Chapter 13

"WHAT!"

The shout, including the voices of most of the Legionnaires and the Subs, was deafening after the oppressing silence that had shrouded the room after Phantom Girl's startling announcement. Among those who did not join in were Saturn Girl, Superman, Dream Girl, Brainiac 5, and of course, Phantom Girl.

"Phantom Girl, are you sure about this?" Cosmic Boy demanded.

"I'm positive. Look, it's right here", she said, showing him the sentence.

Cosmic Boy took one look and staggered backward a few steps. "Saturn Girl…Protector of…how did this…"

"This is shocking!" Element Lad exclaimed.

"So that's why everything centered on Saturn Girl", said Superman.

"What if Brainiac 1.0 knows about this?" queried XS.

"It would be a disaster!" Tyroc responded.

"This still leaves the matter of how to find Brainiac", Kell-el put in.

"But this changes everything!" Triplicate Girl cried.

The noise rose, as everyone expressed their surprise and amazement. Dream Girl collapsed into a chair, finally knowing what her premonition meant. Cosmic Boy did the same, dumbfounded. Phantom Girl just stood there, watching the commotion she had caused. Lightning Lad, however, looked around for Saturn Girl, who had been beside him just a minute before. Now, though, she was nowhere to be found.

Slipping unnoticed out of the room, Lightning Lad headed for the roof, on a hunch that Saturn Girl would be there.

He wasn't disappointed. There she was, staring out over the city, her face expressionless. Lightning Lad was reminded uncomfortably of the last time they'd been on the roof.

"Imra?" he ventured tentatively. Somehow, he knew this was not the time for codenames. When she didn't answer, he came over to her. "Hey, you okay?"

"I knew it. I knew I was more involved in this than any of you." Her voice was flat and toneless, but Lighting Lad knew her too well.

"Hey, look here." He placed his hands on her shoulders and gently turned her to face him. "It's all right. It doesn't matter if you're the Protector or not. We'll get through this."

Saturn Girl's calm exterior broke, and suddenly she was insecure, uncertain, and apprehensive.

"Why me, Garth?" she asked. "Why is it me? I can't imagine dealing with any of this. You heard the prophecy. If I don't defeat Brainiac, it will mean the end of all that we know. What if I can't do it? What if I fail?"

"You can do it", Lightning Lad said firmly. "And you won't fail. Because you're the strongest person I know. And I'll be right by your side through the whole thing. It'll be all right." He held her tight as she pressed against him. "I promise."

The Legionnaires in the main room were still in uproar when Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl walked back in. No one seemed to have noticed their absence, and they were no more aware when the two walked in.

That's enough.

As soon as the Legionnaires heard the thought in their heads, accompanied by Lightning Lad's loud command, they all fell silent and turned eyes on the duo.

"This endless talk is getting us nowhere", Saturn Girl said firmly. "I understand you're all shocked and surprised – none more so than I – but we don't have time to dwell on it. We've got too much to do. Obviously I'm going to have to fight Brainiac 1.0 sooner or later, but we have to find him first. So why don't we all get some rest before reconvening in the morning?"

"Saturn Girl's right", agreed Cosmic Boy. "Let's sleep on this. We can discuss what to do in the morning." When all the digital Legionnaires had closed their screens, he turned to Saturn Girl. "Saturn Girl, a word alone."

The two of them retreated off to one side where Cosmic Boy began talking to her furiously. Watching them, Lightning Lad felt a pang of jealousy, which he shook off quickly. Cosmic Boy was a good friend, and he'd been friends with Saturn Girl an equally long time. Why should he feel this way? Still, he couldn't help harboring a little envy. Unnoticed by Lightning Lad, Dream Girl was observing him from her seat across the room, a knowing smile on her face.

The next morning, all the Legionnaires gathered in the main room. Karate Kid and Nemesis Kid had returned to Legion HQ, and the rest of the team were, as usual, looking on from digital screens.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Triplicate Girl from her screen.

"Well –" began Cosmic Boy before he was cut off by Saturn Girl.

"We do what we were planning to do all along. Nothing's changed. We still have to find Brainiac." She glanced pointedly at Cosmic Boy.

Cosmic Boy sighed. "Okay, fine. We do what we were planning to do. Brainy, anything on the amplifying device?"

"I have completed a prototype that is operable", replied Brainy. "However, to farther improve it, I must see how it works with Dawnstar's powers."

"Fine. Dawnstar, how fast can you get back here?" asked Cosmic Boy.

"If I fly on my own, about two hours", she answered.

Cosmic Boy nodded his approval. "Good. Do we know anything new?" he addressed the other Legionnaires.

"There have been sightings of members of the Fatal Five and the LSV all within the asteroid belt near Mars", Ultra Boy responded.

"There's been loads of scrap metal floating in that area too", put in XS.

"And when I'm there, I can almost pick up a trail", added Dawnstar.

"That must be where Brainiac 1.0's base is", concluded Colossal Boy.

"Lightning Lad, anything on the scouting?" inquired Cosmic Boy.

"Nothing much", replied Lightning Lad. "We only spotted Tharok near the junkyard and he disappeared before we could reach him. But Star Boy's team has been monitoring intergalactic activity, and it looks like every now and then the Fatal Five or the LSV attack different planets."

"Whatever for?" Cosmic Boy asked.

"We don't know", Star Boy answered from his screen. "But the attacks don't last very long, and they usually carry something away. Brainiac's obviously building something."

"Wonderful", muttered Cosmic Boy. "Knowing Brainiac, it's probably something powerful, complicated, and dangerous." Thinking quickly, he said in a normal tone, "All right, here's what we're gonna do. I'm going to be reassigning missions within the month, so be ready to move. But for now … Sun Boy, you and your team keep an eye on the asteroid belt. Keep out of sight, but monitor all activity in that area. Star Boy, I need reports of those intergalactic attacks and possibly what was taken. Dawnstar, get back here as fast as you can, so Brainy can perfect the amplifying device. We need to find Brainiac as quickly as we can."

"There might be something else we can do", interjected Chameleon Boy. "If we can find a specific pattern to the attacks by the Fatal Five and the LSV, we might be able to intercept them and find out what Brainiac's building."

"That…is actually a good idea", said Cosmic Boy, surprised that Cham had come up with it.

"It's an excellent suggestion", said Brainy. "It is somewhat of an ingrained habit in Coluans never to do things randomly. Brainiac 1.0 will most likely have a specific design to his actions – or, as the case might be, the Fatal Five's and LSV's actions."

"Star Boy, think you can identify a pattern?" inquired Cosmic Boy.

"Probably", replied Star Boy. "I'll have to look over the reports but I should be able to find a common link."

"Great. The rest of you, keep scouting out possible locations for a base of operations until I reassign you, but don't go too far from the asteroid belt. Sun Boy's team may need your help if it turns out that Brainiac's base really is there."

The next month was the time during which all the Legion's plans were implemented. Different teams took different assignments. Once Dawnstar arrived on Earth, Cosmic Boy, as he had promised, reassigned all the Legionnaires into new groups.

Lightning Lad was in charge of the team in Legion HQ, which was also occupied by Saturn Girl, Dream Girl, Colossal Boy, Kell-el, and the Subs (whom Cosmic Boy put in Legion HQ as well for the sake of convenience, despite their Headquarters not being very far away). Lightning Lad, Colossal Boy, and Kell-el – and surprisingly, Porcupine Pete too – frequently organized scouting expeditions around Earth to keep an eye on the planet and possibly spot a member of the Fatal Five or the LSV. Saturn Girl was training harder than ever in light of her recently revealed destiny, with help from Dream Girl, who was aiding her in improving her hand-to-hand combat skills as well as her force field generation. Most of the other Legionnaires in and out of Legion HQ were also training rigorously in their spare time, preparing themselves for the big battle against Brainiac and his allies that they knew would come.

Bouncing Boy, Triplicate Girl, Element Lad, Star Boy, Ultra Boy, Tyroc, XS, Timber Wolf, Chameleon Boy, Blok, Karate Kid, and Matter-Eater Lad were monitoring all activity throughout the solar system that contained Earth and the system nearest to it (as they seemed to be the only ones that were attracting attention from the Fatal Five and the Legion of Supervillains) in two separate groups, one led by Bouncing Boy, the other by XS.

Cosmic Boy took command of the team that kept watch on the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. This group included Superman, Sun Boy, Shrinking Violet, Nemesis Kid, Chemical King, and Wildfire. Dawnstar and Brainiac 5 were also among them, but unlike the others, they did not monitor the asteroid belt, and frequently took off by themselves in a space pod to test out Brainy's attempts at the perfect amplifying device.

The different teams all communicated regularly, passing information and, in Cosmic Boy's case, orders. Once or twice, Phantom Girl alerted them all to a new piece of knowledge she had gained from the books and holopads at the United Planets' Official Library, to which she and Invisible Kid had returned, at Cosmic Boy's urging, in order to glean more information. However, any potentially useful facts they had come across had yet to help the Legion in any way, as Cosmic Boy told the team at Legion HQ.

"What about you?" inquired Lightning Lad. "Found anything big on your end?"

"I wish", replied Cosmic Boy. "We haven't been able to pick up much. Just several sightings of the Fatal Five or the LSV, and traces of extremely high-tech stealth and cloaking devices. This almost certainly means that Brainiac 1.0 has something of importance located within the belt, but Brainy keeps pointing out that it might simply be a construction hangar for whatever he's building, and not his base of operations."

"Damn", muttered Colossal Boy.

"I'll call you again when I've got more news, and hopefully then it's good news", said Cosmic Boy. "Cosmic Boy out."

The screen blanked, but almost instantly, another call came through. It was Phantom Girl and Invisible Kid, and they looked grim – not a good sign.

"Anything new?" asked Dream Girl, nervous about what she would hear.

"Yes", said Invisible Kid. "And unfortunately, it's not good."

A/N: Thirteenth chapter posted! I know 13 is supposed to be an unlucky number, but I am in no way superstitious, and I have no qualms about saying so. Thanks to Lillywhitecherub as well as TheEclipse and Devilbunny, two new reviewers. Thanks also to The Violet Rose, who sent me her review via Private Messages, as she couldn't review properly because of her computer.

Disclaimer: I've said it exactly thirty times, and I'll say it again: I do not own Legion of Superheroes.