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.



CHAPTER 13 - SAVED!


Dr Zaxton Regulus held his hand teasingly over the switch that would
snuff out the lives of four Legionnaires. The thought of defeating the Legion
of Super-Heroes tickled him to point of giggling.

Three of the Legionnaires -- Cosmic Boy, Invisible Kid, and Brainiac
5 -- were starting to stir, not knowing what fate awaited them.

"Wait!" Tinya screamed at him.

He turned to look at her.

Desperately wanting to save her teammates, who had saved her life
numerous times in the past, she said to Regulus, "Please don't kill them
... I ... I'll ... give you ..."

It was then that the power on the ship went out! The bridge was
plunged into darkness momentarily until the back up battery power kicked
in. Regulus forgot about killing and love as he began running from console
to console in an effort to determine what had happened to the power and
how to restore it.

He was dumbfounded. Regulus had no idea what could've caused such
a loss of power. After rerouting some ship's systems, he was able to get
partial power back to some of his weapons.

Regulus noted, however, that there was no way he would be able
to direct full power to his disintegrator. "Oh, well," he thought in
disappointment, "that'll just have to wait until later."

Another surprise jolted Regulus seconds later. First, it became
extremely warm in the room and then the door of the bridge melted in a
blaze of fire.

A tall figure dressed in red and yellow entered upon the bridge.

"Sun Boy!" Regulus spat out in disgust.

Dirk Morgna took a quick glance around the room to appraise the
situation. "That's right, Regulus! We meet again!"

The evil scientist saw that he was not near the ship's master
weapons panel. But he always had something up his sleeve. Every console
had a button that would activate his emergency weapon. The weapon was
to be used against intruders and Sun Boy was most definitely an intruder.

Sun Boy saw Regulus press a button and then overhead he saw an
aperture open to reveal not one, but three miniature rockets that were
now aimed at Dirk.

Before Sun Boy could react, the missiles were launched!

Dirk was about to raise his hands in an attempt to hit the
rockets with a heat blast, but the rockets exploded after hitting
an invisible barrier of some kind. The barrier was a magnetic shield
that came courtesy of Cosmic Boy!

Cos, Brainiac 5, Invisible Kid, Phantom Girl and Duo Damsel were
now free and were focusing their attention upon Regulus. Phantom Girl's
attention he could deal with, but the rest -- he wanted no part of.

"Egads!" A very worried Regulus blurted out in a panic.

The Legionnaires were freed after the ship's power was cut,
thus opening the electronic locks on the cells. Colossal Boy was
still unconscious and Superboy was in too much pain to move.

Brainiac 5 moved to Superboy's cell to rescue him from the
green Kryptonite chain that bound him.

Regulus moved to another console. "The stun guns! I've got to
get to the stun guns!" he said.

He was referring to the stun guns that were located in the
ceiling of the bridge. The ones that knocked out Phantom Girl and
Duo Damsel earlier.

"DUCK!" Duo Damsel screamed to her teammates.

All the Legionnaires on the bridge dived instantly for cover
as the electrical-like projections came out of the ceiling. The blasts
went over the heads and missed the Legion team.

The stun guns had distracted the Legionnaires enough for
Regulus to run over to his master weapons panel. Regulus started
to reach for a switch to activate yet another weapon. But before
he could press the button -- the entire panel was enveloped in a
ball of fire and melted into useless junk!

Regulus was enraged! His master plan was falling apart before
his very eyes. Conquering the universe no longer became his main
objective. It was now replaced by escape and survival.

In anger he cursed at Sun Boy. "Sprock you, Sun Boy! You
demented meddler! You're always in my way, Morgna!"

The seemingly defeated Regulus slumped into a chair, a
dejected look upon his face. The Legionnaires started to approach
him to take him into custody. The teenagers were unable to see the
mad scientist's finger press a button on the arm of the chair.

With lightning-like speed, the chair with Regulus dropped
through an opening in the floor! All the Legionnaires heard was a
laugh that faded away very quickly.

"After him!" Sun Boy yelled.

"NO!" ordered Invisible Kid.

Cosmic Boy said, "Where are you going to go, Dirk? Search
this entire ship again? Most likely he has some kind of mini-rocket
down there for him to make his escape."

Brainiac 5 emerged out of the cell supporting a very
weakened Superboy.

"You okay, Supes?" Lyle asked.

Superboy could only manage to nod.

Brainiac 5 said, "He'll be alright in a little while."

Sun Boy was still determined to get his old nemesis who had
apparently escaped. "But what about Regulus?" he asked.

"We'll get him, Dirk," Invisible Kid replied. "But right
now we need to investigate this ship and find our clubhouse and
the Trevis Building."

A tight-lipped and disappointed Sun Boy nodded in acknowledgement.

A smiling Cosmic Boy slapped Dirk on the back. "Thanks for the
save, buddy."

This time it was the Legion's turn to laugh.



TO BE CONTINUED ....


***

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