Chapter One - Catching up on lost time
So much for a spoken vow of revenge! Putting the villains back in prison again was a form of
payback he supposed but he had wanted to hurt Esper, to let her feel some of the pain he knew
Imra had been through.
Saturn girl had been his best friend for many years and he had even had a crush on her for some time.
Nothing had come out of it then but he still cared deeply for her and always would.
His anger had been intense and as he admitted to himself, right out there on the very edge.
Phantom Girl had tried to push it aside with some joking banter but he had just dismissed it.
Later on she had been the one to talk him out of doing actual harm to Esper, taking things into
her own hands instead. He had certainly not been happy with that interference but he knew that
she had been right.
Now that they were on their way back to New Metropolis and the Legion HQ in their newly acquired ship
he had calmed down considerably and was able to reflect more clearly on the events of the past few
days. So much had happened and they were all really just trying to catch up as best as they could.
--
A few hours later they were back in New Metropolis and it didn’t take a twelfth level intellect to come to the
Following conclusion: A lot of work needed to be done to rebuild large parts of the Legion Headquarters!
They would have to hire contractors they could trust to do most of the repairs and everyone would have to
pitch in to clear up all the rubble over the next few days. Thankfully with the future tech, brilliant minds and
powers they had at their disposal it wouldn’t take more than three weeks tops.
With Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy at the hospital, Lightning Lad once again mused over how much he and the
others relied on Brainiac Five and Bouncing Boy to make a lot of suggestions and help make a lot of important
decisions.
It helped Lighning Lad anyway and he wasn’t complaining. That Superman had returned was a moral boost to
everyone in general, especially now when they needed his help more than ever.
The other Superman, the clone from the 41’th century would take some getting used to to say the least. The green-eyed
clone with the grim attitude had grudgingly agreed to be
called Kell-El to avoid confusion whenever someone called for
Superman. Lightning Lad wasn’t sure exactly what to think of him yet. One moment
he could be very pushy and stand-offish
and the next he admitted Superman and Brainy had a sensible strategy and came
back to help them after all.
Kell-El wasn’t exactly a charmer but even Garth had to admit
that it would be good to have one more Superman around for
muscle. With the looming threat of Imperiex hanging over their future like a
black cloud of chaos and some of their friends
hospitalised, they needed all the help they could get.
Chapter Two - Work, work and more work.
Every able-bodied Legionnaire – including the Legion of Substitute-Heroes –
had gathered in the enormous room
used for Legion tryouts, trials and other large gatherings that simply wouldn’t
fit in the smaller meeting rooms or
the command center.
The idea was that they would divide into teams for various tasks: some heroes
would go and help the fire department,
Science Police, paramedics and volunteers in the devastated neighborhood; some
would be on standby in case other
villains and groups tried to take advantage of the situation. Meanwhile, Brainy
and Bouncing Boy would try to get the
headquarters’ security up and running as fast as possible.
Everyone agreed that helping the rescue workers and the people outside had
priority when it came to the number of
heroes assigned to each project. They made up rotating shifts so that everyone
had a few hours to sleep and eat in
between.
Lightning Lad had insisted on being in one of the rescue teams rather than
the standby team, while Kell unsurprisingly
demanded to be part of a special team sent to find Imperiex.
“Work, work and more work,” Chameleon Boy summed up the situation and the
days to come as he flew alongside
Timber Wolf after the meeting.
Timber Wolf glanced at him knowingly and nodded. “The one thing we’ll never have too little of around here.”
He was rewarded with a wry grin from Cham as they went outside to join the rescue team they’d been assigned to.
Chameleon Boy had joined the team about a year ago and he was still trying to
get used to life as a superhero
as it was. He hadn’t expected it to be a walk in the park, but he hadn’t
considered the not-so-glorious things and
tasks he would have to do, like monitor duty, cleaning up after attacks or
learning to cope with the sight of blood
and gore. The 14 year old Durlan hadn’t been discouraged by those things at all
though and he didn’t regret joining
the Legion. Ever.
--
Not long after the Legion meeting, Lightning Lad walked in one of the
corridors on the second floor when he heard
someone fly in and land a few paces behind him. He turned around and saw a tired
looking Phantom Girl.
“Phantom Girl, shouldn’t you get some rest? Your next shift doesn’t start
until seven hours from now,” he said, and
crossed the distance between them in a few long strides.
”I know, but there’s so much that needs to be done,” Tinya replied, trying to
smile a little as she looked at him as if
she was trying to figure out what he was thinking.
She had almost expected Garth to be angry with her after what happened on
Takron-Galtos, but obviously he wasn’t.
He just looked and sounded a bit concerned about her that was all.
Garth returned the glance, and it wasn’t hard to guess what she was thinking.
She’d never been elusive about
expressing emotions, and he could read her facial expressions like an open book
sometimes.
“Back there on Takron-Galtos…I was so angry with her but you were
right to talk me out of it. I wasn’t really angry
with you, it’s just that…”
“….You were frustrated and I reminded you of what your conscience was already telling you?” Tinya filled in.
“Yeah, something like that. Hmm, if I didn’t know you well, I’d almost think
you had psychic powers,” he said,
smirking slightly. The smile faded as he realized what he’d just said, however.
Psychic powers like Imra. Sprock, it’s been what? Seven hours since we
left the hospital, and one hour since
I called to get an update about her and the others there.
“Lightning Lad? Hello? Hey, planet Earth calling Garth Ranzz!” Tina said,
waving her white gloved hand in front
of him.
He snapped out of his thoughts and blinked as if he had just woke up from a daydream.
“Wha...? Oh, sorry, I was just thinking about how long it’s been since we
left Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy and the
others at the hospital.”
He said it so ruefully that it earned him a hug from Phantom Girl, who shed a
tear as she hugged him.
It fell on his suit but he didn’t mind that at all, he just hugged her back.
Tinya wiped another tear from her eye and sniffed a bit, putting on a brave face again.
“They’re in good hands, Garth. I’m sure they’ll recover. It’s just a matter
of time, you’ll see.”
I hope.
He glanced down at her and nodded. “I know but I still worry. I can’t help
it. Brainy usually says that I
don’t take things seriously enough but if he knew half of how much I worry
sometimes he’d probably be
speechless... for once in his life anyway.”
“No one can help worrying, Garth. It shows how much you care.”
He nodded and mustered a strained smile. “Yeah. Thanks Tinya. Sprock, I have
to go. I’m due on a
shift in ten minutes.”
“Mind if I tag along? It’s on my way anyway.”
“If you’re sure you’re up to it,” he was already a few paces ahead before she had even taken one step.
“Hey, slow down Garth, you’re acting as if the last piece of blueberry pie
was left unguarded in the fridge!”
she called, and quickened her step to come up right beside him.
He had grown leaner and taller over the past three years, along with Timber
Wolf and the rest of the boys
around his age, and when he walked to get to wherever he was going he walked in
long strides.
They could use their flight rings indoors but had started to walk as much as
possible for the sake of
extra exercise, and the athletic Garth was a supporter of that idea. Tinya had
discovered, however, that
walking a lot more in high heeled plateau shoes wasn’t her idea of wholesome
good fun.
Lightning Lad couldn’t help but smile at her as she clunked along beside him.
“Why don’t you fly then?”
he teased.
“Because if I do you and Brin will just tease me about it and tell me to get new shoes, as usual!”
“So remind me, why don’t you get new shoes?”
“Because low heels don’t look as good with this costume.”
“I’ll never understand the female need to wear unpractical shoes,” Lightning Lad said and shook his head.
The raven haired girl chuckled. “Some things aren’t meant for guys to understand. Wouldn’t it be boring if…whoa…”
Her step faltered once, then twice, and her vision became blurry. She fell
into blackness and the next thing she
knew she was feeling strong arms scoop her up.
Lightning Lad reacted quickly and caught his friend when she collapsed. It
unnerved the redhead to see her like
that; she had just seemed a bit tired and as she usually looked pale her
complexion wasn’t anything to go by.
“Tinya? Can you hear me?” he said to the half conscious girl in his arms.
“Mm yeah, what happened? I mean I just…” she said as her head cleared a bit and she focused on his voice.
“You collapsed. I’ll take you to the medical center downstairs and run a scan on you.”
“The medical center? Whoa, wait I don’t think it’s that serious. I’m probably just more tired than I thought. “
“If I know you right, you’ll just try to get back up and out there again
before you should if I just take you
to your room.”
“Um, what if I promise that I won’t?”
“You never even had a medical check before we left the hospital so I had
better scan you just in case anyway.
Tell you what, I’ll get you to your quarters, and then I’ll be back with a
medical scanner. How’s that?”
Phantom Girl sighed. He had that determined look again and, what was worse,
he really had a point.
She didn’t have to like it though.
“Oh, all right, but on one condition: don’t tell Timber Wolf about it or I’ll
never hear the end of this from
him either.”
“I won’t. On my Winathian Scout’s honor.”
“I thought they didn’t have scouts on Winath.”
“So, let’s get you to your room then,” he said innocently.
For all his lighthearted conversation, he still looked very concerned about
her as he got her to her room
and carefully put her down on her favorite lounge chair.
She had to admit, it felt nice to be cared for like this – Lightning Lad
could be really sweet when he wanted
to be, and he really cared about his friends and family. Of course it didn’t
hurt that he was ruggedly handsome
as well, with electric eyes, well toned abs….
Whoa, wait a minute. He’s a friend, not a love prospect! Okay, Tinya get a
grip! I think Jo looks hot too but it’s not
like I’m dating him or anything.
Unaware of her thoughts, Lightning Lad put a blanket over her and left the
room, quickly reassigning Star Boy
to take his place on the shift. Brainy was busy, and so was Shrinking Violet,
and that left the medical bit up to
him as he knew first aid and basic paramedics. That skill had earned him many
teasing remarks but he usually
teased back or ignored it. He’d just make sure Tinya was okay and then join the
rescue teams as planned.
Chapter 3 - Coming soon!