LSH: The Battle For The Universe
By Bruce Wayne
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I'm just borrowing then for a while.
The characters are owned by DC Comics and I'm writing this just for the fun of
it.
CHAPTER 14 - DESTINATION DEEP-SEA
"Ah, nothing like a good night's sleep," said Sun Boy, coming into
the Council Room in the Legion clubhouse to find Shrinking Violet already
there. "Not to mention a sonic shower, a change of uniform and good meal.
I feel great."
"Like a new man," said Violet.
Sun Boy added, "I wonder if people think we Legionnaires never
bother with life's trivialities -- sleep, showers, meals, trimming our fingernails,
and such. I'll bet they think I wear my Sun Boy uniform day in and day out,
without change."
"Don't you?" queried Violet in wide-eyed innocence.
"Very funny. It so happens I have three full uniforms."
He eyed Violet with a devilish glint in his eye. "You ever notice
some of the others' uniforms? Some are not always alike. Take Star
Boy for example, you ever notice he has one costume with a yellow
star and another with a white star? Isn't that weird?"
"Why, that's pretty funny," laughed Violet.
"Yeah?" said Sun Boy, startled and pleased.
"Yes, but it only proves," said the girl sweetly, "that you have waaayy
too much time on your hands."
Sun Boy slapped his forehead dramatically. "Why do I always play
stooge for you?" he said plaintively.
They were bantering as usual but only to cover up the gnawing
dread within. Multiple Earth dooms launched by Tazz the Invader ... to
crush this thought they had to play a game of brittle humor.
"Speaking of uniforms," put in Colossal Boy, "shed a sympathetic
tear for Violet and me. Our special costumes have to stretch and shrink
from insect proportions up to human size -- and to 25-foot tallness or
more in my case -- along with our bodies. They wear out in a month and
cost plenty to replace them constantly."
Gim looked out to door of the room and down the hall. "If you think
we got it rough," pointing at the blue, white and red figure approaching, "what
about Ferro Lad? That uniform turns into iron."
Invisible Kid came into the room with a bunch of other Legionnaires.
He called out in a firm voice: "Okay, let's get started." They sat around at
their designated spots in the Council Room.
Lyle read the news from his omnicon. "Scientists report several
alarming and unexplained phenomena occurring around the Earth. The
Antarctic ice cap has begun melting mysteriously. Volcano eruptions have
started in the South Pacific and are spreading through thousands of islands.
Violent wind currents have been unaccountably arising in the high
stratosphere, plus the sudden appearance of a new satellite. Even
more baffling is the giant comet plunging into the solar system with
a trajectory that may come alarmingly close to Earth, though full computer
data is not yet in."
Invisible Kid eyed the others around the room.
"If we secretly hoped that Tazz was bluffing or was self-deluded,
we know otherwise now. Unless by some miracle he has miscalculated the
final results, Earth will meet oblivion in just one week. The question is, do
we inform the authorities of the machinations of Tazz, which so far we
Legionnaires alone know about? Opinions please?"
Matter-Eater Lad shook his head slowly. "It would leak out to
the public and create needless panic."
"No emergency measures can be taken to save people from any of
the dooms," spoke up Element Lad, "even if they were forewarned."
"Only a mass migration into space would save the people of
Earth," added Light Lass. "And we don't have the spacecraft to do that."
"Besides," drawled Dream Girl, "who could do anything against Tazz
if we Legionnaires can't?"
Invisible Kid looked around to see if there were any other comments.
No one else spoke up. "Then we are unanimous that we go ahead on our own
without a word to the world."
Lyle's next remark startled all of them. "We, of course, can take our
ships and leave Earth before the fateful day. I remind you that we also have
a responsibility to protect the United Planets and not just Earth. You will
vote yea or nay."
"Negative," shot back in quick chorus from Colossal Boy and Star
Boy.
At the same time Ultra Boy sprang to his feet, his face livid. "Lyle,
that was an insult. Do you think any of us would be spineless, cowardly
worms and save our own hides?" He caught his breath. "Wait ... how do
you vote, leader man?"
"Relax, Jo," said Invisible Kid. "I say the same thing, negative. So
that's out of the way."
Lyle's face became more serious. "Next is the matter of invading the
undersea lair of Tazz. Brainy says we have a suitable diving craft, among the
many vehicles he has invented for our special missions." He looked around
slowly. "Now, if Tazz is on guard against us, he can probably spot our
approaching craft like a sitting duck. On the other hand, he may be so
confident we couldn't locate him that he won't expect us. We'll have to
run that risk."
They all nodded grimly.
Invisible Kid continued, "Now, unfortunately, the bathysphere is
unable to hold all of us. So, the first team that I led to Mount Everest will
go on the undersea mission."
"Awww, come on, Lyle!" yelled a disappointed Star Boy. "I want
another crack at that creep."
The Legion's leader nodded his head in understanding, "I know, I
know, Thom. But the craft only sits five and Violet can go because she can
shrink down and can sit anywhere. The six of us have the most experience
now against Tazz. So, I think it's the best team to go. Actually, to penetrate
the personal force field Tazz might be shielded by, we should bring along
Phantom Girl. We stand a good chance to capture him -- for real this time.
But, no, we'll stick with the team I've chosen."
The Legionnaires flushed at the thought of almost having Tazz in the
Sahara, when they captured the android.
"Then we can make a deal with him," finished Invisible Kid. "His
life for saving the world -- if he can. If he can't, that's his tough luck."
"As well as ours," said Ultra Boy.
Invisible Kid smiled crookedly. "That would shift destiny into a third
kind of parallel universe, one in which Tazz, dying in the 30th century, never
exists in the 40th century at all. Thus we would have saved twenty thousand
other future worlds, if not this one."
"Yet nobody would ever know," mused Brainiac 5 softly. "All Earth
records would be destroyed."
"Right, Brainy." quipped Light Lass. "But the thought is plenty
strange. The joke would really be on Tazz, caught in his own time trap."
"Some joke," growled Colossal Boy, "with Earth wiped out along
with him. I say let's get going against that monster from the future."
"Seconded," snapped Karate Kid.
"Thirded" said Saturn Girl.
"Carried," barked Lyle, rising. "We leave at 1200 hours -- five
minutes from now -- and fly to the coast. Brainy has already signaled
ahead for our deep-sea craft to be ready."
Five minutes later, the six Legionnaires took a special flying shuttle
to the islands of Hawaii. From there, they boarded their special sea craft
and took off -- straight down.
Looking like some strange denizen of the deep, their special
bathysphere plunged rapidly, passing through the "milk" zone of fading
sunlight at three thousand feet, then dropping down into the lightless pit
of stygian darkness that extended another six miles down.
On the top of the hull, a powerful swinging searchlight stabbed
through the inky waters, lighting up uneartly species of deep-sea fish
that inhabited this sunless realm.As they looked out the craft's windows,
they saw life forms incredibly existing at every depth.
"Spooky," said the tiny voice of Violet with a shiver, looking out.
"Like another world."
"The pressure down here is about five tons per square inch,"
estimated Brainiac 5.
"Almost enough to crush Gim's thick skull," commented Sun Boy.
"You've got the bends," sniffed Violet, "in your brains."
"Aw, you and Colossal Boy are ganging up on me with the
quips," complained Sun Boy. "It's hardly fair -- for you two."
"Approaching sea-bottom zero," announced Brainiac 5 tensely at
the controls. "We're coming down over the spot where Dream Girl said
Tazz's lair should be."
"I'm just surprised that babe could rattle off those coordinate
numbers -- from a dream nevertheless," said Sun Boy.
Brainy said, "I'm turning out all lights, outer and inner."
A click, and oppressing darkness struck them like a blow.
"Eyes peeled below, everyone," ordered Invisible Kid. A faint
fluorescent glow indicated the outline of the observation window in the
floor, allowing them to grope their way to its edge and peer down.
Violet had the best view, she just stood in the middle of the window.
"Why don't we just use sensors to determine if there's anything
here"? asked Ferro Lad.
'Because," explained Brainiac 5, "our sensors would send out a
signal that Tazz might be able intercept, thus warning him that someone
is coming."
"Eek!" cried Violet suddenly. "A glowing tentacle of giant size."
And at that moment, as something huge wrapped itself around their
craft with the squish of suction cups against the hull, they were thrown off
their seats and feet.
"A giant kraken!" shouted Brainy. "The deep-sea squid with tentacles
a hundred feet long."
Brainiac 5 had clung to his seat at the controls. Now he pressed a
button. Lightning flashes sizzled through the water outside. Almost instantly,
the tentacles grip unwound from the craft, and something thrashed wildly
in the water and departed, leaving a wake of faintly phosphorescent bubbles.
"I jolted him with five megavolts," said Brainy drily.
Ferro Lad said, "I guess Mr. Squeezer decided he had an
appointment elsewhere. "I only hope that electrical display didn't warn
Tazz of our coming."
Brainiac 5 inched the craft down now, as they all resumed the
downward watch. A faint glow below gradually brightened and grew
bigger, until it resolved itself into a huge lighted structure.
"A lighted and aerated dome," breathed Invisible Kid. "Tazz's sea-
bottom hideout seventy thousands fathoms deep. How did he conjure it
down here? Talk about superscience ..." His voice trailed away in awed
amazement.
"Does Tazz," wondered Ferro Lad more practically, "have any
detection or alarm system for approaching craft?"
The answer came suddenly with sizzling rays spangling from the
dome's apex, stabbing through the water toward their craft.
"Hard aport," called out Brainy. "Hang on, everybody."
They barely had time to grab hand-hold bars on the walls before
the diving ship slammed sideways, swift as a leaping greyhound. Brainiac
5 twisted and turned in the waters, but the rays followed relentlessly.
Suddenly the craft dived straight down.
"I'm aiming for a sea-bottom landing," Brainy informed them
tensely, "where we may be out of range of the rays."
Halting their downward plunge skillfully, Brainiac 5 brought the
ship to a curving touchdown in watery ooze. The rays stabbed a dozen
feet above them, but no closer.
"The curvature of the dome itself cuts off any directline beam
toward its base," explained Invisible Kid. "And look -- a hatch door
leading into the dome! It must be for Tazz's own use, to leave the dome
in a mobile craft. Therefore it must have automatic open-and-close
controls for him to re-enter."
"I'm sure he doesn't get out and use a key," quipped Sun Boy.
Brainiac 5 guided their craft straight toward the door. When
within ten feet, some electrosensor trigger was set off and a huge round
hatch swung open. Water rushed into an inner chamber, pulling their
craft with it. Then the outer hatch silently closed, and the whine of a high-
powered pump was heard, emptying the chamber. Finally, an inner hatch-
way opened into the dome itself and its artificial atmosphere.
"Everybody out!" barked Lyle. "If Tazz is in a different part of
this huge dome, he won't reach here in time to stop us rushing in. And then,
if luck is with us, we can stalk him through the dome. Come on."
The six Legionnaires dashed through the inner hatch into the
lighted dome, upheld by massive crossbeams that defied the almost
unbelievable crushing presure at seabottom. It was all mind-staggering
40th century technology.
After a swift glance around, surveying details, Invisible Kid gave
instructions. "Catwalks and stairways all seem to lead to a master contol
chamber at the apex of the dome, where Tazz probably is holed up.
We'll scatter now. Sun Boy, the next catwalk left. Ferro Lad, the right
one. Brainy and I will go up the closest one. As for Colossal Boy and
Violet ..."
"No need to tell us," shrilled a thin voice from the shrinking girl.
"We'll be waiting around here to do our bit when we see a chance."
To be continued ...
By Bruce Wayne
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I'm just borrowing then for a while.
The characters are owned by DC Comics and I'm writing this just for the fun of
it.
CHAPTER 14 - DESTINATION DEEP-SEA
"Ah, nothing like a good night's sleep," said Sun Boy, coming into
the Council Room in the Legion clubhouse to find Shrinking Violet already
there. "Not to mention a sonic shower, a change of uniform and good meal.
I feel great."
"Like a new man," said Violet.
Sun Boy added, "I wonder if people think we Legionnaires never
bother with life's trivialities -- sleep, showers, meals, trimming our fingernails,
and such. I'll bet they think I wear my Sun Boy uniform day in and day out,
without change."
"Don't you?" queried Violet in wide-eyed innocence.
"Very funny. It so happens I have three full uniforms."
He eyed Violet with a devilish glint in his eye. "You ever notice
some of the others' uniforms? Some are not always alike. Take Star
Boy for example, you ever notice he has one costume with a yellow
star and another with a white star? Isn't that weird?"
"Why, that's pretty funny," laughed Violet.
"Yeah?" said Sun Boy, startled and pleased.
"Yes, but it only proves," said the girl sweetly, "that you have waaayy
too much time on your hands."
Sun Boy slapped his forehead dramatically. "Why do I always play
stooge for you?" he said plaintively.
They were bantering as usual but only to cover up the gnawing
dread within. Multiple Earth dooms launched by Tazz the Invader ... to
crush this thought they had to play a game of brittle humor.
"Speaking of uniforms," put in Colossal Boy, "shed a sympathetic
tear for Violet and me. Our special costumes have to stretch and shrink
from insect proportions up to human size -- and to 25-foot tallness or
more in my case -- along with our bodies. They wear out in a month and
cost plenty to replace them constantly."
Gim looked out to door of the room and down the hall. "If you think
we got it rough," pointing at the blue, white and red figure approaching, "what
about Ferro Lad? That uniform turns into iron."
Invisible Kid came into the room with a bunch of other Legionnaires.
He called out in a firm voice: "Okay, let's get started." They sat around at
their designated spots in the Council Room.
Lyle read the news from his omnicon. "Scientists report several
alarming and unexplained phenomena occurring around the Earth. The
Antarctic ice cap has begun melting mysteriously. Volcano eruptions have
started in the South Pacific and are spreading through thousands of islands.
Violent wind currents have been unaccountably arising in the high
stratosphere, plus the sudden appearance of a new satellite. Even
more baffling is the giant comet plunging into the solar system with
a trajectory that may come alarmingly close to Earth, though full computer
data is not yet in."
Invisible Kid eyed the others around the room.
"If we secretly hoped that Tazz was bluffing or was self-deluded,
we know otherwise now. Unless by some miracle he has miscalculated the
final results, Earth will meet oblivion in just one week. The question is, do
we inform the authorities of the machinations of Tazz, which so far we
Legionnaires alone know about? Opinions please?"
Matter-Eater Lad shook his head slowly. "It would leak out to
the public and create needless panic."
"No emergency measures can be taken to save people from any of
the dooms," spoke up Element Lad, "even if they were forewarned."
"Only a mass migration into space would save the people of
Earth," added Light Lass. "And we don't have the spacecraft to do that."
"Besides," drawled Dream Girl, "who could do anything against Tazz
if we Legionnaires can't?"
Invisible Kid looked around to see if there were any other comments.
No one else spoke up. "Then we are unanimous that we go ahead on our own
without a word to the world."
Lyle's next remark startled all of them. "We, of course, can take our
ships and leave Earth before the fateful day. I remind you that we also have
a responsibility to protect the United Planets and not just Earth. You will
vote yea or nay."
"Negative," shot back in quick chorus from Colossal Boy and Star
Boy.
At the same time Ultra Boy sprang to his feet, his face livid. "Lyle,
that was an insult. Do you think any of us would be spineless, cowardly
worms and save our own hides?" He caught his breath. "Wait ... how do
you vote, leader man?"
"Relax, Jo," said Invisible Kid. "I say the same thing, negative. So
that's out of the way."
Lyle's face became more serious. "Next is the matter of invading the
undersea lair of Tazz. Brainy says we have a suitable diving craft, among the
many vehicles he has invented for our special missions." He looked around
slowly. "Now, if Tazz is on guard against us, he can probably spot our
approaching craft like a sitting duck. On the other hand, he may be so
confident we couldn't locate him that he won't expect us. We'll have to
run that risk."
They all nodded grimly.
Invisible Kid continued, "Now, unfortunately, the bathysphere is
unable to hold all of us. So, the first team that I led to Mount Everest will
go on the undersea mission."
"Awww, come on, Lyle!" yelled a disappointed Star Boy. "I want
another crack at that creep."
The Legion's leader nodded his head in understanding, "I know, I
know, Thom. But the craft only sits five and Violet can go because she can
shrink down and can sit anywhere. The six of us have the most experience
now against Tazz. So, I think it's the best team to go. Actually, to penetrate
the personal force field Tazz might be shielded by, we should bring along
Phantom Girl. We stand a good chance to capture him -- for real this time.
But, no, we'll stick with the team I've chosen."
The Legionnaires flushed at the thought of almost having Tazz in the
Sahara, when they captured the android.
"Then we can make a deal with him," finished Invisible Kid. "His
life for saving the world -- if he can. If he can't, that's his tough luck."
"As well as ours," said Ultra Boy.
Invisible Kid smiled crookedly. "That would shift destiny into a third
kind of parallel universe, one in which Tazz, dying in the 30th century, never
exists in the 40th century at all. Thus we would have saved twenty thousand
other future worlds, if not this one."
"Yet nobody would ever know," mused Brainiac 5 softly. "All Earth
records would be destroyed."
"Right, Brainy." quipped Light Lass. "But the thought is plenty
strange. The joke would really be on Tazz, caught in his own time trap."
"Some joke," growled Colossal Boy, "with Earth wiped out along
with him. I say let's get going against that monster from the future."
"Seconded," snapped Karate Kid.
"Thirded" said Saturn Girl.
"Carried," barked Lyle, rising. "We leave at 1200 hours -- five
minutes from now -- and fly to the coast. Brainy has already signaled
ahead for our deep-sea craft to be ready."
Five minutes later, the six Legionnaires took a special flying shuttle
to the islands of Hawaii. From there, they boarded their special sea craft
and took off -- straight down.
Looking like some strange denizen of the deep, their special
bathysphere plunged rapidly, passing through the "milk" zone of fading
sunlight at three thousand feet, then dropping down into the lightless pit
of stygian darkness that extended another six miles down.
On the top of the hull, a powerful swinging searchlight stabbed
through the inky waters, lighting up uneartly species of deep-sea fish
that inhabited this sunless realm.As they looked out the craft's windows,
they saw life forms incredibly existing at every depth.
"Spooky," said the tiny voice of Violet with a shiver, looking out.
"Like another world."
"The pressure down here is about five tons per square inch,"
estimated Brainiac 5.
"Almost enough to crush Gim's thick skull," commented Sun Boy.
"You've got the bends," sniffed Violet, "in your brains."
"Aw, you and Colossal Boy are ganging up on me with the
quips," complained Sun Boy. "It's hardly fair -- for you two."
"Approaching sea-bottom zero," announced Brainiac 5 tensely at
the controls. "We're coming down over the spot where Dream Girl said
Tazz's lair should be."
"I'm just surprised that babe could rattle off those coordinate
numbers -- from a dream nevertheless," said Sun Boy.
Brainy said, "I'm turning out all lights, outer and inner."
A click, and oppressing darkness struck them like a blow.
"Eyes peeled below, everyone," ordered Invisible Kid. A faint
fluorescent glow indicated the outline of the observation window in the
floor, allowing them to grope their way to its edge and peer down.
Violet had the best view, she just stood in the middle of the window.
"Why don't we just use sensors to determine if there's anything
here"? asked Ferro Lad.
'Because," explained Brainiac 5, "our sensors would send out a
signal that Tazz might be able intercept, thus warning him that someone
is coming."
"Eek!" cried Violet suddenly. "A glowing tentacle of giant size."
And at that moment, as something huge wrapped itself around their
craft with the squish of suction cups against the hull, they were thrown off
their seats and feet.
"A giant kraken!" shouted Brainy. "The deep-sea squid with tentacles
a hundred feet long."
Brainiac 5 had clung to his seat at the controls. Now he pressed a
button. Lightning flashes sizzled through the water outside. Almost instantly,
the tentacles grip unwound from the craft, and something thrashed wildly
in the water and departed, leaving a wake of faintly phosphorescent bubbles.
"I jolted him with five megavolts," said Brainy drily.
Ferro Lad said, "I guess Mr. Squeezer decided he had an
appointment elsewhere. "I only hope that electrical display didn't warn
Tazz of our coming."
Brainiac 5 inched the craft down now, as they all resumed the
downward watch. A faint glow below gradually brightened and grew
bigger, until it resolved itself into a huge lighted structure.
"A lighted and aerated dome," breathed Invisible Kid. "Tazz's sea-
bottom hideout seventy thousands fathoms deep. How did he conjure it
down here? Talk about superscience ..." His voice trailed away in awed
amazement.
"Does Tazz," wondered Ferro Lad more practically, "have any
detection or alarm system for approaching craft?"
The answer came suddenly with sizzling rays spangling from the
dome's apex, stabbing through the water toward their craft.
"Hard aport," called out Brainy. "Hang on, everybody."
They barely had time to grab hand-hold bars on the walls before
the diving ship slammed sideways, swift as a leaping greyhound. Brainiac
5 twisted and turned in the waters, but the rays followed relentlessly.
Suddenly the craft dived straight down.
"I'm aiming for a sea-bottom landing," Brainy informed them
tensely, "where we may be out of range of the rays."
Halting their downward plunge skillfully, Brainiac 5 brought the
ship to a curving touchdown in watery ooze. The rays stabbed a dozen
feet above them, but no closer.
"The curvature of the dome itself cuts off any directline beam
toward its base," explained Invisible Kid. "And look -- a hatch door
leading into the dome! It must be for Tazz's own use, to leave the dome
in a mobile craft. Therefore it must have automatic open-and-close
controls for him to re-enter."
"I'm sure he doesn't get out and use a key," quipped Sun Boy.
Brainiac 5 guided their craft straight toward the door. When
within ten feet, some electrosensor trigger was set off and a huge round
hatch swung open. Water rushed into an inner chamber, pulling their
craft with it. Then the outer hatch silently closed, and the whine of a high-
powered pump was heard, emptying the chamber. Finally, an inner hatch-
way opened into the dome itself and its artificial atmosphere.
"Everybody out!" barked Lyle. "If Tazz is in a different part of
this huge dome, he won't reach here in time to stop us rushing in. And then,
if luck is with us, we can stalk him through the dome. Come on."
The six Legionnaires dashed through the inner hatch into the
lighted dome, upheld by massive crossbeams that defied the almost
unbelievable crushing presure at seabottom. It was all mind-staggering
40th century technology.
After a swift glance around, surveying details, Invisible Kid gave
instructions. "Catwalks and stairways all seem to lead to a master contol
chamber at the apex of the dome, where Tazz probably is holed up.
We'll scatter now. Sun Boy, the next catwalk left. Ferro Lad, the right
one. Brainy and I will go up the closest one. As for Colossal Boy and
Violet ..."
"No need to tell us," shrilled a thin voice from the shrinking girl.
"We'll be waiting around here to do our bit when we see a chance."
To be continued ...