WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES? #1 (OF 3)

WHAT CAME BEFORE…

Former Green Lantern and intergalactic terrorist Universo reigned destruction down on the United Planets, resulting in the collapse of the Dominion-ruled government and the destruction of Titan. During the cataclysm, Cosmic Boy, leader of the Legion of Super-Heroes was left behind, and left for dead by his teammate Nemesis Kid as the rest of the Legion watched helplessly...

…Then…

Rancid black and gray steam billowed from fissures on Titan’s surface, stinging Cosmic Boys eyes, and burning his throat. He choked back the resulting tears as he watched his teammates fly out of sight to safety.

So… this… this is it? He had fought and led the Legion for the last five years just to die at the hands of some convoluted plot by a psychotic madman and one of his ‘teammates’?

By damn, he was NOT going to die without a fight… he would be sprocked if he was just going to sit there and let Universo, or Nemesis Kid, win.

Cos reached out with his magnetic power and began to draw in as much metallic debris toward him as he could find. Several collapsed durasteel structures scattered on Titan’s surface supplied more than enough raw material. Rapidly he surrounded himself with a mosaic of odd shaped pieces, cobbling together an airtight construct.

He wasn’t entirely sure what he was going to accomplish, but regardless, he refused to quit.

Bracing himself against the inner wall of the cocoon, he placed his left hand upon the container wall, knowing that his concentration could not be broken, or the container would fall apart, killing him instantly. He stretched his right his hands toward the ground and pushed with all of the magnetic power he could muster, hoping against hope that he could propel himself upward through the thinning atmosphere.

The acidic air trapped with him inside his makeshift lifeboat continued to sting his throat, but the alternative was a much worse fate. The loose debris surrounding him in the bubble began to rise, as gravity lessened.

His mind raced… there he was, stuck in a sphere cobbled together by the remnants of a dead moon, without a guidance system, adrift in space, and with an incredibly small amount of rancid oxygen.

“Probably not my best plan.” He said aloud, wishing someone was nearby to hear. “Wait… Saturn Girl!”

The Legion fighter couldn’t have gone too far in the few minutes he had been separated from his team. He closed his eyes and mentally called out to Saturn Girl…

…When everything just stopped.

“You just will not quit. It’s not in your DNA, is it my friend?” An eerie, raspy voice filled the cocoon.

Cos opened his eyes and found himself hovering above a white platform surrounded by a sea of swirling color. He had seen this rainbow-hued current before… it was the physical manifestation of the time stream. He had travelled into the past once before, years ago, with Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl to save Kal-El from the Legion of Super-Villains. But this time it was different… he could tell that something in the time stream was wrong.

Interlaced throughout the currents of color that lapped upon the white platform was a black, oily substance, seemingly alive… swirling between the colors.

“I see you have noticed the problem, Cosmic Boy” The voice came again. He could tell by the weight of the voice that it was ancient.

“Who are you?” Cos called out.

“The answer to that question is… complicated.” I have been called many things, by many people, throughout time… in fact, you’ve called me a few of those names yourself… you know who I am… or you would have, had things gone the way they were fated to. Such is the way of the Multiverse.”

“You’re not making sense…” Cos replied baffled, “Show yourself.”

Through the bottom of the white platform a purple-cloaked figure emerged. But to call it a cloak did the ensemble little justice… it was more of a thick, multi-hued purple mist, seemingly made of the same time-stuff that flowed throughout the time stream. Shadows, and highlights in the cloak were made of time-color rather than actual light and shadow… inside the hood of the cloak was… nothing. Blackness beyond anything he’d seen before.

“Call me The Time Trapper…” the voice came out of nowhere surrounding Cos, reverberating in his skull. “… and, to simplify the situation for your limited understanding: Time is broken.”







Five Years Later…

The Time Institute, Metropolis, Earth, 3016.

The Chrono-Research Laboratory of the Time Institute had been completely ransacked. The monitors surrounding the time-sphere launch platform had been smashed, as had one of the only two Time Spheres in existence. The other was gone, only a quickly dissipating trail of tachyons in its place.

Officer Gim Allon hated only one thing more than monitor duty in this universe, and that was time travel. And time-travelling bad guys were the worst. In his tenure with the Legion he’d only heard the story of the Legion's time travelling adventure to save Superboy… about a million times. Would Kal-El have become Superboy had they not gone back in the first place? Would he have become Superman? Would he have managed on his own? Did the team already know the outcome of their adventure going in? Was it already in some lost history book somewhere? The Legion was founded on the ideas and principals of Superman… Grife.

Just the concept of a time paradox gave him a migraine, so going in, he chose to focus on the crime before him, and not the possible ramifications of the crime… he’d let Captain Ardeen deal with the headaches. Being a telepath, she was used to them anyway.

“Do you know how difficult it is to avoid tachyons, Gim?” Detective Salu Digby, his former Legionnaire teammate, asked giving him a start. She had a tendency to scare the hell out of him, a side effect of her ability to shrink down to the size of a sub-atomic particle, and his ability to easily get lost in his own train of thought. Yet another one of many reasons he never made it past the rank of sergeant, and she had become a lead detective.

That and his meta-power: the ability to grow to the size of a four-story building made him horribly clumsy… not exactly what one looks for in the subtleties of detective work. Like setting a lightning beast loose on Barrio III.

“No Vi, come to think of it, I’ve never come face-to-face with a tachyon.” He’d always loved her Legion code name ‘Shrinking Violet.’

“It’s like trying to avoid a snowflake in a blizzard,” she replied, “and you’re the only one that still gets away with calling me that, Colossal Boy.”

Just then, Detective Digby’s wrist communicator sparked to life with the holographic image and voice of Captain Imra Ardeen, the former Saturn Girl and one time leader of the Legion of Super-Heroes. “Can I get a report from the scene, Vi?”

“The only one, huh?” Gim retorted to which Salu rolled her eyes.

“Nothing to really report, Captain. Tachyon dispersal confirms what we feared. The Time Sphere was not transported by any outside means… it was activated and used to exit the facility. Doctor Circadia Senius and his female assistant--- Glorith Baldur?--- are both missing, and the other Time Sphere was damaged... possibly beyond repair. ”

“Which means we can’t use it to track them.” Captain Imra Ardeen stated.

“Oh, it is far worse than that, I’m afraid, Captain Ardeen.” An older scientist stated, stepping past the guards securing the scene. “I’m Professor Huxton, Time Theorist… I assisted Circadia in the building of this lab and the creation of the Time Spheres.”

“Yes, Professor, we’ve met years ago, during the…” Imra replied, adopting a more formal posture.

“Professor, how could someone stealing a Time Sphere get worse,” Gim interrupted, not wanting to hear about the Legion's harrowing time travel tale again.

“Yes, yes indeed… I think it’s best we discuss this in person, Captain,” Professor Huxton said gravely to Imra, “It’s not easily explained via holonet.”



Deep space, the Rimbor System...

Jo Nah pushed the Emerald Dragon's engines faster than he’d ever attempted before, as the two Rimborrian Sheriff pursuit fighters got dangerously close. The lead fighter's cannons fired on the fleeing cargo ship, non-stop.

“At least the Science Police would have given us a warning before firing,” Jo’s co-pilot and gunner Blok from Dryad calmly said.

“You, my rocky friend, grrrrrrrrrr…” Jo pushed down and left on the control, sending the Emerald Dragon into a spiraling nose-dive, his long pony-tail whipping him in the mouth with the sudden jerk, “Have a penchant for stating the obvious.”

“It is, as they say, a gift.” Blok replied without emotion.

“Ha!” Jo snorted at Blok’s joke as he pulled the stick hard right. “I know you don’t like shooting at people… but if you don’t start shooting back at these guys, we’re done.”

Blok put his hand up on the cockpit roof steadying himself as the ship spiraled between two massive pieces of orbital space debris.

“Jo, they are the law… we have broken their laws, I will not destroy them.”

“For the love of…” Jo growled in frustration. “How many times have we… FINE. You don’t have to blow ‘em up, but would you mind stopping them from blowing us up? I’m kinda allergic to dying.”

The temperature inside the Emerald Dragon began to rise and sweat rolled down Jo’s back as the ship skirted the Rimborian atmosphere. The vessel shuddered violently as a blaster bolt pierced a hole through the its left wing.

“BLOK… NOW WOULD BE GOOD!”

“Satellites, two, go between them,” Blok replied calmly pointing out the viewscreen at the spinning objects quickly approached.

“About time.” Jo muttered to himself as he complied, juking the ship to the right setting it on the appropriate course.

As they passed between the two derelict satellites, Blok unleashed a salvo of laser fire. As he spun the Emerald Dragon’s top gun turret 180 degrees, both satellites exploded sending massive debris careering in all directions.

“Diving! Hang on!” Jo shouted a warning a split-second before taking action, sending Blok’s head into the cabin's ceiling, adding another dent to the crater-pocked interior.

The Sherriff Fighters took evasive action as well, but could not stop from slamming into the debris field, shredding the fighter wings.

“THAT’S what I’m talking about… nice shooting, pal!”

“I do hope no one was injured, that was not the Legion way” Blok said wistfully.

“Better them than us.” Jo just shook his head in amazement at his friend. “and I hate to tell you this (for the thousandth time), pal, we ain’t a Legion anymore.”

“I still strive to live up to the values set forth…”

“Just activate the signal, already… it’s like literally arguing with a brick wall.”

“Do you think it might be possible to add a secondary restraint strap? I don’t know if the ship can handle much more pummeling from the top of my head.”

“You know what buddy, with what we’ll make off of this job, I’ll buy you a brand new state-of-the-art chair.” Jo quipped as he set the coordinates for the designated meeting spot. It’ll be nice for things to actually go as planned for once… he thought.



Science Police Headquarters, Metropolis…

The Science Police had acquired the enormous inverted rocket ship that once served as the headquarters to the Legion of Super-Heroes, after the official dissolution of the club, directly from Brande Industries for only a promise:

The Legions Hall of Remembrance would NEVER be torn down.

The Science Police desperately needed to upgrade their headquarters, and the building's state of the art surveillance systems, and training facilities were ideal for training rookie officers in dealing with meta-human offenders and off-world threats.
After the passing of R.J. Brande, the elected chairwoman, Lourno Durgo wanted to do her best to keep her mentor's dream alive, and if the building could be used to help maintain peace and security, she felt that providing a new headquarters was least she could do.

After many scientific upgrades in the five years since the Legion (also financed by Chairwoman Durgo), the meeting hall of the headquarters was left largely untouched, retaining the charm of the brighter age that came before.

“Nass… my head hurts just thinking about this.” Officer Allon muttered to himself, rubbing his temples. “Could you dumb it down for those of us without a degree in Quantum Theory, Doc, I feel like I just went ten rounds with Brainiac 5 in a debate.”

“I agree with Gim,” Detective Digby agreed, “I think I understand it, but let’s just make sure we’re all on the same page here.”

“Yes, yes, yes… of course.” Professor Huxton replied. “May I?” He inquired motioning to a 3-dimensional holo-projector pad.

“By all means, professor.” Captain Ardeen answered, as she passed the pad across the table to him. Imra’s long blonde hair was pulled into a bun, exposing her Saturn-shaped earrings, the only part of her Legion uniform she still wore. After the fall of the Legion she swore she would never let another catastrophe like the one that befell her home-world of Titan happen again. She joined the Science Police as she had intended before she became a Legionnaire, and quickly rose up the ranks, making captain in only 3 years. Being headquartered in the former Legion Clubhouse somehow made her feel as though she was helping to keep the dream of the Legion alive.

“The average person thinks of time in a linear sense… point A to point B.” He began, drawing a line across a flat, holographic projection, writing the letters A & B to augment his statement.

“The average person, doesn’t think about time at all” Gim interrupted.

“Officer Allon!” Imra scolded, “please proceed, professor.”

“No, no, he’s quite right actually… quite right… And that’s as it should be…” the professor replied unphased. Gim smiled smugly, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms across his broad chest. Detective Digby delivered a quick jab to his shoulder as the Professor continued. “However, I believe this particular theft may have begun a chain reaction that we, as of yet, have not begun to fully understand. Only once before has a Time Sphere been stolen, which, Ms. Ardeen, you are very well aware of, since you and your former compatriots were able to immediately pursue and recover it before any lasting effect could be felt throughout the time stream.”

A sharp pang of sadness struck Imra like a sudden vibro-blade in the stomach. How she longed for those better days, when the world was bright, and the future held such promise. Where had it all gone wrong?

“You three left in pursuit and returned a split-second later with both Time Spheres, and the apprehended villains. No harm, no foul, as they say. This time, however, there was no pursuit. The Sphere was not returned, and the other Sphere destroyed.”

“It is my estimation that one of two things may have occurred, the best-case scenario: the perpetrator stole the bubble and went into the future. Worst-case, and most plausible scenario: they went into the past and changed something…” The professor paused the gravity of the situation pressing into his shoulders. “Whether that change was significant or not, the reality of that situation is that we are now living in a time that has ALREADY been effected by those changes.”

Professor Huxton drew a perpendicular line, bisecting his original drawing, and another line branching off of the latter, parallel to the original and wrote the letter “C”.

“In a nutshell,” Detective Digby said, indicating toward the drawing “we were going from point A to point B, but the perp, or perps that took the Time Sphere went back to point A, changed something, and instead of finishing where we were supposed to be (point B), we wound up at point C.”

“Precisely!” The Professor exclaimed excitedly. “None of us would have been the wiser, because the human perception, in fact MOST beings perception of time is linear. No matter how many changes have been made to the timeline, there was one major event that began the… shall I call it a time cascade?”

“So… now what?” Salu asked. “How would we even know where--- sprock!--- ‘when’ to go, or how to fix it? Is this even fixable?”

“I believe that is why Dr. Circadia was taken… his race does not observe time as a linear line. He knew something was amiss in the time stream. He and his assistant had been observing time anomalies, recorded instances of tachyon dispersal, throughout history since the beginning of the study of Quantum Time theory and the discovery of tachyons. Unfortunately with the destruction of his lab, and their disappearance, those records are lost. It also brings up an interesting question…”

“Should it be fixed, or is what happened destined to be?” Imra finished.

“Exactly.”

“So, wait…” said Gim, “if everything you’re saying is true, then even our yesterday could have been completely different from the yesterday that we actually lived… yesterday…?”

“Theoretically?” Professor Huxton pondered, “Yes… and no, depending on your point of view and position in the time stream.”

“Never mind… this is why I never studied Quantum Theory.” Gim grumbled.



Rimbor...

The Emerald Dragon had touched down in a canyon on the outskirts of Ultra City, just south of the Iron Flats. The ship's underbelly was covered in scorch marks from the battle above, and more than a few pock-marks from lucky laser blasts.

Jo Nah ran his hand along the bottom of the left wing, surveying the damage. He had never been as pleased with his hull modifications as he was at that moment. Their last big score afforded him the ability to add a few extra layers to the hull, as well as a much needed engine upgrade to compensate for the additional drag the added weight provided.

“Two micrometers, Blok… we were two micrometers away from having a very bad day.” He stated, sticking his finger in to one of the blast marks, touching an exposed fuel line with his fingertip.

“We were far luckier than our pursuers,” Blok reminded Jo, as he lay under one of the freighter's landing struts with a hydro-lock.

“Just… ”

“Well if it isn’t Jo Nah… the ‘Emerald Dragon’ *snort*” Jo jumped with a start, grabbing his holstered weapon and activating his invulnerability. Blok jumped as well knocking his stone forehead into the bottom of the ship's fuselage, leaving another fresh dent. “You got some serious stones stealin’ your 'code-name' from our old gang, kid.”

“Yeah, well it’s just Jo now… the 'Emerald Dragon' is my ship now, and what can I say, I like the name? You’re early, Mo Seh.” Jo replied holstering his blaster, but not lowering his invulnerability… one couldn’t be too cautious when dealing with crime lord lackeys. Mo Seh was a lanky wisp of a man, well-armed and surrounded by three of his lackeys. Nass… Even the lackey had lackeys now.

“Yeah, you know me, old friend, early bird and all.” Mo Seh replied, keeping his hand on his holstered weapon. “You bring the product?”

“Of course I did… when have I ever backed out on a deal, pal?” Jo smirked, “Blok-head, open the cargo bay doors.”

Without an acknowledgment, Blok hit a remote button on his gauntlet. With a groan, crack, and a hiss, the Emerald Dragon’s massive cargo doors opened, the cargo pod within began lowering, and jerked to a sudden stop.

“Blok.” Jo said with exasperation, and Blok replied with a punch to the underbelly of the ship, reactivating the lift. “We ran into a bit of trouble on the way in… nothing we couldn’t handle, but after we collect our ‘fee’ we may need to hole up with you for a cycle or two for some repairs.”

“Ten tons of Kono Juice.” Mo Seh replied with a toothy grin ignoring Jo, “Worth 15 billion creds on the black market nowadays… you know how hard it is to get Kono Juice in these parts since the sprocking planet seceded from the U.P.?”

“Obviously, otherwise you wouldn’t need my… skillset. Now, I was mentioning some repairs?”

“No need, my friend,” Mo drew and his men drew their weapons, leveling them off on Jo and Blok. “We’ll be taking the ship and the juice…”

“Bad move Mo…” Jo gritted his teeth, “you know what I can do…”

“Yeah, buddy, I know.” Mo replied as dozens of men uncloaked, standing up around the canyon walls and taking aim with their weapons. “You may even take a few of us out before we take out your co-pilot there. He may be made of stone, but even a tough guy like that can still get smashed into pebbles.”

“Nass.” Jo threw his hands up in surrender.

“I told you a canyon was a bad place to meet…” Blok said.

“NOT a good time, Blok.”

A sudden explosion of color erupted between Jo and Mo revealing four beings. Two male, one female and something else… something massive. They were clothed in head-to-toe black, with massive gauntlets on each arm that pulsated with energy. Their identities concealed in large, black featureless helmets. Jo could feel the power radiating from them and immediately knew: They were sprocked.

“We’ve been double-crossed boys, FIRE!!!” Mo shouted after a few brief seconds of stunned silence from everyone and the air cracked to life with the sound of gunfire from Mo’s men.

Not sure who was on which side, Jo and Blok simultaneously dove under the Emerald Dragon and behind the container of stolen Kono Juice.

“He’s been double-crossed?” Jo shouted over the gunfire.

“LEGIONNAIRES, ATTACK!” A metallically distorted voice came from one of the helmeted men. With a surge, bright purple energy flowed through piping in the leaders uniform, a star appearing on his chest. He lifted his gauntleted hands and weapons flew from the hands of Mo’s men into his own.

“About time.” The second male humanoid said as white piping flowed from his gauntlets covering his black suit in electricity, lightning bolts crossed his chest. Light blue piping coursed through the female's uniform as wings of light emerged from her back seconds before she took flight.

The hulking brute, green energy formed three circles across his massive chest.

“Legionnaires…?” Jo said to himself as the scene exploded around him.

Electricity fried Mo where he stood, leaving a charred corpse in its wake. The winged female flew around the perimeter of the canyon, drawing fire from the marauders that were still armed, while taking out others with a pair of small blasters she usually carried in two hip holsters.

The leader tore large boulders from the canyon walls, hurling them, smashing his victims where they stood. The large one stood there, staring at a group of Mo’s men, their screams indicating some sort of psychic attack as blood flowed freely from ears and noses.

After his initial attack, the electrically powered ‘Legionnaire’ just stood there to the right of Jo and Blok, leaning on one of the Emerald Dragons landing struts. Jo glared at him unsure if he should act, or stand down.

“What? I did my part, I took out the leader.” He said to Jo with an electric rasp.

Within mere moments the battle was over. And these new Legionnaires stood triumphant.

The winged female landed behind Jo and Blok, and the brute to their left. The leader approached them directly, his hand outstretched…

“Greetings Ultra Boy of Rimbor. Blok of Dryad.” The leader spoke “I am Polestar, leader of the Legion of Super-Heroes. We are from the future. If we are to save the universe, ALL Legionnaires must unite. Take us to Saturn Girl of Titan.”

“That was NOT the Legion way,” Blok shouted, his massive fists clenched.

“Not a good time, Blok,” Jo put a steadying hand on his friends arm. Ultra Boy? Who the bloody nass was Ultra Boy?



The end of time...

The rainbow colored curtain of time, flowed… a stream of murky black ever-more present, poisoning the ebb and flow.

“Though the events that ruptured the time-stream may have happened billions of years ago, the event that started everything, Polestar, began in your native time. Like a tsunami unleashed, a wave of change approaches our shores. Our unfettered time here is nearing its conclusion, and my power wanes.” The Time Trapper said to the helmeted Polestar.

“Your team is complete, their reconditioning finished.” The Time Trapper added.

“Master.” Polestar replied, bending down on his right knee. His power gauntlets filled the room with a powerful hum.

With a hiss of expelled steam, three pods opened, releasing noxious fumes into the room, and revealing three standing figures. With a snap of the Trapper's fingers, they jerked to attention as if being awakened from a long sleep.

“May I introduce your new Legion: Bounty – tracker and assassin; Computo – thirteenth level super-intelligence, psionic abilities, and super-strength; and Bolt – electrical projection and manipulation… Once I send you, my Legion, back in time, the remainder of my power will be spent keeping HER out.”

“They look familiar, master,” Polestar admitted.

“As they should, once upon a time, you knew them all well. However, at this moment, we are out of time. Take this…” The Trapper handed a small metallic orb to Polestar when the air inside the chamber crackled to life.

“Well, that was a little sooner than expected.” The Time Trapper growled in frustration. With a snap of the Trapper's fingers, Polestar, Bounty, Computo and Bolt were gone.

“Welcome to your end, girl.” The Trapper hissed as the Time Sphere opened.



Earth, Metropolis, the Green Lantern Rampage of 2992...

The Green Lantern known as Vidar tore through the streets of Metropolis, single-mindedly pursuing his Durlan enemy, laying waste to everything in his wake.* Thick, ashen smoke and dust billowed through the city as buildings, both modern and ancient toppled onto the streets below.

* as seen in Tales of the Green Lantern Corps: VIDAR

The staff, curators and patrons of the Superman Museum poured from the building flooding into a thousand-year-old bunker across White Street that was specifically designed to withstand super-powered attacks.

In the artifact chamber of the museum, swirling dust moved unpredictably as a static charge grew. The crackle of tachyon particles and the smell of ozone overtook the musty smell of the artifacts collected by the ancient legend known as Superman. With an electric POP, the stolen Time Sphere materialized, and slowly lowered to the chamber floor.

Glorith of Balduur stepped out of the machine, confidently knowing the second step in the Grand Plan was well within her grasp. She steadied herself as the building violently shook beneath her feet. She had mere moments before the building came down, and if she was not in the Sphere at that exact moment, her plight would have all been for naught. This was her best opportunity… her only opportunity.

Time was such a fickle mistress.

She aimed her stolen blaster at the vault lock and excitedly pulled the trigger, the recoil violently knocking her hand back as the lock vaporized.

She kicked open the door, and there it was.

Increasing the power to her blaster, she took aim and smiled. With three successive pulls of the trigger, the Phantom Zone Projector disintegrated. Her malicious smirk blossomed into a full toothy grin knowing that Mon-El, Superman’s “cousin” would NEVER be freed from the Phantom Zone, and would NEVER join the Legion of Super-Heroes.

That small, yet significant act was not enough though… there were three others that had to fall before she could ascend. Two other Legionnaires that could never be, and the being at the end of time whose power she longed to take. Her power to absorb others' abilities already in full use… first, absorbing Dr. Circadia’s perception of time (after all, it would do her no good to forget the changes she was making as time righted itself). Then with every subsequent change made to the time stream she siphoned large portions of The Time Trapper's power.

Soon she would not need the stolen Time Sphere at all and EVERYONE would pay for what happened to her brother.

She could set everything right again.

“Now what are you going to do?” Her prisoner and former employer Dr. Circadia whimpered as he sat bound on the floor of the Time Bubble.

“Trom, my good Doctor… birthplace of ‘Element Lad’,” she grinned as she activated the machine. The crumbling world around them dissolved from existence, replaced by the swirling rainbow of time. "The people of Trom are scheduled to have a run-in with a genocidal maniac named Roxxas. I’m going to make sure he gets there a bit early.”

To Be Continued…