no more. Her hands tingled as the very last of the emerald energies from the Green Lantern rings she had grabbed faded.

Around her was a darkness more complete than anything she could ever have imagined.

It was more than the lack of light, more thorough than there being no radiation to fuel her exhausted cells. There was an absence of anything at all - no matter or plasma or energy, not even time or thought survived.

Exhaustion unlike any she had ever felt bit into her. With no starlight to feed her Kryptonian physiology Kara Zor-El closed her eyes and let unconsciousness drain the pain from her weary body.

Her last thought was that she hoped Querl was safe...

So, that brings to the end of Atrophos'plan to end the universe, I'd written out those last three scenes about six months ago so I'm glad to finally post them.

Thanks again IB

C

Oh my... what a way for Kara to go... as a hero... and there is definitely no coming back from that but you gave her a beautiful send-off. my heart breaks a bit, with her last thought being about Brainy. Poor guy... I wonder how this will affect him?

lots of tough choices, Harbi. Mysa's sadness mixed with resolve (that this was the only way) was extremely well done.

as was the pain from the Talokians. Strobe's scene was especially poignant.

Now i'm eager to see the aftermath. did we lose anybody else, or was everybody else able to get off Talok in time? that little bit where some Legionnaires saved the Green Lanterns gives me hope, but there were so many others scattered around. Atom Girl, Retro, Ultra Girl, Mon-El, Thunder, Dkyun Mu... did they all make it?

nice touch too, having two of Thunder's sisters recover in time and do their part in taking Atrophos out.

Kara NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I like that she got to go out with such a selfless act of heroism though (and Brainy's forcefield coming into play was a nice touch)

No more Talok VIII! I kinda half-thought someone might pull a rabbit out of a hat and save the planet at the last minute but it'll be interesting to see how its loss impacts the team. I feel like there's probably gonna be a lot of healing taking place after what everyone's just gone through.

Like IB said, I thought Thunder's sisters doing their bit was cool as well!

Almost immediately after leaving Talok viii Night Girl arranged for teams from the student body to help with the Talokean refugees on Senfrathras Minor 6.

As Lydda said when she announced these missions, right now none of them had the luxury of enough time to rest after what they had just gone through. There was a very real desperate humanitarian crisis happening that needed all of their assistance. Lydda Jath kept her back straight and chin up as she sent the holo-announcement across Home Base. She casually added that any student who did not feel up to the task should let their tutor know as quickly as possible. Unsurprisingly, very few did.

Henry informed the Home Base tutors that he would need to completely shut down for twelve hours or so. While he would be able to open a couple more warps, if they wished to be transported back during his down-time time they would need to arrange more conventional means to return. Lydda Jath smiled, saying that it wouldn't be a problem. She would take a team with her and once Henry was recharged, he could warp them back to the Academy. Wildfire, Colossal Boy, Invisible Kid, Chameleon Girl, Tues El, Ms Big, Jumping Jack alongside one hundred and three students all joined Lydda.

Luornu Durgo arranged for Henry to transport a team to Tarkon-Galtos with her to assist in any rehabilitation that their colleagues required. Ella Drottmi, Rol Purtha, Dr Boom - the Academy's resident alchemedic, along with Dr Shakespeare and Shardwurd Gandussen from First Base, and fifteen students with abilities that could assist with clinical issues left through a spinning warp to check on their colleagues and friends. Once again Henry gave a caveat that he would not be able to pick them up for twelve hours. Luornu merely shrugged and called for the warp.

Cosmic Boy was the only tutor left on Home Base and he threw himself into recording a report of what had happened on Talok viii. Of the two hundred or so students still on the base he asked the resident AI to calculate the most efficient training programs it could offer the students. He sent a holo to them all informing them that for the next twenty-four hours they would be required to arrange self-directed learning among themselves but that didn't mean they were allowed to slouch off as he expected further calls for support to arise.

Before beginning his struggle with the reports that needed creating Rokk also ordered two Daxamite students with exemplary military records to watch the docking bays and keep the base safe. He told them they were vital to their security as he focused on catching up with the reports that were coming in from around the United Planets... the Legion needed to be aware of everything else that was going on, even as they dealt with the aftermath of losing a planet.

That had been four hours earlier.

The battered old Vikken shuttle spluttered towards Home Base's northern docking bay.

Kir Tuan, the young Daxamite Science Police Officer currently keeping a watch over this bay floated across to the side of the beaten-up shuttle. He had spent the last several hours feeling his frustration and boredom climb. He knew that his fellow students would be getting noticed by the tutors as they helped out elsewhere, meanwhile he had to float in space and ... well, float in space really, so far that was all he had done during this crisis.

His student flight ring gave a 'bzzzt!'before a message came through.

"Hey student fella, it's Brek Bannin! I heard you guys were havin' a big fight so knew you'd need my help. I've come back for..."

Kir Tuan held his fist up to his mouth to reply through the flight ring standard comm channel.

"This is private space. Please retreat to a minimum of 100,000 klicks or you will be removed. This will be your only warning."

"Hey, cool your jets punk! Don't you know who I am?" Brek shouted across the communication link.

The Daxamite didn't both responding as he flew to the shuttle and pushed it away from the planetoid. As Kir Tuin watched it disappeared out towards the Oort Cloud.

"God-damned reporters will try anything to get a story... as if Polar Boy just wouldn't just've called up Henry to warp back in here." He muttered to himself before resuming his guard duties.

Timber Wolf - Brin Londo of Zuun, enhanced strength, speed, agility, reflexes and senses
Kid Quantum - Jazmin Cullen of Xanthu, creation of temporal quantum bubbles, flight
Kinetix - Zoe Saugin of Aleph, telekinetic animation
Shield - Laurel Kent of Earth, physical invulnerability, tactile psychometry
M?Windaji - Gahaji of Kiringyaga, super tracker, carries the Ruby of Life allowing tactile transformative magic

Lightning Lass - Senior Team member, Ayla Ranzz of Winath, electrical generation and manipulation
Backlash - Mrruaw M?Nau of Simballi, enhanced strength, speed, senses, absorbs kinetic energy to boost own size and mass
Polar Girl - Mel Lassar of Tharr - cryokinesis


First Base

The shuttle arrived six hours after Talok viii had been removed from reality.

The group inside had tried contacting their teammates as they saw the news unfold of Talok viii's destruction but had not been able to reach any of the Bases that the Legion now operated from. The Flight Ring communication setting appeared to have simply stopped working.

Lightning Lass met them at the docking bay with Backlash and Polar Girl at her side. She looked tired, Brin thought, but managed a genuinely warm smile for them all. Ayla quickly brought her teammates up to date - they had lost Talok vii and the majority of the team were on Tarkon-Galtos recovering after being controlled by the Blight. As a result, they were currently relying on former members and students to help shore up their numbers. It was Laurel who noted that Kara wasn't on the list of their colleagues receiving help.

"I'm going over there..." the invulnerable young woman blurted out.

"Laurel, wait... you can't warp there right now. Sorry, but Henry almost burned himself out opening so many warps to get all the refugees to safety. He's off-line for another few hours at least. And the Flight Ring telepathic grid's not properly fixed yet so we?re relying on the Quark relay for our comms... it's all a bit spotty right now." Ayla could see the dark-haired girl's eyes start to fill with tears. "I'm so sorry honey, but as soon as we can I promise we'll get to the bottom of it, okay?"

"Is Brainy here? He'll... he'll know what to do won't he?" Laurel said. Her tone as she asked her question was surprisingly childlike.

"He left five hours ago. We're not sure where he was going to but you know he'll be away doing something super-smart to help." Polar Girl replied quickly. The young Tharrite looked exhausted as she tried to give a reassuring smile.

"Is there anything you want us to do to help?" Jazmin Cullen asked. After being sprawled over a seat trying to rest for the last twelve hours in their shuttle, the Xanthuan was stretching her arms and back as she asked, waking her body up in preparation for whatever was coming.

"All we can do is wait and get ready... once Henry's up and running I don't think we'll catch much of a break for quite a while." Ayla gave a sad smile as she answered.

"Great... I re-e-eally love waiting." Jazmin said with absolutely no hint sincerity or honesty whatsoever.

Ayla smiled and nodded in a motion of total agreement.

On average it was a full 24 hours before the Legionnaires and students infected by Atrophos' blight were released from the medical facilities on Tarkon-Galtos.

The putrid looking armour that had fused to their skins had fallen off and disintegrated within moments of Talok viii's disappearance. Thunder and her sisters were the first to recover as almost immediately they regained their senses and composure.

Not everyone was so lucky.

On average, the Legionnaires had 2 hours of crying and vomiting followed by a further 10 hours of delirium before they were seen to fully return to their senses and deemed ready to be released from their holding cells.

Once out of their cells the Legionnaires were placed in an observation booth where a battery of tests were run on them for a further 12 hours. Only after they had passed each and every one of the tests were they allowed to return to their bases.

Not many of the Legionnaires were grateful for this dedicated level of scrutiny. Dr Shakespeare made it abundantly clear that he really didn't care if they were grateful or not. This was how it would be if they wished to return to active duty status any time soon.

No-one chose to argue with him about it.

The next day

Phantom Girl - Team leader, Tinya Wazzo of Bgtzl Dimension, intangibility
Mon El - Senior Team member, Lar Gand of Daxam, incredible strength, speed, stamina, senses, laser vision, space flight, invulnerability
Brainiac 5 - Senior Team member, Legion Worlds Operational Manager and chief scientist - Professor Querl Dox of Colu, 12th level intelligence
Harmonia - former Senior Team member, Professor Harmonia Li of Earth, manipulation of the natural environment


The Naltor Time Insititute was immaculately clean.

As Tinya led Lar into the immense building she tried to ignore the crowds that had been gathering for two hours prior to their arrival. They had business here that meant signing autographs would have to wait.

At the door stood Audreni Slavdoar, the current Deputy-Director. The tall woman smiled as she held her hand out for Tinya to shake.

"Welcome Legionnaires. You've come to assist Professor Dox?" She asked.

"We've come to speak with him, yes." Tinya had to force herself to smile as she spoke. She knew that the Deputy-Director was probably unaware of the full situation so didn't want to drag her into his situation any further than she already was.

It took several minutes and more banal conversation than Tinya was in the mood for to reach the central plaza of the Insistute.

At the centre of the immense building a single harsh spotlight blazed up towards the heavens. This was the actual Tme Beacon that acted as a fixed point in time guiding chronal travellers to the correct points in history. Tinya didn't even want to begin to think of the technology involved to achieve this but she knew that Brainy would be here, tinkering at he edges like a child in a playground, even before the Depuy-Director had mentioned him. The final reading from Kara's flight ring had indicated she had breached the time barrier... and that meant that right at that moment there was nowhere else that the team's resident genius could be than at the institute that monitorred time travel to and from this century.

"He's there." Mon El pointed to an anti-grav platform 60 feet above the ground on the other side of the spotlight.

"Fine, wanna join me?" Tinya took to the air.

"He's not alone... Harmonia's with him." Mon El said with a little surpris.

Phantom Girl and Mon El flew up to their Coluan colleague and the ancient elemental that had left their team several months before. l

As Tinya approached the Coluan she took a deep breath. This was not going to be an easy conversation.

"Querl!" She said in as cheery a tone as she could manage, "You had any luck there?"

Neither Brainiac 5 or Harmonia Li turned around to face her as they continued to examine the hard light read-out before them. It was several seconds beforethere was a response.

"Sadly not so far Tinya." Said Harmonia as she turned and gave a tight smile towards the legion leader. "It is good to see you, though." Tinya thought she almost sounded sincere as she said this.

"And you Harmonia, how are things in Utopia?"

"Troubled. The loss of a world has ripples that affect us all."

"Indeed it does. Which is why we're here..."

Brainiac 5 turned to face Phantom Girl for the first time since she arrived. He looked tired but determined. Tinya knew in that moment that this conversation would not end happily.

"As you probably surmised we are currently examining the time stream for any sign of Kara. I will not leave here until she is returned or I am satisfied that all avenues have been covered. Is there anything else we need to discus right now Tinya?" The sharpness of his tone was surprising, though the message itself was much as Tinya expected.

"Eh, no... No Querl, you carry on with that ..." Before Tinya could finish Mon El interrupted.

"Querl, we need you to help with the Talokean refugees. Whenever Kara is we can go get her next week as easy as today. Come on man, we need you."

"No. No, you don't need me." For several seconds Brainiac 5 and Mon El faced each other, "I wrote the algorithms within the SP disaster relief AI. It will suffice. Now, if you will excuse me..." And with that he turned away from his colleagues to resume examining the time beacon.

Tinya took Lar's arm and they descended to the ground beneath them.

"Well... that wasn't at all helpful, bloody disappointing..." Tinya said in a rare moment of bluntness, "Right, let's go be useful and help the Talokeans. Someone's got to."

IB, Raz, thanks for your kind words, they are appreciated. Here's a few more posts to keep you entertained. There'll be a few more soon as we look into how a couple of individual members are coping, or not.

Thanks again guys,

C

oh my... Glad to see Tinya, Mon, Thunder and her sisters at least made it off Talok, I've been worrying about who else got off the planet. This bodes well for the majority of the team. Could it be that everybody else except Kara, and our deceased student Spoiler, made it off?

If anything, Harmonia's silent helping of Brainy speaks volumes about their friendship...


I share the frustration from Kid Q, Ayla and company... grife.


Poor Brek... thrown off unceremoniously... he'll be back I'm sure, but no last minute cavalry for him.

Kudos to the Legionnaires and students for tirelessly helping with relief matters even though they must be all exhausted!

Three days later

They had all spent the majority of their time over the last few days helping the refugees from Talok viii on their new home world, with the exceptions of Brainiac 5 and Harmonia Li who had both remained on Naltor at the new Time Institute.

In those three days the displaced Talokeans had seen new settlements started to be built around them, irrigation created and crops planted - with enhancements to give an almost immediate and bountiful harvest, medical assistance freely given and, political squabbles between the various tribes over land and resources had been quietened... it would be fair to say that in many cases for both Legionnaires and the students alike that the limits of exhaustion had been very firmly pushed.

Today though every Legionnaire and Academy student had walked through warps or taken shuttles to Shanghalla for their fallen comrade's funeral services. The UP's Disaster Support teams would take over for the next 36 hours.

The ceremony on Shanghalla had been relatively brief yet Tinya couldn't wait for it to finish.

The galactic media had not been allowed to attend the services. While several talking heads on a few mainstream feeds had grumbled about this during the day, the overall feeling was that with the recent loss of the entire planet Talok viii and horrific damaged that had occurred on Colu (causing subsequent data breaches that would lead to galactic banking being thrown into an unexpected crisis) there were much bigger problems to deal with than whether or not the Legionnaires and their friends should be allowed to grieve in public or not.

They had lost almost four hundred million Talokeans including Grev Mallor, a quarter of a million Coluans, a student from Home Base Academy and a Green Lantern ...not to mention an entire planet and its many unique flora, fauna, micro- and macro- ecosystems.... yet all Tinya kept thinking was that Kara had escaped death fighting an overwhelming force in the past only to find that same fate waited for her here in the 31st century instead.

Karma, it seemed, did not want to be cheated of its prize.

The Legion Leader spoke before the assembled group of mourners. Tinya Wazzo tried to keep her voice sounding confident though she heard the cracks each time she mentioned Kara's name. As tears formed in her eyes Tinya recounted meeting Kara all those years ago and sharing Neptunian Neapolitan ice cream in the Nine Planets Ice Cream Shop... this raised a few laughs from the crowd. She stopped here to wipe her hand across her eyes and without any further breaks she went on to give a moving eulogy to a hero she had both admired and be lucky enough to become friends with. She then spoke about Shadow Lad, so quiet and serious but eager to learn. A story that Jed had shared about how Grev had an irrational fear of chickens made the crowd laugh before she went on to praise the former Talokean student that had graduated almost a decade before from the Academy and had gladly went on to fulfil a planetary obligation. Grev was given posthumous membership. Finally, she spoke about Jorn Golmorton, the young Naltorian who followed his dream to become a hero by enrolling at the Academy. She offered a posthumous membership of the Legion to the young man's spirit, saying a golden statue honouring his sacrifice would stand in their halls for all to see.

Phantom Girl had given her speech and then stood aside as several of her team and members of the law enforcement community from across the galaxy stood to give their tributes to the fallen. She couldn't help but notice that everyone looked exhausted as they politely listened to each speaker.

Soddam Yat looked even more solemn than usual though managed to give Tinya the briefest of acknowledging smiles as she had approached him after finishing giving the eulogy. He stood to give a terse eulogy about S'Rraffig Hrrg of Mrangru 7, the fallen Green Lantern.

Afterwards, while sitting at the back of a virtually empty cruiser - only Jan Arrah and Dr Shakespeare were on board with her as the majority of the team had opted to take one of Henry's warps back to their bases - Tinya started to cry. At first her tears fell without her really being aware, her numbness and shock at all they had lost simply overcame her and filled her awareness. Slowly she started to quietly sob to herself as the tears fell and when a big gulping gasp caught in her throat Tinya put her hands over her face and let her pain come out in big wrenching stomach crunching sobs.

Tinya cried to herself for several minutes until a rather bizarre thought caught her by surprise - She was grateful that Soddam had chosen to fly to First Base under his own power as she didn't want him to see her in this sort of state.

This odd realization snapped her out of her tears and she got up to use a rest room to wash her face. She stood in the rest room, her hands on the small sink as she stared at herself in the mirror...Of all the times to fully accept that her feelings went beyond the merely friendly. Tinya fought the urge to laugh, aware that explaining her apparent happiness to Jan and Kent might be difficult.

Tinya went up to the control deck and stared unseeing at the hard-light monitors for the rest of the two-hour flight back to First Base.

It had been 12 hours since returning from Shanghalla when the holo-call came that she had been expecting.

Tinya had attended the wake in Shakes but hadn't stayed long. Instead, she guided Soddam Yat towards a small meeting room and sat him down opposite her at one of the floating tables. At first the conversation had been awkward as the Green Lantern seemed to want to talk about anything other than what was quite obviously happening between them. It took an excruciatingly long hour for Tinya to get what she wanted out of him but eventually Soddam Yat suggested, after much subtle and not so subtle prompting, that he could visit her regularly. This would give their potential relationship a chance to become something more than merely 'potential'.

After that the Legion's leader had kissed the ancient Green Lantern. It felt odd but not unpleasant. The last man Tinya had kissed in such a way had been Jo Nah, over a year ago. She half expected to recoil or feel sick, instead she sank into the Daxamite's powerful arms and felt the electricity of intimacy warm her bones. That had been a few hours before, and now Phantom Girl had only just said her goodbyes to Soddam Yat and was really hoping for a sonic shower and a meal before having to interact with anyone else.

With a 'pop' Querl Dox stood unannounced before Tinya, or at least his 3D hard-light avatar representation did, and gave her the news that she knew was coming.

"It is with my greatest regret that I must tender my resignation. It is effective immediately. I have asked Henry to open a warp to Colu where I will offer my assistance with their rebuilding program." The holo seemed to pause for a second before it continued, "I do not foresee returning to the team for at least three standard months and would be grateful if you ensure I am left alone. Please inform your team that I request they do not contact me unless it is in the utmost emergency. Thank you Tinya. I wish you and your colleagues every success in your role going forward." And with that it blinked out of existence.

Tinya swore as she stared at the space where Querl's holo had stood. She knew he would want to take some time away after losing Kara but expected him to at least contact her in person. As out of character as it may have sounded to many, Tinya Wazzo had really wanted to give her Coluan colleague a hug before he left.

"Phantom Girl...." Polar Girl's voice came through the comm system. "Brainiac 5's name has just vanished from the Mission Monitor Board... I can't find him anywhere on the system at all. Do you think it mi..."

"It's all right Mel, don't worry. Brainy's just taking a well-deserved break for a while. We'll get him back soon." she replied. She knew that within the hour the entire organization would know about this and then the rumours would start. Tinya didn't care. She might not have always seen eye-to-eye with Querl but she knew he deserved a chance to heal after all he'd been through. Actually, they all did, she thought sadly as she phased through the floor and went looking for a mission to lead.

Dawnstar and Thunder hung silently in space 4 light minutes due galactic north of First Base.

Both had cried in private for their lost friend but this was the first time since before the troubles on Talok vii that they had actually met up. Without speaking about it they had both intentionally avoided the other during the ceremony on Shanghalla. Neither women knew what to say to the other so instead they remained as silent as the distant stars and galaxy's that spun around in splendid isolation within the infinite darkness surrounding them. They hung there for almost half an hour before Dawnstar asked:

<Cece, do you think we will ever see Kara again? I... I miss her... surely there is a way?> The winged tracker turned away from her colleague and wiped her sleeve across the tears in her eyes.

<I expect Querl would have looked into that Dawnstar but as he has left us now, I doubt we would be able to. We can try though, can't we? She's left a big gap in the team, hasn't she?>

<...and in our hearts>

Thunder placed a hand gently on her winged friends' shoulder in sympathy and solidarity. After that there was not much left to say so they floated there in space gazing at the infinite majesty before them, their sad thoughts carried off amongst the celestial glory laid out around them like some heavenly banquet pinned to the void.

It was a little over twenty minutes later that Mon El joined them. The mighty Daxamite nodded his hellos as he approached but much like his colleagues, Lar Gand remained silent as he contemplated the eternal vastness around them. His blue cloak floated behind him, mirroring Dawnstar's wings. Thunder had an urge to hug them both but resisted, well aware that neither had the sort of personalities that welcomed such tactile shows of affection.

For almost an hour they each privately contemplated the impossible before them until Lar Gand finally signaled he was returning to First base. Both Dawnstar and Thunder saw the tear stains that ran down his cheeks, much as he saw theirs. None of them mentioned it.

Sometimes words weren't needed.