Chapter 1a

"Takeoff, Pt. 1"


"Listen to that!" Phantom Girl exclaimed.

Blok tilted his head slightly.

"To what?"

"Exactly!" she said elatedly. "No more noise! The construction people are finally done!"

"It is nice to have a quiet Headquarters again," Saturn Girl said. "At least they only had to be around a week."

"So, what's for breakfast?" Tinya asked brightly.

"Eggs," Cosmic Boy told her.

"What, again? Is that the only thing we buy around here?"

"I like eggs," Sun Boy said defensively. "And if you keep having me cook in the morning, that's the only thing you're going to get."

"I'd like to know what's wrong with some decent toast," Tyroc grumbled.

"It's too scratchy. If you want some, make it yourself."

"Arguing so early already?"

Marla Latham put a hand on each of their shoulders and smiled good-humoredly.

"You'll put me out of a job faster than I'd already expected!"

Colossal Boy smacked himself on the forehead.

"That's right! It's your last day, Mr. Marla! I'm sorry, I totally forgot-"

"That's okay," he said. "I'm still surprised I got recalled, myself. When the President demanded that someone come and watch you kids, she made it sound like a permanent position!"

"We never needed a minder," Dream Girl said, largely to herself. "And I wish somebody would say who managed to convince the President otherwise."

"I'm just glad someone did," Tinya said, then glanced at Marla. "Not that we don't like having you around or anything."

Marla chuckled.

"No, I understand. I'm sure you'll do fine all by yourselves."


Brainiac 5 stood in the middle of his new lab, recently abandoned by the construction company, and surveyed his new domain.

RJ Brande had been quite liberal with his money in this room. It was the most advanced one Querl had ever seen off Colu, barring the main Research and Development facility for Brande Industries.

He was itching to start working in the lab, but he knew better than to just rush in. The equipment needed to be tested.

Some of the lab funds had kindly been designated for buying raw material. Querl pulled a sample drawer open and started to pull out the small jars, reading through the labels quickly.

He had had an idea earlier, about metal alloys for heavy-duty scientific equipment-

Vanadium to help with the bonding process, he thought to himself as he put the jars he wasn't going to use to one side. Inertron for strength. Cavorite for gravity shielding. Nth metal for durability. Tellurium…no. Not that.

He spent a quiet half-hour setting up the equipment and preparing the metals he'd selected. Carefully, he started to melt the metals together, selecting the jars he wanted from group and measuring out the proper amount of fillings.


Lightning Lad was curious.

The construction team had spent a whole week in this new lab. There was no way he wasn't going to go look.

He put his hand against the keypad and the door wooshed open quietly. He was Brainiac 5 over at the counter, absorbed in something. He walked as silently as he could around the room. Word of the new recruit's attitude had gotten around.

Garth spent some time trying to puzzle out what the various odd-looking machines were, but soon gave up. He drifted towards Brainiac 5, and watched him work.


"What're you doing?" someone asked, and put a hand on his shoulder.

Querl whirled, sample jar still in hand.

For an instant, he was caught up in the memory of a day a few years earlier.

He saw the other scientists come into the room, but ignored them. Then one tried to pull him away, and he dropped the vial he was holding. It smashed against the counter and spilled into the other experiments-

He jerked and pushed Garth's hand off quickly, and put the sample jar back on the counter harder than strictly necessary. He didn't notice.

"Get out!" Brainiac 5 yelled, pushing the other Legionnaire backwards towards the door.

Lightning Lad's eyes widened and he held up his hands.

"Woah, I was just asking-"

The chemicals reacted violently-

The Legionnaires reached the door, and Querl shoved Garth hard into the hallway. He stumbled back into the wall.

"Stay out!"

He locked the door this time, then sat on the floor and tried to calm down. After a minute he stood and turned back to his experiment.

Still shaken, and trying hard to distract himself with work, Querl didn't notice when he added Tellurium to the mix of molten metal.


Andromeda sat curled up on her bed, arms hugged tightly around her abdomen.

I can't take the transuit off. I can't take the transuit off.

Her stomach, unbelievably, managed to come up with an even more painful twist. She bit down harder on the inside of her lip.

The food's been out in the air. It's contaminated. It's been touched by aliens.

Another hunger pang.

The transuit keeps the lead out. It filters the air. I can't take it off. I don't care how hungry I get. The food's been contaminated. I can't eat it.


Shrinking Violet regarded the locked lab door for a moment.

She knew labs. She'd brought a few things- and, more importantly, she'd heard about how Lighting Lad had been evicted. No one would come looking for her in there.

Salu dropped her bag, stood up against the door, and shrunk. She watched the world around her shift from regular-sized to large to massive; and finally the physical world lost all illusion of solidity as she saw the gaps between molecules. She maneuvered herself carefully around the bonds holding the universe together until the shape of her molecular world changed.

Shrinking Violet continued moving for a few more millimeters, a distance that seemed much longer at this size, and grew.

She spared a quick glance at Brainiac 5, who hadn't noticed her yet, and unlocked the door.

When she stepped back inside from grabbing her bag, he was staring at her, mouth pressed in a thin, disapproving line.

Salu clutched her bag to her chest and stared back.

Long moments of silence stretched out between them, and then Querl turned back to the counter.

Salu kept standing there for a second before heading for an empty length of countertop in the corner. She put her bag down on top and pulled out her books and papers, stashing them neatly in the cupboard space directly below her spot. The few gadgets she'd brought along went into the drawer.

Finally, she pulled out a Newton's cradle- five metal balls suspended between two metal bars. She put it carefully in the corner of the counter by the wall and dropped the first ball.

The click-click of physics in action filled the otherwise-silent lab.


Luornu, out of uniform, walked Marla Latham to the spaceport.

They reached the terminal reserved for private business flights and she gave him a big hug.

"I'm going to miss having you around, Mr. Latham," she told him. "You're the only one I really know well in the Legion."

He put a hand on her head and hugged her back awkwardly.

"Ah, you have Querl now," he pointed out.

"Yeah, but he's not the best company- and I didn't talk to him much, even though we lived together with Mr. Brande for six months."

She pulled away from him as she heard the ticketing agent announce the arrival of the Brande Enterprises ship.

"You'll call or something? Or Mr. Brande? I miss talking to him."

Marla smiled at her.

"Yeah, we'll call. Mr. Brande is going to miss his kids to much not too."

Lu stayed in the terminal until the ship had flown out of sight, then headed back towards Headquarters.


Invisible Kid had spent his morning going over the building again. He was absolutely sure now that he could find everything or anywhere in his new home.

But he hadn't seen the lab yet. Lyle hadn't forgotten the argument he'd had with Brainiac 5 over the cruiser, but there was no way he was going to be denied lab space.

The door was open.

Lyle put his hands on his hips and looked around. Everything seemed to be in good order- better order, actually, than he'd ever seen a lab in. This was much better than the little space he'd managed to set up for himself in his room, or the lab at NMSPD HQ.

Brainiac 5 had spread out over the long counter on the back wall, working on something that looked very electronic. Shrinking Violet was holed up in a corner, occupying herself quietly.

Well, that boded well for him.

He sauntered up to the counter, looking curiously at a simmering, metallic-looking experiment.

"This isn't a museum, you know," Brainiac 5 snapped at him.

Lyle stepped back from the counter and held up his hands.

"Woah, easy there. I wasn't going to touch anything. What are you working on now?"

"Nothing you need to worry about," he said, glaring.

"It looks to me like a really big computer-"

"It doesn't matter what it is. Get out of my lab!"

"Your lab?" Lyle asked, slightly offended. "It's the Legion's lab. I'm a Legionnaire, and a scientist besides. I have every right to be in here."

He pointed over to the corner.

"Besides, you've let her stay."

"She's not making any trouble," Querl snapped. "You, however, have been nothing but trouble."

"I haven't caused any trouble!"

"You accosted me outside the building before auditions-"

Lyle stared at him, mouth agape.

"I didn't accost-"

"You then proceeded to incite an argument in the hangar-"

"Incite-!"

"And now you have barged your way into my lab, without my permission, into what could have been a highly dangerous situation."

"You're making a computer!" Lyle exclaimed, throwing his hands up. "You can't kill someone with a computer!"

"Yes, you can," Querl told him, straight faced.


Tasmia peered curiously at the communications console.

"And this button does what?"

"That one can pull up a map of the city and show you where the call came from," Saturn Girl told her. "If it's not a private number, you'll get the address, as well. Otherwise it just points out the building."

"That seems useful."

"I don't think we've actually used it yet. Our calls are pretty simple. Mostly, we just pick up."

Shadow Lass looked over the buttons again, trying to fix them into her memory.

Something caught her eye.

"There's a flashing light."

Saturn Girl glanced over and pushed a button.

"That's the call light."

The screen blinked to life and Triplicate Girl's slightly-worried face filled the view.

"Lu?" Imra asked, surprised. "Weren't you taking Mr. Latham down to the spaceport?"

"Yeah, I did, but I found trouble on the way back," she told them. There's some guy down here who's claiming to be from somebody called the 'Dark Circle'-"

"Terrorists," Tasmia growled.

"Anyway, he's making some vague threats and stuff-"

"The Science Police-" Saturn Girl started to ask.

"They're holed up down the street. The guy's destroyed a warehouse already. He's powered- some sort of energy blasts."

She looked at Saturn Girl hopefully.

"If you send some people down here, I'll meet them."

Imra looked over at Tasmia.

"Go find Brainiac 5 and Andromeda. Get down there and help out- Luornu will lead."


Shrinking Violet was ignoring the continued argument between the two boys.

She was too busy minding Brainiac 5's abandoned experiment. She wasn't really sure what he had planned on doing with it, but the metal was starting to boil over.

Salu turned the heat down and located some gloves and tongs. She put the gloves on and moved the still-molten metal to a cooling chamber, careful to set the temperature rate to something that –hopefully- wouldn't damage the integrity of the metal.

She sat watching it for some minutes as the argument kept building up steam. Finally, the chamber beeped and clicked open. Still wearing the gloves, Salu reached in and pulled it out, carefully using a thin bit of metal to lever the now-solid alloy out of the crucible.

She put the crucible back in its stand and put the gloves away, hefting the ingot in her bare hand.

It was still cool, and surprisingly light. What was it for?

Shrinking Violet turned as the door opened again. Phantom Girl walked in, took one look at the argument, and got between the two new teammates.

"Sorry to interrupt your little discussion," she said. "But I'm taking you-"

She poked Lyle in the chest.

"-out on patrol."

Tinya looked over at Salu.

"You too. You both need to get used to the city."

"I live in this city," Lyle pointed out.

"But you aren't used to seeing like us," she told him.

"By all means, take them," Querl said dismissively. "I have work to do that would go better uninterrupted."

He had a special glare for Lyle at that last word.

"Not so fast, new guy," Tinya told him. "Imra says you're going on a mission."

"Wha-he gets to go on a mission and I'm going on patrol?" Lyle asked incredulously. "Shouldn't it be the other way around? I've already helped out!"

"More reason for him to get some experience," Phantom Girl retorted, pulling him towards the door. "Come on, Shrinking Violet."

Salu looked at the metal she was holding for a moment, then put it in the drawer with her electronics she'd brought along. She could ask about it later.


Triplicate Girl crouched down behind a chunk of fallen building. Behind her a few hundred meters, the Science Police were holding a line to keep bystanders out.

Shadow Lass was sitting on her heels next to her, back against the debris.

"Is this normal for you?"

"Not really. We've never done actually terrorists before. The closest we've gotten is some guy working with a corrupt Sci-Pol."

She glanced over to her right, where Brainiac 5 and Andromeda were sitting in frosty silence.

"What is the Dark Circle, anyway?"

"A terrorist organization, which in its pure form is dedicated to the eradication of all superplanetary governments."

Even Andromeda spared a glance for Brainiac 5.

"And…that means what?" Lu asked after a moment.

"They hate the idea of a government that rules more than one planet," Shadow Lass said, looking up at the building further down the street where the man was holed up. "That means they'll do just about anything to destroy the United Planets."

"You understood that?"

Tasmia stood and started towards the building.

"Let's just go."


"So… do we patrol like the SPs patrol?" Lyle asked as he, Phantom Girl, and Shrinking Violet walked out of the building. "Or do we do something else, being superheroes?"

Phantom Girl looked at him sideways.

"You're going to want to be careful with that whole 'superhero' thing. We're part of the government- like the Science Police. We're not superhero-superheroes. They worked outside the law."

She spread her arms wide.

"Anyway, you live in New Metropolis- you should know better. There are people who'd rather forget."

Lyle just shrugged. They wore uniforms like superheroes, had powers like superheroes- what did it matter, really?

"So I take it that we patrol like the SPs do?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

She paused for a moment, thinking.

"And don't look back when people stare at you- it just encourages them. Even if it makes you uncomfortable."


The Legionnaires spread out around the bottom floor of the decimated building, footsteps echoing oddly in the large, mostly empty floor.

The ceiling loomed somewhere high above them in the darkness, and Triplicate Girl was thankful that at least there weren't many places for the terrorist to be hiding.

She started to speak.

"Okay, Legionnaires-"

Andromeda whirled suddenly and used her heat vision to blast a crate apart. It collapsed in a miniature inferno.

A shape in black rolled out from behind the conflagration and rose gracefully to its feet.

Before Luornu could say anything, Andromeda was rushing at the man.

He extended his arm, palm out. A beam of whitish energy shot through the air and hit Laurel in the chest, throwing her backwards despite her momentum. There was a crash as she hit a large stack of crates, destabilizing the pile and burying herself.


Salu looked around at the city as they passed, still trying her best to blend into the background, or at least her teammates.

She blinked and stopped momentarily, cocking her head slightly, listening intently.

No, it was definitely there- just at the edge of hearing, but-

Further down the street, there were a few angry exclamations- faint, but definitely there.

She tugged on Phantom Girl's cape and started running down the street towards the disturbance.

An annoyed-looking man glanced at her as she got closer and noticed her Legion belt.

"Down there! In the building!" he said, pointing.

Shrinking Violet ducked into the alley, noticed a badly-blocked old doorway further down, and headed straight for it.


Shadow Lass was racing for Laurel within seconds.

She was only a few yards away from where she'd started when she was thrown sideways by another blast of energy. She fell to the ground and skidded, smoking slightly, until she hit the wall.

Tasmia pushed herself up onto her knees and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to banish the bright blotches obscuring her vision.

There was a sudden, unexpected blow to her torso. She was flipped over onto her back, gasping for breath as her diaphragm protested at the pain of the kick.

The man who'd kicked her was still nearby. She knew it.

Tasmia swept a leg around blindly and felt herself hit something. There was a soft thump as the man fell to the ground.

Shadow Lass stood and tried to hear where the terrorist was.

I trained in the dark. I can do this.

Her vision started to clear and she backed up a bit, hoping to actually be able to see her attacker.

After a moment she could see again, and looked up at the man, ready to fight.

Behind him, Triplicate Girl appeared and tried to kick him from behind.

The Dark Circle operative spun, caught her foot as it came up, and blasted her with an energy beam at close range.

The stink of burned cloth filled the air and Lu fell.


Invisible Kid and Phantom Girl reached the mouth of the alley just in time to see Shrinking Violet shrink down and run through a gap in the badly-barricaded door of an ancient storage shack attached to a newer building, one of the relics of the olden days of the city.

Lyle followed Tinya as she charged straight for the doorway.

"How are we-"

She reached back and grabbed him, going intangible as she pulled him through the blockage.

He blinked in the gloom.

"Oh."

There was a strange moment of weightlessness as Tinya phased them both back into solid form- and then the uncared-for wooden floor gave out.