Last Daughter of Krypton: Legion IC

Wraith: Things are not what they seem....

Ow!

That.... that was a pissed off Kryptonian. Nothing else hits that hard!

Could it be Kara?? When I left Earth she was standing by me. Josh and Angela, Ceri's kids, were standing with her with the babies, my great grandkids. Kara was still looking young, maybe mid thirties. Could she still be alive.

And was that Tommy who got in my face??

Did I just screw up and try and kill an innocent man?? Graznal!! I was still wound too tight from the wars, from mellenia of killing.

I was making my way to my feet when the civilian walked through the hole in the wall. He didn't seem afraid, just concerned.

"Now that we've all been properly introduced," he began, "Valkyrie can explain to you the history and origins of the members of the Legion, particularly this one," He indicated Brainiac 5. He looked at me for a long moment.

"Here," he said, holding up his bag of Oreos, "have a cookie and take a break. There will be no ripping asunder today."

Oreoes??

He turned back to me. "I have a meeting to take,"he said. "But later, have Valkyrie M3 escort you to my residential area. You and I have much, much to discuss."

J'onn?????

What the frell was going on?

I shifted to shadowform and dropped through the floor. I needed a second to think



"What the Hell just happened??" Cosmic Boy said in a angry tone??

"Your nasshead relec from the past just tried to rip Brainy apart is what happened!" Came the terse reply from Saturn Girl. *What the heck was that with R.J.? I'm scared half to death, he passes out cookies??* she sent to Cos telepathically.

*Sprocked if I know. Brainy appears OK, Power Girl is here and Valkyrie. But to be safe, get Garth down here now! I don't think this guy is going to come back for round 2. Heck, Power Girl may have knocked him out, but I am not taking chances.*

*On it.*

"Valkyrie, you and Power Girl take a look and see if our 'guest' is still down. Irma is calling Garth right now, so we should be able to contain this guy no problem."

He then looked over at Brainiac 5. He looked unharmed, but it was hard to tell with him.

"You OK Brainy?"

B5 / Powergirl (borrowed from Tears) / VM3: "Breathe"

Brande stepped between Caroline and VM3, placing gentle hands on both of them, little pats of reassurance and a job well done.

Jaymie wasn't entirely convinced her job had been well done. Her job had been, essentially, one of holding her fire even as the light of that fire had been swallowed up almost entirely by darkfield blowback.

But if R.J. Brande wanted to congratulate her, well, that was his lookout, and she would have to trust to his inexplicable judgement to pan out as it nearly always did.

Caroline nodded, too, to R.J., though she of ancestral Krypton seemed more confident in R.J.'s assessment than had Jaymie. She knew she'd done good, she'd clobbered the squaj who'd sprocked all over Querl. As soon as she nodded, however, she returned her attention to Querl, who seemed rather glad of that attention. (And, which, who could blame him?)

He stepped up to Wraith. He was not afraid. He looked up into the Face of Shadow and stared into the darkness there.

"Now that we've all been properly introduced," he began, "Valkyrie can explain to you the history and origins of the members of the Legion, particularly this one," Brande indicated Brainiac 5. He looked at Wraith for a long moment.

Valkyrie M3 blinked all over again, her cheeks painted crimson, framing the light dusting of freckles brought out by a little bit too much time in the sun riding the tops of bulk freighters in the atmospheric shipping lanes...

Cos was the historian. Jaymie only had a grasp of her family's history, and that only barely. But she... she had a certain fangirlishness for that sort of thing, that which came before. She didn't know every major event of every century that had transpired betwixt Wraith's Then and The Legion's Now, but she knew the legends. She knew the stories.

The tales told over campfires, this was her arena. VM3 had always been a spectacular dreamer.

Her father had thought it had distracted from her training, and maybe it had. But her mother had assured her that Jaymie's ability to dream and to idealise people was very very superheroic. That a superhero was less super if they could not believe in the very folks and the very culture they were trying to save.

Jaymie glanced at her hands. I should have puppets.

I don't need puppets.

I can do this.

Again, her brain was spinning.

"Here," Brande said, holding up his bag of Oreos, "have a cookie and take a break. There will be no ripping asunder today." R.J. then turned away, fumbling in a pocket for a his hyperlink comm unit. He pulled it out, read the display...

He turned back to Wraith. "I have a meeting to take," he explained. "But later, have Valkyrie M3 escort you to my residential area. You and I have much, much to discuss."

Brande waved to everyone, throwing his bag of cookies to Brainiac as he left the conference room.

Brainy, ordinarily possessed of fantastic reflexes and co-ordination, was a little bit bedraggled from the altercation and a little bit distracted by the beauty and thus he fumbled his catch. The cookies hit his foot and he grunted dismally.

He bent to pick these up, and dusted the remaining tatters of his lab coat off of himself, as Imra and Rokk had their little tete-a-tete.

He wanted to say a proper thank you to Caroline, but he couldn't find the words, and he was just about to summon up the wherewithal to thank her without words, nervous schoolboy, when Krinn broke off his chat with Ardeen to issue commands, assess his status.

Probably just as well. Caroline seemed distracted, she'd glanced through the hole she'd made in the wall and then had glanced at the floor below, tense, like she was watching something and was ready to bullet-speed off at the drop of a chapeau...

Still. Brainy loathed interruptions.

"Valkyrie, you and Power Girl take a look and see if our 'guest' is still down. Irma is calling Garth right now, so we should be able to contain this guy no problem."

Caroline nodded, a different kind of concern having washed over her face. "Yeah. He's dropped down a deck, I think he might have phased somehow? He's in one of the auditoriums. Third row back. I can see him."

Startled out of her storytelling-brainstorming reverie, Jaymie blinked, and glanced at Caroline, and, following her gaze, clicked over to infrared sight.

"Yeah. I think I can make him out. I see a cold patch, relative dimensions of a humanoid. If, uh, if he makes another move, we'll be on him."

She hesitated. Yes. Yes, we'll be on him. Especially after the third Original gets here to make up for my slacknassery.

She offered a wary, halfheartedly-reassuring smile to Rokk, and a thumbs-up.

He then looked over at Brainiac 5.

"You OK Brainy?"

Brainy scoffed, still holding that packet of cookies as if he wasn't sure what to do with them.

"As I just said, Krinn," he smiled thinly, "I am... copasetic. No thanks to the bludgeoning of our new... Piltdown Lad, I am functioning within optimal operating parametres."

Grunting dismissively, Brainiac Five ate an Oreo.

And paused.

Actually, those things weren't bad.

Legion Hall: Various Locations

Maybe I should have stayed in Shadow. Maybe it has been so long I forgot what it is like to be human.

Rose would have been horrified at me. I just attacked a being for sharing the same name as a foe from over a thousand years ago. I wasn't going to disable him either, that was a killing attack.

What was wrong with me? This is not a man my father would recognize, or be proud of.

I looked back up. I think Tommy is up there, still wearing the mantle of Fate. I'm going to give them, and me, a chance to calm down. Most likely they knew where I was, so I think it would be prudent to sit and wait for them to come to me.

Lady of Shadows, was that J'onn up there?? How long do Martians live anyway?


Meanwhile Saturn Girl was sending out a thread of though to the sleeping mind of a fellow Legionnaire, and friend. Of course, it did not prepare her for walking into the dream he was having.

*Hey, I have never said that to Garth. And what am I wearing?? WAITAMINUTE!!!!! GARTH!!!!!!!*

The mental yell brought the young man upright out of a sound sleep, landing him in a heap on the floor.

Garth "Lightning Lad" Ranzz

It had been a very nice dream. While it lasted.

It was an old dream. Though, once before, it had been a daydream, this was a more vivid variety.

Garth, his reddish-blonde hair, his fingers intertwined with Imra's flaxen tresses. She was whispering into his ear, into his mind... They were in a dream tub on Ventura, lit by starlight, their half-sipped konos forgotten on the tub-edge, wearing nothing but--

Wait a sec, there was another Imra, and she was in uniform, hey, this dream was getting better by the minute and--

*Hey, I have never said that to Garth. And what am I wearing?? WAITAMINUTE!!!!! GARTH!!!!!!!*

The mental yell brought the young man upright out of a sound sleep, landing him in a heap on the floor.

"Gods, grife," he mumbled, tangled up in bedsheets, rubbing his forehead, blinking up at the ceiling. And he remembered.

"Oh," he mumbled again. "Well, I'm sprocked."

He clambered to his feet and then, then his alarm chrono went off, like thirty seconds earlier it would have saved his life and now it was just taunting him. He pointed his cyborg hand at it and the cyborg hand conducted his power flawlessly, the air stung with ozone, a bolt scorched from the blue and blew the chrono to pieces.

This happened fairly frequently. He had three more chronometres in the drawer.

He was wearing his Flight Ring, not that it had helped keep him from falling out of bed, but what the sprock.

"Computer," he requested, yanking his farmboy carpenter jeans on and grabbing a blue t-shirt with his double-barrelled lightning logo on it, one of the Athramites had made it for him custom. "Location of Imra Ardeen? It seems I have an apology to make for her invading my privacy."

*Saturn Girl is in Conference Room 7 West.*

"Thanks," he nodded, flexing both his living hand and his metalloid hand.

*...*

*No thanks is required.*

"Right," he nodded. And looked at his bedroom door like it was going to bite his other arm off. "Wish me luck?"

*...*

*Good luck.*

...but he was already gone, running down the hall with his socks on but no shoes.

Despite the impediment of the missing footwear, he skidded into Conference 7 only moments later, breathing hard and red in the face and wide-eyed.

"Okay," he grunted, clapping his two hands together, chop-chop. "Let's Go, Legionnaires, someone wanna tell me why I just got Sandmanned?"

Legion Headquarters

"Okay," Garth grunted, clapping his two hands together. "Let's Go, Legionnaires, someone wanna tell me why I just got Sandmanned?"

"Your lucky you didn't wake up thinking you were a six year old girl and had lost your dolly." muttered a still peeved (and embarrassed) Saturn Girl. "Garth, notice the HOLE in the wall over there?? We have a situation here!"

"It's OK Irma. We have more than enough people here now to handle whomever this guy is. R.J. didn't appear to be too concerned, and he did break off the attack. Come to think of it, he was all manners until I told him Brainy's name. I don't think he will take another shot. But I want Garth here just in case." said Cosmic Boy.

"Then why didn't you grab Ultra Girl Cos?? She's about as powerful as Caroline here. I mean, it looked like he almost overloaded Brainy's belt there. Do you know how much damage those things can handle!! The more big guns we have around us the better, especially if I can't give him a mental whammy. We still don't know if that works or not!"

Ignoring the ever increasing looks of confusion from Lightning Lad, Rokk continued to speak. "I didn't call Jo because while there are very few people I would rather have at my side when there is someone to bash, getting her to stop bashing them is problematical at best. I want cooler heads here, and Jo, while her heart is in the right place, is a bit of a loose cannon."

"Fair enough" said Saturn Girl. "OK Fate, spill. We have a guy trying to kill Brainy and you remove your helmet and jump in front of him. What the nass does 'Mind the gap' mean?? Talk or I'll caff Garth up here and lock you in a room with him!"

Dawnstar.

Dawnstar, my angel, you have done well. Route your ingress to my private quarters, using the hidden entrance, and bring the Green Lantern there. Your route of travel is at your discretion, as I trust your judgement. I will await your arrival.

It was always disturbing when Mr. Brande used whatever device he used to send that strong of a telepathic signal. "Understood sir, we will meet you there as rapidly as is possible," she said into the comm she held, then she turned towards the Lantern, "Lantern I believe we will have to make a new arrangement for your trip to Earth."

She reached into one of the many pouches on the belt she wore. It was her standard Legion issue transuit array. Dawnstar had no need for it but carried it just the same. "If you will press this to your clothing it will bond to them. Pressing this button," she tapped the button lightly enough to not activate it, "And a protective field will encase you and provide an Earth standard enviroment for you. I will carry you so your energy field avoids detection. I hope you do not mind this, I am very experienced in covert entries into Earth space."

She handed the transuit over to the Lantern.

Ultra girl.

Jo had heard M'on in the gym. He was working hard to get back into his best form since his extended visit to the Phantom zone. She entered the gym just as she heard,

"Premature deactivation," he lamented, unable even now to keep his roguish wit in check. "Happens to the best of us, I suppose."

That brought Jo out of her funk enough to snap back with some of her own kind of wit, "S'never happened to me M'on. I've always managed to keep them stoked enough to keep sprockin......"

Before she could have said anything else there was a very familiar sound and the building rocked just the smallest amount. Jo looked with a new found excitement at M'onel, "Did the world just move for you?" The devilish twinkle in her eyes spoke volumes of the trouble she was hot for. "Let's go check this out!"

She took to the air but kept her speed down to keep safe and so she could keep her invulnerability up.

"Your lucky you didn't wake up thinking you were a six year old girl and had lost your dolly." muttered a still peeved (and embarrassed) Saturn Girl.

Garth arched his eyebrows and leaned in just a little bit, hands on his hips. "First of all, I told you, those were action figures--"

"Garth, notice the HOLE in the wall over there?? We have a situation here!"

He blinked. "Oh. I thought we were remodeling, or maybe we decided we didn't need so many conference rooms... or maybe M'onel was having an allergy attack." He glanced around, as if checking his audience for a reaction. "Little bit of lead dust in his nostrils, no?"

"That's not how Daxamite histamines work," Querl hmphed through a mouthful of Oreo, "and you know it."

"What are you eating?" Garth's eyes widened. "Are those R.J.'s?"

Querl darkened, and frowned defensively. "Entrusted me. Safekeeping."

"It's OK Irma. We have more than enough people here now to handle whomever this guy is. R.J. didn't appear to be too concerned, and he did break off the attack. Come to think of it, he was all manners until I told him Brainy's name. I don't think he will take another shot. But I want Garth here just in case." said Cosmic Boy.

"Then why didn't you grab Ultra Girl Cos?? She's about as powerful as Caroline here. I mean, it looked like he almost overloaded Brainy's belt there. Do you know how much damage those things can handle!! The more big guns we have around us the better, especially if I can't give him a mental whammy. We still don't know if that works or not!"

Lightning Lad shot Jaymie a bewildered look, she shrugged at him, she looked about ready to speak, to give him the rundown, but it didn't look like the other two were quite finished "strategizing" yet.

Ignoring the ever increasing looks of confusion from Lightning Lad, Rokk continued to speak. "I didn't call Jo because while there are very few people I would rather have at my side when there is someone to bash, getting her to stop bashing them is problematical at best. I want cooler heads here, and Jo, while her heart is in the right place, is a bit of a loose cannon."

Garth's eyes went half-lidded. "Y'know, some of my best friends are loose cannons..."

"Fair enough" said Saturn Girl. "OK Fate, spill. We have a guy trying to kill Brainy and you remove your helmet and jump in front of him. What the nass does 'Mind the gap' mean?? Talk or I'll caff Garth up here and lock you in a room with him!"

"Mmmm," Garth chuckled, waggling his eyebrows at Fate, sparks dancing around the corners of his eyes. "Caffffff."

He looked around, though. "No, seriously, it's Supermag Saturday and I'm coming in after the start of the fifth quinter, back-sweeper's got possession, and... what? What's happening?"

"Nasshead ports into The 'Ville," Jaymie explained, before she could double-think, before she could stop herself. "Says he's my great-grand-something, Wraith, knew The League, the first League, formation of The First Heroic Age. Me and Sultry Ultry brought him in to get his backstory exhumed and to meet the family, he lost his last tiddly-wink and tried to corpsify Brainy. Harrison represented at superspeed and gave him The Krypton Kid Coldcock, Wraithy go down the hole, bye-bye Wraithy, now he's chilling out in the theatre and we're watching to see if he tries to make a dart for it."

Garth pursed his lips, and nodded slowly. Then shot Rokk and Imra a mock-baleful glare. "See? Was that so hard?"

Brainy closed up the packet of cookies and set them down on what was left of a chair. "Imprecisely articulated, but articulated nevertheless. If you don't mind, however, I'd much rather hear what the magic-user has to say about this, his is the only opinion that seems half-relevant."

Jaymie nodded, and hung her head a little. "Uh. 'Course."

M'onel

That brought Jo out of her funk enough to snap back with some of her own kind of wit, "S'never happened to me M'on. I've always managed to keep them stoked enough to keep sprockin......"

He wheeled around to look at her, a blush on his cheeks to match the red of his uniform, he couldn't help himself. He wanted to tell her that he didn't doubt it, that she was probably, uh, top-notch... in the, uh, workout department...

Before she could have said anything else there was a very familiar sound and the building rocked just the smallest amount. Jo looked with a new found excitement at M'onel, "Did the world just move for you?"

He stood up a little straighter, a little more alert, there was a blur of red and he had his blue cape around his shoulders, shrugging off the fatigue... "I could go for a cigarette, if that's what you mean."

The devilish twinkle in her eyes spoke volumes of the trouble she was hot for. "Let's go check this out!"

A slow slow grin spread across his features. This was the sort of girl who could get a hero into a lot of trouble. Saving the universe and running from the Sci-Cops and laughing all the while. He shook his head.

"Let's go."

She took to the air but kept her speed down to keep safe and so she could keep her invulnerability up.

A flash of X-Ray vision, still getting the hang of that, a little bit of superhearing, and he was in the air after her, neck and neck, the sweat sluicing off of his body in the slipstream, cooling him and refreshing him...

"Last one there is a putrid ovum, as Dox might say..."

"OK Fate, spill. We have a guy trying to kill Brainy and you remove your helmet and jump in front of him. What the nass does 'Mind the gap' mean?? Talk or I'll caff Garth up here and lock you in a room with him!"

Jonah was still grinning. In his head we was remembering the Christmas when Dad and Uncle Mer got into that fight. It was stupid, they were both being stubborn. He was remembering how Uncle Kyle had broken it up. And then how Auntie Rose had yelled at Uncle Mer like he was a small child. And Aunt Chloe and Mom, they had just sat there with vicious glares. In the end everyone made up and they went caroling.

"I.... Imra, it is.... Complicated. Let me suffice to say that the story is a long one....." Jonah looks at the Helm in his hands. "Not now. Later. First him." Jonah looks back up at the Legionnaires."I believe this man, is the true Kyle Greystone. The true Wraith. Now, please, any show of force will only provoke further aggression. Perhaps we should try diplomacy. And Imra, stay out of his head." Jonah put his Helm back in place and turns to Brainy.

"It is my opinion that he mistook you for.... a different Brainiac. One that was an even bigger.... how would Wildfire put it? Sprocking Nass-mime?.... Before Fate could finish there was a flash of Red entering the room.

"Nassclown, not Nassmime, though I suppose that is even worse. Listen kid, the smarmy smart guy thing is my role. Stick to your 50-credit vocab and leave the trash talk to the professional." If Wildfire had a face.... A really one.... it would have been grinning. He was desperately trying not to laugh at Fate's attempt at trash talk. But there were bigger things going down. Let me guess, this is gonna be one of them, ask first, shoot never type a things innit? You know I hate those right?"

"I promise ERG, if he gets.... Boisterous, I will let you have your fun. But please, let us try an approach that requires no further building permits?" Fate doesn't wait for a response. Instead he teleports himself into the theater.

"Kyle, this is a long story. Not one I can explain fully now. Please, let us handle this like civilized people. I have a pack of Yoohoo in the Tower, we can go have a drink? Talk it down? What do you say?" Fate begins to look around. Normally he would have pinned down Kyle's location first, however he was not afraid. He would show his respect, prostrate himself as it were. Jonah snaps his fingers and the Helm and the suit are gone. He is standing in regular street clothes. "I think we might both have interesting stories to tell." Jonah grins out to the darkness. Hoping he hasn's made yet another foolish mistake. He's very good at those. "Thank you"

Wraith

In the darkened theater I was nothing but a patch of darker night in the front row. Of course, it was lit up to me like a park in high noon. I sensed Fate before he ported in.

Knowing when someone was casting was second nature to me now. It kept me alive.

"Kyle, this is a long story. Not one I can explain fully now. Please, let us handle this like civilized people. I have a pack of Yoohoo in the Tower, we can go have a drink? Talk it down? What do you say?" Fate begins to look around. He was facing away from me. When he finally located me (probably only saw two glowy eyes) he snapped his fingers and the Helm and the suit were gone, replaced with regular clothes. "I think we might both have interesting stories to tell."

I looked at him closely. Shadows swirled around me and I was once again clothed in leather, not living armor.

"Your not Tommy. No scars. But you look quite a bit like him. And you know me. Plus you inherited your family's addiction to that god awful drink." I smiled at the young man, then my expression became grim. "I overreacted when I heard the name Brainiac. I don't know if you remember the Techno-plague of 2047. Over two hundred thousand people dead, turned into a horrible techno-organic hybrid and drained of all their energy to feed that foul creation. I don't think i told anyone but Rose and Kara, but my niece was one of the victims. She was five."

I paused a second, pushing memories and feelings aside. That had happened thousands of years ago for me. Why did it still hurt so much?

"I can't run. I have to stand here and answer to what I did. I have been fighting for over ten thousand years. Never a rest, not really, but the balance has finally shifted from Evil to, if not good then neutrality. Thats how I was set free to come here, to my birth world. And the first thing i do is try and kill someone. Damnit, I am better than that. Bruce would have been ashamed of me, and Rose horrified."

"Go tell your friends that I will lift no hand against them, and that I accept what judgment they think I deserve. I'll sit here until you return."

Things were different now.

Wraith was with us now. Surely he would join the ranks of the Legion. Perhaps even lead them. Now, he was left to Fate, and Jonah, who also knew things, probably had his suspicions about the true identity of R. J. Brande. And, if so, then J'onn reckoned it was out of respect that Fate didn't voice any of those opinions. And the respect due Fate by the Green Martian was well-deserved, as well.

But, there was Valkyrie M3, Jaymie with her blue hair. Would one day he tell her that he had shown Rose Mary McCrimmon the world of Krypton through memory? Would Jaymie make the same request of him? Or, would she ask to see what the original Valkyrie M was like, when she and Kyle Greystone first met?

He knew, if she did, he would grant the request.

He would do anything Martianally possible to grant the requests of any of his children. He owed them that much, because they were his purpose, his meaning. The Legion of Superheroes was the thing that enabled J'onn J'onzz to secretly fulfill his sworn oath as a Manhunter.

To uphold the law.

To bring Justice where there is righteousness opposed.

To hold myself to the Principles of the Law, to Honor, to Courage, to Integrity, and to Faith.

To give Strength to those who are weak.

And to endeavor to strive to not only to fight for those that cannot, but to lead that fight until there are lawbreakers no more.

He had stopped walking, deep in thought, somewhere in the maze of corridors that made up the Legion Headquarters. He began walking again, nearing the teleportal to his private residence area.

Dawnstar was bringing a Green Lantern to meet with him.

The last time he had seen a Green Lantern was when he had joined with the Green Lantern Corps in the Battle for Sanctuary, the peaceful planet where Var and Raya were the caretakers.

And that battle was so long ago.

Two hundred years.

And that was the last time he saw her.

Liz.

Jonah smiled at Wraith. "I will send word. Perhaps, we move this to a place you will find more comfortable. Perhaps we bring the Legion and yourself to neutral ground. Discuss.... a truce." Jonah activates his com line. "Wraith would like to do this peacefully. I would humbly suggest that we convene on neutral ground. Wraith has a lot of information to learn. If you are willing I can bring you to such a place. Meet me in the theater, but I need a moment first." Jonah deactivates any device that would allow others to hear the next part. He casts a quick spell, assuring his conversation would not be interrupted by others.

"Kyle, I am not who you thought. But you are closer than you know.... I suppose this means I will have to explain to everyone now.... but, well, look, you and my family, they go back. To the days of the Outsiders. But this is going to prove.... difficult for some to deal with. My.... lineage, has not been known to the others. I have been careful to hide my true identity and my true origin from everyone. But now you have made this impossible. Just, trust me. I can assure you that you are in good, noble, and safe hands."

Green Lantern

She handed the transuit over to the Lantern.

Elizabeth accepted the EVA shroud, pondering it thoughtfully.

"Not my first time doing this, either," she smiled faintly. "I was going to stow away on one of those bulk freighters just outside the navy's interdiction line. Put my ring on standby, trust in the freighter's life support, abandon ship at docking."

She mused still further. "Or maybe trigger a solar flare, and come in through the Van Allen radiation belt in the instant the navsats were blinded."

Elizabeth hovered there in silence for a moment. "No. Better your way. Far less risky. Though I apologise for any... indignity. In your having to carry me. The Kirkman Principle, and so forth."

And with that, she donned the trans-suit, and took a deep breath, and dialed her Ring down to standby...

She kept breathing.

And ever ever ever so faintly, she smiled: "I entrust myself, Legionnaire, to your vast experience in these matters."

Confrence Room 7

"Wraith would like to do this peacefully. I would humbly suggest that we convene on neutral ground. Wraith has a lot of information to learn. If you are willing I can bring you to such a place. Meet me in the theater, but I need a moment first."

Fate had always been a little weird, but he also was a valued member of the Legion who had proven himself over and over again.

"I am inclined to go along with Fate on this, but I would prefer we stay here. There is no telling where Fate considers 'Neutral Ground'"

Cosmic Boy sighed, then turned to Brainiac 5 "Brainy, your the one that got attacked. You OK with meeting this guy again?"

Elizabeth accepted the EVA shroud, pondering it thoughtfully.

"Not my first time doing this, either," she smiled faintly. "I was going to stow away on one of those bulk freighters just outside the navy's interdiction line. Put my ring on standby, trust in the freighter's life support, abandon ship at docking."

She mused still further. "Or maybe trigger a solar flare, and come in through the Van Allen radiation belt in the instant the navsats were blinded."

Elizabeth hovered there in silence for a moment. "No. Better your way. Far less risky. Though I apologise for any... indignity. In your having to carry me. The Kirkman Principle, and so forth."

And with that, she donned the trans-suit, and took a deep breath, and dialed her Ring down to standby...

She kept breathing.

And ever ever ever so faintly, she smiled: "I entrust myself, Legionnaire, to your vast experience in these matters."

"All are good ways but none are as fun as my way. Besides, if I get caught, Mr. Brande will pay the air traffic tickets," Dawnstar smiled as she shifted herself into position and caught Liz under her arms, "Now I do hope you do not get atmosick Lantern, the ride is going to be...... Bumpy."

With that the young woman accelerated to near light once more. Somewhere between Mars and Earth she began her deceleration. Two space traffic tickets had already acknowledged the Legionnaire's ring and sent to Legion headquarters. If this were an emergency they would be reclaimed and forgiven, but this didn't qualify. Dawnstar and her cargo hit atmo at an angle that made their speed survivable.

The Pacific blasted away beneath them as they began a decent at a speed most would call madness. The decent continued as they cleared Eurasia and in a matter of moments they had cleared that continent. The Atlantic began to lose some of it's blur as the deceleration continued, details became clear. The mid-Atlantic spaceport passed by, and the East coast was visible.

Meanwhile three S.P. fast interceptors were closing in on them. Dawnstar had failed to acknowledge the three calls for her to cease her flight. Just as the coast flashed past the woman pitched up, over, and down straight at the surface. Through a hole in the treeline of the Planetary wildlife preserve, and apparently planing on dashing the two into the rocks below. At the point of impact the rocks blurred and wavered as the women punched through the hologram of landscape into the tunnel.

The S.P. interceptors lost them and reported back to central with additional complaints lodged with Mr. Brande's office. Dawnstar laughed as they continued to slow as they went through the plain straight line tunnel. "They will chalk this up to my lack of discipline and my willful attitude. I get so many things through customs this way. One of these days Mr. Brande will have to punish me for it, but not any time soon."

As they slowed to an almost stop the tunnel turned upwards and at a platform Dawnstar's flight stalled completely just in time for the women to reach out a foot and step onto a platform. "Follow me please?" she said as she climbed a ladder putting herself between a wall and an ovoid sphere. She nodded towards the sphere, "Safety escape shuttle."

As they passed the shuttle and it's hatch they were back on another platform with a door facing them. Dawnstar pressed a button and inside Mr. Brande's personal quarters a chime sounded.

An At-Home Brande

Happy Harbour, Rhode Island

Brande stood over a terminal monitor in his living area. He was reading over the list of infractions a certain winged creature had racked up on her return to Earth.

He smiled, and spoke an accounting code into the system.

They were immediately taken care of.

"Legion codename Dawnstar is at the hidden entrance," the computer told him as the chime sounded.

"That is not her codename, it is her real name," Brande replied.

"Of course, sir. There is another entity with her. Scans indicate human, with significant power readings. There is also a trans-spacial power source device affixed to the entity's left hand -"

"I am familiar," Brande replied, cutting the computer off. He didn't bother to look at the security terminal monitor. He already knew who was coming to dinner. "Allow them to enter."

The door where Dawnstar and the Green Lantern stood opened quickly, allowing them to enter.

Brande waited in the mid-level living area.

As Brainiac Five suggested, the group quieted somewhat and peeled their ears for the pronouncements of Fate.

"I.... Imra, it is.... Complicated. Let me suffice to say that the story is a long one....." Jonah looks at the Helm in his hands. "Not now. Later. First him."

Brainy's eyebrow quirked at this schizoid display. But he bit his lip and bided his time.

Jaymie held her breath a bit at the mention of a story.

Garth picked up the packet of Oreos from the chair where Brainy had left them and chewed one thoughtfully.

Jonah looks back up at the Legionnaires."I believe this man, is the true Kyle Greystone. The true Wraith. Now, please, any show of force will only provoke further aggression. Perhaps we should try diplomacy. And Imra, stay out of his head." Jonah put his Helm back in place and turns to Brainy.

Jaymie's brow furrowed. If he's the real Wraith, then why isn't he a hero, true and pure, when he fought alongside Her in the earliest days?

If he's the real Wraith, then how could he justify pummelling a relatively powerless fellow hero without the slightest hint of provocation?

I gots doubt, Fate. Set me straight, so I don't keep persping the big stuff.

(But she didn't speak a word of this.)

"It is my opinion that he mistook you for.... a different Brainiac. One that was an even bigger.... how would Wildfire put it? Sprocking Nass-mime?.... Before Fate could finish there was a flash of Red entering the room.

Brainiac slapped the heel of his hand into his forehead, and then glanced skyward in a very human-esque affectation, as though despairing of some Higher Intelligence, "Why me, Lord?" ...it seemed he held this truth to be self-evident.

Garth, in turn, made a face like someone had just kicked his favourite puppy, and mouthed, 'Nass-mime?'

"Nassclown, not Nassmime, though I suppose that is even worse. Listen kid, the smarmy smart guy thing is my role. Stick to your 50-credit vocab and leave the trash talk to the professional."

Garth threw out a hand to Wildfire, an open-fingered cyborg palm as if this were a revelation worthy of theophany and he was glad he wasn't the only one who caught it: "Thank you."

If Wildfire had a face.... A really one.... it would have been grinning. He was desperately trying not to laugh at Fate's attempt at trash talk. But there were bigger things going down. Let me guess, this is gonna be one of them, ask first, shoot never type a things innit? You know I hate those right?"

"I just said that," Brainiac mumbled, rubbing the bridge of his nose, trying to keep his temper. "Did I not just say that? Less than... 7.0046 minutes ago? I delivered the line with distinct dramatic irony; why must everyone insist on declaring these obvious things?"

"I promise ERG, if he gets.... Boisterous, I will let you have your fun. But please, let us try an approach that requires no further building permits?" Fate doesn't wait for a response. Instead he teleports himself into the theater.

"See," Garth declared, sitting in that chair and putting his feet up on a chunk of table, "I think it looks nice in here. Airy. When I was growing up on Winath, one of our greenhouses had this interconnected thing to it--"

...and then M'onel burst through the door, but unlike Wildfire he didn't brake in time to let the door keep its hinges, and he barely reacted in time to catch the chunks of door before they hit anyone.

Garth barely batted an eyelid. "See, kind of like that."

"I win," M'onel mumbled, as if surprised. "Uh, sorry about the mess. (That, uh, wasn't all me, was it?)"

"Nice entrance," Powergirl quipped, offering a lopsided smile, as perhaps this made her feel a little bit better about her own skill level with her powers.

"Wraith would like to do this peacefully. I would humbly suggest that we convene on neutral ground. Wraith has a lot of information to learn. If you are willing I can bring you to such a place. Meet me in the theater, but I need a moment first."

"I am inclined to go along with Fate on this, but I would prefer we stay here. There is no telling where Fate considers 'Neutral Ground'"

Cosmic Boy sighed, then turned to Brainiac 5 "Brainy, your the one that got attacked. You OK with meeting this guy again?"

Brainiac's lip quirked. "If only to convince him of his mistaken identity, I'll risk it. Nothing I mislike more than a thug operating under a misapprehension of the correctness of his zealotry. Besides. With all the superhuman might here gathered, I rather think we stand a chance of keeping me from further maligning at his grubby, primate hands, no matter how extensive his arsenal."

Ultra M'on'sgonnakillher girl.

...and then M'onel burst through the door, but unlike Wildfire he didn't brake in time to let the door keep its hinges, and he barely reacted in time to catch the chunks of door before they hit anyone.

Garth barely batted an eyelid. "See, kind of like that."

"I win," M'onel mumbled, as if surprised. "Uh, sorry about the mess. (That, uh, wasn't all me, was it?)"

"Nice entrance," Powergirl quipped, offering a lopsided smile, as perhaps this made her feel a little bit better about her own skill level with her powers.

Jo wasn't that far behind M'on, but she was far enough to reign herself in so she didn't enter the room before she landed and stopped. A thought entered her mind and it was a thought that she knew M'on was gonna kill her for.

"Wraith would like to do this peacefully. I would humbly suggest that we convene on neutral ground. Wraith has a lot of information to learn. If you are willing I can bring you to such a place. Meet me in the theater, but I need a moment first."

"I am inclined to go along with Fate on this, but I would prefer we stay here. There is no telling where Fate considers 'Neutral Ground'"

Cosmic Boy sighed, then turned to Brainiac 5 "Brainy, your the one that got attacked. You OK with meeting this guy again?"

Brainiac's lip quirked. "If only to convince him of his mistaken identity, I'll risk it. Nothing I mislike more than a thug operating under a misapprehension of the correctness of his zealotry. Besides. With all the superhuman might here gathered, I rather think we stand a chance of keeping me from further maligning at his grubby, primate hands, no matter how extensive his arsenal."

Jo walked into the room with a straight face. It was the hardest thing in the world for her at this very moment as she said "See M'on, told you there was nothing to worry about," she looked about the room, "I think all they were doing was redecorating unless it was you that did all this."

She managed to keep her face and voice even.

Jo walked into the room with a straight face. It was the hardest thing in the world for her at this very moment as she said "See M'on, told you there was nothing to worry about," she looked about the room, "I think all they were doing was redecorating unless it was you that did all this."

She managed to keep her face and voice even.

M'onel paused.

And blinked at her.

Blinked at Jo Nah like she was a partially-split Carggite and had suddenly sprouted two extra heads.

And then grinned, and shook his head, and covered his face with a palm.

"Oh, yeah," he nodded slowly, yet again beet red with his abashedness. "Well played. Well played."

They were still young. This gathering of might.

Still prone to silliness, but then again, equally prone to idealism.

They laughed in the face of darkness just as often as they punched darkness in the face.

To that end, Garth Ranzz began a slow clap.

Legion Hall

"Is it just me, or have things just gotten weird tonight? Even for us?" muttered Cosmic Boy.

Imra just smiled at him, then stuck her tongue out at Garth.

"OK gang, with all of us here we could probably handle anything up to the Fatal Five. Lets go see if the nassmime in there is still feeling frisky." said Rokk as he moved to the door, assorted groans and eye rolls left in his wake. The group filtered out slowly, but as Garth was leaving Imra grabbed his arm. "Just a moment Garth."

The young man paused, looking down at the young woman.

"I'm sorry I invaded your privacy. I should have knocked instead of barging into your dream. It was irresponsible of me and I will try and not do it again."
Then she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek, and whispered in his ear "Besides, that color looked horrible on me, I look much better in blue."

His wide eyed stare followed her out the door, jaw hanging.

In a very short time the group was in front of the auditorium doors. Cosmic Boy stopped everyone, then motioned Caroline, Jaymie and M'onel over. "You guys go in and let him know we are coming in, and ANY aggressive move on his part will result in a very direct reply. Jaymie, he says he is your ancestor, find out what the nass is up with him if he's calm, if not yell and we will take him out. Any questions?"

Vatican, New Rome (about an hour after current events in Legion HQ)

"How long are you going to make her wait out there?" asked the young man. His name had not been revealed to the Monsignor, nor had it been asked.

"I think our Lord will give me ten, maybe fifteen years more on this Earth before He calls me home. I am prepared to let her stew out there wondering if she is about to be stripped of her title and rank, then excommunicated for gross negligence for at least five years after my death."


The young man chuckled. "You are a bad man Leonardo."

"Thank you Your Grace. I do try." he said with a smile. "Are we ready?"

"Yes. The Lord of Shadows once again walks the Mortal Plain. The Adversary has been beaten almost unto ruin, and he has chosen his Childe. Soon the Graveyard Lord will reveal himself, and Fire and Sorrow will reign down upon Gods children in all their forms. We cannot fight by your side old friend, but we can guide you."said a being of unearthly beauty, neither man nor woman in appearance.

"And THIS reckless child is to be one of the Companions?? One of the ones to fight the final battle?"

"It's not THE final battle Leonardo, but Gabriel is right. She's the one. As the Book said, she carries redemption in her breast, and fire in her hands. She shall Fight with Them against the Graveyard Lord, and return one of the Fallen Ones to the Lords breast. He doesn't tell me much, but when He speaks, I listen."

*sigh* "But she just almost got shot down by then planetary defense grid because she couldn't bother to land with the transport! She's irresponsible, reckless, and completely unable to control her emotions!" Leonardo was growing red in the face, until the young man placed his hand on his arm, immediately calming the man.

"She is the one. It's her dual nature, the fight to control and turn the Evil inside into Good, the path to redemption, thats what we need. He has chosen her." Said the young man.

"A guide will be sent when it is time for her to join the Legion on their quest. The time is not right yet. Secrets must stay hidden a while longer. Soon my old friend it will be time. Now I believe she has been out there long enough. Are we ready?"


"Bring her in Leonardo." Daniel said with a grim smile. "She does have a job to do, might as well get the ass chewing over with so the mission brief can begin."


Outside the door a young priest looked up from the monitor where he had been typing and motioned to the Young Woman standing in the office, stripped of her armor and garbed in Acolytes robes. "The Monsignor will see you now Miss."

"All are good ways but none are as fun as my way. Besides, if I get caught, Mr. Brande will pay the air traffic tickets," Dawnstar smiled as she shifted herself into position and caught Liz under her arms, "Now I do hope you do not get atmosick Lantern, the ride is going to be...... Bumpy."

It pays. It would seem. To have friends in high places.

"I haven't gotten atmosick since I was a little girl," Liz mused. "And that was a long time ago."

With that the young woman accelerated to near light once more. Somewhere between Mars and Earth she began her deceleration.

The globe of red spun and whicked past and Liz barely glimpsed it...

This was a signpost, a neighbour house, a memory from an old home on an older road.

She remembered an old friend, and a beloved grandfather.

Her grandfather...

Red sands beneath her boots.

Long walks along the shores of the long-lost Waters of Mars.

Conversations about Weeping Angels, and long-dead gods, and Time literally out of mind.

...her old friend...

The Voice of Mars.

His eyes as red as that sand, his voice as warm and dusty, his rare smiles as thin as the air and the gravity.

She missed him, this friend of hers. She hoped that Time had not taken him out of mind just yet.

Two space traffic tickets had already acknowledged the Legionnaire's ring and sent to Legion headquarters. If this were an emergency they would be reclaimed and forgiven, but this didn't qualify. Dawnstar and her cargo hit atmo at an angle that made their speed survivable.

Elizabeth's mother had not been fearless.

Just the opposite.

But she had still been a hero.

And they had sat, once, on the sattelite, orbiting the planet, gazing out a porthole together at Africa, at Madagascar. Liz had been only seven years old and had already demonstrated a wisdom beyond her years.

But she couldn't understand how when little things-- all her life she'd been like this --forced up the silver shards that were terror, even little things like crossing the street and calling her father on the phone, little social anxieties, how her mother could see those things and quake and yet rise up against such foes as she fought on a nearly daily basis.

Rose Mary McCrimmon Greystone was afraid of everything, but when the chips were down she was as stalwart as any Leaguer.

'Courage,' her mother had said, 'is not the absence of fear.'

'It's overcoming fear.'

Truer words, Liz felt, even as young as she'd been, had never been spoken.

She took them to heart.

And she became very, very good at overcoming fear.

Even at overcoming the fear of falling into The World at shatterneck spead.

They hit atmo and she did not even flinch. She watched the world race up to them with her undarkened eyes.

The Pacific blasted away beneath them as they began a decent at a speed most would call madness. The decent continued as they cleared Eurasia and in a matter of moments they had cleared that continent. The Atlantic began to lose some of it's blur as the deceleration continued, details became clear. The mid-Atlantic spaceport passed by, and the East coast was visible.

East Coast. Once the country called America.

Liz wondered how much of New York City was left after that meteor shower.

She wondered whether her father's building still was standing.

So many old things had passed away. But then, she supposed, old things did.

Meanwhile three S.P. fast interceptors were closing in on them. Dawnstar had failed to acknowledge the three calls for her to cease her flight. Just as the coast flashed past the woman pitched up, over, and down straight at the surface. Through a hole in the treeline of the Planetary wildlife preserve, and apparently planing on dashing the two into the rocks below.

At the seeming dashing towards the rocks, the dashing towards dashing, only at this did Liz' eyebrows climb her forehead. But she did not open her mouth to speak, she simply took the fear and held it, and looked at it, and cleared her mind of it. If she were to die, it would be with a clear mind and a pure heart...

At the point of impact the rocks blurred and wavered as the women punched through the hologram of landscape into the tunnel.

Liz blinked. And glanced around the tunnel.

And smirked, smirked gently, not a smile but a smirk, a pleasant memory, another road sign.

It was like the waterfall. The waterfall in front of Bruce's Cave.

He launched The Tumbler through it.

Dawnstar laughed as they continued to slow as they went through the plain straight line tunnel. "They will chalk this up to my lack of discipline and my willful attitude. I get so many things through customs this way. One of these days Mr. Brande will have to punish me for it, but not any time soon."

Liz checked her pulse. Timed it in her head.

Mid-30's. Usually her pulse didn't climb out of the upper 20's.

Invigorating.

She half-lidded her eyes, and responded to the huntress: "Yes. There was a man in The Corps, he had grey in his temples by the time I joined. His name was Gardner. And it seemed he was much the same... incorrigible. And many times he was punished by The Corps... until they promoted him, recognising the value of his... perspective."

As they slowed to an almost stop the tunnel turned upwards and at a platform Dawnstar's flight stalled completely just in time for the women to reach out a foot and step onto a platform. "Follow me please?" she said as she climbed a ladder putting herself between a wall and an ovoid sphere. She nodded towards the sphere, "Safety escape shuttle."

Liz followed as Dawnstar bid her, apparently they had come in the out door.

This was R.J. Brande's answer to The Tumbler.

"Not all wealthy men have wisdom," Liz opined, as she climbed. "But it seems your Mr. Brande believes in preparedness. Good."

As they passed the shuttle and it's hatch they were back on another platform with a door facing them. Dawnstar pressed a button and inside Mr. Brande's personal quarters a chime sounded.

The door where Dawnstar and the Green Lantern stood opened quickly, allowing them to enter.

Suddenly, inexplicably, unaccountably, Liz felt nervous.

Social anxiety?

Something not unlike a frown drifted across her features.

...how odd.

Not The Brande You Were Expecting...

R. J. turned from his monitor as they entered the living area.

He stood with a smile on his face as first, Dawnstar entered.

"Dawnstar," he began in mock seriousness, "the word discretion is defined as not being so overtly obvious to the air and space traffic authorities. I --" and he faltered as he saw the Green Lantern that accompanied her.

Liz.

He couldn't speak for a long moment. He simply stared at Liz. He ran the full spectrum of emotion in that second or two. He wanted to rush to her, to hold her, to say hello, I've missed you.

But, he caught himself, regrouped, and started again.

"Of course," he said to Dawnstar, "I knew you would not fail."

He then turned to the Green Lantern. He took a deep breath.

"Welcome to Earth, Green Lantern," he said to her. "You are among friends here."

He moved closer to them both, but not too close. He felt as if, at any moment, he would involuntarily shape-shift without control into his true form. He wondered, no, he knew, Liz could feel him. She had to know....even after all of this time, he was certain she could see who it really was that was addressing her.

"We have much, much to talk about," he continued. "But, first, please introduce yourself and tell me why you have come."

In a very short time the group was in front of the auditorium doors. Cosmic Boy stopped everyone, then motioned Caroline, Jaymie and M'onel over. "You guys go in and let him know we are coming in, and ANY aggressive move on his part will result in a very direct reply. Jaymie, he says he is your ancestor, find out what the nass is up with him if he's calm, if not yell and we will take him out. Any questions?"

Jaymie almost raised her hand. 'If we're yelling, can't I just ask him from here?'

But she didn't. She simply nodded.

"No questions," M'onel replied, a little more seriously now. "Except for him."

Powergirl took a deep breath, tugged on the hem of her t-shirt. "Yeah. Let's do this."

M'onel cracked his knuckles, and swung open the door, holding it for the girls. Chivalrous.

Jaymie squared her shoulders.

Caroline tilted her head and cricked her neck.

And the three of them walked inside, one by one.

The stage and the screen. The rows of chairs.

And Daxamite eyes and Kryptonian eyes could see a deeper patch of darkness within the darkness.

And omnitherm eyes could see a patch of cold...

M'onel spoke, as they approached: "I met Her, once. I liked Her. And, uh, I'm sure you know Who I'm talking about, She had excellent taste in friends."

And he smiled ever so thinly. "I believed in Her and in Her House even more than I believed in my own Family."

He tilted his head. "But it's been a long time since I've seen Her. I guess it's been awhile for you, too? So I can understand forgetting, just for a moment, Her lessons of honour and bravery and giving others the benefit of the doubt unless lives are at stake."

M'onel glanced over his shoulder at Caroline. "I still do. Believe in Her House."

Caroline smiled softly, and tilted her head to him as though reassured by this in a whole different fashion. ("Thanks, Lar.")

But then M'onel swung his gaze back around to Wraith. "And so do you, I'd bet. Still believe."

"I believe in Her House," Jaymie murmured, lifting her crimson eyes to peer into those twin glowing lavender orbs in the dark, "and I believe in my family. And despite everything, despite everything everything, I still believe in you. I'm supposed to find out what the nass is up with you... but please, please, don't hurt my friends. (My friends can hurt you back, you know that now, just... please. Don't hurt them.)"