Earth: 31st Century-3027

There was a large memorial dedicated to all the heroes of National City's past in Luthor Park. It was a large black granite wall that curved around a reflecting pool, with a huge silver embossed House of El crest in the center of it. On either side of the crest were mounted tattered representations of several capes, and under each a tall white candle burned at all times. The memorial attracted a lot of attention from tourists looking for photo ops, pilgrims seeking some kind of enlightenment perhaps, and refugees looking for a sign that things will get better. It truly meant a lot to a lot of people. But it wasn't the memorial Astra prefered. During her first weeks here in this time, she had wandered National City as if seeking something out. Her mind and her heart constantly fixated on finding answers to the lingering questions of why was she here and what was her purpose? One late summer afternoon Astra had found herself walking along the waterfront, lost in her thoughts and her grief, and the uncomfortable uncertainty she felt about her new life. From the moment of her conception within the Genesis Chamber she had had a purpose. Now she was lost, unmoored and drifting like one of those sea vessels out on the water. Astra didn't think she could feel much lower.

That's when she found it. The weathered old statue of Supergirl in flight. The marker read, "The Girl of Steel." and that it had been commissioned and dedicated by Lena Luthor in 2017. "To the Girl of Steel," Astra had read aloud. "Our inspiration to be kind, to be caring, to be stronger, to be better." Astra had taken a few steps back so she could look up at the weathered face of her immortalized niece, and had once again felt the burn of tears. She groaned and berated herself as she wiped away the wetness from her cheeks. "What do I do, little one?" She had asked the statue. "What do I do with this empty life Rao has given me?"

Twice the answers came to her in the presence of that old statue.

Moments after uttering those words aloud Astra had heard a panic filled sequel following by frightening yells of a familiar name. "Preya! Preya!"

Astra had rushed to the sound of the girl's voice to find Imra leaning over the giant cast iron chains that looped through short stone pillars to rope off the water. The girl had her arm outstretched as she cried out and was about to fall in when Astra snatched her up. Huge brown eyes looked at her in shock, unfocused and unseeing as the girl thrashed against her. When Imra finally realized who had hold of her she cried out, "Astra! My sister! Preya fell into the water! She wanted to see the ships and fell into the water!"

"Stay here." Astra commanded the girl as she set her on her feet. "I mean it Imra, don't move. I'll get Preya."

It had been the first time she'd used her powers since arriving in this new century. Astra had flown up and over the barrier and hovered for just a moment to listen and to look beneath the water's surface, before driving in. Seconds later she flew out of the water with Preya in her arms. She had taken the girls to the hospital to make sure Preya was alright, and had demanded to know why the children didn't have someone looking after them, why they had been left alone to fend for themselves in the refugee shelter. She had been told that there were simply too many refugee children to find homes for, and that shelters were perfectly safe until either their families could be found or a placement could be made with a foster family. It was then that Astra made the first choice that would put her on the path to finding her purpose, the first reasons to live this new life well. "I will take care of these children."

War could bring out the very best in some people and the very worse in others. It had been a little over a year after taking in Imra and Preya that Astra had once again found herself at the statue of her niece. It had become a special place for her, a place that let her clear her mind to think, or center herself when she began to feel unsure of her choices, or where she went when she needed to be reminded that she could change for the better. It's where she realized she could do, should do, more. Other alien races had unique abilities, Imra for example had begun showing telekinetic abilities, but none of the alien races had powers like a Kryptonian on Earth. Powers Astra had used to secure medical supplies were delivered safely to the hospital after finding out from her doctor friend that an anti-alien, anti-refugee group had been destroying their shipments of alien specific medical supplies. Imra's emerging powers sometimes gave her massive migraines that required a pain reliever a little bit different than what she could get over the counter. Those pills had been on one of those shipments, and Astra wasn't about to let some human idiot keep Imra from getting the relief she needed on the days when her headaches were bad.

It started off with little things like the medical supplies, stopping an angry alien who had been attacking humans, and aiding first responders. Then it became increasingly bigger things like fighting a rouge Red Lantern and then laying into a Green Lantern for allowing their conflicts to repeatedly trample all over the rest of the universe. That's when the news broadcasts started to ask the question, "Does National City finally have a new hero to look up too?"

Astra had laughed at the idea. She wasn't a hero. She was just trying to make up for all her past mistakes. She was just trying to live a better life after being granted a second chance at it. But Imra and Preya disagreed, because to them she was a hero, and Imra wanted to be just like her and Supergirl. Imra begged Astra to teach her, to train her, and for a long time Astra had refused. But Imra was nothing if not persistent, and eventually she became Astra's first student.

Imra was smart and had taken a liking to learning about Earth culture and language. She had discovered that some words seemed to share meanings and even spellings across language barriers. Some words even shared links to languages not of this planet. For example the words tia or tante, meaning aunt, were very similar to the word used on Titian for any female caregiver who was not one's mother. So Imra and Preya took to calling Astra, "Tia?"

Astra looked up at Imra and smiled. Imra was fifteen now and had grown so much since their first meeting six years ago. She was slender, a bit petite but surprisingly muscular thanks to Astra's training. Her ebony hair was long which she normally wore down in soft waves, and her hazel eyes were bright as she smiled at Astra in a way that told the older woman the child wanted something.

"Are you busy?" Imra asked softly, her voice still accented from spending the first nine years of her life on Saturn's moon.

"Never to busy for you." Astra replied. "What do you want, Immy?"

Imra tried to look offending but failed. "Who said I wanted something?"

Astra chuckled. " Imra, I know you."

Imra just flashed Astra a huge smile. "I'd like you to meet someone, Tia." She walked to the front door of their small home and opened it, ushering in a young man. He was tall with short black hair and blueish gray eyes. Imra pulled the young man over to stand in front of Astra as she said, "Tia, this is Rokk Krinn. He's Braalian, and he has abilities too."

Astra looked the boy over and then crossed her arms and sat back in her chair as she glared softly at Imra. "And?"

"And," Imra said nervously. "He wants you to train him too."

Astra shot to her feet. "Absolutely not!"

"I can understand your reservations, Ms. Inzee." Rokk said gently but firmly. "Training Imra to defend herself because you care about her is far different than training someone you don't even know, but I want to help. The Lantern War has left lives on so many planets a complete mess. The governments are overwhelmed beyond belief, and there is only so much help places like L-Corp can offer. I'm tired of feeling helpless, I want to do something."

"Rokk's girlfriend was on that transport you stopped last month." Imra added in. "If not for what we did, what you did Tia, Lydda would have been shipped off to be sold into slavery or worse."

"I'm going to do this one way or another." Rokk said firmly. "With or without your help, but Imra seems to think it would be best if I did it with your help."

Astra stood there, arms still crossed, still staring at these unbelievable children completely gulled by their unreasonable request. Did they have any idea what they were asking of her? Do they not release how badly it went the last time she lead a group of powered aliens on Earth or angry, frightened Kryptonians on Krypton?

"You were a general once, Tia." Imra said as she walked over and put her hands on Astra's folded arms. "You know how to train…"

"Are you asking me to build an army, Imra?" Astra snapped at the girl.

"No!" Imra replied quickly. "Of course not! But in your stories about Supergirl, you said she didn't work alone, that she had a team to back her up. Things are just to broken for you to keep trying to patch it up on your own."

Astra growled softly in the back of her throat but slowly began to relax which made Imra smile. "Do not go looking all satisfied and hopeful, child. I am agreeing to nothing, however, I will think about what you've said."

Imra threw her arms around Astra's neck and hugged her tightly. "Someday Tia," Imra whispered in her ear. "You will see how wonderful you are."

"Only you and Jany think so, Immy." Astra replied as she hugged the girl back.

"Not for long." Imra promised. "Soon everyone will know and then you can no longer doubt it."

Finding herself once again at the Supergirl statue Astra did think about what Imra had said. She knew how badly the Earth, how badly the universe beyond Earth, needed help, but more than that they needed hope. The Lantern War had taken a great toll on every planet, every sector, every system it touched. Perhaps there was a way to help beyond what she'd been doing so far. "What would you do, little one?" Astra asked Kara as she looked up at the sun warmed metal statue. "What would Supergirl do?"

Astra had sat on the bench beneath the statue for hours before returning home. When she walked in the door she wasn't surprised to find Imra and Rokk waiting on her. She looked the teens over and sighed softly while pinching the bride of her nose. "I can't believe I'm doing this." She grumbled before looking at the pair. "Alright, Mr. Krinn, show me what you can do."

Rokk Krinn's abilities involved magnetism. It wasn't something Astra knew much about, but she did know how to train someone to their strengths. So Rokk, who would take on the name Cosmic Boy, became her second student after Imra, who decided she would be called Saturn Girl. Next would come Querl Dox, a young Coluan who had discovered what Astra was doing and decided he wanted to join her. Astra wasn't sure about Dox at first, especially since the boy insisted on being called Brainiac 5 because he was a descendant of the original Brainiac.

"You know a lot about me, Mr. Dox." Astra said as she glared at the blue skinned boy with the wild white hair. "So I'm assuming you know from which planet I hail."

Brainiac 5 nodded. "You are General Astra In-Ze from the planet Krypton. On Earth you are known as Astra Inzee, and you work for L-Corp's Refugee Program."

"Can you understand my hesitation about agreeing to your request to join us?" Astra asked next. They stood in the old warehouse Astra had been using to train Rokk and Imra in secret.

The boy nodded as he stood before her, his posture stiff and perfect, his hands clasped behind his back. He looked into her eyes as he spoke. "When the original Brainiac took the city of Kandor from Krypton it was the beginning of the end for your planet. As the inevitable end of your planet drew near you took a radical militaristic stance against the government in a vain attempt at saving it. Your efforts would not have changed the fate of Krypton, General. The damage had been done long before you even existed." Astra was about to reply but Brainiac 5 continued. "Your efforts here however will have higher degrees of success in helping and I want to be apart of that. I want to make up for the things my predecessors have done. I want to make amends for Kandor and all the cities like it. Surely you can understand that, General. After all, you yourself were once the villain, one of Supergirl's first."

Coluans were notoriously hard to read but there was just something about this boy, something earnest, and even familaur about his intentions. "I may be willing to consider your request, Mr. Dox, but first I must see for myself that you are what you say you are, and not a threat to me and mine. Consider yourself on a probationary status until I say otherwise."

Brainiac 5 nodded his understand. "Thank you, General. I will not let you down."

"You'd better not." Astra replied.

Slowly a team formed around Astra, and she would become teacher, mentor, and leader to a group of lost stray teenagers. Garth Ranzz, who would go by the name Lightning Lad, would join soon after Brainy. They along with Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl would be the originals. Later, as the years went by and their reputation grew, others would join. Garth's twin sister Ayla would become Lightning Lass and Reep Daggle would join as Chameleon Boy. Chuck Tanie, who was sweet and nurturing, always making sure Astra was taking care of herself as well as them, would become Bouncing Boy. Luornu Durgo felt like karma for all the stunts she and Alura use to pull when they were kids. The girl could replicate herself and most of the time Astra felt like she had identical triplets running around. Phantom Girl, a Bgztlian named Tinya Wazzo, would round out the second group of teens.

"We need a name." Chuck said one morning over breakfast in the ramshackled ruins of the old building Astra had managed to buy. Her growing collection of stays had long since outgrown the old wearhouse.

"What do you mean a name?" Garth asked, looking up from his cereal.

"A team name." Chuck replied. "Something epic and bold, something that elects the kinds of emotions our mission statement stands for."

"We have a mission statement?" Luornu asked.

"Of course we do." Chuck replied. "To help keep the peace and to help those who need it no matter where or who they are. To give people hope that it will get better, and to give them strength to see them through the hard times, and help them believe in themselves."

"Wow." Garth replied. "That's a lot to take on. No pressure or anything."

Imra tilted her head a bit as she asked, "Where did you come up with that, Chuck?"

"I didn't come up with it, not really." The boy replied. "It's what Astra had been teaching us all along, isn't it?"

Imra smiled a huge proud smile as she nodded. "It is."

They all debated names for several minutes before Astra walked in just as Chuck offers up the name Superfriends. It's quickly shot down. She chuckles softly to herself and then remembers why she came. Something has crashed in the mountains, not far from where her pod had crashed so many years ago. "Imra, Chuck, Brainy, with me. Search and rescue, suit up."

"Yes General." The pair reply with grins as they jump from their seats.

Just before she leaves the others to finish their breakfasts and get on with their work assignments to help get this old building up and running as their new headquarters, Astra pauses in the doorway and says, "I've been calling us the Legion, I think it's fitting."

Grins appear on faces all over the room.

"The Legion." Brainy says with a nod.

"I like it, Tia." Imra adds.

"Guess we have a name then." Chuck says.

Astra smiled. "Come on let's go. We have work to do."