Legion Reserve Headquarters, Pluto
Private Laboratory of Brainiac 5

“We know you're in there, Rond!  Now open this door right the sprock now!”

Rond Vidar was a man on fire and if his personal fears were to come to pass, the description would have been quite a literal one.  His fingers danced across the Omnicom in a frenzy and for a moment it almost seemed that the nearby computer console was having trouble keeping up.  Shouts from behind threatened to cause him to stumble but he typed on, very much wanting to finish the calculations he started hours earlier. 

Not a very carefully laid plan, Rond Vidar had set out to confirm several of his suspicions about an increasing number of aberrations in time, absconding Legion assets to do so.  This required sending coded orders to Legionnaires half way across the galaxy with forged identicode signatures, namely those of Lightning Lad and Brainiac 5.  Lightning Lad -or was it Livewire, Rond had a hard time remembering-who was laid out on one of Dr. Gym'll operating slabs and Brainiac 5, who was lost somewhere in the Time Stream.  So far detached from the reserve Legion headquarters set on Pluto, Wildfire and the others weren't given much time or room to question orders they perceived to come from the Legion Chairman or its resident 12th Level genius.  So off they went, Wildfire, Tellus, Laurel Kent and Quislet... whatever a Quislet was, off they went to their early graves. 

Rond Vidar's attempt at subterfuge was meant to expedite his investigation without his request for help being overruled by the Legion's priority efforts against the Blight.  Already the Blight had dug into Earth and more planets were being converted to their undeclared cause every few weeks.  Whatever they wanted, whatever their origins, Rond felt in his gut that the time-quakes he was recording were more of precedence.  Unfortunately, Rond Vidar was a member of the Time Institute and not...

Rond Vidar The 30th Century's Greatest Superheroes.....

Time's End

Legion Worlds #3- March, Year Four by Matthew J. Pierce


There was a pounding at the door in what was once Brainiac 5's laboratory, heavier and not as hurried as the several that preceded it.  The Legionnaires on the other side of the sealed door had been knocking for several minutes, demanding that Rond open it and answer for his crimes.  By now they too would know the fate of Wildfire and the others, and by now they would know it was Rond who faked their instructions and sent them to their deaths on Apokolips.  Of course, upon immediately getting through the door the Legionnaires would demand answers and as of now, the chronologist had precious few and therefore could claim no innocence.

A second massive thud sounded against the door and though he shouldn't have torn his eyes away from his research, Rond couldn't help but look over his shoulder.  The hatch appeared to be deformed now; two rounded dents appeared in what was once smooth ashen-gray metal.  They seemed too large to be made by fists... unless it was Monstress on the other side of the door and that made Rond swallow hard with trepidation.  He turned back to the Omnicom, forcing his attention on his formulas and calculations.  No sooner had he done so, that the door blew violently off its heavy, hydraulic hinges and sailed across the room to imbed itself in the computer display over Rond's head.  There were sparks and violent spasms of freed electricity and then everything in the room went dark.  It was an unnatural darkness, one that could only be radiated by Tasmia Mallor, the Legionnaire known as Umbra.  It not only served to cut Rond off from any intended escape route, since he couldn't see any exits, but also brought an abrupt end to his research.  He was done for, left unable to prove to anyone that their ancient past had affected changes in their present over 384 times in the last two days.  Rond expressed his disappointment with a deep sigh and lowered his arms, the only proof of his studies stored in an Omnicom resting against his thigh.

“There's nowhere to run, Rond.  You should have just opened the door.”  Jazmin Cullen, the second Kid Quantum.  It would have been her who finally forced the door open, Rond knew.  He turned toward her voice in the darkness, unprepared for what another said next.

“Vidar.  Like father, like son.”  It was Element Lad’s voice, Rond noted.  Coming from him, those words stung deep.


Legion Infirmary

“About time you got down here.  I called for you over ten minutes ago.”  Dr. Gym'll was being his usual, patient and understanding self.  Stout, four armed and purple skinned, the master physician and surgeon had patched up and saved more Legionnaires than any other.  Now he was stepping away from the operating table that was now being sealed inside a large, clear capsule that would both monitor and treat the patient within.

“My apologies,” Invisible Kid sighed.  Acting as chairman was not something he wanted, especially given the circumstance.  Lightning Lad was finally sealed in the med-capsule with a loud hiss and Invisible Kid couldn't help but to look somber.  “There was some... excitement, upstairs.  That and we've lost contact with a detachment from Tsuron.  Near Apokolips of all places.”

Gym'll made it clear that he could care less, pulling off faux-skin gloves and slapping them onto a tray covered by a hovering med-drone.  He walked off, expecting that Invisible Kid would follow and he was right.  “I've done everything I can do for young Mr. Ranzz.”

Lyle Norg's brow wrinkled at the words and even though he knew he knew it would earn him an indignant remark from Gym'll, he felt the need to clarify.  “So Garth will be all right then?”

“Honestly, if I didn't think so, would I be standing here speaking with you?  Have I ever walked away from a job half finished, young Legionnaire?  No, I should think not,” he grumbled.  “The sample I collected earlier reacted negatively to a tachyon bombardment.  Continued exposure seems to be having a positive effect on the Blight infestation inside his lungs.  Of course they need to be short, steady, bursts.  They work well in age therapy on old wrinkled women but prolonged exposure...”

“I understand,” Lyle nodded.  They would need more time but for now, Lightning Lad seemed to have a fighting chance and that was the first bit of positive news he'd heard all week. 

“No, I don't think you do but then again that's why I'm here,” he barked.

Lyle allowed himself to smile a little bit and surrendered to what he thought was Gym'll's call for glory.  “Of course you're right, Dr. Gym'll.  Thank you once again.”

“No.  Not this time, young man.  This time you thank that Rond Vidar fellow.”


Forensic Laboratory

“It's nothing I can replicate,” Element Lad confessed.  He had spent countless hours over the last two days, trying to copy the elemental properties of the object in front of him without success.

“Well Rond knows something about it, that's for sure.  According to Dr. Gym'll he pretty much served up Garth's cure on a servo-drone's holo-plate.”  Lyle Norg, Invisible Kid, had one arm wrapped around his waist and the other's elbow resting on it as he rubbed his lower lip in thought.

“Well pardon me for asking the obvious... but has anyone asked him about it?”  Element Lad and Invisible Kid looked at their teammate, who seemed too busy to be paying attention, and then looked at each other. 

When Brainiac 5 vanished along with a handful of other Legionnaires during a battle with a power mad Shrinking Violet and the Emerald Eye, the remaining members looked to Lyle for scientific assistance.  He had, after all, created the Legion flight rings, not to mention the serum that granted him his invisibility.  But when Lightning Lad had fallen during an ambush by Blight soldiers, the mantle of leadership had to be passed.  No sooner did he accept chairmanship did a new crisis arise when it was discovered that four Legionnaires were slain on a mission authorized using false identicodes.  The work Lyle started on the specimen in front of them had to be finished but he was worried that between the Blight and their own internal struggles, he wouldn't have the time.  So who would the Legion of Super-Heroes turn to when both of their resident scientific geniuses were otherwise engaged?

The third Legionnaire in the lab perhaps.  Gear's techno-organic body was a wide mess of instruments and tools, willed into being by his Linsnarian physiology.  It was hard to see where the almond skinned Legionnaire's body started and ended as he was very much tied into the mainframe that lied gutted all around them.  Beams of light alternated color and intensity around the specimen, which appeared to be little more than a cluster of metallic weeds and dirt.  Thought he appeared less human than most members of the Legion, it was almost refreshing to that he understood humanity the most.

White, pupiless eyes glared at Jan Arrah and Invisible Kid as if Gear was waiting for a reply but none came.  He returned to his work and an arc of bright purple light jolted from a digitless hand and lit up the specimen.  “I could always cross reference my findings with whatever it was Rond was working on.  We know he didn't actually spend any time with the Blight sample but there might be a common link between his research into our missing Legionnaires and the Blight.”

“Good thinking, Gear.  You do that and in the meantime, I'll just ask him how he knew that tachyons would help Garth.”

“You know it could have just been a lucky guess,” Element Lad snorted.  “I mean, he is the 'time' guy.”  He crossed his arms and wore a less than congenial expression.  Usually known to be among the kindest Legionnaires, his temperament soured when it came time to arrest Rond Vidar.  Lyle could understand why that might have been; given Rond's father was Universo, a tested enemy of the Legion and the being responsible for the deaths of Element Lad's people on Trom.  Or was he?  Lyle rubbed his temple as his vision seemed to blur and contort.  He looked over to Gear who, for a moment, resembled Danielle Foccart, the sister of his friend Jacques and formerly a host of Computo.  He blinked and Gear returned and so did his memory.  “No, that's not right.  It was Roxxas, not Universo...”

Element Lad's ears seemed to perk and he joined Invisible Kid's side, steadying him.  “You okay, Lyle?”

“Hm?  Oh I'm sorry, Jan.  I probably shouldn't bring up Roxxas, not now...,” he trailed off.  “I better see to Rond before Dawnstar rips him to shreds.”

Titan, Moon of Saturn
The Titan Institute, Medical Wing

“She just looks to be in so much pain, Doctor.”  Thom Kallor, the Legionnaire known as Star Boy, looked through the holoshield separating him and his host from the woman inside a protective cell.  Star Boy's former teammate and girl friend, Dreamer, sat on the floor in a corner, staring off into nothingness.

“I can assure you, Thom, that isn't the case.”  Standing beside Star Boy was Dr. Micah Aven of Titan, former mentor to the Legion's Saturn Girl, Imra Ardeen.  “What she is feeling, in fact, is less physical pain and more mental.  You did well in bringing her to me.”

“I hadn't any other choice, really.  With Saturn Girl in the 20th Century and Tellus away on assignment, I didn't know where else to turn.  I mean there was the Gi'Dishpan but...”

“Say no more, Thom.  She is in good hands on Titan.  You would have done young Nura no favors giving her over to those brain-rapists.”  Micah smiled, twisting the wrinkles near his eyes into crow's feet.  His long silver hair was braided now and hung near the center of his back.  He gave the young man next to him a reassuring squeeze of the shoulder and gently let his mind probe into the troubled psyche just a few feet away.

Inside the cell, Dreamer was restrained for own safety.  Hard light restraints kept her hands and arms bound to her chest to prevent the repeat of an earlier episode where it appeared she was trying to tear out her own eyes.  The arrival of the Blight in United Planets space and on Earth seemed troublesome enough for Nura Nal but her condition worsened with each passing day, culminating with a violent attack on herself.

Behind Thom and Micah Aven, a light-blue skinned attendant with no visible eyes, entered the observation room and cleared his throat.  Gifted with extra sensory abilities, as all were at this hospital on Titan, the lack of eyes didn't seem to hamper the attendant any.  “Pardon the interruption, sirs.  Mr. Kallor there was a brief communiqué from a Jazmin Cullen on Pluto.”

That would have been Kid Quantum, not only Thom's fellow Legionnaire but also a former teammate when Thom was a member of the Amazers on Xanthu.  No doubt she was hoping for better news than what he had and no doubt someone at Legion headquarters thought it best she told him to come to Pluto, give their shared past.  He opened his mouth, fully meaning to inform the attendant that he'd give his own reply when Micah cried out, a heartbeat before Dreamer screamed out in anguish.

“No!  It's all wrong!  All of it!  Wrong!  There is no Mysa!  No Mysa!” she sobbed.  Were she able to hold her face and cup her tears, she would have but instead she merely leaned forward until her forehead pressed against the floor.  “Oh my poor sister, no...”

Thom stepped forward; not caring about the energy filed separating him from her and fully prepared to press himself through by use of his ability when Micah, sensing the urgency and pain in the boy's bare thoughts, held him back with a hand against his chest.  “No, son.  I have seen the thoughts that torture our young friend and I am saddened to say that no amount of your power can help her now.”

“What then?  I can't just stand here, Doctor!”

“Nor am I telling you that you must, boy.  Go to her if you will but know this, what fragments young Nura's mind cannot be sated by anything more than time itself.  The fabric of our existence is a dagger to her psyche and if she is to heal, I'm afraid eternity itself must heal first.”  Micah Aven appeared gravely troubled by the admission as he turned away and approached the room's exit, leaving Thom alone for the briefest of moments.

“What is your message to Pluto, sir?”  The attendant uncomfortably reminded Star Boy that he was still present, awaiting an answer of some kind.

“Tell them... tell them I'm sorry but I'm needed here more right now.  Dreamer needs me.”  With that, Thom Kallor proceeded forward, through the field's sole entry point, stopping only to kneel beside his love to take her troubled soul into his arms.

Legion Reserve Headquarters, Pluto
Detention Center

“I'm really hoping those dead transceivers don't mean what they're supposed to.”  Invisible Kid was trying to rein in his temper.  There was no need for senseless violence, it would solve nothing.  In truth, left alone with some of the more temperamental Legionnaires, Rond Vidar would probably have been paste against the wall by now.  Lucky for his sake, Lyle knew Rond didn't mean to send Wildfire and the others into danger.  What he did send them for, however, was the issue at hand.

“I have faith in Wildfire as well.  Which begs the question, do you know him as Drake Burroughs because that's his name or because he was paying homage to both Randall Burroughs and Jahr Leroy Drake Ningle?”

“What?”  Lyle was taken aback and no amount of cool could disguise it.  “What's that got to do with anything?”

Rond adjusted his glasses and shifted uncomfortably in his chair.  Lyle Norg wasn't the only Legionnaire in the room, standing in a semi-circle around him.  The speedster XS was there along with Val Armorr, the so-called Karate Kid.  No one actually expected Rond to try and escape but just in case he did, he'd have to contend with quite the super speed head cracking.

“It's actually an important question, Lyle.  It's also the point of what I've been doing these past weeks.  Has it been weeks?”  Rond looked up at the ceiling, counting silently to himself but apparently not settling on any number in particular.  To the others, he looked like he was losing it.  But something he said struck a nerve with Lyle.

“Go on.  What exactly is the point?”

“Well time is the point, Lyle.  Or rather, the lack of it.  Before you interrupt me, give me the chance to explain.  During my attempts to locate your teammates I discovered a curious anomaly in time, centered around the 20th Century but some years prior to the date Brainy and the others told us there were sent to.  I've been unable to confirm exactly what the anomaly is, only that it's unlike anything I've seen before or anything recorded in the Time Institute’s findings.  It appears to be some sort of... I don't know, dam maybe.  A firebreak.  A stop-gap in history.”

“This isn't making any sense,” XS declared.  She looked wearily at Lyle, trying to comprehend not only the meaning of Rond's words but their depth.  As someone who had been in contact with the past, her cousin Bart Allen in particular, things like blockages in time seemed unlikely.

“Exactly.  How can something stop time?  Or rather, obstruct it from normally elapsing?  Certainly, if you stopped time from ticking back in the 20th Century, how can the 31st Century come to pass?  Unless it was allowed to.  My hypothesis, which is what I was testing when you broke into Brainy's lab, is that this obstacle in time is less a stopping point and more of a detour.  Something placed in time to divert continuity, to allow for us to be alive and yet inexplicably disassociated from the past.  The true past and not what we perceive it to be.”

“Uh, just checking but did anyone else just go cross-eyes?”  Karate Kid interrupted.

“I don't know, Val, maybe.  But at the same time... this all seems to make sense.  For days now there's been something nagging me.  Memories, names, faces that appear to me and then are gone, like the word on the tip of your tongue that you can't remember.”

“Right.  That's one of the symptoms I believed we'd experience.  I'm certain I've encountered the same occurrences as well, but I just can't remember them.”  Rond was smiling, almost relieved that he wasn't the only one who was sensing what he did.  His unusual giddiness, however, only served to make the others more uncomfortable.

“So something is separating time from us?  Diverting the future to become our present instead of what it's supposed to be really like?  Is that what you mean by the past being different than how we remember it?”  XS was considering the possibilities, running through 'what if's' in her head at lightning speed.

Rond looked at her and raised a finger in correction.  “Only slightly different.  The true disparity in events can be seen in our histories, I'm sure of it.  Our history differs from the one on the other side of that anomaly.”

“Okay, I think I got it,” Karate Kid chimed in.  “So if something is diverting time and we live on this redirected path... what's the problem?  I mean, what do we need with the past anyway?  You made it sound like Brainy and the others are stuck on our side of the anomaly so why mess with things as long as we can get them back?”

“Well I know curiosity isn't the reason you are looking for but beyond that I believe the anomaly is weakening.”

“I was afraid he was going to say something like that.”  Karate Kid's face sank into an open hand.

“It's true.”  Rond removed his glasses, wiped them off with the tail of his long white lab coat and replaced them on his face.  “We have been experiencing several disturbances in time over the last few days, and with growing intensity.  I was attempting to research them further but the best way I can describe them is as a sort of temporal wake.  These waves of time are coming off the anomaly and washing over the years that succeed it, much like a wave moving toward the shore.  As it passes over the years, I believe it's making adjustments; corrections in our past and present so that it more closely resembles the future that should be.  The future that should have become based on the past we can't see.”

“Since we can't access the true past, thanks to the anomaly, we can't even begin to guess what sort of future these... corrections are out to create.”  Lyle puzzled over this.  They could have all been corrections in time already.  Days ago there could have been no Lyle Norg, no Legion of Super-Heroes.  They could have all been there right now as corrections made by the weakening anomaly and the real past culminating in a real future.  A future not their own.  It was as if suddenly, everything they knew was wrong.  A lie created by whomever or whatever set the anomaly in place, to separate them from true time.

“Just so we don't get ahead of ourselves,” a new voice spoke out, “what the hell does this have to do with Apokolips?”  Kid Quantum stood in the doorway to the room, a look of extreme displeasure etched across her face. 

Lyle looked at her curiously but she only shook her head, silently delivering notice that Star Boy would not be joining them and Dreamer was in no better condition than before.  That of course, made sense now that Rond had told him what he was investigating.  Of course, her question was right on target.

Rond seemed immediately taken off guard and fell unusually silent, especially given how freely he had given Invisible Kid and the others information earlier.  Finally he looked up at each of them, sadness in his eyes.  “That, I can't be sure of until I return to my research.”

“I don't think it's a fair bet that you'll be returning to the lab anytime time, Rond.  Especially not until we verify for sure what's happened to Wildfire, Laurel Kent and the others.”  Lyle put on his best “leader” face, trying to remain stern but understanding.  This couldn't have been easy on Rond Vidar either.  Not unless he completely misjudged the time scientist these past couple of years.

Quantum Kid seemed less patient and approached.  “Maybe you can start out by telling us what was so important that you had to forge coded orders to send out a team of Legionnaires behind our backs?”  Her tone was accusatory.  It was apparent that Jazmin wanted answers and that this time she wouldn't stop at using her powers to just tear open a laboratory door.

Rond looked down at his feet and stayed silent for the passing of a few too many heartbeats.  Jazmin took another step toward him and he finally answered, looking up with a new emotion in his eyes.  Fear.  “I told you it appeared that the anomaly was weakening.”

“Right and that you think this explains our time related occurrences here in the present,” XS added.

“Well, I was able to peer through it.  It took some doing, some rather large resources in fact but at last I was able to look beyond the anomaly if only for the briefest of moments.  What I saw... what I saw I can only explain as hell.  Hell on Earth.  Everything was wrong and you have to believe me, Lyle.  Everything. Was. Wrong.”

“But it can't be wrong,” XS protested.  “You said that our present was supposed to be based on that past but the anomaly changed all that.  If the past you saw on the other side of the anomaly is wrong then that would mean...”

“None of this is supposed to be.  Dreamer was right then,” Kid Quantum said somberly. 

Lyle Norg oddly felt empowered by the uncertainty of their predicament.  Their need to know what Rond had been keeping from them only made him more determined to find a way out of what seemed to be a crisis of infinite proportions.  It is, after all, what the Legion of Super-Heroes did.  They found a way out of all things bad because there was always a chance, always a glimmer of hope.  He'd find one here too, he had to.  He steadied himself and rose his chin, the determination shining.  “So that's it then.  The anomaly is protecting us.”

“Protecting us?  Protecting us from what?  From whom?”  Val Armorr asked.

“From him,” Lyle replied.  Only then did dread begin to creep into his voice.  “From Darkseid.”


Forensic Laboratory

Gear was multi-tasking.  Not wanting to destroy the specimen of Blight matter that Dr. Gym'll extracted from Livewire's body, he stopped short of tachyon bombardment but otherwise, he was working a full spectrum analysis of the matter.  Lyle Norg hoped that the specimen would hold some clue as to who the Blight were, where they came from, or ideally, how to stop them from taking over the member worlds of the United Planets.  At the same time he was wire-linked to the Legion mainframe, scanning Rond Vidar's recorded notes, to include those uplinked from the Omnicom taken from him.  It was all amazing if highly theoretical but then again, the mechanics of time didn't hold much interested for I.Z.O.R., the organic machine the Legion adopted as Gear. 

He turned his attention back to the specimen and was just about to terminate the search process of Vidar's notes when he decided on a whim to compare them with his findings of the Blight specimen.  The odds of such a specimen having existed before, when the Blight was a new encounter in United Planets space, were less than he liked but then again, his radiation analysis was providing nary a result.  The accumulated data from his studies scrolled upward along the inner lens of his eye while the Rond Vidar's texts retyped themselves horizontally along his right.  His left index finger detached and opened at the tip to reveal a multi-socketed input jack, which he inserted into a nearby terminal meant for gravity and temperature regulation within the reserve Legion base on Pluto.  Apparently gravity was off in the living commune of the headquarters by .008 miligal and temperature in the agricultural farms needed an adjustment by 1.08665 degrees Celsius.  No sooner had he finished the mundane maintenance task did his correlation of the two data bases conclude, with one shared bit of data.  Gear didn't know what a Las Vegas was but if historical documents were to be believed, he wished he had been there.


What constituted as an assembly of all active Legionnaires was actually a sad sight for some members, like Invisible Kid, who remembered there being a larger presence.  Nine Legionnaires were stuck in the 20th Century, four missing in action in the orbit of Apokolips.  A half dozen were incapacitated, like Dreamer and Violet, or on a leave of absence, like Star Boy and Andromeda.  Others had just failed to answer the call for some reason and that's what hit Lyle the hardest.  Of all the Legionnaires he needed to know was out there, M'Onel was one of them and yet there had been no word from him in days.  If the time anomaly was in fact weakening and if their present was changing to better reflect the one that should have been, Lar Gand could have been one of its first victims.  Sadly, there was just no telling.

All in all, there were just over a dozen of them in the assembly hall, a place one barely big enough to fit Colossal Boy -Leviathan, Lyle corrected- let alone the entire team.  What Lyle truly feared is that by mission's end, there would even be fewer standing in that hall.  Of course, if they failed, none of them would remain.  Rond Vidar's words came back to haunt him.  This was all wrong and that could only mean that the Legion as Lyle knew it, probably wasn't meant to exist.  This then, would have to be the last charge of the Legion of Super-Heroes.  They could spare no time looking for hope, this time they'd have to fight for it.  They'd have to wrench it clear from the maw of the unknown that currently washed over them in reality altering waves.  If time was something tangible, Lyle Norg decided he would punch it right in the face.

“Listen up, Legionnaires.  By now I know some of you have already been told of what's transpired over the course of the last several days.  Some of you might be relying on rumor, and others on worst case scenarios.  I wish that I could stand up here among you and put to rest all of the bad feelings you have, all of the doubt and uncertainty.  But I can't.  That's what you are here for. 

“Today we are staring down two different enemies, both of which we know very little about.  On one hand we have the Blight.  A race that, until recently, we've been unable to identify let alone harm.  Well thanks to Gear, that's no longer the case.” 

A hologram sprang to life in the center of the room.  It began as a prone image of Livewire, focusing on a squash sized organism attached to his inner organs.  The display shifted and focused on a cross section of the organ and then flashed to a face some of them saw as eerily familiar.  Brainiac.

“The specimen collected from Livewire is a sentient mass of tissue, infested with a virus once known in the 21st Century as B13.  Created by a descendant of the criminal, Brainiac 2.5, and certainly our own Brainiac 5, the virus was sent from our future into the past to radically modernize the city of Metropolis.  This virus in its original state fed on non organic matter, namely the city itself.  What we are dealing with here is a mutation of B13, one purposely manipulated to infest living, organic beings to radically change them into living, breathing weapons.”  The image shifted and altered, showing what Gear had shown Invisible Kid hours earlier:  what would have become of Livewire had the virus been allowed to gestate and multiply.

“These weapons are what you and your teammates have been facing, the same ones that have taken over Earth for a purpose we haven't quite figured out.  Well, I'm here to tell you, that we don't care.  We won't sit idly by and ask the Blight what they've come for.  Instead, we're about to kick them the sprock off our planets!”  There were some cheers to that as well as some relieved smiles.  None of them realized that the battle against the Blight could have been futile if the other mission proved fruitless.

“Time storms saved Metropolis back then and I wish I could say time is on our side now as well.  But even as the Blight branched out through UP territory, the Time Institute detected an increasing number of disruptions in time and space.  Now I can barely understand all of this myself, but it would seem there is an anomaly in space, one protecting us from radical differences in the past we remember and one we aren't familiar with.  Should that anomaly fail, it could radically alter the timeline, changing what we believe to be not only our past but our present as well.  There's no telling what that would do to us, or if we would even continue to exist.”  There was a murmur among Legionnaires and Lyle had to speak louder to retain any measure of control over the crowd.  They were heroes and as such, they'd be looking for a purpose now that they had been faced with a threat.  Lyle knew it would be up to him to give them said purpose.

“From what the Time Institute has been able to gather from... observing the anomaly and the past that isn't ours, the radical differences seem to stem from none other than Darkseid.”  The name was answered with more chatter and now guffaws and hushed protests.  To many in the 31st Century, Darkseid was nothing more than a myth.  The boogey man.  A fairy tale villain meant to scare small children into good behavior.  Despite all evidence of his once existing, there had been no sign of Darkseid or his hellish cadre in a millennium.  Even Apokolips, his once proud charnel house of fire and horror had long since grown dark and cold.

Lyle held up open hands to the dozen or so super-heroes and tried to retain their attention.  “I know what you're thinking.  I thought the same thing.  Darkseid?  How can that be?  And why now?  You'll notice some Legionnaires are missing among you.  Wildfire, Laurel Kent, Tellus and Quislet.”  Some faces in the crowd looked confused, as if the names were lost on them, others looked pained and sorrowful.  “We lost contact with them outside of Apokolips a short time ago.  Darkseid or no, there is something brewing on Apokolips and we need to know what it is.  We have to know if there is any link whatsoever between our Apokolips and the one on the other side of the time anomaly.  In doing so, we might find a way to preserve our present and possibly even save the past.”  If it needed saving, Lyle added in his thoughts.  Who knew which past was right, or for that matter, which version of the present?

“Given everything I've just told you, and I wish I knew more, we will need to attack both of our problems at the same time.  We will be dispatching a larger, more aware team to Apokolips, to learn more of what's going on there and determine its ties to either the Blight or the anomaly in time.  Whatever we find, it’s already succeeded in taking a team of four Legionnaires out so we'll need to be prepared for the worst. 

“At the same time, a task force of Legionnaires will return to Earth.  It's the stronghold of the Blight and also the place where we can do the most damage if we're going to be free of them.  I mentioned time storms were the key to eradicating the B13 virus in the 21st Century?  Well we mean to replicate the same effect... from the inside out.”


“I'm not sure I'm ready for this.”

“I'm pretty sure you are.”

“Aren't I better suited for your mission?”

“Nah. It's liable to be nothing more than just a lot of talking.  You know, swapping around old stories about Superman and those accursed Justice Leaguers.”  Lyle Norg smiled, a risk at relaxed humor he was willing to take despite the circumstances.  “Besides, what good am I going to do in Metropolis?  You need people to make noise, not sneak around.”

Kid Quantum smiled and tilted her head ever so slightly.  Black curls fell over her almond skinned eyelids and she thought about her short time on Earth as a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes.  It was a short time she wouldn't trade for anything else in the universe.  “It means... a lot to me.  That'd you'd place so much faith in me, Lyle.  I mean... leading a mission like this.”

“Think nothing of it, Jazmin.  You deserve all my faith and a lot more.”

The vessel that would carry the Legion strike team to Earth was rumbling even louder now.  In moments, it would be ready to lift off from Pluto carrying many on what could have been their last mission as Legionnaires ever.

Kid Quantum hesitated and then lurched forward toward Invisible Kid who readily accepted her hug of friendship with one of his own.  In times like these, every hug helped.  “Good bye, Lyle.”

“See you later, Jazmin.”


“You sure this will work?”

“Well like many things at the Time Institute, it's all theoretical.”  Rond Vidar pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.  He watched as Reep Daggle, Chameleon, rotated the device in his hands.  It appeared to be a gauntlet of some sort, fitting over the hand and wrist with a cluster of emitters positioned around it. He decided he didn’t like it.  Being Durlan, it was going to be difficult changing shape while still being able to utilize the emitter. 

“How does it work?”  The orange skinned Durlan looked up at Rond, the curiosity clear on his face.

“When we were able to communicate briefly with Brainy and the others, he instructed me on how to build a time platform, which is based on regulating tachyon flow.  Basically, the basic building blocks of time itself.  Now Brainiac 5 wasn't able to finish telling me how to build the platform for transport through time but I was able to figure out enough of it to at least channel tachyons.

“Which is how Dr. Gym'll was able to treat Garth.  You used your research to build a device that would douse him in a tachyon bath!”  Chameleon smiled.

“Well, close but uhhh... well, not quite.  Those tachyons were actually ones I had stored... after obtaining them from... somewhere else.”

“Lori Morning.”  The smile faded and his brow rose accusingly.

“Correct.”

“Okay so back to, how does it work?”

“They function as tachyon collectors.  In this particular case, the fact we are constantly being washed over by waves of time and change works to our advantage.  Hundreds of years ago on Earth, entire cities were powered by wave collectors.  These devices would sit in the ocean, collecting naturally made ocean waves which would then turn massive turbines that would create electricity.  Since the waves were a regular occurrence, the energy was nearly limitless.  Plus, in the instance of a storm, increased wave occurrence would create additional amounts of energy, creating a surplus that could be stored for times when waves were less prevalent.  These devices work much in the same way, collecting the tachyon waves emanating from the anomaly so that we might use them as we wish.  Granted, they are still affecting change in the present and future but in the meantime, we can take some small advantage by redirecting the waves at the Blight.  Instead of random and uncontrollable time storms, you now have in your possession, a weapon that you can point and, well, uhh shoot.”

“In theory.”

“Well, yes.  In theory, of course.”

The vessel lifted off the landing pad, as prepared as it was going to be for its mission on Earth.  Kid Quantum was leading a capable and power-heavy crew but then, she’d need every one of them.  From Element Lad to Timber Wolf and from Monstress to Polar Boy, each would have a part to play to help the specially outfitted ship break through Blight defenses to reach the heart of the invading force in Metropolis.

Invisible Kid watched the ship lift off and then pull away out of sight.  He sighed and looked back to the Omnicom, keying the start sequence on a transmission he hoped would reach any and all Legionnaires and their allies, wherever in space they might be.  It was the last call for anyone who could help.  As he stepped across the landing pad toward his own waiting vessel, due for Apokolips, he reminded himself of something he had thought of early.  This very well could have been the last charge of the Legion of Super-Heroes.  But what a charge it would be.


To be concluded...


Next Issue:  Dark Genesis and the End!

Story © 2006 Matthew J. Pierce, and may not be reproduced without permission.