LSH: THE EVIL DR REGULUS

By Bruce Wayne

Based on the plot in Adventure Comics 348 "Target: 21 Legionnaires"
by Jim Shooter

Disclaimer: The characters that appear in this story belong to DC Comics.
I am writing this for pleasure, and sharing it with friends. I am, in no
way, getting paid for it.


AUTHOR'S FORWARD

This story is based upon the Classic version of the Legion that was
written by Jim Shooter more than thirty years ago at what I thought was one
of the most exciting times for the Legion characters.

Under the guidance of a 13-year-old prodigy writer, the Legion was
turned from a run-in-the-mill super-hero team into an exciting, dynamic, and
interesting group with incredible villians to fight against. Mantis Morlo,
Universo, the Fatal Five and the epitome of evil himself, Mordru the Merciless,
were the inventions of Jim Shooter.

My intention with the story is to use the general premise of the
Shooter story and perhaps update it. I may change the plot some and all
the characters are my interpretations of their personalities. We all have
a different opinion of what some characters are supposed to be like.

Some experts in Legion lore might want to point out that some of the
events or people related in this story do not correctly correspond with the
true historical time-line of the Legion. I considered those points, without
trying to give the plot away here, but in trying to make the story more
interesting, some people or incidents may seem out sequence for what
occurred in Adventure 348. I guess they call this an "alternate universe"
story.

I hope that everyone enjoys this first installment. Feedback is
always appreciated because in lieu of money, that's all a fanfic writer
ever gets.

Thanks

-- Bruce Wayne, 2002



LEGION ROLL CALL

INVISIBLE KID - (Lyle Norg of Earth) The newly elected leader of the Legion
of Super-Heroes. A brilliant young scientist in his own right, he has the
ability to turn invisible.

SUPERBOY - (Kal-El of Krypton) A resident of the 20th century who time
travels to the 30th century to take part as a member of the LSH. He is
the inspiration of the Legion. Under a yellow sun, all his senses are
heightened to a super-human status. He has super-strength, invulnerability,
can fly, has X-ray, heat, microscopic, and telescopic vision, super-hearing
and speed. The only things that Superboy is vulnerable to are magic and
Kryptonite -- which can kill him if he exposed to it for too long.

COSMIC BOY - (Rokk Krinn of Braal) One of the three founders of the Legion
and the club's first leader. He has the power of super-magnetism.

PHANTOM GIRL (Tinya Wazzo of Bgztl) This attractive young lady has the
power to turn into a phantom and phase in and out of the fourth dimension.

SUN BOY - (Dirk Morgna of Earth) Once locked in a nuclear reactor chamber,
Dirk was transformed into a human beacon of blazing heat and light.

DUO DAMSEL (Luornu Durgo of Carggg) This beautiful, brilliant, and brave
young woman has the ability to split into two beings. Some say that she
is the conscience of the LSH.

BRAINIAC 5 (Querl Dox of Colu) He has one of the greatest minds in the
known universe and the outgoing leader of the club. On the accepted
galactic scale of intelligence, the average person on Earth is rated
as a level six. Inhabitants of the planet Colu average a 10th level
intelligence. "Brainy," as he is known to his teammates, has a rare
12th level intelligence.

COLOSSAL BOY - (Gim Allon of Earth) Has the ability to grow into a giant
with the strength to match.

SATURN GIRL - (Imra Ardeen of Titan) One of the original three founding
members of the Legion. She is regarded as one of the most gifted telepaths
in the galaxy. Has the ability to read and control minds.

KARATE KID (Val Armorr of Earth) An expert in all known fighting methods,
especially the martial arts of Earth.

DREAM GIRL (Nura Nal of Naltor) Besides being beautiful, Nura has
the ability to see into the future as far as one year in advance.
Her premonitions are always 100 percent accurate.

BOUNCING BOY (Chuck Taine of Earth) Has the ability to inflate his
body and bounce like a rubber ball. He is an expert in angles and
is very knowledgeable in architecture and contracting. Is responsible
for maintaining and repairing the Legion clubhouse.



CHAPTER 1 - A LEGION ELECTION


The skies over the city of Metropolis were clear and crystal blue
with just a few large clouds. The skyline was crowded with tall, modernistic
high-rises for this was the year 2966 in the 30th century.

The quiet of the day was broken by what would be best described way
back in the 20th century as a sonic boom. A super-loud BANG! was heard and
many eyes looked upward in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the one known
as the "Boy of Steel" arriving through the time barrier from the past.

Today was the first meeting of the new term for the super-hero club
known as the Legion of Super-Heroes. Through the use of his super-speed
power, Superboy had come from 1,000 years in the past to attend today's
super-hero meeting.

It would be a very important meeting because today was the day that
the new leader of the club would be elected.

What can be said that already hasn't about the greatest super-hero
of all time? Superboy was 17-years-old with dark hair and wore the famous
blue, red and yellow costume with red cape and boots. A large "S" insignia
was on his chest.

His story was well-known. Born on the planet Krypton as Kal-El.
Krypton was a giant size planet that orbited a large red sun. Kal-El's
father, the famous scientist known as Jor-El, predicted that because
Krypton had a core made of radioactive uranium, internal stresses would
start a chain reaction that would blow up the planet like a huge bomb.
Jor-El's fellow scientists scoffed at his prediction. Nobody believed
Jor-El that massive space arks needed to be built to save at least part
of the population except his brother Zor-El.

Jor-El had experimented with small rockets. In the weeks ahead
of his predicted tragedy. At the fateful hour, when Krypton began to
shake and break apart, Jor-El had just finished a rocket that was capable
of carrying his baby son to the planet Earth. The rocket carrying the
child had just made it out Krypton's orbit before the planet exploded.

Kal-El's rocket crashed outside of the small farming town of
Smallville in the North American continent of Earth. A nice couple
by the name of Jonathon and Martha Kent just happened to be driving
along when they witnessed the rocket crashing. The couple went out to
the crash site and happened to stumble across an infant. They soon
adopted him and named the child Clark Kent.

It was eventually discovered that under the rays of Earth's
yellow sun, Sol, Clark had amazing powers. Superboy, as he eventually
would be called, has super-strength, super-speed, super-breath and can
fly. He is invulnerable to just about everything except for pieces of
his own planet now known as Kryptonite. All his natural senses are
enhanced. He has X-ray, telescopic, microscopic, and heat vision.
Even his hearing is super.

But to many people in the 30th century, Superboy's most amazing
power was perhaps the ability to break the time-barrier in order to be
an important part of the Legion. Not only did Superboy protect and
defend the innocent of the 20th century but he had also come many
times into the future to protect the galaxy from the many technologically
advanced would-be invaders and dominators.

The founders of the Legion -- Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad and
Saturn Girl -- always said that the super-hero club was based upon
the moral ideals of Superboy. One day, the three founders of the club
traveled back in time to meet, test and initiate Superboy into their
Legion.

Once Superboy became a member, the Legion became a powerhouse
organization that was able to handle just about anything that could be
thrown at it. They were indeed the perfect match.

Flying over the city that would someday be his home when he
became an adult, Superboy spotted the yellow and red clubhouse of the
Legion of Super-Heroes located in a park-like area. The clubhouse
looked like an inverted bottom stage of a large rocket that had been
impaled into the ground. Actually, the club-house complex was much
larger than it appeared and much of it was located underground.

Outside the clubhouse, two figures were awaiting the arrival
of the Boy of Steel. Both were long-time members of the Legion -- Sun
Boy and the beautiful girl known as Duo Damsel. The 18-year-old, brown-
haired Luornu Durgo was the first member to join the Legion after the
three founders.

Many of the males in the club thought Duo Damsel was one of
the most attractive girls in the Legion. She wore a purple mini-dress
uniform with well-shaped legs. She also wore a burnt-orange colored
cape with a wide-belt of the same color. Her high boots were black
and she wore long, white gloves.

Lu, as she was known to her friends, was born on the planet
Cargg, which is triple-sun world of people who have the ability to
produce triplicates of themselves. Before becoming a Legionnaire,
Luornu split into three and accompanied each of the founding
Legionnaires individually to the clubhouse. It was there that
she revealed her triplicate existence. Lu has always been known
as the pretty "girl-next door" type, who was smart and a very good
administrator.

When she had first joined the Legion, she was known as Triplicate
Girl. Brainiac 5 at one time built a super compter called Computo that
became renegade. Computo killed one of Luornu's three bodies. It was
afterwards that she renamed herself Duo Damsel.

Superboy landed slowly and softly in front of his two teammates.
All three greeted each other with big smiles.

"Supes, long-time no-see," said Sun Boy.

Superboy shook hands with his old friend. "Hi, Sun Boy, glad to
be back for the meeting."

Duo Damsel blushed a bit as she greeted Superboy, "Hi," is all
she managed to say as she hugged him while standing on her toes. Luornu
was always a great admirer of the legend from the past.

"Hey, Supes, are you ready for the election?" Sun Boy said
excitedly.

Superboy looked at Dirk Morgna in his costume of a bright red
tunic with a yellow sun insignia on his chest. He also wore red leglets
and yellow boots. Like the sun, Dirk, who was born on Earth, was able
to generate bright light and great heat from his body. Tall and lithe,
Sun Boy had red hair and already, at 18, had muscles rippling like steel
springs. He was also known as the Legion's playboy.

"I'm not sure who the favorites are," Superboy replied to Dirk.

"Well, the talk around the clubhouse," said Duo Damsel, "is
Colossal Boy, Saturn Girl, Invisible Kid and ..." She paused. "... you,"
she said shyly.

Superboy was quite surprised. "Me? I'm hardly ever here. How
could I be the kind of leader the club needs?"

Lu beamed a beautiful smile at Superboy. "Oh, I think you'd
make a great leader," she said. "You've got my vote!"

Duo Damsel took Superboy by the arm and walked him into the
clubhouse where the meeting was to be held in the large Council Room.

Sun Boy just watched the two and thought to himself, "I think
Lu's got a crush on him! Well, why not? He's one of the most powerful
Legionnaires."

Inside the clubhouse, Val Armorr, who was known as the popular
Karate Kid, had stopped and was admiring an enticing view of the rear
of a stooped over Nura Nal, who was picking up a computer disk that she
had dropped on the floor.

Karate Kid, who wore a tannish-brown martial arts gi uniform
with, of course, a black belt, brown gloves and boots, was just staring
with an open mouth at the lovely female assets, if you will, that were
in front of him.

Dream Girl sensed a presence behind and looked over her shoulder
while still stooped over.

"Like what you see?" she asked with a musical tone in her voice.

Being caught looking and the question caught Val totally off
guard, which was a feat in itself. But that's the kind of power Nura
Nal held over the males in the Legion and she knew it.

The brown-haired Karate Kid turned red with embarassment and
just stuttered, "Uh ... uh ... uh ..." unable to think of any kind of
a proper explanation for his staring.

Nura smiled at his embarassment. "It's okay," she said. "Actually,
it's quite flattering that you noticed little ol' me."

"What's not to notice?" he bluttered out quickly without thinking.
Then rethinking what he said, "I meant ... Uh ..."

A knowing smile was all Nura gave him and she gave him a moment
to try explain what he meant -- knowing all the while he couldn't.

"I've always noticed ..." Val's mind was racing as fast as his
heart at the moment.

Nura still hadn't picked up the computer disk. She turned away
from him and slowly bent at the waist. Dream Girl was giving him an eye-
ful and he was riveted to the spot on the floor.

He couldn't and didn't want to move. The only words that kept
coming into his mind were "astounding, incredible, and perfect." Her
beauty, for some reason, at the moment, took his breath away. And he
didn't know why.

Nura retrieved the disk straightened back up very slowly,
knowing the affect she was having on him. She was used to it.

Dream Girl's Legion costumes usually left very little to the
imagination. They were always white, very tight and cut short and high.
More like a bathing suit than anything else. The uniform went well with
her shoulder-length platinum-colored hair.

Nura was from the planet Naltor. Though she may had been
a "Dream Girl" to almost any male that had a pulse, her code-name
indicated her ability to see into the future. All the people on her
home planet could do that as well, but Nura was known to have the
strongest ability. Her sister, the White Witch, was able to work
up a magic spell that gave Dream Girl the ability to see future
events up to one year before they happened. What was really remarkable
was that her visions were always one-hundred percent accurate.

She moved closely to Val. He inhaled the scent of her intoxicating
perfume, which weakened him even more. "Are you busy with anything today?"
she asked.

Dream Girl had done it again. She had caught the world's greatest
martial arts expert off guard. He was totally unprepared for the question.
Though he still had the presence of mind to wonder to himself "what is
this affect she's having on me?" He didn't know what to say.

"I ... uh ... I think we were supposed to go to some charity
event at the ... uh ... Metropolis Arena."

First, she pouted and then she touched her right forefinger to
his cheek and stroked it slowly downwards while looking into his eyes.
With the slightest tinge of disappointment in her voice, she said to
him, "Oh, that's too bad. I was hoping that we might have lunch together
at my apartment."

She did it again! Pretty soon she was going to be able to knock
Karate Kid over with a feather. He was shocked! This was something out
of nowhere. He had never dreamed that such a proposal would be offered
to him by one of the most desirable girls in the Legion.

"What was that event you mentioned?" she asked with the musical
tone in her voice again.

"What event?" he replied.

She smiled knowing that her charms had worked once again. "See
you later," Nura said as she walked away from him slowly toward the Council
Room.

The Earth-born Karate Kid was still frozen to the floor. He had never
moved during the entire course of this Earth-shaking moment. He just stood
there trying to comprehend the entire thing and then pinched himself to make
sure that he was indeed awake and not dreaming about ... Dream Girl.

As the outgoing leader of the club, Brainiac 5 called the meeting to
order in the large Council Room. Twenty-three of the 24 current members were
sitting around a large U-shaped table. Only Supergirl was unable to attend
but she had sent in her proxy vote -- as did Jimmy Olsen and Pete Ross.

Saturn Girl had been chosen to be the election coordinator. Imra
Ardeen had the ability to read peoples' minds, either by consciously willing
it or by mentally picking up their stray thoughts. With her telepathic power,
she could also send messages into the minds of others. She could also use her
powers to influence peoples' minds.

The blonde-haired Saturn Girl was wearing a red-and-white tunic with
an insignia of the planet Saturn on her ample chest, with red pants and white
boots.

As usual, Imra was no nonsense. "Okay, is everybody ready to vote?"
she asked looking around the table.

Just about everyone nodded in ascent. She smiled and then instructed,
"On your omnicom, you may enter the name of the Legionnaire you think should
become the new leader. Any questions?"

There were none and all the Legionnaires began their selections on
the computer-like devices in front of them. A few moments later, Imra looked
around and asked, "Has everyone voted?"

Virtually all the Legionnaires nodded that they had. Imra then pushed
a button on her omnicom. Directly behind her, a large viewing screen lit up
with the pictures of all the candidates that received at vote. Underneath each
name was the number of votes they had received.

Saturn Girl read the outcome of the vote, "Invisible Kid has won the
election after receiving ten votes. Superboy received eight votes. There were
two votes each for Colossal Boy and Duo Damsel. Mon-El, Cham, Vi, and Light
Lass each received one vote."

She smiled at Lyle Norg, "Congratulations Invisible Kid, you are the
new leader of the Legion of Super-Heroes."

Clapping and some shouts were heard as Lyle accepted the gavel from
Brainiac 5 and stood behind his new seat at the very center of the U-shaped
desk. He nodded in recognition to the well wishes of his fellow teammates.

Duo Damsel came up to Superboy and hugged him, "Congrats, Superboy."

"What are you congratulating me for?" he asked.

She was surprised that he didn't realize that "you're still the
deputy leader, silly."


TO BE CONTINUED ....


***

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