I'M BACK, and oh man does it feel so good. To answer anyone's curiosity, I was awaiting a brand new Windows containing Lenovo laptop, as my old one went absolute fucked up shit on me when the whole keyboard just stopped working, not a single button would respond, so I had to await my new one which reached me on Friday 21st. Now, well, despite a few Internet sites being annoying slow most of the time, something which never plagued me on my old computer, I'm just so glad to back in full writing and catch-up reading mode once more after such an agonizing absence.
Hence why I'm gonna start that with a massive re-do of this, Katana and the Legends itself, this time though under its now new name. And, after taking some rightful thinking heed to what some of you were saying in your reviews to the first attempt, and with my own brains and thinking too of course, with some much better and workable ideas, regarding the characters who will feature, the settings for their adventures to come, and the love ships which will very much feature also, than last time. I'll just add quickly that some of what I originally planned last time will be staying exactly the same, which I will reveal at the chapter's end.
I know, I should be doing 'Your Legacy Lives On' as I've so many massively great and very grand plans still for its plot, but I just can't help myself sometimes that more often than not, I get the irresistible want to do another story again and want to do it so badly indeed.
So without any further ado, I give you the starter to 'Coburn and the Legends', and hope you all enjoy it.
Before we do so though, RIP in to our very suddenly and dearly departed King T'Challa aka Black Panther mega star Chadwick Boseman. Four years of battling Colon Cancer, which we had no idea about at all until today, and he still managed to star in some of Hollywood's biggest films, whether it was MCU or not, and be such an inspiration and idol to millions, young and adult, around the world. I'm still in total shock over it, when I looked on BBC News first this morning and saw that he was on the front page, I just couldn't bring myself to believe it all at first, hence why I raised a glass to him when I got to my usual pub about two hours ago my time. The world and every one of us have truly lost such a great actor who still had so much future potential in life and career. Wakanda Forever!
I do not own Legends, Arrow or any of the characters within either show
London, 2166
Total carnage surrounded Miranda Coburn on all sides as far away, Vandal Savage's forces continued the Second Blitz on the city of London, his aircraft legions swooping down from the night skies bombing and shooting anything and everything they could see, just like Hitler's Luftwaffe planes had done themselves over two hundred years ago, distant explosions sounding out and fires erupting up.
Miranda paid no heed to this as she ran through the park where she was now, the whole place littered with dozens, maybe even hundreds, of dead bodies of all sizes, shattered and burning pieces of wreckage, and the burnt out hulks of bombed and exploded vehicles, no other sounds coming from within the whole area as Miranda shouted out the names of her husband Rip Hunter and their children, daughters Holly and Grace and younger son Jonas, over and over again as she looked desperately and frantically around for them all, trying to spot them amongst all the destruction and death which the park had been turned into thanks to Savage's legionaires.
Eventually, she came to a small three step stone staircase, and looking down she froze at the sight of the two bodies she saw lying next to each other sprawled on the ground at the foot of them- a man with short brown hair and a beard, dressed in a long brown trenchcoat, and a young boy.
"Rip," Miranda screamed and tore over to them, "Jonas." She dropped down beside them, and as the tears which formed in her eyes threatened to break loose like a dam being split open by an earthquake, Miranda ran her hands over her husband and elder son's bodies, searching desperately for any signs of response from either of them, breathing, a heartbeat, anything which showed or gave hint of a sign of life. But there was nothing, and Miranda allowed herself to let out a big anguish filled scream, the tears at last breaking from her screwed tightly shut eyes, her body racked by great sobs as she gathered Rip and Jonas's bodies into her arms and pulled them to her, holding them close in a final embrace.
"Mom." The sound of the shout, a girl's voice, broke right through Miranda's grief, jolting her back to her full senses, eyes shooting back open and blinking rapidly to expel her tears, as she suddenly remembered with a great jolt of alarm that she had temporarily forgotten about Lily and Bex and what could have happened to them.
"Mommy," came the additional shout, also from a girl but younger than the previous, and then, both voices' origins made themselves known- twelve year old Grace Hunter and her older sister seventeen year old Holly Hunter running through the carnage towards their mother. And right behind them, Miranda's best friend since their teenage years, and her first mate whenever they travelled onboard the Waverider together, Eve Baxter, she too dressed in a long brown trenchcoat over a yellow jumper and dark trousers.
The absolute welcome sight of her two surviving children, still alive against all the odds, and additionally in the company of her best friend caused Miranda to spring back to her feet and tear the short distance towards an approaching Holly and Grace, and as they came together Miranda practically swept her daughters into her arms. The strength of her embrace almost crushed them, but the two girls didn't seem to care as they too started crying, joining in with mum Miranda at the utter relief at being reunited with each other and also the grief at losing their dad and brother.
Eve Baxter silently observed all this with a grin on her own face, the same feeling of relief flowing through herself, and when Miranda eventually relaxed her hug and allowed Holly and Grace to breathe again, though the two girls still kept ahold of their mum, their arms around her while Miranda wrapped her own around their shoulders, holding them close to her, she looked over to Eve. "How...?" she began but stopped, her voice clogging up at once with still very much thick emotion.
"Rip," Eve answered simply, then she went on, "He saw Savage approaching and told me to run and take the kids as far away from the bastard as possible."
"But Jonas kept on stubbornly saying he wanted to stay with dad despite all our desperate pleas to him to come with us, mom," Holly said herself, her own emotion clear to hear in her voice.
"So in the end I had no choice but to take Holly and Grace with me," Eve continued. She shook her head, her own tears coming to her eyes. "I'm sorry, Miranda," she said, the first tears breaking loose, "I wanted to stay and help him and Jonas so badly indeed, really I did. But I had to think about these two..." she indicated to the two girls with a nod of her head, "...and about you, their mum. I couldn't let you three lose each other if I could possibly help it."
Miranda nodded. "I know, Eve. I know," was all she could think of to say and she came forward, Holly and Grace holding each other and watching quietly as Eve, who served as their aunt figure, and their mum embraced each other tightly, enjoying one another's comfort.
Later, Miranda, Eve, Holly and Grace marched through the corridors of the Waverider, the timeship which had belonged to Miranda and Eve for over ten years now. "How did the council meeting go, Captain Coburn?" the British accented voice of Gideon, the ship's Artificial Intelligence, asked.
"Exactly as we all expected it would, Gideon," Miranda said with a touch of disgust, the door to the bridge sliding open as they neared it, allowing them entry, "They have no intention whatsoever in helping us put an end to this immortal monster."
"So we are proceeding as planned earlier in advance?" Gideon asked.
"Indeed we are," Eve answered herself.
"Prepare the ship for takeoff, Gideon," Miranda commanded as they approached the circle of passenger seats and the two which stood a little way from the rest and which were obviously meant for the pilot and their second in command, "Set a course for December 2015. Location, Star City, United States. To be a bit more precise, I would you like you to get us to a few days after Oliver Queen and his team and their allies in Central City have had their very first encounter with Savage, meeting the two Hawks in the process as well, and temporarily finished him off with the weapon known as the Staff of Horus. It is there where I want us to recruit the seven men and women I've specifically and carefully chosen, and am really really hoping will join us on our quest."
"Ah, the early second millennium AD, the golden age of gasoline engines, online pornography and those silly little smartphones," Gideon remarked.
"Yes yes yes, we know, thank you, Gideon," Eve answered humouredly, "And if you don't mind, we do have our two young additions onboard now, so you'd better consider lowering the bad language considerably to almost non-existent levels."
"Very well then. I will try my best to," Gideon replied simply.
"Oh come on, Auntie Eve, there's no need to say that," Holly said humouredly, "We're old enough to use bad language in the presence of adults."
"Yes, I know, young lady," Miranda said with a knowing expression, then the two of them and Eve laughed.
"Where are we going, mom?" Grace asked Miranda, looking up at her mum with curiosity.
Miranda bent down so that she was at her daughter's level, giving her a smile. "We're going on an adventure, sweetie," she told Grace, "You want to see the nasty man who killed your father and brother punished for what he's done, don't you?" Lily nodded, "Well, we're going to start that by bringing along some new friends with us. Would you like to meet them?"
Again, Lily nodded. "Yes please," she said in reply.
"OK then," Miranda said, "But if you want to do that, you must first be a good girl and get some sleep. If you do that, you may be able to meet our friends tomorrow." And again, though with some reluctance, as she didn't really want to go to bed but at the same time not wanting to misbehave towards her mum, Grace nodded, then along with Holly accompanied mum Miranda off the bridge.
Eve settled herself down in the main pilot's seat. "Alright, Gideon. You heard Miranda. Let's go," she said as she pulled down her safety harness.
"I thought you and Miranda preferred to work together alone, Miss Baxter," Gideon said as Eve turned the seat round to face the windows at the front of the ship.
"Not anymore, Gideon," Eve responded, "The time has now come for us to leave that behind and work with a proper team." She rested her hand on the single control lever situated on the right arm of her seat. "But first..." her lips began to form a smile, "I think we should make a quick in advance pit stop to World War II." And with that, she pushed the lever down, and the Waverider flew gently forward through the Temporal Zone, it and its two captains all set and ready to begin their great journey.
1942, JSA Headquarters, Europe
Amaya Jiwe aka the Anansi Totem bearer known as Vixen entered her quarters and shed her suit, about to treat herself to a well deserved hot bath after her and the JSA's latest successfully pulled off undercover against the Nazis, when another woman's voice, and one that she would recognize anywhere, spoke from behind her. "Hello again, Amaya," it said, and Amaya spun round, her eyes widening and mouth opening in delight at the sight of the two women, one with long honey coloured hair and dressed in a long brown trenchcoat and yellow jumper, the other with amber coloured eyes and whose long hair was a dark brown tone.
"Eve? Miranda?" she exclaimed, an equally as delighted Miranda Coburn and Eve Baxter smiling themselves as Amaya hurried over and embraced them both. They remained like for some seconds before coming apart. "So what brings you two back here to my time?" Amaya asked.
Miranda and Eve looked between each other, sharing a nod, then back to Amaya. "You remember that offer we gave you last time, Amaya, about maybe coming with us to have some time travel fun one day?" Miranda said. The Vixen woman nodded.
"Well..." Eve said, her smile returning, "We have a mission, for which we'll be putting together a team to help us with it."
Amaya nodded. "And let me guess. You want me to be a part of it?" she said, finishing off what she knew the other two women, who were now looking at her with hopeful and expectant facial looks, were going to ask. Now she nodded herself, smile returning. "What is it?"
Later on, Star City, December 2015
Sara Lance and Ray and Anna Palmer, the Atom couple as some of their friends in both Teams Arrow and Flash would jokingly refer to them as sometimes, walked down the plaza together, Anna pushing the pram in which their two month old son Leo slept peacefully. It was a few days since Sara and Ray, along with Oliver, Thea and Laurel, had returned to Star City after travelling to Central City with the task of assisting Barry and Team Flash on taking out the immortal known as Vandal Savage, who had been after the two individuals with hawk wings known to them as Carter Hall and Kendra Saunders, the latter of whom had resumed her relationship with Cisco Ramon after the situation was over, refusing straight up there and then to go with the man who insisted they were meant to be centuries long lovers, something which Carter had been at first very reluctant to accept, but had finally relented at seeing that Kendra was much happier with Cisco and working as a coffee server in Jitters, departing alone.
"Hello, Sara. Mr and Mrs Palmer." The words, spoken in a American accent, came from the woman with long dark brown hair and blue eyes, dressed in a burgundy coloured trench coat over a light purple shirt, dark skin tight jeans and knee high leather boots, who slowly approached them, hands in her coat pockets. Beside her walked a green eyed teenage girl, her own long hair a dark brown, dressed in skin tight dark leggings and long sleeved shirt and red and black Converse trainers.
"Uh, yeah?" Ray responded in answer.
"Can we help you?" Sara asked herself.
The woman and girl stopped before them. "My name is Miranda Coburn," the woman introduced herself, gesturing to the girl with her hands, "This is my daughter-"
"Holly Hunter," the girl answered.
"And we have a proposal for you, Sara," Miranda said to Sara.
Sara, Ray and Anna looked to each other, the three of them raising eyebrows in curious interest, then turned back to Miranda and Holly. "What proposal?" Sara asked, folding her arms.
Pittsburgh
Firestorm, the nuclear powered superhero made of the merging between Jefferson Jackson and Professor Martin, pursued an armed balaclava'ed bandit into an old chemical plant, the man firing off a short burst of machine gunfire before turning and fleeing as Firestorm launched a fireball at him, but it went wide and hit the ground several metres beyond the bandit.
"Caution, Jefferson," Stein's voice said in Jax's head as they chased after the bandit, "83% of the chemicals in this factory are combustible." The bandit continued firing his machine gun at them, Firestorm throwing two more fireballs at him, both going wide like the first.
"Yeah, tell that to Rambo," Jax countered back, throwing another fireball at the bandit as he fled further into the plant.
"Thought I told you to be careful," Stein said insistently with a touch of desperation. Not responding to the words, Jax launched a fireball from both hands at the same time, both hitting and exploding on the ground in front of the machine gun armed man at the same time. The bandit yelled as he was sent flying back by the force of the blast and crashed onto the ground, the impact knocking him out as Firestorm landed in front of him, then unmerged into Jax and Stein's separate physical forms.
"What's the use of sharing my intelligence if you won't listen?" Stein said to Jax like an old headmaster to a naughty school student.
"Stop bossing me around like I'm one of your snot-nosed undergrads," Jax countered back in a hard voice.
"Boys, boys, boys," a woman's voice spoke from behind them and they both turned to see Eve Baxter standing there, wearing her usual trenchcoat, completely relaxed as if she had just simply strolled into the chemical plant and watched the whole thing like it was a sports game. "What happened to behaving like a couple of respectful gentlemen instead of schoolboys, huh?" she asked humouredly.
"Who the hell are you?" Jax demanded.
"First mate and secondary captain Eve Baxter at your service, Mr Jackson. Professor Stein," Eve answered in introduction, "And if you would care to hear me out, I come bearing a proposal for you both."
The two men looked to each other in puzzlement, then made their decision together and turned back to Eve. "Ask away, Miss Baxter," Stein said, he and Jax folding their arms.
St Roch
Carter Hall aka Prince Khufu aka Hawkman landed gently on the road, his wings retreating into his back as he set down the woman he carried supportingly in his arms and receiving a "Thank you" from her, he nodding in kind response to it before starting to head off down the road, but found his way blocked by Miranda Coburn and Holly Hunter.
"Hello, Mr Hall," Miranda said as they slowly approached Carter.
"Who the hell are you?" the hawk winged prince asked demandingly.
"Miranda Coburn and Holly Hunter," Holly answered, "And we need your help."
Kyushu, Japan
Tatsu Yamashiro, dressed in her red and grey Katana outfit, white mask with its red centre-of-forehead dot covering her upper face, knelt in silent prayer before the small wooden structure in the open clearing, several lit candles burning inside, her Katana sword in its pattern decorated sheath on the ground in front of her, when her senses alerted her that she was no longer alone.
She opened her eyes and reached out with her left hand, taking ahold of the sheath holding her sword. Taking a breath in through her nose, she slowly straightened up, right hand closing around the sword's grip, and then whirled round, at the same time drawing her sword, right hand joining her left on the grip as she held it up at chest height, pointing it behind her, finding herself facing Miranda and Holly, Holly jumping and squealing a little at the quite sudden defensive moves from Tatsu.
"Hello, Tatsu," her mum Miranda said calmly to the Japanese woman, raising her hands as a gesture to show that she was unarmed and meant no intended danger to Tatsu.
Seeing Holly's response, Tatsu immediately lowered her sword a little. "Who are you, and how did you find me and this place?" she demanded quietly, deciding to do it that way so as not to scare Bex further.
"We have a proposition to make to you," Miranda said, "One that will, I'm sure, help you to finally find your place in the world again after so long of a life of solitude."
Curious as to what this strange woman's words were, but knowing that she should at least hear them first, after a few seconds' consideration Tatsu lowered her sword the rest of the way, but still held it by her side at the ready in her right hand, ready for usage in case. "I'm listening," she said carefully.
Central City
The mini-van, with Mick Rory aka Heatwave at the wheel and his partner in crime Leonard Snart aka Captain Cold in the passenger seat beside him, tore down the road, when suddenly they saw Miranda Coburn, Holly Hunter and Eve Baxter standing in the middle of the road with the additional company of Sara, Jax and Stein, Amaya, Carter and Tatsu, the Rogues' speeding van heading straight for them
"What the..." Rory exclaimed in shock.
"Stamp on the brake," Snart ordered desperately as they neared the group. Mick obliged, slamming his left foot down hard on the brake, the van screeching along the road before, with possibly inches to spare, lurching to a halt before the gathered group.
Snart leaned out of the passenger window. "What the hell's the meaning of this?" he demanded.
Miranda and Eve walked forward so that they stood on either side of the van, Eve on Mick's side, Miranda on Leonard's. "Greetings, Mr Snart. Mr Rory," Miranda addressed them both.
"Answer the man," Mick put in in a very annoyed voice.
"We're putting together a team for an important mission, Mr Rory," Eve answered him calmly, "One I think you and Mr Snart might be very interested in tagging along for. That is if you would take time to hear us out about it at least."
Snart and Mick looked to each other, glancing briefly out of the front window towards the group who all waited patiently, hands on hips or with arms folded across their chest, then turned back to Miranda and Eve. "What is it?" Snart asked.
And there we are. Hope you all enjoyed it.
So yes, if it already hasn't been made extremely plain clear, Miranda Coburn, old Hypocritus Rippus Hunatmus's wife, and our old friend from Legends 1x07 Eve Baxter are the recruiters and formers of the Legends team here, which is something I've been absolutely dying to do for a very long while now, see how the Legends team would be without any sort of hypocrisy and downright untruthful lies always being spread among them and everywhere they go, which wouldn't at all happen if it was Miranda in charge.
Miranda's daughters Holly and Grace are entirely my very own creations, but for their actress faces it's Marie Avgeropoulos, known most familiar to some of us as Octavia Blake in The 100 (her name I can blame a direct-to-TV film from 2012 called 'Fugitive at 17' in which Marie takes the lead role, for in a sense, haha), and for Grace it's actress Teilor Grubbs, who played her all the way from the age of eight in the now sadly finished 2010-20 running, and still gonna be my top favourite crime drama show ever, Hawaii Five-0.
And now, as obviously there are changes to the Arrowverse universe which I'm doing for here, mixed with some which I've carried all the way over from my original take when it was 'Katana and the Legends' and are staying exactly as I've planned them well in advance, let me clear some of it up for you all. More will be revealed at the end of next chapter.
Arrow: Anna Loring, Ray Palmer's mentioned a few times before fiancé, is still alive here, a little background being that Ray wasn't injured during Slade Wilson's assault on Star City and so was able to prevent Anna's murder. For her actress, I'm casting Brandon Routh's real life wife, and of course the star of Ray's now new love Nora Darhk, Courtney Ford, cos let's face it, we never actually did see Barbara Kottmeier play Anna, did we, and Brandon and Courtney gave some real splendid and at times touching stuff as PalmerDarhk/Ray and Nora before their departure in Legends season 5. The name of Ray and Anna's baby son here, Leo, comes from Brandon and Courtney's one, makes the family complete in a way I'd say. Ray still became the Atom though, but out of the vow that no more innocent people like Anna would be harmed or killed under his watch, and he revealed his secret to Oliver on a much earlier basis in Arrow season 3, so the two have a better friendship between them than in the real one.
After season 3 ended, instead of Felicity Oliver took Thea with him when he departed for Coast City, and during the months leading up to season 4 that they spent there Oliver reunited with old girlfriend from season 1 McKenna Hall and began his old relationship with her again, while also confessing to her bout his other personality as the vigilante archer. So when Fefe Smoak, Laurel and Diggle came to them in 4x01 for the needed help against the Ghosts, McKenna returned with them and took up her old position with the SCPD again, while also working on Team Arrow as Oliver's new vigilante partner.
Malcolm Merlyn met his comeuppance in Arrow 4x13, that being that after his and Oliver's duel Oliver actually killed him for everything that the psychopath had done to him and his family members and their friends both before and during Arrow. Nyssa still became the new Ra's Al Ghul afterwards, but she hasn't disbanded and ended the League of Assassins, instead vowing to Oliver that she will make it into the force for good which her father prevented it from being for so long (I actually have to you and your now deleted fic 'The Fate of the Green Arrow' to thank for that, Stand with Ward and Queen my dear pal).
Flash: everything regarding my Spallen/Barry and Patty plans from before are not changing in the slightest, but to add some further things, Barry and Team Flash prevented Bette San Souci/Plastiqute from being murdered in cold blood by General Wade Eiling and afterwards offered to help her control and use her powers without using them to harm people, to which Bette agreed, so she has been on Team Flash since. And because I have completely different plans entirely for what will happen in the Legends 2x05 episode, for this story's sake Lily Stein was born naturally, not as a result of another intervention in younger Martin Stein's life by the Legends.
And yes, as it's probably already been made clear anyway, Cisco is still with Kendra, the latter choosing him over the stupid Carter after the 'Legends of Today' crossover. And before anyone goes into a you know what about to me, I'll say here and now I have plans for Lisa Snart which will be revealed next chapter.
Supergirl: Kara has been a strong and committed relationship with her own version of Oliver since before season 1 of her show began, but the Lance and Merlyn families do not exist on Earth 38 at all. The Gambit still happened, but it was Earth 38 Thea, who is a full Queen by blood, who went with Oliver on it and ended up on Lian Yu alongside her brother. Year 1 and the drama with Edward Fyers and Bill Wintergreen happened as it did on Earth 1, but when year 2 came, instead of being cured by the Mirakuru Earth 38 Slade actually died from it so Oliver and Thea and Earth 38 Shado slew Anthony Ivo and his men out of revenge for their friend. Afterwards, they were found and rescued by Ra's Al Ghul and the League of Assassins, who they remained with for the three remaining three and a half years until, wanting to return home to Kara, who gave birth to a daughter during his time away, Oliver requested to Ra's to allow him to leave the League, to which Ra's agreed, the same being allowed to Thea and Shado as well. So Oliver, Thea and Shado will've been operating alongside Kara since Supergirl began.
Superman on Earth 38 I want it made absolutely clear is Brandon Routh's Superman, cos after at last seeing his movie 'Superman Returns' myself, and of course seeing him back in his old role, as Kingdom Come Superman that is, as the only good thing about the Crisis on Infinite Earths shithole, Brandon's Superman is now my number one favourite Superman movie version. Additionally, there are some of the legendary Christopher Reeve's Superman's bodily capabilities from his first two films that I am incorporating into Brandon's version here. Earth 38 Lois Lane will be played by Courtney Ford as well.
Legends: so yes, here Amaya Jiwe has joined in season 1. To answer anyone's curiosity and questions, I will say that Miranda and Eve met Amaya at some point before the show began and became friends with her, like with old Jonah Hex, and offered her the chance to go time travelling with them one day. And also, I have solid plans arranged to have HeatVixen/Mick and Amaya happen here, as I much much prefer that SteelVixen/Nate and Amaya, and the first half of Legends season 2 did have some rather good moments between Mickey Boy and Amaya which could've gone a bit further into an actual relationship, in my eyes anyway.
And finally, season 1 will've run as it did up to 1x07, but when it came to Legends 1x08, and Chronos attacked the Waverider forcing Miranda and the other team members to leave in a hurry, Leonard ended up stuck in 1958 with Sara for two years until Miranda and the others were able to get them. And during that time, they found and admitted their feelings for each other- yes, CaptainCanary/Sara and Leonard is happening here-, with Sara becoming pregnant with their child as well.
And there you are, I hope that's some satisfactory enough information and answers given to you all. As I say, some more will be made clear next chapter. Until then, I hope you enjoyed the start to this re-do of my old story, and I will see you all again soon. Adios amigos, from Max/Flashraven