Summary: Christmas has hit New Metropolis. Join the Legion for a decorating spree and maybe even a suprise visit (or two!) For 1000GreenSun's contest
(A/N) Not much to say about this fic, but it's for 1000GreenSun's contest. It's been a long time of writers block, but it's done! And it's Christmas themed! Whoot! Ok, I've run out of things to say. You're here to read the story, anyway, not listen to me. So, here we go.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Legion of Superheroes, and never have. But Time Lass and Tundra Lad are my characters. If you want to use them, please ask me first, OK?
Deck the Halls
A Legion of Superheroes Fanfic
by Sailor V-babe
December was finally here. A light dusting of snow coating the streets of New Metropolis glistened in the early morning light. The whole city seemed under a soft, pleasent blanked of calm. Even the Legion dozed, the threat of the Dominators momentarily forgotton. Well . . . . almost everyone dozed. One solitary figure slipped through the silent halls.
"Good Morning!" a perky Brittish voice called as the the speaker, a girl of about 15 with strawberry-blonde hair teased into a flip, materialized in the darkened room. She leaned over the bed, smiling teasingly at the occupant whose straw-colored hair was barely visible from under a mound of covers. He muttered something in response that probably shouldn't be repeated in mixed company and completely disappeared under the covers. The girl frowned, and prodded him with her finger. "Get up, Illushinka. It's morning and you promised you'd help us decorate the HQ today!"
"G'way, Time Lass" came the muffled reply. "I don't get up before the sun."
"Well, unfortunately for you, the sun is up. GET OUT OF THAT BED!" Time Lass shouted. The boy's head slowly re-emerged, and he squinted at the sunlight coming through the window.
"Al'right. I'm up. Get out." Slowly he sat up, his eyes not all the way open.
"You sound like a broken record," Time Lass replied, not budging an inch.
"You'll feel like a broken record if you don't leave in five seconds. I'm about to get up and I prefer my privacy, please." At the glassy glare he gave her, Time Lass laughed self-consciously and tessered out of his room. With that, the boy half-crawled, half-fell out of bed and stumbled over to his dresser to get dressed.
--L--
"It's beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!!" warbled Bouncing Boy, walking through the halls, arms loaded with Christmas decorations.
"Oh please, not that again!" Lightning Lad groaned, clapping his hands over his ears. "Didn't we tell you last year not to sing? And especially that song!"
"Hey, that was last year. This is not. So I'll sing if I want!" Bouncing Boy said around the large boxes. With that, he promptly continued to sing loudly and off-key.
"SOMEONE MAKE HIM STOP!" Lightning Lad shouted, racing down the hall, attempting to get away from the sound. In his haste to escape, he didn't see one of the many doors in front of him open and ran full-tilt into the Legionnaire known as Tundra Lad. Tundra Lad's reflexes reacted instantly, as he grabbed the back of Lightning Lad's costume, twisted his torso in the direction that Lightning Lad had been running and hurled the red-haired teen over his shoulder. The moment after Tundra Lad realized what he had just done, Lightning Lad connected loudly with the floor.
"I appologize, Garth," Tundra Lad began, turning to help him up, but Lightning Lad only glared back.
"Yeah, yeah. I shouldn't go charging down the halls. But you'll run too when you hear that." He jerked his head in the direction of Bouncing Boy's singing, and winced. "In fact, I think he's getting closer. Bye." With that, Lighting Lad was off again, leaving a very confused Tundra Lad behind. However, once the singing reached him, Tundra Lad disappeared down the hall as well.
"For Heaven's sake, Bouncy, there are better ways to get my attention!" Duo Damsel teased as her boyfriend passed by, still singing. With that, she split into her two different personas and removed the boxes from his arms, setting them on the ground. With that, both Purple and Orange leaned in, planting a kiss on each of Bouncy's cheeks. His face went red, but the smile on his face indicated happiness, not embarassment.
"That's so sweet, I think I just got a cavity," Brainiac 5 muttered, passing by on his way to the lab. Duo's Purple self glared at him as he passed.
"Scrooge," she muttered.
"Aww, leave him alone. He's just upset because WE'RE happy and HE's not," Bouncy replied. With that, he hugged the two girls, and together, they picked up the boxes and continued down the hallway.
--L--
Saturn Girl looked up from her perch on a tall stepladder as the hydraulic whoosh of a door opening heralded the entrance of Shrinking Violet. By the way she was walking, with her hands over her ears and a pained expression on her face, the Titanian telepath didn't need her super powers to know what ailed her friend.
"Bouncy's singing again, right?" she asked. Violet nodded.
"I thought we dealt with that last year," she grumbled. Phantom Girl shrugged.
"We did. He just went back to singing this year. Help me with these lights, would 'ya? We made the mistake of letting Lightning Lad handle the lights last year, and now they're all knotted up."
Violet walked over, and inspected the tangled mess. "Hey, at least he helps. Unlike some people I know . . ."
"Speaking of some people, where is Brainy?" Saturn Girl asked, pinning up a garland.
"Like I'd know? I think he disappeared into his lab again." Violet played absently with a colorful bulb, not attempting to keep the bitterness out of her voice. "He never helps us out. He's either in his lab or he's to busy to help." She rolled her eyes. "Men."
"Hey, not all men are bad," Phantom Girl said. "I know someone whose going to bake cookies for CHRISTMAS!!" she said cheerfully.
"That is, if someone doesn't keep trying to sneak chocolate chips . . ." Timberwolf grumbled as he walked past. By the 'innocent' look on the Bgtzlian native's face, the barb was obviously meant for her, although with her sweet tooth, that was pretty much a given.
"Hey, girls! Any luck with the lights yet?" Lightning Lad asked, walking in.
"Not yet. Violet's going to give it a try," Phantom Girl said as Vi shrunk down to miniature size and began tracing the strings of wires. "While you're waiting, why don't you give Imra a hand with those garlands? I know you're dying to do so . . ." She nudged the red-haired boy in the side teasingly and he squirmed uncomfortably.
"Tinya, cut it out!" he grumbled, but instead of walking off, used his flight ring to fly up and give the blonde girl a hand. Imra's face had turned a pale shade of pink, but still managed to hang up the garlands without mistakes.
"They are so obvious . . ." Tinya whispered to Violet. The green-clad girl grew to normal size, and continued untangling the mess of lights.
"And you and Timberwolf aren't?" she asked. "I've seen the way you cling to him." Phantom girl grinned perkily and said nothing. "You have no shame . . ." Vi grumbled, fighting the lights. "I don't need a guy to make me feel complete." She yanked on the lights and nearly took off a bulb. Grumbling, she continued to try and figure out how on earth lights that she put away so patiently last year got so tangled.
"Has anyone seen Illya?" Time Lass asked, walking into the room.
"You mean after he judo-threw me in the hall?" Lightning Lad said grumpily. "Nope."
Time Lass smothered a laugh at the thought of the tempormental Shaarouan throwing Lighting Lad. "I think he went off with Timberwolf. Something about cookies," Phantom Girl replied. Time Lass shot her an appreciative look.
"Well, that saves me the pain of searching for him," she chuckled, and picked up two of the delicate glass baubles that were meant to be hung on a Christmas tree. "Is Supes around?"
"He's picking out a Christmas tree. This could take a while, especially since we need two: one for inside and one for outside." Saturn Girl didn't even look up as she looped a length of garland over a hook.
"Oh, that should be fun. I can't wait to decorate it!" the blonde-haired Time Lady was especially bubbly today.
"Hey, Timey, why don't you give me a hand with stringing some popcorn? It's more than I can handle," Dream Girl called, a large metal bowl of popped popcorn in her arms. "And don't think you can eat it all . . ."
Time Lass popped a piece into her mouth as she sat down and took up one of the long strings and began threading kernels on to the needle. "Well, I couldn't, but I'll bet Illya could eat it all. He's kinda like a bottomless pit!" The other girls laughed, remembering Thanksgiving dinner, and how Illya had been able to at least keep pace with Bouncing Boy.
"Ow, that makes my stomach hurt just thinking about it," Phantom Girl said, wincing. "Well, at least there won't be any half-cocked attempts to attack HQ this time." There was a collective nod as the teens continued their holiday preparations.
--L--
Tundra Lad allowed himself a brief smile as he finished crunching up the last of the large candy canes with a metal hammer-shaped implement. He carefully placed the pieces of crunched-up peppermint candy to one side as he consulted the recpie again. A gentle whoosh of air let him know that Time Lass had appeared next to him.
"I smell chocolate . . ." she giggled, leaning on his shoulder.
"No."
Time Lass's face shifted into what could quite frankly be called a pout at his blunt reply. "But you won't miss one or two . . ."
"I will miss a large handful if I let you take any. The answer is still no." The blonde teen tried futilely to cook around her, but she seemed to be everywhere. Finally, he set down the mixing bowl with a loud huff. "If I give you three chocolate chips, will you LEAVE ME ALONE?" he asked, practically bellowing the last three words. Time Lass's face was a picture of innocence as she nodded. Grudingly, he handed her the chocolate morsels, and she popped them into her mouth with a satisfied grin. If she'd been a cat, Tundra Lad was sure, she would have purred.
"Thanks, Illusha-darling," she said, hugging him. "And you know what? You have flour on your face." She brushed his cheek where the white powder had settled. Tundra Lad rubbed at it, frustrated.
"You've gotten what you wanted. Now please let me cook in peace?" He was clearly reaching the end of his patience, and Time Lass thought it the most opportune time to bow out. Besides, the room was clearly getting colder, and with a superhero in the room who could create conditions that rivaled the arctic, she decided not to push her luck.
"Ok, ok, you don't have to ice up. Even if you are cute when you're angry . . ." Time Lass said, half-serious and half-teasing. Tundra Lad looked puzzled.
"I'm not icing up. My control has gotten far better, and I should know if I was losing it."
"But . . . it's getting colder in here. And even I'm noticing it . . ." The Gallifreyan girl was getting confused now. Tundra Lad was about to insist again when a voice rang out in the room.
"Attention! Legion HQ is under attack by Starfinger!" Brainiac 5's voice called, slightly more annoyed than usual. "He's trying to freeze the headquarters. It may not be much of a threat, but we have to be ready in case the Dominators try anything. And if he keeps it up, our heating system may overload, which would cause a problem. Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, and the TL's, head out and subdue him." The speakers switched off, and Tundra Lad looked at the blonde girl.
"Starfinger?" he asked, more than a note of scorn dripping from his voice. "I don't believe I have had the infinite pleasure of meeting this noteworthy villian."
"Well, neither have I," Time Lass replied, "but I've read about him. He's a very low-danger villain who is most notable for getting his sorry butt kicked by the Legion of Substitute Heroes, but other than that, he's been in jail until recently." Tundra Lad groaned, removing his apron and replacing it with his customary tawny parka.
"Well, then. Let's go see if the history books are right. I've needed a good tussle," he commented, cracking the knuckles on both hands before pulling on his blue mittens. Time Lass grabbed his hand and concentrated, then the two disappeared in a ripple of time/space.
--L--
"Dang, don't these lame villians have anything to do besides crash Legion holiday preparations?" Lighting Lad grumbled, flying to the main door, Saturn Girl and Phantom Girl beside him. "You'd think they'd realize they can't beat us, and they should just stop trying."
"Isn't there an old Earth saying about, 'If at once you don't succeed, try, try again?' or something to that effect?" Saturn Girl asked. "They're persistant, that's for sure."
"That's the only thing they have going for them," Phantom Girl joked. "Ten to one says that Starfinger here just got out on good behavior." Lighting Lad was about to say he'd take her up on that bet, when a glare from Saturn Girl and the opening of the outside doors stopped him.
The trio hovered in the air over the headquarters, which were actively being covered in a layer of ice. "Where's Sun Boy when you really need him?" Lightning Lad asked, shivering slightly in the chill air. The area just right of them rippled and pulsed as Time Lass tessered in, Tundra Lad's hand clutched in her own.
All five sets of eyes turned to the armor-clad man at the base of the building who was generating the ice from one finger of his metal gloves. "They mocked Starfinger," he gloated, his heavily-accented voice seeming slightly distorted due to the space-type helmet he wore. "But they never expected him to attack the Legion Headquaters directly! Once the Legion is trapped inside a layer of ice and snow, then the Dominators have to notice me!"
"Does he always monologue like this?" Time Lass whispered to Phantom Girl. The wry smile and nod from the dark-haired girl prompted Time Lass to roll her eyes. "How pathetic can you get? Monologing and talking in third person."
"You would mock STARFINGER?" he shouted, obviously having heard her not-so-quiet remarks. He pointed a finger at the gold-and-red clad girl and an explosion of air caused the four Legionnaires to lose their balance in the air and crash into the side of the building. "That's what happens to those who mock STARFINGER!"
Tundra Lad had flown over to the others. Once assured that no one was hurt badly, he turned to their attacker. "You call this cold? This is nothing. You have never felt real cold." With calculated precision he flipped up the hood of his parka and removed his gloves. A wind whipped around him, stirred up by his powers, and pale blue glows began to encircle his hands. The air became noticably colder, and the heavy clouds above threatened snow. Streams of ice flowed from the blonde boy's hands, creating a glassy-smooth surface underneath Starfinger's shoes. The villain's eyes widened as Saturn Girl raised her fingers to her head and her eyes glowed pinkish. A moment later, Starfinger's feet slid out from under him and he hit the icy ground with a heavy thud.
"That was ridiculously easy," Phantom Girl grumbled. "This is your fool-proof plan?" She, along with Lightning Lad and Time Lass laughed heartily, while Saturn Girl bit down a chuckle. Even Tundra Lad allowed himself a smile. This proved to be a mistake, for one thing that would never change about Starfinger was his ego. As ridiculous and ineffective as he was, he could still be a dangerous foe if angered.
"No one laughs at Starfinger!" he bellowed, after managing to get off the patch of ice. With that, he held up a finger and a red-hot laser shot out, missing Phantom Girl by inches and gouging a hole in the facade of the Legion HQ.
All five fell silent at the thought of what could have happened if his aim wasn't so attrocious. [Maybe we should get this over with before he gets lucky,] Saturn Girl said telepathically. The others nodded. Meanwhile, Starfinger was taking pot shots at the Legionnaires in front of him with the laser finger.
"Ok, this has gotten way beyond old," Time Lass said, "and boy do I know about old." She tessered behind him and aimed a kick at his head which connected, sending the hapless villain stumbling forwards.
"You dare to kick Starfinger?" he hollered, shooting a bolt of lightning from yet another finger. Time Lass barely had time to yelp and duck to avoid being shocked.
"You want to see real lightning?" Lightning Lad asked, an evil smirk on his face. With that, he sent a volley of lightning bolts showering down on the hapless villain. The red-haired teen wasn't intending to hurt his opponent, and thankfully his lightnings hit the ground more often than they hit Starfinger. However, they accheived the desired effect, and managed to keep Starfinger off-balance enough that he couldn't really do any damage (not that he didn't try though.)
Phantom Girl, on the other hand, was not sitting idle either. She knew that the best way to stop Starfinger was to take away his gloves. However, that was not an easy propostition, since he had claimed that even he couldn't get them off. Maybe if she could get them to stop working, that would work just as well. She phased out, and flew down towards her adversary, taking great pains not to get accidentally hit by either Lightning Lad or Starfinger's lightning bolts. Getting shot with a lightning bolt when intangable may not kill you, but it sure tingles for hours afterwards. She knew this from experience. So, she did her best to fly down without any problems. Upon reaching Starfinger, she phased right through his chest.
Unprepared for such an attack, Starfinger staggered back a bit, thrown off-balance. He tried to shoot off another lightning bolt, but nothing happened. He shook his hand a bit, then tried again. Nothing. Confused and a bit put out, he began inspecting the glove, pondering the cause of this failure. He was so wrapped up in what he was doing, he didn't see Saturn Girl approaching. [Sleep,] her voice ordered in his mind. He blinked several times, trying to shake off the feeling of drowsyness, but to no avail. Within minutes, he was sprawled on the snowy ground, fast asleep.
"Well, that went well," Phantom Girl said perkily.
"If you don't count the laser holes and scorch marks on the front of our headquarters," Lightning Lad grumped, coming over to take the sleeping villain into custody. As he was doing so, a voice called out from some distance away.
"Hey, guys! What's going on? We got the tree . . ." Clark's voice trailed off into stunned silence, which was promptly overrun by another, younger voice.
"Isn't it great? Isn't it the most marvulous tree in the woruld? It's the most marvulus, spectakular, super-awesome tree!" The small girl on one side of the Teen of Steel hopped around happily, emoting on how amazing the tree was, mostly to herself.
"What happened here?" the girl's twin brother asked from the other side.
"Nothing much, just Starfinger. No biggie," Phantom Girl said, grinning widely, and trying to ignore the scorch marks as much as possible.
"Starfinger. Right," Superman said. "Why does all the fun stuff happen without me?"
"You had fun getting the tree, right?" Time Lass accurately pointed out. Superman shrugged, but the smile on his face said it all.
"I'm going to take the tree inside," Superman said, heading off with the twins following.
"Better him than me," Lightning Lad grumbled.
"Aww, don't you like kids?" Phantom Girl teased.
"Not that much," he admitted.
"I forsee problems in your future, Imra," the dark-haired girl said, leaning over to Saturn Girl. Time Lass laughed out loud, while Lightning Lad flushed.
"I'm going to take care of Starfinger," he grumbled, flying off with Saturn Girl by his side. Time Lass smiled, then paused as something white floated by her eye. It was a snowflake. She glanced up, and saw a soft flurry of snow coming down. A soft laugh came from nearby, and she turned to see who it had come from.
Tundra Lad stood there, arms out, face upwards, reveling in the light snowfall.
"Ugh, I'm going inside. Too cold for me," Phantom Girl said, shivering. A wide smile had now appeared on Tundra Lad's face.
"It's not too cold for me," he replied, taking off his parka. "In fact, this is just my kind of weather."As soon as he had laid his parka down, he felt something hit the back of his head. Something cold and wet. He turned to see a far too innocent-looking Time Lass. A malicious twinkle sparkled in his eyes as he picked up a handful of snow bare-handed and threw it at her. Time Lass ducked, and before long, the two had started an all out snow fight.
"They are so obvious," Violet said from her vantage point in the main room. She laughed as Time Lass hit her friend in the face with a snowball. Dream Girl nodded beside her, and smiled as well.
"They so are," Duo Damsel said with a smile. She glanced over at Bouncy beside her, then back at the others. "Wanna go join them?"
And that is how the Legionnaires ended up having a snowball fight while Imperiex was off plotting new ways of taking over the universe.
----
(A/N) Well, all except one, but Brainy's too cool for that sort of thing, right? That's my contest entry! Dang, I've worked so hard on this, and it's not all that long! -_- I have no life. And sorry if there wasn't enough lovey-dovey stuff for you guys, but . . . I tried. Romance isn't exactly my thing, but I try. (Did you notice Skittles and Drew in there? They're there, but not mentioned by name. Thanks to LadyGuardianofKeondes for permission to use them!)
Ok, that's it for this story! See you later!!