Five Things That Never Happened to Mano
by Sunflare2k5

Author's Note/Disclaimer: I'm using the post-Zero Hour Legion for the starting points in this story. Mano, the Legion of Super Heroes, and all other people and places mentioned are property of DC Comics, and are not being used for profit. (Except for naming the Bannyrians; those were the big green guys used as bodyguards by several people, but they didn't have an identified species name. And I also gave Mano a name, though it was based on previous LSH lore.)

1. Rejection

The baby's cry seemed to harmonize with the wail of the alarms indicating that his mother's vital signs had ended. He had been surgically removed from her, as she'd died in mid-labor. The nurse checked him over; he seemed to be a photonegative of the normal Angtuan. His skin was ink-black, and the white that should have been his skin color was in his eyes instead. And what about that strange bluish spot on his right palm?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the doctor, who'd finally shut off the alarms. "The infant has no living family -- and according to the new directives, the government orphanages won't waste resources on the genetically defective. Hand it over; it will be quick."

For a moment, she thought to protest. But those who spoke against government directives would have all rations stripped from themselves and all others in their household. And she couldn't justify denying her family food and medicine, for the sake of an infant who looked too deformed to live, anyway?

So she obeyed her orders... but she couldn't bring herself to watch the infant shudder and die from its lethal injection.

With no-one who dared question the "help" from Leland McCauley, Angtu poisoned itself to death years sooner... and the United Planets never knew what happened.

2. Rethinking

Among the bodies of the dead, Mano wept and railed at the unhearing heavens. He knew that McCauley had done this, destroyed his world just to add more credits to his already-bloated bank accounts! And now there was no life on this world except for him; the disintegration energies that cursed his very touch, burned away all the toxins that entered his body before they could harm him. And he couldn't even destroy himself with his own damned Hand!

"This is a monument to evil, let it be no more!" Mano roared, preparing to send all his power into Angtu itself. But as his arm swung down to strike the ground, a sudden thought made him halt...

That's what McCauley wants! Mano thought. With the witness and evidence destroyed, he can get away with this -- and then trick another world into buying his weapons! Mano carefully re-donned the insulating gauntlet, and picked himself up from among the corpses. He'd heard stories of a rival to McCauley... someone named Brande. If he could find enough communications gear to get a signal off-world, get a message to Brande about Angtu's fate -- perhaps he could help? We have a common enemy, after all... Mano thought.

And finally he succeeded. One of Brande's mining facilities near the Asteroid Archipelago picked up Mano's signal, and sent the story up to Brande Industries. And while R.J. Brande himself couldn't go, he did get the Science Police (mainly drones, though a few silicon-based officers could survive the near-omnitoxic atmosphere) to investigate.

President Chu threw McCauley to the wolves, despite her long-standing business ties with him. Especially when Admiral Allon pointed out that not only had McCauley illegally manufactured these weapons of mass destruction, he'd been sending them to an area of space known not only for its space pirates... but also Khundish incursions! "How many of these poisons have fallen into the hands of the enemy, because of McCauley? And which of our worlds will die, because of him?" Allon demanded to know. And too many of the UP citizens also demanded to know this, for Chu's comfort.

Then the Khunds proved Admiral Allon right, by using some of the chemical weapons they'd captured from McCauley's ships on Xanthu's planetary capital. Xanthu drove off the invasion, at the cost of all the Uncanny Amazers' lives. Once the UP retaliated against the Khunds, Leland McCauley was tried for treason... and found guilty.

And Mano was allowed the duty of executing McCauley, for the deaths at Angtu and Xanthu.

3. Retaliation

Are children all that McCauley could send against me?! Mano thought, as he searched through the chemical plant for his prize -- Leland McCauley. He granted that they were metasentients of decent power, but they were so untrained in working as a unit it was almost painful for Mano to see them. And they protect -- willingly protect -- the slayer of my world! They disgust me...But ahead of him, he saw Leland McCauley himself! Mano was about to rush forward... but something made him pause. He's alone; no guards or weapons? Mano thought. No, I won't be taken in that easily; it must be an ambush!

It was time to end this, before this Legion could stop his rightful retaliation against his foe! His energies were at their peak -- it was time to strike! As Mano struck the floor, sending the disintegration wave down into the lunar crust, he saw 'McCauley' shift and lunge forward with a mass of spike-ended tentacles. They stabbed deep into him, but it didn't matter; Mano didn't care if the Durlan killed him... since it was too late!

The death-surge as the last of Mano's energies poured into Luna finally shattered the satellite. Despite the warning systems in Earth's orbit, the calamity was too swift for them to stop! The first chunks of Luna rained down upon Metropolis, crushing the UP Assembly building and most of Embassy Row. The tsunami from the chunks striking the ocean wiped out the remainder of that area, as well as the Corporate Center. While R.J. Brande was never recovered from the ruins of his corporate headquarters, he was finally declared dead.

It was too much to take. The United Planets, with its bonds already weak from the previous President Thawne's assassination, collapsed under the strain of losing not only its political leadership but also the heads of their two largest corporations. Braal and Titan threw aside their forced peace treaty, and returned to their war. The Khunds took advantage of the collapse to conquer several of the former UP worlds. And chaos ruled in the Milky Way galaxy...

4. Redemption

Mano waited in his cell in one of Takron-Galtos' Solitary sections. At least, he mused, I don't have to deal with the rats? That was one of McCauley's sick jokes; he put Parisian sewer rats into Mano's cell on Luna, then demanded that Mano thank him for his attention to detail. And at least he is not reminding me of my sins... For McCauley had laughed over that point; Mano had actually helped him get away with Angtu's destruction, since Mano was so "kind" as to destroy the evidence?

Then the guard, a heavy-gravver that looked too much like the Persuader for Mano's comfort, interrupted his musings. "You got visitors."

Mano blinked in surprise. "Me?"

"Yeah, you." The guard slid open the viewing panel on the door, allowing Mano to see out of the cell. The two Bannyrians he recognized only by species -- the man standing between them, he knew on sight.

"Mister Brande?" Mano started; one of the Bannyrian bodyguards interrupted him. "That's President Brande to you!"

"No-one had informed me of that..." Mano admitted. "All I was told was I'd serve the rest of my sentence here. Not that I'd actually had a trial, but..." He shook his head.

"And that's why I'm here." said Brande. "You were promised a full presidential pardon for fighting the Sun-Eater?"

"Yes, but there was no Sun-Eater..?"

Brande nodded. "But you took on Tharok, and stopped the actual threat -- the megabombs aimed at Titan. So I believe that is worthy of a pardon!"

Mano stared at Brande for some moments, trying to process this. "But... what would I do, Mister President? I..." He looked down at his restrained hands. "No-one's going to trust me, not after McCauley's propaganda against me? And part of it is true! I did kill during my grief-madness, I was ready to kill so many more if the Legion hadn't saved them. Saved me from myself."

"First, you face him in the courts... and I will see to it you get a fair chance." Brande told him. "From there... that's your choice, Mano."

"Then for -- for the sake of justice, I accept." Mano lifted his head. "And I have a name. I am Seth Gaterra."

5. Revenge

The alarms woke Mano from his fitful sleep, in the Solitary cell too small for him to stretch out. Then light -- a green light that he could feel flowing over him -- blinded him!

When he could see again, he was no longer in his cell. Where he was didn't matter; not as long as he saw it was big enough to accomodate Validus? And the others were there... Tharok, with his once-disintegrated cybernetics now restored. The Persuader, gripping the Atomic Axe that Element Lad had destroyed in their previous battle at Takron-Galtos. And the Empress, now glaring down at him with her own eyes... and the giant green-irised eye that floated next to her!

Tharok's voice was staticky with his anger. "Why did you bring the traitor here, Empress?" he demanded.

"To make sure he is no longer a threat..." she purred, as the Emerald Eye flared again and shot its light over Mano.

And Mano didn't even have time to scream, as its magic disintegrated him...

"Now that's settled, let's go." The Emerald Empress teleported herself and the remainder of the Fatal Five away from Takron-Galtos, preparing their revenge upon the Legion of Super-Heroes...

(The End)