Rising Starr

© Eldric 2013

Chapter 11: Legion Rising

Two Star Systems from Oa; Darkstar vessel Alpha 17

Jennifer Walters-Gand glanced out at the team that remained to support her part of the mission.  She had left Earth with an entire Green Lantern Corps, two Guardians, half the Legion of Superheroes, and a few spare Green Lanterns.  That team had taken on the Manhunters that protected this version of Oa, but in the midst of the battle, the entire Green Lantern Corps had disappeared.  While the Midnight Angel and the Darkstars had joined the battle, the odds were too overwhelming.  Jenny had responded by trying to form Senturia with Arisia.  But three different versions of Arisia had been incorporated into Senturia.  Senturia failed to function, becoming an EMP bomb that the Angel and White Witch used to their advantage against Oa, while the Darkstars had transported the rest of the team away from the battle.  Fortunately, casualties had been non-existent.  None of Jenny’s remaining team had been seriously injured.

The remaining Green Lanterns under Jenny’s command were the three surviving Wasteland Lanterns and the Hal Jordan that had been the Parallax who granted Jenny her original power.  Worthy allies, but they could not directly fight the Manhunters.  The Legion performed as individuals; an experienced team they were not.  Mercy Luther purported to be their interim leader, but the team seemed to be coalescing behind the Angel…a potentially dangerous dynamic.

Jenny would find a way to make do…she had no choice.  She knew she would have to risk reassembling Senturia to take out the Starheart while the rest of the team battled the native Guardians and the Manhunters directly.

They still had no contact with the main strike force on Earth, which worried the remaining guardian, the MVP-9 Ganthet, most of all.  

The Angel led a discussion with the legionnaires, laying out what she knew and trying to learn about the legionnaires’ capabilities.  Mercy Luthor seemed to retreat from the conversation, though thoughtfully watching from a distance. 

Commander Arisia Rrab entered the room with a look of confusion, stepping towards Jenny.

“I have reports that something has hit the Manhunter fleet.  Something nasty,” Arisia reported.  “We’re trying to get more details, but it appears the Manhunters picked on something they should have left alone.  Without the Guardians to coordinate for them, the Manhunters are not coalescing well.”

“Hal!”  Jenny called the Lantern.  “I have a job for you.  I need you to take Ultra Boy and try to figure out who is fighting the Manhunters!”

“We’ll join in!” Hal promised.

“No…” Jenny warned.  “We need information.  Not a premature attack.”

“All right,” Hal conceded regretfully. 

Jenny wasn’t sure she trusted him. 

“Look at this!”  Reep Daggle, Chameleon Boy, called.  “We’re getting imagery from a legion ring…not from our team.”

“Cora, or Jensia?” Jenny offered.

Reep expanded the Hologram.  Images flashed of a blonde man who seemed to be wearing a Green Lantern ring, but a strange red, violet, and green costume.  A Manhunter vessel scored a direct hit, which bounced off the Lantern’s shielding.  The Lantern turned and blasted the ship, destroying it.  A raven-haired woman seemed to be floating in an emerald bubble at the Lantern’s side, firing directly at a Manhunter vessel, which simply fell apart.

“Hex,” the White Witch noted.  “And I sense magic in the Lantern’s ring.”

“Uh huh,” Jenny responded, immediately recognizing the ring and the bearer.  A woman who appeared to be Kara Zor-El flashed in front of the Lantern, ripping into and through another Manhunter vessel.  She was followed by what appeared to be a standard Oan Green Lantern.  A Manhunter fired directly on the Lantern, its beam flashing directly through the Lantern’s shielding, damaging the Lantern’s costume.  Annoyed, the Lantern turned and fired heat vision at the Manhunter vessel, destroying it.  Jenny noted that the man looked increasingly like her husband, Lar Gand, with each passing year.  Then, two versions of Superman flashed by: one giant version in his prime and another version in his teens.  Both ripped easily through Manhunter vessels, looking for more prey. 

The holographic image scanned the scene, spotting a younger version of Kara Zor-El, followed by a raven-haired girl who bore a resemblance to the Kara look-alikes and the young man who resembled Lar.  Two dogs followed the girl, adding their heat vision to the mix.  Another woman, who resembled the two versions of Kara, passed by as she flew through a Manhunter vessel.  The hologram next viewed an emerald-hued young woman who used emerald energy to warp space, creating transit gates.  Manhunter vessels fell into the gates, exiting in the direct path of their fellow Manhunter vessels.  As the gates grew in size and moved, they wreaked increasing havoc on Manhunter command and control.

The bearer of the legion ring appeared to be directing energy towards a Manhunter vessel, but not obviously damaging the vessel.

“Payload complete, Princess” the legionnaire’s voice confirmed.  “Any control great-granddad many times removed had over this part of the fleet is just about to end.”

“Great work, Lara!”  The emerald-skinned woman replied.  “I take it the Legion is receiving your telemetry?”

“I’m sure of it.”  The legionnaire responded.   “If their Querl Dox is Brainiac Five, I would probably be Brainiac Six to them.”

“Meh,” the older Kara responded, “you’ll always be Lara Gand to us.  I don’t care if a Querl Dox was your father.”

“Sometimes,” Lara countered, “you try just a little too hard, Aunt Kara.”

“You wouldn’t have it any other way,” Kara rebutted gently.

“Too true,” Lara barely whispered.

RISING STARR

Jennifer Gand stepped away as her ring triggered.  She and Arisia stepped out of earshot of most of the Legion, while whispering back into the ring.

“Querl Dox a father?”  Tasmia Mallor, Umbra/Shadow Lass, pondered.  “I didn’t think he had the equipment.”

“Not likely our Querl,” Projectra Vauxhaul, Princess of Orando, countered.

“Who are they?”  Mysa Nal asked Alexis, who could not avoid hearing the conversation.

“I’m hearing something about the Gand family picnic,” Alexis responded with curiosity.  “Many of them are related to a different version of the Lar Gand than the one the Sentinels are tied to.  They rescued their Lar Gand from a collapsing reality, and brought the legionnaire, Lara Gand, back with them.”  She narrowed her eyes.  “From the change in Jennifer Gand’s demeanor, I can tell these people are every bit as dangerous as they seemed to be.  I think these people are from the Inheritors and Alterverse universes.”

“More effective than the Green Lantern Corps we lost?”  Drake Burroughs queried.

“Against a yellow menace?”  Alexis suggested, “remember, they weren’t looking for cover.  And, if they are who I think, they planted Brandy in this universe.”

RISING STARR

Food.  How long since they had had a decent meal?  Jo Nah, Ultra Boy, did not care what kitchen it came from.  What he cared about was that their new companions had indeed brought the meal they had promised Jenny.  And he was enjoying every single bite.  The women in the new group were more than attractive.  Of course with their power levels, only a fool would try to take advantage of them.  Outside of the two Green Lanterns and the sorceress, all of the rest were Daxamites, Kryptonians, or hybrid mixes of one or both.  Still, he thought the half-Coluan girl was cute.  Unlike Querl, she obviously had a sense of humor and was not afraid to use it.  He switched to super-hearing, listening in on the conversation between Alexis, the Nal sisters, and the Coluan girl.

Then Jo decided to listen in on the conversation between the new female Green Lantern, Jenny, the three Arisias, Kara Gand, and the Guardian.

“Not that I’m complaining, Faith,” Jenny prodded, “but how did you guys wind up on my doorstep?”

“Kent sent a message that there were problems and we would be contacted if we were needed,” Faith Scott, Princess Veridian of the Inheritors, responded.  “Karik Gand and I tried to respond, but MVP-3 was no longer in the same place.”

“That would explain much,” the Guardian Ganthet confirmed.

“Karik, my son, contacted me next,” Kara Gand replied, “and we put together a team of people who could fight a yellow menace in space: Sam Kent, Superman; Karen Kent, Power Girl; my daughter Scooter, who prefers Aiden, or Supergirl; her dog Krypto; Steve Rogers, the Green Lantern who inherited Faith’s father’s ring; and his wife, Helena Wayne Rogers, who does nasty things with magic these days.  We added one more…our niece, Lara Gand, is the daughter of a Daxamite Laurel Gand and Querl Dox of Colu.”

Kara smiled and drew a breath before continuing,

“Lara’s story is more than a bit unusual…My husband Lar had been stranded in her universe by our Darkseid.  Unfortunately, that universe was unstable, with constantly shifting timelines.  Lar said that Lara’s timeline had only actually existed for a couple of hours before we were forced to allow one last timeline reboot to stabilize the probability.  Fortunately for us, we got her out first and she is both an experienced Legionnaire and a Brainiac hunter.  Lara’s little bug will disable any control Brainiac had of this part of the fleet.  It will also make the Manhunters dislike each other more than a bit.”

“Not a bad thing,” Arisia Fentura-Gand chuckled

“I next contacted Alterverse,” Faith added.  “Alan explained that Jade was already involved and Lyla was busy elsewhere, but Kira Jor-El, Kal-El, and their Krypto could add serious firepower to our little expedition.  And when they heard that Sam and Scooter would be involved, there was no keeping them away,” she smiled.

“How did you find us?”  Jenny asked, curious.  “You said that we moved.”

“Karen Kent and I are responsible for Lois Lane Kent’s entry into this universe and placement as Brandy,” Faith explained.  “I followed our thread to her.” She shook her head with frustration.  “That’s putting it far too simply.  Normally, I jump from universe to universe, using fixed addresses.  I would ask for Lannie’s services to find something more complicated.  But this universe is moving between addresses.  We traveled to MVP-4, which should be an adjoining universe.  But from there, I actually had to jump into the Bleed and then jump into this universe from the Bleed when I got a fix.”

“That’s pretty dangerous stuff,” Arisia Fentura-Gand observed.  “How did you navigate?”

“Not well,” Faith admitted, “even with my extended mystic senses.  There are some very dangerous things happening.  MVP-2 seems to have moved to the far side of MVP-8.  This universe, MVP-6, 7, & 8, and one other universe seem to be pulling together somehow.  MVP-3 is somewhere between MVP-6 and MVP-7.  Or at least parts of it are.  If you try to travel to Earth, you won’t get there easily.  Universal integrity has broken down.  Even now, it feels like Brandy is on the other side of MVP-7.”

“That explains too much,” Ganthet concluded, frowning.  “How are you able to track this?”

“I am anchored to the Huntress’ Wood of my universe,” Faith explained, showing a hologram of the Wood.  “It is made of the same stuff that I am and my father’s ring and battery are.  I can always find my way home.  As Steve has my father’s ring, he can do the same thing.  That’s how I know we are continuing to shift positions relative to the other parts of MVP and to MVP-3 Earth.  With Linda Kyle close to Earth, We thought we would be a bit more useful here.”

“Does Kent know what you know?”  Arisia Fentura-Gand asked.

“We haven’t been in contact with him,” Kara explained, shrugging.  “We will contact him when we need to.  But we’re not rushing it.”

“He doesn’t seem to engender a lot of trust these days,” Jenny observed with a distasteful expression.

“Sometimes he doesn’t,” Kara agreed.  “He’s well intentioned, but he dwells in the life and death of universes.  And some of his decisions leave us without the knowledge we need to operate.”  Kara shrugged again. 

RISING STARR

“We have much in common,” Lara Gand glanced at Nara and Mysa Nal as they chatted with Alexis.  “What little was left of my legion was wiped from existence when the Inheritors, Lar Gand, and I defeated Glorith.  The cost of that defeat was the final reboot of my timeline and everyone and everything I had ever known.”

“I know what a Glorith is,” Mysa replied warily, “and how dangerous.”

“How were you able to survive?”  Alexis asked, innocently.

Lara gazed into the distance, triggering her telescopic vision.  Then she glanced back at the Inheritors before turning back to Alexis.

“The Legion of Superheroes has a reputation that spans universes,” Lara struggled to find words.  “The Inheritors knew what a Legion was before they entered my universe.  Lar Gand and I were about to release an entropy bomb to take out Glorith and I knew it was going to kill me, so I selfishly asked Lar to remember me.  Almost as soon as I said it, Glorith captured us and cast a spell to disassemble me.  But the Inheritors had already arrived…they stole me right out from under Glorith’s spell, rescued Lar, and triggered the entropy bomb.  I just wanted Lar Gand to remember me…I hadn’t expected to the sole survivor of my timeline.”

“Wow,” Alexis enthused, impressed.

“The last words the Inheritors spoke to Glorith before she died were ‘Long Live the Legion’,” Lara continued.  “That is the mantle that we have inherited; that is the respect the Legion has earned across the Continuum.”

RISING STARR

“Commander Rrab,” Faith spoke to the Darkstar Commander as Jenny and Arisia Fentura-Gand watched with Kara Gand and the Guardian Ganthet, “we want to speak to the Controllers.  We are willing to travel to their location, but we must insist that they communicate with us directly.”

“The Controllers don’t talk to outsiders,” Arisia Rrab explained.  “I’ve never seen them.”

“They have not been willing to converse with me, either,” Ganthet related.

“Perhaps,” Kara Gand chimed in, “we can help to persuade them to make an exception.”

“I’m certainly willing to make the attempt,” Arisia Rrab assured them. 

“Let me put it simply,” Kara offered, steel in her voice.  “In one room, you have the Cosmic Sentinel, Senturia and the mystic Sentinel, Veridian.  There will be no further problems forming Senturia…we will simply shield the alternate Arisias while the transformation takes place.  We are going to end the Guardians, the Manhunter fleet, and most likely the Starheart.  If the Controllers do not play, they will have no say in what we do to replace the Guardians.  And by the way,” Kara pointed towards Faith, “that is a Fleet Warlord who has orchestrated battle plans for fleets large enough to change the balance of power across an entire universe.   And that Sentinel,” she pointed to Jenny, “has created the Guardians of at least one universe.  So pass along our message.  We invite them to remain relevant.  Otherwise, they will soon wind up on the scrap-heap of history.”

“I’ll be more than happy to pass along that little speech,” Arisia Rrab promised as she walked back towards her bridge.

“Lannie would be quite proud of you,” Faith enthused to Kara.

“I’ve learned from the best!”  Kara chuckled.  “I wonder what kind of response we’ll get.”

RISING STARR

Mercy Luthor considered whether she could send a message back through the MVP-1 timeline, to seek guidance from her sponsors.  She investigated the possibilities before confirming that she had no way to directly contact anything in MVP-1.  She slumped back…thousands of years in age and being forced to relive the 21^st century.   Her heart was not in it, she knew that much.  Even if she succeeded in her mission, there was no place for her to return to…another version of her would exist in the corrected timeline.  Bringing the Legion here had been a fool’s errand…this group was too new, too disorganized, too resistant to her leadership.  And now she had to deal with another legionnaire…Lara Gand.  And what mission would the Legion have at this point?  Up to now, other teams had taken the few members they wanted and sent the rest out here.

She used the ship’s locator to find the Legionnaires.  She spotted them in a fairly large conference room with a hologram in the middle.  Lara Gand stood beside the hologram while the MVP-3 native, Alexis Graves, stood closer to the wall at the front of the room.

“Less complex power generation system than I would have expected, Alexis,” Lara confided.  “Very poor defenses and your first attack made them even more vulnerable.”

“So our only real challenge is how to take out the Guardians, themselves,” Alexis concluded.

“If that remains our mission,” Reep Daggle chimed in.  “With the extra firepower the mission leaders have now, we might get clean-up duty.”

“Maybe true,” Alexis agreed, “but if we can’t bring a viable plan to the table, we’re sure to get no more than clean-up duty.  And we’re better than that.  We have a lot of capability, and we all showed that, even if our first battle as a team was only an emergency reaction to a bad situation.  And Mysa’s idea of EMPing Oa saved the day.”  She nodded towards the White Witch.  “We bought the time the Inheritors needed to get here.  And we didn’t lose anyone.”

“You make it sound easy,” Thom Kallor reacted angrily.  “This is not going to be easy.”

“I never said it would be,” Alexis emphasized, firmly.  “This is not about doing easy.  This is about proving that we can do what we came here to do.  But, before we do that, we’ve got to seriously plan it out…”

Mercy watched the conversation for a while: the Angel guiding the pace and subjects, seeking alternate points of view, giving each team member the chance to blow off steam without drifting off topic.

As the planning proceeded, Mercy felt hope begin to stir.  These super-powered individualists were gelling, working together in a way they never had before, taking initiative in a way she had never expected.

Mercy caught Nura Nal’s eye for just a moment.  The Precognitive glanced at Alexis and then glanced back to Mercy, nodding with a slight smile.

Mercy felt strangely relieved.  The burdens that had weighed her down were lightening, if only just a little.  If all went well, this Legion no longer needed her to lead them.  They were moving ahead without her, at long last.

And that was fine with Mercy. 

RISING STARR

Hal Jordan struggled with overwhelming boredom.  He was a man of action, itching to get back out and fight the Manhunters.  He knew that the Wasteland Green Lanterns felt the same way.  But he recognized that their common weakness to yellow made them liabilities on the battlefield.  Still, he had to do something.

“Hal?”  He heard Alexis’s voice behind him, rousing him from his boredom.

“Hi, Kiddo,” he greeted her.  “What’s up?  Have you been sidelined, too?”

“Not as far as I know,” Alexis replied.  “Listen, Hal, we are planning to clean out the Guardians and we’re moving forward with it.”

“Seriously?”  Hal challenged.  “You and the Legion of Disorganized Heroes?”

“Give us a bit more credit than that,” Alexis flashed what she hoped was a confident grin.  “We’re going to take out the Guardians, but we need your help to do it.”

“My help?”  Hal rebuffed with surprise.

“Yours and the Wasteland Lanterns,” Alexis explained.  “When we take out the Guardians, Oa will turn into a bloodbath.  We need your help to pull the servant races out of there and relocate them.  If you’re willing to help…”

“Flying into danger to rescue people who have no clue who we are or why we’re there?”  Hal retorted skeptically.

“That’s about right,” Alexis admitted.  “Pulling the innocents out of danger…their only crime is trying to make a living.  And, from what I can see, they probably aren’t there voluntarily.”

Hal glanced at her, considering her words before nodding slowly.

“Kiddo, you’re starting to scare me,” he warned her.

“How so?” She asked with curiosity.

“I and the other Lanterns are going to follow you straight into Hell without an ounce of regret,” Hal replied.  “Sheesh.  The Angel and the Legion: what have we gotten ourselves into?”

“Making a difference?”  Alexis queried with a hopeful smile.

“Making the right difference,” Hal confirmed.  “I’ll grab my fellow Lanterns and we’ll come join you.”

RISING STARR

Commander Arisia Rrab heard the door to her quarters chime.

“Come,” she called, gazing at the camera above the door.  It showed Tinya Wazzo, Reep Daggle, and Lara Gand.

“Commander,” Tinya greeted as they entered, “we’d like your indulgence to discuss a couple of issues.”

“Certainly,” Arisia promised, gesturing to seating around her small work table.

“Thank you,” Tinya acknowledged as they sat down.

“What do you need?” Arisia asked.

“The Legion has planned out a campaign to take out Oa,” Tinya explained.  “To do that, we’re tasking the Green Lanterns to rescue the servant races, but we need a safe place for them to go.”

“Is this the work you’ve been doing with Alexis?” Arisia pressed.  “I’ve heard your team has been doing some quite intensive planning.  I’m anxious to see it.”

“Yes, it is, Commander,” Lara Gand answered.  “It is quite feasible and very well laid out.  We are ready to brief it to the Leadership.”

“I will look forward to the briefing,” Arisia nodded her head.  “In the meantime, we’ll locate a place for the evacuees to go that is near enough to Oa that we can get them there quickly.  If the Lanterns can bring them to us, we’ll get them to shelter.”

“Thank you,” Lara replied graciously.

“And what is the second issue?”

“We’re taking a tremendous risk with Alexis Graves,” Reep explained.  “She is an unknown quantity who has become central to our planning process.”

“You do have a problem,” Arisia chuckled.  “She’s a young woman who has had her powers for a very short period of time, raised in isolation by a mystic Amazon Warrior.  And she’s not the child that got the Amazon’s attention.  She’s been thrust into impossible situations with little to no formal training and has been doing the job simply because she believes there is no alternative.”  Arisia shrugged with a smile.  “She has little experience at being a hero, much less being a superhero, or even someone who is very experienced in interstellar war.”

“Have we made a mistake?”  Tinya asked with more than a bit of concern.

“Her sister has been overshadowed by Brainiac and Brandy won’t even let her go home to help,” Arisia continued.  “She’s genetically very closely tied to Kal-El, who was an optimistic idiot, and I can see some of his traits in her.  There, that about says it all.”

“Then,” Tinya balked, “perhaps we should be looking elsewhere.  Lara, you are the most experienced of us.  What do you think?  Perhaps you could speak for us.”

“No,” Lara admitted.  “I share my father’s intellect and his fatal flaw; I can easily overshadow my fellow legionnaires with my intellect, leaving hard feelings and discord.  I work best for a strong leader, who can focus me on the technical issues that need to be resolved.  Obviously, one such issue is why the Commander is leading us to doubt ourselves while she believes we have made a wise decision.”

“How so?” Reep asked with confusion.

“The Darkstars have no reason to trust us or support us,” Lara observed.  “As a team, we are untried and unproven.  The Green Lanterns would have the same point of view.  Yet, both teams simply acquiesced to our requests.  In essence, they are willing to bet their resources on Alexis Graves.  Which means the Commander has been toying with us.  I also note that the Darkstar fleet was more than willing to follow Alexis’s suggestions when the Commander disappeared.”

“Quite right,” Arisia nodded knowingly.  “Do you know why Brandy named her the Midnight Angel?  It’s a quality Brandy noticed in her character.”

“I have no idea,” Reep admitted.

“Because,” Arisia answered forcefully, “Midnight is when things are at their darkest…when things seem the most hopeless.  And that’s when the Angel shines.  I’ve seen it happen at least twice now…once under a red sun.  Like Kal-El before her, she is charismatic and a brilliant tactician.”

Arisia jammed her finger onto the table in front of her. 

“Unlike Kal-El, she is an extremely pragmatic visionary who understands full well the capabilities that others may bring to the table. And,” Arisia continued, “she’s a lot more powerful than he was, with a few capabilities Kal-El never had.  She was raised by a-thousands-of-years-old warrior on a mystic island to understand the art and execution of war, but she also cares deeply for those around her.  That is in contrast with her sister, who is entirely blood-thirsty.”

“That’s a bit reassuring,” Tinya confirmed, relief in her expression.

“Don’t get too comfortable, yet,” Arisia warned.  “I’m not done.  Since you didn’t ask me, I’m going to tell you my opinion of you.  You are an untested, untried group of individuals who have never worked well as a team.  It’s taken most of the skills Alexis has to keep you together long enough to develop a plan, much less execute it.  You don’t really have a clear vision for what you are as a team, or what you are going to do if you actually survive this.  And, with Alexis at the helm, you probably will.”

“Our only focus has to be mission success,” Lara proclaimed.  “Our individual concerns will have to wait.”

“Spoken by the only one of you who has anything to go back to,” Arisia laughed sarcastically.  “What are the rest of you going to do when this is over?  Go back to Mercy Luthor and ask her to feed you and change your diapers?”

She waited for a response.  There was none.

“I’ll tell you what Alexis thinks she is going to do,” Arisia added.  “Once this is over and her job is done, she thinks she is going to go home to her little world.  She’s going to complete her training as a superhero, spend time with her family and her friends and try to find a way to fit in, whatever that is supposed to mean.  She certainly doesn’t envision any kind of long-term commitment to you.  She thinks she’s only working with you because she’s a temporary replacement for your Supergirl.”

“If that were the case,” Lara analyzed the situation, “Alexis would have been assigned to assist the other, more experienced Kryptonians, instead of being allowed to…”  Lara’s complexion took on a green tinge as she felt unaccustomed embarrassment.  “Kara Gand: she has outsmarted me.”

“What?”  Reep and Tinya responded in unison.

“Kara Gand has the memories of a previous lifetime,” Lara related.  “She was a member of a successful Legion of Superheroes…a Legion that worked.  And we’re in a ship with almost no lead.  As a Daxamite hybrid, I rely on my force-field to protect me from lead and to warn me when it is present.”

“What?”  Tinya asked.

“Lead is even more deadly to Daxamites than Kryptonite is to Kryptonians,” Reep explained.  “Remember Jensia’s story?  As Lar Gand’s daughter, they had to take extreme efforts to save her from lead poisoning.”

“There is no privacy on this vessel,” Lara explained.  “Likely none of the Inheritors could be blocked from seeing or hearing anything on this vessel, if they so choose.  Our activities have been closely monitored.  We have been allowed to proceed with our planning because the leadership has allowed it.  They know what we are planning and, by default, are approving it.  That would have been part of Alexis’ calculation…she would have expected it.  I should have been paying attention, but I focused on the planning…my weakness, again.”  She turned to her fellow Legionnaires, “we have been on trial as a group since we arrived in this universe.  Some of the Legion’s most powerful members have been stripped away to assist other teams, including all the founders.  But Kara Gand is here because the Legion is here…she’s hoping that we can find our direction as a Legion, and she is doing everything she can to make it happen.”

“She certainly is,” Arisia confirmed.  “She really does care about the Legion as an entity.  And she wants the best for you, Lara.”

“That is undoubtedly one reason the rest of us have not been picked off and reassigned,” Lara considered, “at least not until after we completed our plan.”  She turned to her fellow Legionnaires.  “It’s said that most of the successful legions were formed in part to honor the example set by the 21^st Century House of El.  And those members of the House of El were invited to travel through time to participate in and lead the Legion.  Kara certainly has those memories, and it happened in most of the timelines Lar Gand remembered from my original universe.  Sometimes, associating with the Legion helped the House of El to expand their vision…to understand what more was out there.  And that fed back into the Legend.”

”But Alexis isn’t really a member of the House of El,” Reep argued.  “She’s just a clone, created in a laboratory experiment.”

“Really?”  Arisia laughed harshly.  “On that note, I think this conversation is pretty much over…”

RISING STARR

Alexis stole away for a quiet moment.  She knew she would have to lead the briefing of the Legion’s approach to the Sentinels and the Inheritors.  It would be more an opportunity for the Legion to stand behind the plan than anything else.

Alexis reflected how tired she was of living in a fishbowl, where everything was always under observation.  Now near the outside of the ship, she faced outwards and cast her little spell, finding peace in the little spec of light that appeared in front of her.  She rehearsed the flow of the plan in her mind, what could go wrong, how to react when it did.  Could the Legion actually execute?  She wished she had more faith, more confidence in them, but she barely knew them.  And now she had to count on them to execute a plan while she spent most of her time coordinating their actions.

Alexis knew she was not an experienced leader, knew that she had far too much to learn.  She had only led the discussion and the planning because it had to be done and no one else seemed ready to step up.  Well, the real Legion leaders would return soon enough, she supposed.  She just had to stand in for them in the meantime and, hopefully, bring the Legion through the mission safe and sound.

Then, once her responsibilities here were over, it would be back to Paris for the fashion shows with Mary Marvel and SpiderGirl!  She wondered what the Batman would think of her odd stories.  “I was a teenage interstellar terrorist!”  Maybe he would try to figure out how to spank her?  The thought brought a smile to her.

But then Alexis realized she was no longer alone.  Kara Gand’s scent?  She turned to face the older woman, while letting the little light fade out.

“Can I help you, Ms. Gand?” Alexis asked graciously.

“I wanted to have a chance to talk to you, before you briefed your plan,” Kara replied with a slight hesitation. 

“Certainly,” Alexis made an effort to be friendly.  Kara Gand had been on many a mission.  Perhaps she would have been a better leader for this task?  “Any plan can always be improved.”

“No,” Kara smiled warmly.  “The plan is good enough and your team will get comments when it’s briefed.  That’s not why I’m here.”

“You’re taking over the mission?” Alexis asked.  “I guess I can understand why…”

“Oh, Rao, no!” Kara laughed.  “A thousand times no!”  She shook her head.  “I certainly hope you don’t think that anyone…”  Kara laughed again.  “That’s not going to happen.”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand what you mean,” Alexis stated, “and I would like to.”

Kara listened to her words…glanced at the young woman, seeing her, really seeing her for the first time.  So much power, so much presence, and completely unaware of the effect she had on those around her.  Kara could almost feel the air crackle with intensity around the young woman.

Kara considered the holograms of Jor-El that she remembered, the times she remembered with her original Kal-El.  That presence…that determination to make the universe a better place.  How had Mxyzptlk known to capture that?  He could not have…no, there were other hands at work here.

“If I may,” Kara suggested, “no…you are the mission leader.  No one else could hope to replace you.”

“That’s quite an endorsement,” Alexis observed, “thank you.”

“Alexis,” Kara began, gesturing with open hands, “sure, it might be possible that someone might have a bit more experienced, someone might have had slightly better ideas, might have been a tad more politically astute.  There are people in the Legion that probably fit one or more of those descriptions.  And none of that means a damned thing.”

“No?”  Alexis seemed to draw in a deep breath, relaxing slightly.

“The road to Hell is paved with good intentions,” Kara explained.  “The mark of a leader is the person who sees what has to be done and makes it happen, no matter the odds, no matter the obstacles.  And the Legion can be quite an obstacle, in spite of itself.”

“But I’ve only tried to do the obvious things that had to be done,” Alexis emphasized.

“But you do the things that no one else can do, is willing to do, or has the courage to do,” Kara smiled.  “You just do it.  You infect others with your ideas and plow through any obstacle. You have no idea how rare that is.  And it’s a quality that this Legion has sorely lacked.”

“But their leaders…” Alexis began.

“Their only true leader has been Mercy Luthor,” Kara related, “who chartered them and brought them together.  But they haven’t functioned as a Legion, not really.  And once this crisis is over, what happens to them?  They have no place to go.”

“But there is so much they could do,” Alexis assured Kara.  “They could join with the Green Lanterns and do a lot of good.”

“Hal Jordan would eat them alive,” Kara retorted.  “No, a Legion must have a leader who can create a vision for them, who can inspire them, and who can guide them towards that future.  And, as this next battle is going to clearly demonstrate, you are that leader.”

“Wow,” Alexis finally stammered,” thank you for having such confidence in me.”

“Alexis, it’s you I want to thank,” Kara said with a wistful smile.

“Me?” Alexis questioned.

“It’s been more than a lifetime for me…I had forgotten why the Legion formed in the first place.  I had taken the legend for granted.”

“But we’re certainly no legend,” Alexis protested.

“Not yet,” Kara grinned, “but that won’t take long.  And please do watch over Lara for me.”  Kara nodded, “she thrives as part of a Legion; I know she’s not returning with us.  She’s just trying to figure out how to tell me that she’s already made her choice.”

“I will,” Alexis promised, seemingly lost in thought, weighing something in her mind, some calculus…Kara could not tell.  But something had passed through the young woman’s mind, something stronger than steel reflected in her features.  “Thank you very much for your insights,” Alexis acknowledged Kara before heading down the hallway.

Kara wondered if her words had any impact, and if so, what?  The leadership briefing lay two hours in the future.   How would they present it?  Oh, my, Kara considered, she wouldn’t…no.  But it’s so dangerous to underestimate this girl.  Yes, I bet she would!  Kara felt her heart skip a beat.

RISING STARR

The Legion had assembled in their conference room once more, preparing to go over the plan one more time, ready to build the final briefing.  Only Alexis and Lara had not returned.

Each Legionnaire ran through his or her script, his or her duties and roles, how the legionnaire had practiced for the actual mission.  They had done this many times before, but they were determined to prove to the mission leadership that they were ready.  The pressure was on.  Would they be allowed to carry it out?  Would they be second-guessed?  Did the Angel have the confidence it would take to lead them?  Had she run away at the last minute?

“The Commander assures us that the Darkstars are ready,” they heard Lara Gand’s voice.

“Good,” Alexis’s voice responded.  “The Lanterns are in place as well.  We’re a go.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“Absolutely,” there was no missing the confidence in Alexis’ voice as she entered.  “Ladies and Gentlemen, we are going, now.”

“What?”  Lyle Norg, the Invisible Kid, asked, “what about the briefing to the leadership?”

“Oh, they’ll have a briefing,” Alexis responded with good humor, “a nice after –action report that they can file for future reference.  They can call it ‘How the Legion outclassed the Guardians’.”

“But,” Dirk Morgna, Sun Boy countered, “we don’t have permission to launch.”

“The only permission we need is our own,” Alexis informed him.  “We have the plan, we have the resources, and we’re well prepared.  I am the mission commander and I say we go.  So we are going.”

“What if they stop us?” Jan Arrah, Element Lad asked.

“They won’t,” Alexis reassured her.  “They have too much invested in us.  Every one of you is ready; you know your parts.  They want to see what a Legion of Superheroes is and we are going to show them.”

“Yes,” Nura Nal, Dream Girl, announced with a confident smile, “yes, we certainly will.”

RISING STARR

Kara Gand watched as the Legion flew towards Oa.  She knew that the Darkstar pilots assisting with the evacuation had been told they were doing a test run for the real evacuation several hours in the future.  And anyone who asked was being told the Legion was making a practice run prior to the briefing.

Subterfuge…the whole plan relied on subterfuge and now the Legion had taken it a step farther.

“Penny for your thoughts?”  Karik Gand queried his mother.  Her eldest, she was proud to consider him one of her closest friends. 

“Hopefully this is full circle for Lara,” Kara offered.  “She has a lot to offer this Legion.”

“You’ve certainly run enough interference,” Karik observed.  “Although, I have to admit that the Legion’s early departure caught me by surprise.”

“That was the point,” Kara replied.  “Why do what your adversary, or anyone else, expects?  There are no rules in this war,” she observed, turning back to Karik.  “Did I ever tell you that Lar Gand was one of the last people I saw as Kara Zor-El?  My friend in the Legion?  I’ve wondered if that was why I was so attracted to your father.”

“I wonder,” Karik offered.  “And now you’ve provided a Gand to a Legion that would have no other way to gain one…with the mind of Brainiac tossed in.”

“I hope this is the right mix for them.”  Kara pondered.  “And I wonder what happens when and if the rest of the team rejoins them.”

“The Legion will endure,” Karik stated, “they always have.”

Kara quietly nodded.

“Long live the Legion.”

End—Legion Rising

-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2015 by Eldric

-- and may not be reprinted without permission.

-- The Continuum Worlds Concept is a joint creation of

-- Dylan Clearbrook and Eldric.

-- Otherverse, Multiverse, Primalverse. and Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes,

-- as depicted in the Continuum Worlds, are original creations of Dylan Clearbrook.

-- Alterverse, The Inheritors and Rising Starr,  as depicted in the Continuum Worlds,

-- are original creations of Eldric.

-- Wasteland, The Sorority, and Otherverse 2.0,  as depicted in the Continuum Worlds

-- are original creations of Nomad (Jake H.).

-- The Realm and The Web of Shadows, as depicted in the Continuum Worlds,

-- are original creations of John P. and Jason G./ Andrew Shields respectively.

 -- DCM: The Merging, as depicted in the Continuum Worlds,

-- is an original creation of Chip Caroon and the stories therein remain

-- the property of the respective writers.

 -- Some characters in Continuum Worlds stories are original creations

-- of Dylan Clearbrook, Eldric, Michael Liebhart, Jake H., Jason G.,

-- Andrew Shields, Kyle M., Brian, John P., DTO,  or Jason Froikin and may not

-- be used without express permission of the respective author.

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