Daybreak. Even thought the clock had struck six AM Mountain Standard Time, Daria, Jane, and Quinn had been up for over two hours. The three had new changes of clothes (slacks and sweaters, and Quinn had been moaning about the poor fashion sense of the purchaser since she had been awake) and everyone had been fed whatever they wanted. Jane dug in heartily; Daria and Quinn ate little for different reasons.

Russell Stark had greeted the girls at breakfast, and asked them to meet him in his office upstairs after they ate. The topic at breakfast concerned what Stark wanted, if anything.

"Maybe he's just a really nice old guy," said Jane. "You think he wants company?"

"Ew! He should look for someone his own age!" chirped Quinn.

"I don't know what he wants…and I should," said Daria. "The facts are these: just because the FBI is not breathing down our necks is no reason for Quinn to start buying furniture. I don't want to even mention Mom and Dad. With all of the excitement of yesterday, I'm surprised our faces aren't all over TV."

"Tell me about it." Jane put her head in her hands, thinking of her inadvertent flashing of the crowd as she came off the airplane.

"Either Stark wants us to stay here, which would make things not only weird, but creepy in a Michael Jackson way, or he wants us to go back to Lawndale, and we're grounded for life, if not locked away in plastic cages. The fact is that we have nowhere to go after here unless we hit Stark up for serious money. And I think that Stark has done so much for us that we're fresh out of favors."

"Well…" thought Jane, "in that case I should eat some more. If we have to go back on the run, I want to go on a full stomach." Daria and Quinn watched Jane order more pancakes, and then ordered seconds themselves.

(la la LA la la)

Stark's office was surprisingly sterile. A desk, a laptop, and three chairs had been brought in for his visitors from Lawndale.

"Uh…Mister Stark…we're really glad that you saved our bacon. I don't think there's much else that you could do for us," said Jane, "but we could really appreciate a few bucks if you need us to hit the road."

"And by the way," said Daria, "I'm not going back to Lawndale. Consider that off the table."

"We'll discuss Lawndale later. First…I want to thank you for saving my life. I had no idea that I was going to be killed, and you might have guessed that I'm a bit paranoid about my personal health. I let few people get close to me. Many of my associates only know me from cell phone calls. Still…if the three of you hadn't acted, I would be dead. Perhaps you could have saved yourselves after the assassins finished the job. I owe all of you a great deal of gratitude. No, that's an understatement. I owe the three of you everything."

Daria was left nonplussed. Jane turned red in embarrassment. Quinn broke the silence with a "Well..uh…don't mention it!"

"The three of you have…restored my outlook on life. To be blunt, I turned away from the world. I gave up on humanity. The planet was in the midst of its death spiral, and one only had two courses of action – turn away, or be pulled down. I tried anonymous charity, but charity would only be palliative care for a patient on life support. Politics was no solution.

"In 1996, I thought of a possible solution. I burned with activity for six months…then slowly, and sadly, put the project aside. My hope was in the youth of the world, that they could somehow undo the damage their elders had done if they could be found in an uncorrupted state."

Daria coughed. "It doesn't work that way. The youth of the world would require direction. Adult supervision." One could feel Daria's contempt for the idea. "And the cycle would begin all over again."

"I agree," said Stark. "The youth of the world aren't strong enough to stand unaided. They can't fight back. Adult authority would sweep their concerns aside. Unless some sort of Nietzschean super-youth appeared on the scene, the older generation would continue to pass down its prejudices and folly to the younger. The apple, my friends, does not fall far from the tree.

"But…it seems that help has arrived at last." Stark caught the eyes of each of the three young women across the desk from him. "And you, I believe, are that help."

"Let me get this straight," said Daria, "you think that we're the ones to break the pattern, just because we have weirdo powers."

"Well," said Quinn, "it's not like I couldn't fight back! I don't think Mom could drag me home no matter how hard she tried if I didn't want to go!"

"Give me a special forces detachment of Navy SEALS, and enough artillery," said Daria, "and I think I would bet on the SEALS over you, Quinn. There's your problem," concluded Daria, "three of us aren't going to make a damn bit of difference. One on one, our powers don't amount to a hill of beans. Throwing lightning, attracting metal and reading minds would make a great movie, but that's it. We're outnumbered before we would even start – if we wanted to do this at all."

"No. Separately, none of you alone could have stopped the attempt on my life. It took all three of you, working in concert. This is the genius of it. You could lead others. There could be an entire mass of young people, a legion, if you will, if they could see that there were young people who could stand against the world's folly."

"So," said Jane, "how much of an army is this going to take? Because I don't think I can stop a nuke. And no one at Lawndale High said anything about leadership skills. We Lanes avoid leadership whenever possible."

"What? You two maybe can't lead," said Quinn, "but I'm the vice-president of the Fashion Club! I have leadership skills!"

"On second thought," said Jane, "anything's better than Quinn leading. Quinn in charge of the youth of America is a frightening thought."

"Which is why this is a disaster in the making," said Daria. "Mister Stark, just how much thought did you put in this? And are there any empty bottles of Scotch behind that desk?"

Stark turned the laptop towards the others. He reached over the screen, and pushed a button.

The three watched an animation. It almost looked like a city of the future. Everything was done in an art deco style, weird attenae bursting from improbable objects, bedecked with seemingly useless rings and dials.

The sun was shining. Birds were singing. The future looked somehow clean. Two young kids were talking to an older woman. Everyone looked well off. There were no poor people. Green spaces abounded. Pets played.

A car suddenly lifted itself from the ground – and began to take flight over this Metropolis of Tomorrow. The car loomed towards a large building, bedecked with what appeared to be a ribbon, like the yellow "God Bless Our Troops" ribbons found on the back of large SUVs. The ribbon became the focal point of the animation as it zoomed into view.

The animation suddenly morphed into a pen and ink drawing of the same building. Reality had set in. The artist was a young black woman, in a classroom, sitting at a desk in an urban high school which seemed to be falling apart. Outside, graffiti and decay ruled. It was a world without hope.

There was a voiceover:

IF YOU DON'T CHOOSE THE FUTURE YOU WANT

YOU DON'T GET THE FUTURE YOU WANT

The screen went to black. Silence. Then a URL: www dot legionnaires dot com

then clicked another button. It was a blueprint of a building and a complex, down to heights, dimensions, cost projections, and materials needed. The same ribbon-like sigil appeared on the blueprint as from the animated building. This was a real-life working of what had been only shown as a concept.

"It can happen."

"That would take money," said Daria.

"I have money."

"That would take too much money. I don't think you have that much money."

"No amount of money is too much money. Not for this."

"This is crazy."

"Yes, Daria Morgendorffer. As crazy as three girls from a suburban town suddenly having unexplained powers."

"We couldn't do it," said Jane.

"Couldn't you? The three of you worked wonders yesterday."

"We don't have those skills. You need Jodie Landon, or Chelsea Clinton, or someone like that," said Jane.

"I want you."

"People in hell want ice water," said Daria.

"So why are people in hell, then? Why don't they just leave?"

"That's a rhetorical trick. I'm not persuaded. This is dumb."

Stark looked at the other two. "What about you, Quinn?"

Quinn was taken aback. She felt very much the junior with her big sister and her friend dominating the conversation. "Well…uh…why not me? Why not use my natural charms and popularity for the good of humanity?"

"Oh boy," said Daria, "Quinn's head is now inflated. Explosion imminent."

"Splendid. And you, Ms. Lane?"

"I don't see what's in it for me. I can't lead anything. I don't have any brains. I just draw."

"Fine. Draw. But come along."

"And of course, there's the prospect of compensation. I mean…Mom and Dad aren't home a lot and the creditors are knocking on the door…."

"Very good. If your parents are having money problems, I can take care of that."

"…then there's a trip to New York…the studio apartment…."

"Wait a minute!" Daria stood up. "You're going to let this guy bribe you?"

Jane folded her arms. "Look, Daria. I don't have money. We live from day to day at home. There's not a week that goes by that I don't worry about something bad happening. It's just Trent and me. We were on the run just yesterday! None of us had anywhere to go! And dammit, if being in a stupid infomercial is going to take care of that, then I'm going to make my deal with the devil."

"Excuse me? This isn't the same Jane Lane that vandalized a poster last year because it was turned into something that offended her personal integrity?"

"So what does my personal integrity have to do with this?"

"You don't actually believe what this guy's trying to sell? This phony vision of the Jonestown of Tomorrow?"

"I don't know what I believe!" shouted Jane. "Hey, at least I'm willing to give the damn thing a chance! I'm not signing a contract! I can leave whenever I want, right?"

"Right," said Stark.

"And what do we have without this guy? Nothing! We can get on the plane to Los Angeles and hope we don't starve to death. Or hope that you don't get sent to Happy Acres when the authorities catch up with all of us. I think I'd rather hope in a future full of flying cars, first!"

"I can't believe this," said Daria. "You don't see the strings attached. I'm not going to be a part of anyone's vision of the future but my own. I'm leaving."

"Jane, Quinn," said Daria. "Leave the room. I wish to talk to Daria, alone."

"I've heard enough."

"Jane? If you please?" Jane stood up to go. Quinn was torn between staying and going.

Stark counted out five one hundred dollar bills. "Five hundred dollars. For five minutes of your time. If you don't care for what I have to say after that, you take the money and you walk out the door. No strings attached, and you have a nest egg to get started in your new life."

"Dah-ria!" said Quinn. "You'd be crazy not to take it!"

Daria looked down. Jane and Quinn were staring at her. She was trapped between them and Stark.

"Five hundred dollars. You have three hundred seconds. Then I'm out of here."

Stark made a "hurry up and get out of here" gesture with his hands. Jane and Quinn rapidly left.

"Why can't I read your mind?" said Daria. "What are you?"

"Daria, I hope you don't think this is carrot and stick. Jane and Quinn are much more free to leave than you are."

"Why?"

"Because", said Stark, "without the help of this project…you'll probably be dead or crippled in a month."

"Hardly."

"I've talked to Jane. Headaches. Nosebleeds when you receive a lot of information all at once. I'll bet that you sometimes having tingling in your fingers or a tightness in your chest. Short of breath?"

"No. Not that. But the other things." Daria hated to concede even that much.

"Not migraines. Not hallucinations. Not schizophrenia. Ordinary high blood pressure. Which comes when your use your powers. That means a major stroke down the line if it's untreated, which will leave you paralyzed, or dead if your stroke is in the brain stem. You've not noticed yourself zoning out? Suddenly inattentive to things around you? Gaps in your memory?"

"No."

"Then you've not had a transient ischemic attack. Lack of oxygen to the brain, or what is called a 'mini-stroke'. Of course, the tests you had done at the hospital would have found that."

Daria's mouth felt suddenly dry. "I can treat myself. Take pills."

"What kind of pills? What part of your brain controls your powers? Is it the brain stem? One stroke there kills you, dead as a doornail. Do you depend on Joe MD at the free clinic somewhere on the streets of Los Angeles to diagnose that properly? Is that headache from just trying to make it as a runaway or is it the big brain-busting episode that robs your best friend Jane of what I fear is her only friend, or robs Quinn of her older sister?"

"So I stay with you or I'm dead? Those are my options?"

"No. There's always a third way. You stay with the project long enough to get your powers under control. Maybe there's a way to use them without bringing up your blood pressure. We use a wrist monitor, biofeedback techniques to keep you calm and focused. You try my way. You get the powers under control. And then, when you're satisfied that you're no longer a danger to yourself and others, you give everyone the dirty bird and you leave."

"'The project'?"

"The Legion."

Daria felt doomed. She knew that he was right. Hell, even if he was making it all up, she didn't know what was happening to her. Would Jane and Quinn go with her? Would they refuse? Would they call her parents? What would happen?

"God damn it. You're crazy. I should have kept my big mouth shut."

"Should have left me to die on that plane?"

"No. Not that. But this? This isn't an alternative. We're prisoners. An army of youth, under no supervision…but yours. You as the man holding the purse strings. I don't think your vision is going to come true that way."

"Mmm. Hardly. Hardly at all." Stark walked over to the door. "Jane, Quinn, I believe our conversation is over."

The two stepped in. Jane was worried that Daria was very angry at her. Quinn was worried that Daria would make a scene and force Quinn to make a decision that she didn't really want to make. It had stopped being a fun adventure with the plane ride. Stark's commercial seemed to be the only way out.

"Who among you is the leader?"

"I am!" shouted Quinn.

"Uh, no," said Jane. "Never in a million years."

"Daria?" asked Stark. Daria just stared daggers at him.

"That leaves you, Jane? Do you accept?"

"Uh..sure." Why the hell not?

"Good, then." He pulled his cellphone out of his pocket, along with an envelope. "This is a list of names and numbers. I've already called Dawn Hall; she's on her way out here as your advisor. She's a strong woman. Don't let her boss you around. Technically, she's your subordinate."

"Oooo-kay." Jane took the items with a dead hand. "So if she gives us any trouble, we call you, right?"

"There shall be no calling me. I'm leaving."

"Leaving?" asked Quinn.

"On the lam. On the run. Incognito. Going underground. Getting the hell out."

"Hey! You can't leave me with all of this!" said Jane.

"I'm afraid so. I'm in a lot of trouble. A lot of a lot of a lot of trouble. Truly unimaginable amounts of trouble. The three of you, being minors, are in marginally smaller amounts of trouble, which will be taken care of with Dawn Hall's help. Then, of course, there are your parents. And if Daria Morgendorffer is in terror of her parents, you can guess that I don't bloody well want to be here when they show up!!"

"So who's going to run this thing?" said Daria.

"The three of you. You are the bosses now. You have the resources of the Quest Corporation behind you, so make it happen. Daria, you might want to read about a man called John Boyd. You'll find it fascinating, there are some original works by Boyd in the library."

"We can't run a corporation!" said Quinn. "We don't know how!"

"Perhaps. Maybe it will all blow up in a mountain of litigation. But I have learned one thing. Your friend, Daria, is right. The Legion will never happen if I'm here to provide guidance. I'm an adult. I'm already corrupt. The youth…must…lead. You must take the wheel and captain your own destiny!

"Now if you excuse me, I'm on the run. I expect 'America's Most Wanted''s cameramen to break through at any minute. If shots are fired, do not come and rescue me. I might only have hours left. Goodbye, and good luck!"

Stark then began running for the door. Daria began running after him.

"Hey! Wait up, dammit!" She opened the door as Stark climbed into a waiting Honda Accord. The car sped down the circular road and out of the estate.

"Why can't I read your mind?!" Daria shouted. Goddamnit, come back here!! Daria was left alone to watch the car disappear.

Daria turned around and walked back towards the mansion, to the entrance hall. A stunned Jane and Quinn were waiting for her.

There was silence for a full minute. Then Daria said, "Lane…the next time I open my mouth…shove a boot in it, will ya?"