Aftermath
A Tale of the Legion of Super-Heroes

by Kerithwyn Jade (kerithwyn@yahoo.com)
Based on a premise and story by Dannell Lites 


Archive: Ask first, please. 
Warnings: Angst, drama, and sex [Part II] (both het and f/f 
slash). "Slash" indicates sex between characters of the same 
gender. 
Setting: Legion of Super-Heroes, the Levitz era. Meta at 
end, for those interested in learning more.
{Legion readers: Consider this an AU version of LSH 
23 "Back Home in Hell," more or less, and continuing 
on from there. Assume this takes place directly after the 
Sensor Girl/Emerald Empress/Fatal Five arc but before 
"The Universo Project." Thus, Mon-El suffered his 
breakdown after Jeckie’s identity was revealed, not 
during that arc.}
Summary: After suffering a psychotic episode and beating 
the unholy hell out of Shadow Lass, Mon-El has returned to 
the Phantom Zone. But the human wreckage left in the 
wake of his rage suffers lasting consequences. A sequel to 
"Mon-El" by Dannell Lites, archived at 
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shuttle/8110/Fiction.htm
l. Caution: That story contains m/m slash.
Disclaimer: All characters property of DC Comics. What I 
have done with them is mine.

Dedicated to: Dannell, without whom this would never 
have been.


Part I

Brainiac 5: 

Time to pay the piper.

Humanity--of the many worlds, of the many races--as a 
whole has many ways to express guilt and regret. Were I 
human, I might cry, or beg forgiveness, or otherwise abase 
myself. But I am Querl Dox, Brainiac 5, the pride of Colu. 
Millennia of careful genetic manipulation had resulted in 
my creation, my 12th-level intelligence. I could not take 
refuge in tears; it is simply not in my nature.

"Pride goeth before a fall." Terrans say this, too, and I find 
it most apt. My pride. Lar Gand’s fall. This was not the first 
time my faith in science over all had ended in tragedy. 
Again, someone else paid the price for my arrogance. The 
anti-lead serum that guarded him failed and there was no 
replacement to be found, so Mon-El was back in the 
Phantom Zone, suffering a kind of hell most sentient beings 
would find unimaginable. His lover Shadow Lass lay 
injured nearly unto death, the victim of his lead-induced 
rage and my failure. It fell to me, of course, to tell her what 
had happened to Lar and to her, why he had lashed out and 
was now lost to her.

A fitting penance, for my failings.

I stood outside her room on Medicus One and remembered 
our first meeting, her introduction to the Legion. The 
natives of Talok VIII had suddenly become hostile, 
attacking passing ships with abandon, and the Legion was 
called to investigate. As the Shadow Champion of her 
homeworld, Tasmia Mallor requested Legion aid, and we 
answered with only a small team: myself, Cosmic Boy, 
Karate Kid, and Superboy, who happened to be visiting at 
the time. We should have sent more, but Talok was a small 
unimportant world in the eyes of the United Planets, and in 
those days the political realities did not allow the Legion to 
make all of its own decisions. Had it been Winath or Braal, 
the Legion would have descended in force along with UP 
support troops. 

But we five triumphed regardless, not in small part due to 
Shadow Lass’ courage, training, and determination. The 
situation had transformed from a simple investigation into a 
galactic threat due to the motivators behind the violence: 
the Legion’s most deadly foes, the Fatal Five. We each 
suffered injury during the conflict, and were locked in final 
battle when at the critical moment Tasmia’s shadows saved 
all of our lives. Five against five, and she defeated the 
Emerald Empress on her own. Few remember that, and in 
truth it is unlikely she could do so again; Sarya has gained 
much control over the Emerald Eye since that time, and her 
power has grown monstrous. But the fact remains.

And I remember how Tasmia looked at me as I cared for 
the wounds taken during the battle, and how I--too afraid, 
then, to allow feeling to compete with logic--willfully 
ignored her unspoken attraction to me. And mine to her.

Not long after that she met Lar, and saw that he had more 
ability than I to return her feelings; and he, needing 
emotional support after his long incarceration in the 
Phantom Zone, easily fell in love with her. I was not the 
only Legionnaire to understand that while Lar was the 
strongest among us, he depended on Tasmia utterly for his 
emotional stability and even his sanity. That she loved him, 
and was strong enough to shoulder that burden, was to him 
a gift beyond measure.

Recriminations and regrets. I am more human than my 
makers would have willed. In my time with the Legion, I 
have learned that this is not a failing, but a source of 
strength; though as I passed through the decontamination 
field into her room, I almost wished I could divest myself 
of emotion. But that way lies madness. I know this all too 
well. 

Tasmia lay sleeping, the pain medications and healing 
balms working to treat her fearsome injuries. Though the 
danger was past and the worst of the damage healed, her 
recuperation would be long. There were lines on her face 
that had not been there before. Yet even now, she was 
lovely. Nura Nal is most often celebrated as "the most 
beautiful Legionnaire" in the sensational press, because 
Dream Girl has presented herself so. Unlike Nura, Shadow 
Lass does not flaunt her beauty. 

But it was unseemly to stand over her and think such 
thoughts. I stepped back to wait for her to wake, setting my 
mind to tasks I had neglected in the past few days. I 
mentally reviewed the text of a paper Dirk Morgna meant 
to submit to the Science Academy regarding solar wave 
phenomena; though his science was sound, the wording he 
chose told me that Sun Boy could use a refresher on the 
proper presentation of such a work. He did not appreciate 
the comment, when I told him so later. Simultaneously, I 
analyzed a new theory on the nature of time travel that I 
meant to discuss with Rond Vidar, and plotted my next 
move in the Galactic Semifinal Chess Tournament, which I 
had lost the previous year. Minutes, perhaps an hour passed 
until I realized Tasmia was awake, and looking at me.

She knew already. But the words needed to be said 
nonetheless.

 "Tasmia, I owe you the truth; I can give you nothing less." 
Cold, too cold by half. "It was the serum I invented to 
guard Lar from lead poisoning. It wasn’t working 
effectively anymore." The same words I spoke to Kal-El, 
even more useless here. I could not face her any longer as I 
said, "He would not have died, but the cumulative effects 
were affecting his mind, and I have no other antidote. He 
did not mean to hurt you, I am sure, but he was...no longer 
in control of his actions. We had no choice, and he agreed 
to...." The words caught in my throat. "He agreed to return 
to the Phantom Zone."

I dared to look at her face then. She appeared at that 
moment as silent, and as coldly beautiful, as the shadows 
she commanded. 

I looked into her eyes, deep and unfathomable. And then I 
could no longer face her, and turned to leave.

"Querl," she said. An impenetrable tone.

She rarely calls me by name. Few of my fellow 
Legionnaires do. But Tasmia surprises me, even now, and I 
turned back to face her.

She caught my eyes, and held them. "If I could," she said, 
"I would damn you to the deepest Talokian hell." She drew 
a strained breath, and her eyes did not leave mine. "He 
trusted you to keep him safe." A breath. "And so did I."

Her pain, crushing me. "Tasmia--"

"No. Do not..." and I could see it, the shadows of her 
gathering anger. "Do not *apologize.*"

I could not speak.

But I saw what lay behind the anger, and I should have 
remembered. Tasmia is the scion of a legacy of a thousand 
years. A tradition of heroic service and sacrifice. And she 
understands--

She understands that most terrible of words. *Necessity.*

"He trusted you. And so did I," she said, and her eyes were 
deep and full of an undeserved grace. "What...has 
happened...did so in spite of your efforts, not because of 
them." There were tears in her eyes that refused to fall, and 
I began to understand that her anger at me was warring 
with her anger at herself and at Lar. 

"You gave him life. You gave me Lar. I trust you still."

I lied, earlier, when I said I found no refuge in tears. I sat 
by Tasmia’s bedside and wept then, for Lar and for her and 
even for myself. I felt her hand come up to rest on my head, 
offering forgiveness or perhaps simply understanding. I had 
not hoped for such a gift, would never have expected 
anything more than her hatred.

And then with my grief drying on my face and my hand in 
hers, I told her the rest: that I approached Kal-El about the 
situation, and how we found her, and that Lar himself 
agreed to the necessity. She listened and said nothing, and 
her stillness only exacerbated my guilt. 

"Tasmia, I should have known earlier. If I could have saved 
you this...it should never have happened, I should have 
known!"

She was silent, considering, and then: 

"Do you *want* me to hate you? Would that make it easier 
for you?"

She shocked me, I admit. Little enough does, anymore. 
"No, but I suppose...I expected...."

She cut me off. "No. If you’re wallowing in guilt, you’re 
not concentrating on how to cure Lar for good. And I need 
you to do that."

Time or fate may curse me for it, but I could not stand there 
and take away her hope. Nor could I lie. I hesitated, then 
leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I cannot promise 
you anything...but I will never stop trying."

I felt her eyes on me all the way to the door.

************************************************
************************

Ultra Boy: 

It’d all happened so fast, I still couldn’t believe it. Mon 
gone back into the Phantom Zone, and what he did to 
Shady...unbelievable. 

Mon–El was--is--the best friend I ever had. He’s stronger 
than me, and has all these powers he can use at the same 
time, and he’s definitely smarter. Heck, in the old days I 
used to wonder if he didn’t really think I was just some 
dumb hick kid, trying to keep up with the big boys. I mean, 
here’s a guy who can practically move planets around one 
minute and discuss some bizarre science theory with Brainy 
the next. Of course, Tinya always told me, "C’mon, Jo, you 
know he doesn’t feel that way." Yeah, I did know it. There 
wasn’t a petty bone in Mon’s body. Dark and brooding 
maybe, unlike MY sunny personality, but never mean. He 
made me feel welcome in the Legion.

And it was the Legion that saved my life. I probably 
would’ve been killed or worse on Rimbor--it’s that kinda 
place--if I hadn’t gotten the bug for adventure, accidentally 
flown a cruiser into the mouth of a giant space whale, and 
come out with super powers.

Yeah, I know how that sounds, but I’m not the only 
Legionnaire who got his powers by accident, y’know. Least 
I didn’t deliberately taunt a lightning beast, or drink a bottle 
of liquid that could’ve been poison as easily as Gingold. 

But I got these powers and joined the Legion, simple as 
that. Good times and bad, and I wouldn’t trade a moment of 
it. Tinya alone...well, I don’t have to tell anyone how I feel. 
She knows it. Hell, I think the whole galaxy knows it. I fell 
in love with her almost as soon as I saw her, and she was 
the only one to believe in me the first time I was accused of 
being an outlaw--that wasn’t the last time, either. Guess 
when you’re from Rimbor, the idea that you’re a career 
criminal is hard to shake.

So a lot of times it ended up being me and Mon, Tinya and 
Shady off on missions together. People who didn’t 
understand how the Legion worked always asked why we 
sent the two strongest Legionnaires (barring Superboy, of 
course, who wasn’t always around) on the same mission. 
Easy; most of the time, the stuff we set out to handle 
*needed* the two of us. We both worried about the girls on 
those kinds of jobs, but those two ladies know how to take 
care of themselves. Tinya can phase out of danger, and 
she’s smart as a whip in a practical way that Brainy can’t 
even match. Shady’s a *great* martial artist--she’s put me 
down sparring a few times, and no one else outside of Val’s 
ever done that without super-strength. (Tinya has 
absolutely forbidden me to spar with Nura--I guess she 
thinks being that close to Dreamy would be too much of a 
temptation. She’s so beautiful when she’s being bossy.) 
And she’s really perceptive too, seeing things that other 
Legionnaires might miss. Maybe her ability to see in 
shadow lets her see more clearly in other places, too.

That time I was accused of murder, Shady really stuck her 
neck out for me. Tinya knew it wasn’t true, but Mon and 
Superboy tried to capture me anyway. That still stings, a 
little--you’d think after all those years, they might have 
trusted me. Anyway, I managed to get away from them and 
Shady didn’t try to stop me. Tinya told me later that Shady 
told *her* she knew what I felt like, everyone turning 
against me. I wasn’t there but I heard all about how Shady 
joined the Legion, the Fatal Five on her planet and all, and 
her own people trying to kill her. Guess I never really 
thanked her for believing in me, and I probably should.

But all this...

Me and Tinya wondered what was going on, of course. 
Shady showing up with bruises, broken ribs--it just didn’t 
make sense. But we couldn’t believe that Mon had anything 
to do with it. We knew how much he loved her, how hard 
he worked to keep his strength under control. We just 
couldn’t believe it.

And then Brainy and Superboy brought Shady to the 
MedBay, bleeding and broken, and we couldn’t not believe 
it anymore.

Tinya was a wreck, blaming herself for not knowing what 
was going on and for not helping Shady when she needed 
it. I was hating myself for not noticing what was happening 
to Mon-El. Both of us were angry at Brainy for failing 
Mon, and not having all the answers like he usually does.

We were in the waiting room on Medicus One when Brainy 
came out after seeing Shady, and that was when Tinya 
finally lost it.

************************************************
************************

Phantom Girl:

I was upset.

No, scratch that. I was *furious.*

Some friend I’d turned out to be. Shady nearly died before 
anyone figured out something was wrong in the first place. 
Mon-El hurt her, and I didn’t figure it out. He’d been 
slowly going mad, and no one noticed. Legion of Super-
Idiots, that’s us. Give us a galactic crisis and we can cope; 
but let one of our own have a problem and it’ll go unheeded 
for years. Violet’s kidnapping, Condo’s depression, Garth’s 
instability, and now Mon-El--we can save the universe, but 
we can’t help our own.

But it was all okay. We’re the *Legion.* The best and 
brightest, right? Shining faces for the holos and let’s bleed 
quietly off-camera, where the public can’t see it. Brainiac 5 
goes insane and nearly destroys the galaxy with Omega, so 
Tenzil sacrifices his sanity to stop him and it’s all okay. 
Luornu loses part of herself to Computo--another Brainiac 
5 creation, thank you very much--and it’s all okay, because 
she’s still got two bodies left and never mind that Lu was 
never the same after. 

Now the serum that protected Mon-El against lead 
poisoning had gone bad, a serum designed by--guess who!-
-Brainiac 5. Querl Dox, our resident genius. 

Damn him, anyway. It just wasn’t right, and it wasn’t fair!

And the worst part--the very worst part that was really 
eating at me, is that I love the Legion. It’s my home and I 
wouldn’t trade it for anything. Most of the bad things that 
happen to us are part of the job, and we all know the risks. 
But to have this come from one of our own--

What the *hell* was Mon-El doing, anyway? He was 
hurting Tasmia, and he never said anything, or did anything 
to stop himself--that’s what I can’t understand. He loved 
her, I know he did, but he...he...

He hurt her, and I didn’t notice.

It was days before Jo and I were allowed to visit Shady on 
Medicus One. While we waited, the Legion HQ was full of 
anger and tension, and we couldn’t find a good honest 
crisis to distract ourselves. Go figure--the one time we 
could put the Dark Circle or the Fatal Five to use as 
punching bags, and they were nowhere to be found. The 
gym got a *lot* of use as we took out our frustrations on 
the equipment, and not a few parts of the HQ needed 
repairs after someone’s fist went through a wall. 

I wasn’t helping matters, either. Maybe I should have set a 
better example. I was after all the most senior Legionnaire 
in residence, now that Cos, Imra, and Garth had all but 
retired and Luornu was living a quiet life with Chuck. Me 
and Lu--it’s a bit of friendly contention between us, who 
was fourth and who was fifth to join the Legion. (She got 
there before me, but I took the oath first. It’s all in the 
details.) I was the one who stayed, anyway, though I can’t 
blame her for leaving. But I couldn’t be calm, not after 
what’d happened. I was grouchy and hostile and flat-out 
pissed off, and poor Jo caught the brunt of it. 

But everyone else was having a hard time with it, too. They 
were all worried about Shady, of course. Dirk sent loads of 
flowers, which was nice of him even if he is a sexist pig. 
Even knowing she’d recover, Shady was the focus of a lot 
of anxiety. The Legion’s a family as much as a team. It’s 
not easy to think of a family member in a hospital bed. Or 
the *other* family member who put her there.

Mon-El. Lar Gand. Lost in the Phantom Zone for a 
thousand years, rescued by Brainy’s super-science to 
become one of the key members of the Legion of Super-
Heroes. Incredible strength, invulnerability, vision powers, 
the works--an older version of Superboy. And a more 
gloomy one. Mon was always prone to fits of depression as 
a result of his time in the Zone. Shady could usually coax 
him out of it, which everyone was glad of--who wants a 
superpowered neurotic hanging around the house?

Even with that, though, no one ever thought Mon-El could 
do something like this. And they couldn’t stop *talking* 
about it! Like all families, the Legion loves a scandal. 
There hadn’t been these many hallway conversations and 
whispered rumors since the time Ayla found Imra and Brin 
on that asteroid, just about in a clinch. That little incident 
drove Ayla away from the Legion and pushed Garth over 
the edge at the thought of Imra cheating--and with *Timber 
Wolf,* of all people! Of course they *said* nothing 
happened, and Garth and Imra are still married today, so I 
guess he got over it and believed her. Ayla eventually came 
back to the Legion but didn’t go back to Brin, which in my 
opinion is the smartest thing she ever did. 

This was totally different, though. Shady didn’t do anything 
wrong! It was Brainy’s fault for his rotten serum, and 
Mon’s for not controlling his strength, and mine for not 
realizing it, and...

Damn Salu! Since her kidnapping, "Shrinking Violet" was 
anything but shy, and she’d gotten bitter about things, too. 
Right where I could hear her, Vi had the nerve to say it was 
partly *Shady’s* fault, for not telling anyone what was 
going on. I would’ve slapped her if Cham hadn’t stopped 
me. Even Ayla, who’d gotten pretty tight with Vi, was mad 
at her for that one.

But the hell of it was, I was wondering the same thing. 
Why *didn’t* she tell anyone? Why didn’t she tell me? I 
was supposed to be her best friend, dammit! 

I couldn’t ask her, and I sure wasn’t going to ask Mon. The 
ironic thing is, I’m the only Legionnaire who could have. A 
side effect of my phasing power lets me enter and leave the 
Phantom Zone at will. Anyone else needs to use the 
projector in Brainy’s lab, and he wasn’t admitting visitors. 
So we just waited and stewed in our own anger until Dr. 
Gym’ll called and said Shady was finally up to seeing 
people.

Naturally, Brainy took off without telling anyone--I kept 
thinking it was so he could reach her first, and tell her it 
wasn’t *his* fault. Jo and I caught the next civilian shuttle 
out, since I meant to take Shady from the hospital space 
station and away with me and Jo for awhile. Somewhere, 
anywhere away from the Legion, and Brainy, and her 
quarters with Mon.

So there we were in the waiting room when Brainy came 
in, his face as expressionless as ever. Well, *that* did it.

"Come to look at your handiwork, *Brainiac?*" 

No one calls him that. It’s always Brainy, or Brainiac *5,* 
or even Querl. He’s just a little touchy about the fact that 
he’s descended from one of Superman’s greatest foes. Like 
I said, I was *mad.*

But I’d shocked Jo. "Tinya! Don’t--"

Oh, I was on a roll. "Don’t? Don’t what? Blame him for the 
fact that Mon went insane and Tasmia almost died? Oh, no, 
it can’t be *Brainy’s* fault, because Brainiac 5’s super 
computer-brain never makes mistakes!"

"I never claimed that, Phantom Girl. I am all too aware of 
my failings, of late." His voice was even, but the tone 
caught me by surprise, and Jo stepped in before I could say 
anything else. 

"Brainy, what can you tell us? Can you help Mon?"

I saw something then that I hadn’t seen since Lyle Norg’s 
death: the mark of tears on Querl’s face. I was staring at 
that when he said, "I don’t...I don’t know, Ult--Jo. The 
damage may be..." he began, then stopped. "I will do 
everything I can, I promise you."

Jo said, "Don’t promise me. Promise *her.*" 

"I already have." Brainy’s expression was somber, but 
resolute. He glanced at me briefly, and said again, "I will."

Then he left, and we went in to talk to Shady.

************************************************
************************

Ultra Boy: 

She looked...okay.

I don’t know what I expected. I guess I’d been trying not to 
think about it too much. But Doc Gym’ll has a lot of 
experience in patching up wounded Legionnaires, no matter 
how much he complains every time that he’s gonna quit. 
He more than earned his fee this time, that's for sure.

Just seeing Shady like that, all tucked into a hospital bed, 
made me feel awful. I had no idea what to do or say until 
Tinya went over and kissed her cheek, then sat down by the 
bed. I grabbed a seat on the other side and waited.

Tinya’d been beating herself up about the whole thing long 
enough that I wasn’t surprised when the first thing out of 
her mouth was an apology. "Tasmia, I’m so sorry. I should 
have--"

Shady let out a breath, almost a laugh but without anything 
funny in it at all. "Querl said almost precisely the same 
thing, do you know that? As if any of this was his fault, or 
yours."

Tinya scowled, and I could see her starting to fume again. 
"It *is* his fault. The serum--"

"--failed as it inevitably would, and Brainiac 5 is a man and 
not a minor deity. Stop expecting him to be infallible. No 
one is." Something shifted in her face, something dark and 
painful. "I don’t need you to place blame for me, Tinya. I 
know very well where it goes. And I don’t want to discuss 
it any more." Shady turned her head to look at me. "Jo? Are 
you all right?"

Oh, I really wasn’t. "Yeah. I, uh, we were worried about 
you. Are you, um--" no, she wasn’t okay, don’t be a moron, 
Jo--"how are you?" I sounded like an idiot, but she didn’t 
seem to mind.

"Better. Thank you." 

Across the bed I watched Tinya collect herself, throw out 
the first dozen things she was about to say, and start over. 
"Shady, Jo and I were talking." Well, sort of. She talked, I 
agreed. "We want to take you with us on a leave of 
absence, as soon as Doctor Gym’ll says it’s all right. 
Element Lad’s already agreed he can do without us and 
don’t argue with me, okay? We all could use the break."

*That* was more than the truth. Both of us had been 
sniping at each other over the whole thing, worry over 
Shady making us both a little crazy. Being in the 
headquarters where Brainy was--and Mon had been--just 
made it worse.

Shady just nodded slowly and Tinya looked surprised; I 
guess Tinya’d been expecting her to argue. "Where?"

Tinya hadn’t mentioned *this* part. "Well, Ayla mentioned 
her family’s farm, they’ve got a cabin they be happy to loan 
us, and Winath’s really beautiful--"

"Fine." Shady reached for the call button. "Alert Doctor 
Gym’ll that I’m ready to be released, please." 

On the other end a nurse groaned. "Oh, no, please don’t 
make me call him, he’ll just go off on another rant about 
you Legionnaires--"

"My apologies." Shady released the comm and quirked an 
eyebrow at Tinya. "I assume you have everything 
arranged?"

"Uh-huh."

"Then let’s--" She sat up, a little too fast, and we both saw 
the pain crash over her face even though she tried to hide it. 

"Jo--" Tinya said, but I was already there, holding Shady 
up. She leaned against me, breathing deeply, and her grip 
on my arm would’ve bruised if invulnerability wasn’t the 
default state of my ultra-powers.

I wanted to--hold her, let her know it’d all be all right; but 
it wouldn’t. It hadn’t hit me until then just how much it 
would never be all right again. Stupid, huh? But Tinya’s the 
pessimist, I’m the optimist. Usually. But grife...how was 
Shady gonna get through *this?* How were any of us?

Tinya touched my other arm and I looked up at her and I 
remembered. Because we loved each other, that’s how. 

It’d have to be enough.


{end Part I}






In room

Shady, why didn’t you tell us?

I don’t want to talk about it. 

Dr. Gym’ll

************************************************
************************



Part II

Phantom Girl:

In a way, it was worse than if Mon had died.

That’s a terrible thing to say, I know. I *remember* what it 
was like when I thought Jo had died, a couple of years ago. 
Like my heart had been ripped out and everything worth 
living for had vanished. Once in awhile I dream that he’s 
gone, and I wake up clutching at him and so, so grateful to 
find him with me. 

Shady had been there for me, all along.

For that, and for a thousand other little things, I owed her 
so much. I’m...not the easiest person to get along with. I 
*know* that, okay? But Tasmia always accepted me as I 
am, and during that whole horrible time she stayed with 
me, let me cry on her shoulder until her costume was 
soaked through, and never let me feel alone. There was no 
way I was leaving her now.

But it was worse because you could just tell; she was 
waiting for Brainy to call with news of a cure. And that 
*wasn’t* going to happen. It took years for him to figure 
out what was wrong with Andrew Nolan and to cure 
Tenzil’s insanity. The truth is...I give him a lot of grief, but 
I know that no one else could have done those things. 
Shady was probably right: I was so used to Brainy saving 
the Legion’s collective butt that those times that he failed 
stand out so spectacularly. 

So, sure, he’d be working on a way to get Mon back from 
the Zone. He’d be working on that until he succeeded or he 
dropped over dead, whichever came first. I wasn’t taking 
any bets.

Tasmia’s faith in Querl Dox runs even deeper than mine. 
She *was* expecting Brainy to come up with a miracle in a 
week, or a month. And who the hell was I to tell her that it 
wouldn’t happen? If it’d been Jo...I’d want to believe that 
too.

But Jo had never done to me what Mon-El had done to 
Shady, either.

"The serum failed," I get that. But I just couldn’t 
*understand* why neither of them had said anything or 
tried to get help. And Shady...wasn’t talking. I guess that 
wasn’t really surprising; even without Mon she always 
seemed so self-sufficient, so *together.* Part of her 
training, I guess. 

Tasmia has this kind of reserve 


I never knew anyone who got what she wanted by being 
shy. When I decided I wanted to be a part of the Legion I 
ghosted through the wall and announced myself. When I 
knew I wanted Jo I chased him until he caught me--letting 
him think he was the one in charge. 


It had to feel like the worst kind of betrayal.


I’m the one who can be counted on to offer her opinion at 
the drop of a pin. Tasmia keeps her own council, as they 
say.

I know she wanted to--touch me, for comfort. But I 
don’t...I’m not.... Gah.

I sound like such a prude.



Here’s something even more awful to have to admit: 
Somehow, I would have gotten past Jo’s death. I would 
have had the Legion and my friends and my duty. I’m a 
pragmatist.

And Shady is too, even more so than me, but this…


I’m a pessimist, too. I didn’t believe he would, this time.


None of this was working. She wouldn’t talk, and she 
*had* to before things got worse. I had to find another way 
to reach her.

The solution was so obvious, once I thought of it. Getting 
Jo to cooperate--*that’d* be the easy part.



************************************************
************************

Ultra Boy:

So there we were on Winath, supposedly enjoying 
ourselves, but it wasn’t much fun. Tinya and I were both 
keeping an eye on Shady, waiting for some kind of 
emotional breakdown, but nothing happened. We did all the 
stuff that people on vacation always do, except that Shady’s 
face was haunted and I’m sure we looked no better, 
watching over her.

The third night, something finally broke. We’d been 
relaxing in the living room, in this nifty deep-carpeted 
entertainment pit. I’d told Tinya I’d love something like 
that in our Legion quarters, except that Brainy might have a 
fit at that much remodeling. We had an ignored vid playing 
on one side and the fireplace roaring on the other, and a 
half-killed bottle of Starhaven spirits--potent stuff!--
between the three of us. I was lying back, enjoying the 
peace and quiet when Tinya poked me in the ribs and 
nodded toward Shady. She was sitting like she was before, 
but there were tears pouring down her face. I don’t even 
think she knew it.

We’d been expecting it but it still shook me, I don’t mind 
saying. Tasmia’s a pretty self-contained lady. Tinya moved 
over to her and pulled her into a hug, and motioned me 
over. I put my arms around her from the other side and then 
she really broke down, crying in these deep wracking sobs 
that shook her whole body. Tinya was crying a little too, 
and so was I. We’d all loved Mon, and maybe it was the 
idea of never seeing him again, or just hearing Shady cry 
like that. I don’t know how long we sat there, holding each 
other. 

After awhile Shady stopped crying, but she was still 
shaking like a leaf. Tinya looked at me, silently telling me 
she was going to get up, and sort of pushed Shady into my 
lap. I heard Tinya turn up the fireplace and then go into the 
kitchen. I kept holding Shady, stroking her hair and doing 
my best to make her feel comfortable. 

Well. I’m not a saint, okay? I’d have to be blind, or maybe 
Tellus, not to notice that Tasmia is a gorgeous woman. I 
usually didn’t think of her like that, believe it or not. I 
mean, she was a friend and a damned good one, and as 
firmly tied to Mon as I was to Tinya. Tasmia is usually 
reserved, even with friends, and Mon wasn’t the kind for 
locker-room talk, you know? Not like Thom or worse, 
Dirk. Sure, I’d had a fantasy or two about a Legion lady 
other than Tinya on occasion--Nura, of course, and couple 
of really memorable ones about Ayla a few years back, 
after that time she planted one hell of a kiss on me during a 
mid-air game of tag. 

But Tinya always says I could get aroused by a passing 
breeze, and there’s some truth in that--not that I ever heard 
her complain! Shady was all tucked tight in my lap, and I 
was bent over her, and then somehow I was kissing her, 
and she was kissing me back desperately. *God,* she tasted 
good--spicy and exotic, really exciting. Her hands were on 
my arms, curling around my biceps like Tinya does, and 
every coherent thought had left my brain when I heard her 
moan against my tongue, "Mon….."

I guess I started, though I shouldn’t have been surprised, 
and she pulled back. Tinya was standing right there, not 
five feet away. Before I could begin to move or say 
anything, she came over and kissed me, quickly but with a 
lot of intensity. Then she kneeled down next to us, Shady 
still in my lap, and said, "Tasmia, you know Jo and I love 
you a lot. Will you let us love you?" When she didn’t say 
anything, Tinya took Shady’s face in her hands, and kissed 
her.

I thought the top of my head was going to come off. 

Yeah, I know. Every man’s fantasy, right? Except this was 
Tinya, my lover of years and years, who never ever even 
hinted that she might be interested in this kind of thing. 
Tinya’s as uninhibited as they come in our bedroom, 
something I’ve had reason to be very, very grateful for. But 
before this I could’ve have sworn this would have never 
entered her mind. "This" being the passionate kiss that was 
getting deeper by the second, as Tasmia began moaning 
again, and Tinya’s nipples appeared through her light robe, 
getting harder as they always do when she’s aroused. 
Which is often, so I think those white costumes she likes 
are her way of showing off. And she wasn’t the only one 
getting harder, either.

After about an eternity they broke apart, and Tinya gave me 
that little cat-smile she reserves for when she’s done 
something slightly "improper," and I knew I’d been set up. 
Not that I minded! Tinya always has my best interests at 
heart. But it was up to Shady.

I think she couldn’t have spoken then, even if she’d wanted 
to. One of her hands went up to Tinya’s face, caressing it, 
and she laid the other flat on my chest over my heart. Then 
she took my hand and Tinya’s, and brought them to her 
lips. Her eyes were closed, but I could see her tears had 
started again. I would have spoken, but Tinya shook her 
head, "no," and she’s always been wiser than me.

A moment later Shady looked up again, her eyes full but 
crystal-bright in the firelight. Without moving from my lap, 
she pulled her robe open to the waist, dropping it from her 
shoulders. I drew her to me again and she fell into my kiss, 
her hands touching me everywhere as I felt Tinya’s nails 
run gently over the back of my neck--she knows it drives 
me crazy when she does that. Much more and I wouldn’t 
have been any good to either of them. 

I swept Tasmia up, tugging her robe the rest of the way off 
and laying her down on the carpet. Tinya had lost her own 
robe somewhere while I was distracted, and the vision of 
them two there, like that, was nearly enough to do me in.

But hey, I’m not Ultra Boy for nothing. I took a minute to 
just look at them both. Beautiful. I swept Tinya into a kiss, 
loving the familiar feel of her against me, and felt her hands 
busy at the waist of my sweatpants. I swatted her hands 
away quickly and stood, nodding toward Shady. Tinya gave 
me another one of those cat-grins and sank down, reaching 
for Shady, who reached back with more than a little 
desperation. 

I watched them kiss while I got rid of my clothes, seeing 
Tinya’s fingers beginning to trace the same patterns along 
Shady’s skin that she liked to draw on mine. Tasmia was 
making little erotic noises that went straight to the few 
brain cells I still had functioning, and then somewhat lower 
down. 

Tinya maneuvered herself behind Shady, her hands 
sweeping over Tasmia’s breasts. I knelt down and kissed 
Shady again, her hands coming up to touch me in ways and 
places that no one but Tinya had for years. When her hand 
closed over me I know I gasped aloud, and Tinya leaned 
over Tasmia’s shoulder to lick my mouth. 

I have a very agile tongue. Tinya has told me so often, and 
with great delight. I swept it down Shady’s neck, over her 
collarbone, into the valley of her breasts. She was a little 
fuller there than Tinya and I lingered awhile, enjoying the 
smell of her, and the way she responded to my touch. Then 
down until I could taste her, as she arced up into my mouth. 

It wasn’t long until she began keening, a low sound that 
went on and up until her whole body shuddered under me. I 
kissed her hip and slid up as she was already reaching for 
me, and I slipped into her like we’d done this a thousand 
times before. We moved together, Tinya’s arms around us 
both, until it was *there* and it was *now* and I exploded 
into her as she crested again and we collapsed.

After a moment I shifted so Tasmia could rest her head 
against my shoulder, my arm around her, and she was still 
clinging to me. I trusted Tinya, but as the blood returned to 
my brain I hoped this had been the right thing to do; I 
didn’t want anyone thinking we’d somehow taken 
advantage of Tasmia’s grief. 

I felt better when Tasmia kissed my cheek, and whispered 
"thank you." She leaned over and kissed Tinya the same 
way, but with a lingering caress. I thought that might lead 
to something more, which would have been fine by me, but 
Shady was visibly exhausted. We’d guessed she hadn’t 
been sleeping well, so maybe now she finally could. She 
stood gracefully and headed toward her bedroom, not 
bothering with her robe. Then she stopped and turned back 
to us. "When you’re ready, would you…will you…." She 
paused, and Tinya said, "We’ll be there in a few minutes, 
Shady."

Like I said, she’s wiser than me.

A beat, and then I had to say it. "A few minutes?"

Tinya smiled. "Well…"

Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were bright, and her 
nipples were still standing at attention. I did the only 
appropriate thing: I saluted.

Her eyebrow went up. "That’s a lame-ass salute, soldier. 
Give me your full attention, if you please."

So I did, and we did, and though it was fast it was as good 
as ever.

But my lady-love was still looking a little too pleased with 
herself. Hmmmm. "Too bad you never thought to try this 
before now…." I mused.

Tinya looked amused, then serious. "Well, this is sort of a 
critical circumstance, and I wanted Shady to know we 
would be there for her, and…"

"No, I understand all that." I gave her a quick kiss. "What I 
meant was, too bad you didn’t propose it while Mon was 
here."

I don’t have the chance to shock her often. It’s fun. "J-Jo?" 
she gasped. 

I just smiled.

And before she could steal the last word from me, I pulled 
her into Shady’s room, and we all tangled together in sleep.


************************************************
************************

Shadow Lass: 

I woke from a dream of Lar, and found myself in the arms 
of my friends. 

Tinya is my dearest friend, and I know her well; for her, 
this would not have been a decision made lightly. To 
choose to share Jo, who she holds jealously close. To 
choose to share herself, when I know full well she has little 
interest in anyone *except* Jo. And Jo, who loved me so 
well last night, lending me his strength and showing me a 
deep kindness with the comfort of his touch.

This was a true gift they had given me, and I could not 
repay them with silence. They deserved to know. I had to 
tell them.

Oh, my Ancestors, give me strength!

I felt Jo shift next to me, and then he was looking down 
into my face. "Shady, are you...."

"I’m fine, Jo." Half a truth. But he looked so earnest and 
concerned, afraid perhaps that I might run screaming from 
the bedroom, or accuse him of some impropriety.

So I smiled at him, and moved into his warmth. He hugged 
me against him and we lay for awhile, together watching 
Tinya sleep. 

I love her, I truly do. I’m not blind to her faults. Tinya is 
judgmental and imperious and occasionally cruel. But she 
is also fiercely loyal to her friends and to the Legion, 
dedicated beyond doubt, fearless--the litany of her virtues 
far outweighs her flaws, and the choice she made last night 
was a thing of such generosity....

I would have loved her long ago, had I thought she would 
accept it. I know this is a gift for the moment, not to be 
repeated once we leave here. But memory endures.

Memory. My dream.

Like an echo I hear the last words he said to me. "It's all 
right, lover," he said, voice as strong and kind as ever, "go 
back to sleep. When you wake up the nightmare'll 
be...gone. I promise you. I won't let it ever hurt you again."

Lar keeps his promises. Even if that meant going back--

Back into the Phantom Zone, Ancestors help him, back into 
that gray nothingness that he feared more than anything 
else in all the worlds.

No. I’m wrong.

He went back to keep from hurting me further, to keep 
from forcing Kal-El to see what the lead poisoning would 
do to his mind. His fear of...failing us greater even than his 
terror of the Zone. His love for us, for Kal and I and all of 
us, stronger than I ever knew.

Oh, my love. And there are those who think you weak.

Beside us Tinya yawned and stretched. Her blue eyes 
opened, surprised just for a moment to see me before she 
"remembered" and smiled. It was an open expression, 
genuine, and it relieved me beyond measure. After all we 
had been and done for each other, to lose Tinya now would 
have shattered me.




FDLITES: In the dream Lar is smiling is holding me so 
tenderly, his eyes stained that darkest blue I so love with 
passion and he is whispering how much he needs me, how 
much he loves me.  I am loved and safe and notheing will 
ever, ever hurt me ...
FDLITES: In the dream ...
FDLITES: And then he's not smiling at me anymore.  I've made him 
very very angry and I can't ... I can't remember why ... He shakes me  
like a child's toy and there is a different sort of passion ion his eyes 
now.  I'm trapped here, trapped.  Gods help me I cna't get away from 
him!  I watch in near helpless fury as he tosses me away and then draws 
back his fist.
FDLITES: I struggle in someone's strong arms and cry out in rage ... 
But when I look up it is Jo's warm brown eyes I see and his soft smile.
FDLITES: "Shhhh, Shhh ...." comes Tinya's admonishion, "it's alright.  
It was just a nighmare ... It'll go away."
FDLITES: <"When you wake up the nightmare'll be gone, lover.  I 
won't ever let it hurt you again, I promise ... ">





((("It's all right, lover," he assured her, his voice gaining 
strength, "go back to sleep. When you wake up the 
nightmare'll be ... gone. I promise you. I won't let it ever 
hurt you again." Content, she tumbled back into drugged 
rest.)))



Why Shady not mad--Shadow champion, history of heroic 
service and sacrifice, understand necessity.

Why I said nothing

Had been arguing more than usual, nothing much, all under 
stress.

"It wasn’t that simple. You didn’t see his depression, or his 
desperation…"

{{ "I don’t *know* what’s wrong. Leave me alone, will 
you?" he snarled.

"Never. And I can’t believe you’d even ask that of me. 
Mon, please, let me *help!*"

I couldn’t help but flinch as his fist went through the 
bedroom wall. "Leave me alone or I’ll--"

"You’ll what?" I stood my ground, knowing to the depths 
of my soul that Mon-El would never hurt me. "Don’t, 
please. Let me call Brainy, he can--"

"No!" He whirled around, and I shuddered again at the faint 
gleam of red against the blue of his eyes, the barest flare of 
heat. "He can’t help. He always makes things worse, or did 
you forget Computo? Or Omega? Or--"

"Stop it!" I finally yelled back, shocked out of calmness. 
"He’s your *friend,* did you forget *that?*"

"Right. Yeah. You want to help, he wants to help, 
everybody wants to help but no one will do what I want and 
*leave me alone*--"

Steadfast in my belief, I moved nearer. "Lar, *keraltlyn,* 
my heart--"

The barest swipe, meant to brush me away but in his rage 
stronger than he intended, and I crashed against the 
opposite wall with shooting agony raging down my side. I 
gasped for breath and felt the sharpness of broken ribs 
grind together, nearly blinding me with the suddenness of 
the pain. Faster than thought, he was at my side. "Tasmia--
oh, my God--" GODS OF DAXAM????

In the MedLab Brainiac 5 tended to my injury, bound my 
ribs and set them to healing. 

And I said not a word.}}

Tinya and Jo sat huddled together, unconsciously reaching 
for each other against what I’d been telling them. For a 
moment I envied them; their love was so pure, 
uncomplicated. 

"But Shady…" Tinya didn’t understand. I saw that clearly. 
"*Why* didn’t you tell Brainy? Or-or me? I- none of us 
knew, we couldn’t help…"

"Because I was wrong. I thought it would stop. You know 
about Lar’s depression; I thought he was just going through 
another cycle. I didn’t…I was wrong." 

Jo cleared his throat. "What-what happened after that?"

I nodded to Jo. "Lar was--terribly upset. Hating himself for 
what he’d done. For the next few weeks everything was 
fine--at least, I thought it was over, at the time." I’d been 
wrong then, too. "He was still quieter than usual, and he 
still was avoiding Brainy and his own scientific projects, 
but I thought he was just giving himself a break. He was 
very…thoughtful around me. Careful. Too much so."

Tinya frowned. "What do you mean?"

"He was walking--what’s the Terran expression?--‘on 
eggshells’ around me. *Very* cautious about touching me, 
or anyone else for that matter."




"...Minor bruises. We were making up…" and I had to stop 
there, as the memory of our last time together, that last time 
Lar and I made love, came to me too clearly. It was sweet, 
as sweet as always, until between one moment and the next 
he...changed. "...and that was when...."

"Okay. Okay, Shady." Suddenly Jo was there, his arm 
around my shoulders, freeing me of the need to say more. I 
leaned into him, grateful for the reprieve. 




Was going to come to Brainy, but Legion business got in 
the way, and also hoped this was just a fluke, would go 
away. Notes this is out of character for her, bitter tone, 
should have known better

"Necessity" --an evil word.

Denial--Lar isn’t gone for good, that he hurt her and didn’t 
get help

Dr. Gym’ll cameo


anger with no where to go, at herself and Lar

covered it up rather than go for help

>	That Lar is really gone for anything more than a brief> 
interlude.

>	Now that's defintely gonna be a point of denial!@ 
Possibily fior alooong time!> And that he really did 
what he did to her,> and didn't immediately get help. 

>	>> OUCH. Didn't think of that last bit 'til now. Man,> 
that casts him in a bad light. Okay, so what are your> 
thoughts on how his madness progressed? Violence to> 
calm, yeah, but at other times?

>	Deep depression and remorse! Lar is prone that way 
anyway! The wholething probably started out with 
something as simple as one of thosepointless arguments 
that any couple sometimes have and Lar grabbed 
herharder than he should have leaving a hell of a bruise. 
Now Shady is aLL'er; she's been hurt before she might 
not have even thought muchaboutit. At first. She 
probably yelled at him (remember the yelling 
Ahmentioned?) and hurt her hansd slapping him or 
flipped him a good one:):) He may even have tried to 
get help! Does the Legion have a psychaitrist? He may 
have talked to Dr, Gym'll who referred him to 
theLegion shrink -you could include something like this 
in the Gym'llcameo:):) Shady was probably the only 
one who knew about this! Or shemay NOT have 
klnown:):) To keep the element of pathos you can say 
thathe didn't have time to keep the appoinment befiore 
the events of mystory exploded in his face! The real 
tagedy is that even if'n he hadseen the shrink it wouldn't 
have helped! His problem was medical 
notpsychological::(:(> I just can't see Lar hurting 
Tasmia and then shrugging> it off. He's not that kind of 
guy.Nope! Does what Ah suggested above work for 
ya'll??

>	Okay. I could really use some thoughts on the> 
progression.

>	Ok, the way Ah see it is this: In the beginning Lar is 
irritable --very irritable. they arguie a lot about silly 
things that don'tmatter. But they make up easily 
enough. Tasmia might be a littleconcerned for their 
relationship and might think that Lar is goingthrough 
something bad that he won't talk about, but since, like 
himshe's a reserved person, she'll probably give him his 
space. Then comethe fits of physical temper - bruises 
from being grabbed too roughly or pushed or perhaps 
when she resisted being grabbed, etc. In between 
wehave bouts of deep depression and remorse on Lar's 
part. He starts toavoid everyone when he can. Everyone 
but Tasmia. The bruises graduateto jammed fingers and 
sprained wrists. Tasmia is really concerned atthis point. 
She realizes that things are escalating and that 
they'reprobably not going to get any better. She urges 
him to seek help. Theyhave a really nasty fight where 
he cracks two of her ribs. Lar isdisconsulate and abject! 
He seeks Dr. Gy'll/the L* shrink. Who can'tsee him 
right away. For a couple of weeks things seem to 
improve. Laris especially careful and caring of Tasmia. 
She relaxes a bit. Thenthey have a relatively minor set 
to where Lar leaves bruises on herfaceand arms (thus 
the "flesh colored makeup and long sleeves" of 
mystory). As many lovers do they were in the process 
of "making up" bymaking love when everything 
exploded. The key here as Ah see it isthatthis happened 
slowly. A slow peronality change like this is insidious.It 
creeps up unexpectedly. And realize also that in 
between all thosebruises and sprains Lar is major 
depressed. And Tasmia loves him. It'shard for her to see 
him like that. He's also very solicitous andextra,extra 
sweet ot her. Until he ... slips.





TINYA again?? Reaction to all??


************************************************
************************
Part III


Brainiac 5: 

After return, Tas wanting to help, faith in him

Why passed up chance w/Tasmia, no regret but now 
wonders

	Once, I would have scoffed at the idea of becoming 
involved with anyone not blessed with my level of intellect, 
which severely limited my options…and then there was 
Kara. More important things than that.

Musing on relationship with Kara, too safe, too easy. Poor 
substitute for something real. Brainy always ran from 
relationships--Imra, Lar, Rond exceptions. 
	Will not compare Tasmia to Kara. Not fair, not 
appropriate.

And Kara was a thousand years gone.

I had always known of her fate. And willfully, blindly, 
chosen to ignore the truth. 


> Another good reason for Shady to move in with 
Brainy!:):)  Her quartersare 
a wreck .. and Ah doubt very seriously she  wants to go 
back there ...too 
many memories. 
Which brtings up an interesting point:):)  Has nothing to do 
with thisstory 
... but Ah wonder who it was that removed all of Lar's 
things from heand 
Shady's quarters and put them in storage? IMRA!


T. refuses to believe no cure, I find her total 
faith…disturbing. I don’t know why she feels so, or why I 
have earned this trust from her. Maybe I’m the only one 
who can help, and she HAS to believe?

B: doing this because you think I will try harder to bring 
him back?

She slapped him. Stunned, he stepped back.

"How dare you." The words were flat, unemotional.

He shook his head and dropped into a chair. "Shad--
Tasmia, I’m sorry. I apologize, truly. The stress...and...." 
He looked up at her, seeming very young suddenly. "I don’t 
know why you’d want to...touch me. I’ve caused you 
nothing but grief. I’m not very good at...this sort of 
thing...."

"Do you remember," she said, voice very low, "when we 
met, on Talok VIII?"

"Yes." He did, with the painful clarity that accompanied his 
perfect memory. 

"You didn’t understand why I followed you back to the 
Legion headquarters, then. Do you now?"

He closed his eyes. "So long ago, Tasmia. So much since 
then. Mon-El, and Kara...." His voice broke on her name, as 
always.

He felt her hand close over his in a fierce grip. "Paths not 
taken. I would have loved you then, if you’d allowed me to. 
But that’s not what this is about."

Brainy opened his eyes. "I don’t…."

"I pray you’ll find a cure for Lar. Every moment. I know 
you do as well, because he is your friend and you love him 
too. I *know* that, Querl." Her eyes were very intent. "But 
in all your philosophy, is there no room for comfort? Or 
desire for its own sake?"

He protested faintly. "But Lar--"

"Shadows take you! Are you Terran? Is it written by your 
people that you can love no more than one person in your 
lifetime, or more than one at a single time?! And here I--" 
she broke off. After a moment she withdrew her hand and 
into herself. "Forgive me, Brainiac 5. I won't intrude 
again."

It *cut* him. "Please. No. It's me who should apologize. I--
you startled me, I never thought..."

"Thought what?"








Does not regret a moment with Lar. This has nothing to do 
with her feelings for him. Never understood limits on who 
you may love; but Lar needed whole attention, so that was 
the way it had to be, which was more than okay because 
she loved him totally.



I needed to say...good-bye.

Resolution--Tas talks to Mon w/Imra’s help.--Imra’s POV

Saturn Girl:

I remember when Ayla--Lightning Lass, my darling 
Garth’s sister--came and begged me for help. Her lover 
Timber Wolf went missing on a mission gone wrong, and 
she begged me to find him, to save him.

I’d never felt a love like what she bore him, pure and strong 
and overwhelming. I told her that as much as I loved Garth, 
it was not as--pure as what she had for Brin. Until this 
morning, I’d never felt that strong an emotion again.

This morning, Shadow Lass asked me to help her say good-
bye to her love.






*********************************


DAN’S ADDITION
 'rith Sugah:)

Here a little bitty present for ya'll:):)  I'm kinda stalled on 
several of my fics so Ah wanted to write something to get 
the creative juices flowing!  Ah decided that Ah would 
write a bit on "Aftermath":)  Ah hope ya'll don't mind!  
Well anyway her it is, ya'll can do what ever ya'll want with 
it; use it or delete it as the case may be!  "Aftermath" is 
ya'll's story, not mine and Ah surely don't want to make 
ya'll think otherwise:):)  In any case, Ah hope ya'll enjoy 
TwinSis:):)

 Dann-El

 Present

 Look, all I knew at first was that there I was drinking a 
Silverale, curled up with Tinya on our roomy battered old 
grav couch, watching the Metropolis Giants kick butt on 
the Tokyo Terrors in the moopsball Quarter Finals when 
everything shook and rattled.  The next thing I knew Tinya 
and I were on the floor and the Security alarms were 
screaming in our ears loud enough to wake the sprocking 
dead.

"ALERT!   ALERT!  SECURITY BREACH!  SECURITY 
BREACH!  SECTOR A-16! REPEAT:  SECURITY 
BREACH IN SECTOR A-16!"

Scrambling to my feet with Tinya in my arms, I shook my 
head to clear it.  Tinya lunged for the comm and I shut 
down the proximity alarm feed to our quarters so I could 
hear myself think.  Grife!  If someone was attacking Legion 
HQ in the hopes of catching a bunch of Legionaires by 
suprise and taking them out they were sprock out of luck, I 
can tell you that.  Most everyone was gone.  Even the 
Legion has slow times and this was one of them.  So 
naturally, one and all take advantage of the opportunity for 
a little R&R, right?  So naturally some bastich just can't 
live unless *they* take advantage and cause grief.  Fine 
with me.

I glanced over to see Tinya staring into Pol Krinn's wide 
blue eyes and demanding, "What in the name of space was 
*that*?"  Rokk's little brother Pol is turning out to be 
almost as good a Legionaire as his brother.  Cos has a lot to 
be proud of with Pol.

"*That*," said Pol in a steady voice, his eyes darting over 
his Monitor Board, "was an explosion.  A big one.  Sector 
A-16, sub sector ..." he glanced at his readouts, " ... sub 
sector 15 ... Oh damn ... "  I didn't have to see the grim line 
of his mouth to realize that we might be in a lot more 
trouble than I first thought, even.  Tinya and I *looked* at 
each other.

"Brainy's lab!" we breathed in unison.

Okay, I'll be the first one to admit that I've made a lot of 
jokes about Brainy's exploding labs.  I was the one who 
named the perpetually vacant private quarters on the floor 
beneath Brainy's lab "Superville" and made the tasteless 
(I'm told by Tinya) suggestion that Clark and Mon and 
Kara might want to move in since they wouldn't have to 
worry about the occasional ceiling falling in on them ... 
except for the annoyance factor, of course.

"You first, Jo,"  Mon had replied dryly with a waggling 
eyebrow.  "After all ... invulnerability *is* the default state 
of your ultra powers, isn't it?  You should be safe."  I hadn't 
realized until then how long it had been since I'd thought 
about Mon ...

I'm no scientist that's for sure.  I don't know what goes on 
in Brainy's lab and I'm pretty sure I don't want to.  But there 
certainly have been times when the things that happen there 
are no joke.  Computo and Omega spring to mind, ya 
know?  I hoped this wasn't one of those times.

Tinya grabbed my hand.  "Come on, Jo!" she exclaimed.  
"We've got to hurry!"

Roger that.

With a burst of ultra speed, I got us there in seconds.  For 
all the good it did.  I cursed when I saw the pale blue 
flicker of one of Brainy's impenetrable force fields still in 
operation around the lab's perimeter.  Until we could get 
past that thing no one was going to be able to do squat for 
anybody still inside.  I smiled.  No one but ...

"Tinya?"

"On my way, love," she declared and phased through the 
wall.

Once inside she shut down the field and I just about had the 
entrance cleared about the time Cham came running down 
the hall.

"Magnetic Kid says Brainy's still in there, but he's not sure 
about anybody else," he said, morphing into a Rytekllian 
Shovel Beast to help me clear away the last of the debris.  
Nodding, I grunted and shouldered aside a  piece of the 
door still crackling and sparking with ambient energy.  
Since I wasn't invulnerable, I had to be careful.  Sometimes 
this only being able to use one power at a time is a pain in 
the ass, let me tell you.

"Jo!" I heard Tinya call.  "I found Brainy!  Over here!"  
From out of the rubble, Tinya's head and shoulders popped 
up and she gestured me to her side.  "Be careful,"she 
advised. "his legs are pinned under that support beam and if 
it goes he'll be crushed."  I don't mind telling you I was 
beginning to sweat antimatter here.  "Got it," I wiped my 
eyes.

When we pulled Brainy free the pain brought him back to 
consciousness. I'm no sawbones, but I do pretty well with 
broken bones, having had plenty of them myself.  I was 
almost sure Brainy's right leg was busted.  Nothing a few 
minutes with a bone knitting laser wouldn't fix but it was 
gonna hurt like Sheol for a while.

"Tasmia!" he gasped.  "Where's Tasmia?"  At my side, I 
saw Tinya go white as the ghost she sometimes resembles.

"Tasmia?" she burst out, "Brainy do you mean Shady's in 
here somewhere?"  His answering, "Yesss ... " was more a 
moan than anything else.

"Where?" Tinya cried, looking about frantically, "Brainy 
can you tell us where?"  I was about to switch on my 
penetra vision to help find her when Cham landed on my 
ear and there was suddenly a Deebvian fruit fly whispering 
to me.

"She's over there," he said.

"I've got her," said the voice of Brin Londo, Timber Wolf.  
I hadn't even seen him join the party but there he was, with 
a barely conscious Tasmia clinging to his arm.  I guess I'd 
never thought about it but, super agility must come in 
handy for more than just beating up on the bad guys.  In 
this case it let him slip in and out of some really tight 
places, I guess.

"There's somebody else here," he said.  "Somebody sick ... 
"  He hesitated, sniffing the air, then wrinkling his nose in 
distaste.  "I can't tell ... "

Brainy grabbed my shirt and cried, "Kal!  Oh gods, Kal!  
The kryptonite ... the explosion must have breached his 
transuit!"

By this point I wasn't even gonna ask what Clark and 
kryptonite were doing in the same galactic arm much less 
together in Brainy's lab.  My ear tickled momentarily when 
Cham took flight and began buzzing around the wreckage, 
looking for Superboy.  Tinya ghosted away and I watched 
Brin lope off carrying Shady, heading for the MediLab.

Brainy was struggling to get up and I gently eased him 
back down. "Kal," he whispered, "Kal!"  "Easy, Brainy, 
easy!" I cautioned. "Tinya's looking for him, okay?  We'll 
find him I promise, now be still for grife's sake!"

I was searching with my penetra vision, methodically 
widening my field bit by bit.  But Brainy's lab is a big place 
though and time was the one thing I wasn't sure we had a 
lot of.  If Brainy was right about the transuit ... Then 
Tinya's loud shout echoed off the walls like laser shots.

"Jo!  Get over here!  Gods, I think he's dying!"

 
************************************************
**************************************



Falling down on your butt is not a good way to start the 
day, believe me, so I was not in the best of moods to begin 
with here.  I thought it was an earthquake.  Yeah, I know, I 
know ... They don't *have* earthquakes anymore.  And 
how in the cosmos would I know what an earthquake was 
like anyway?  But when I heard Pol's location for the "big 
explosion" I knew that it was going to be bad.  No, I'm not 
prescient like Nura.   Dream Girl can have her gift of 
prophecy for all of me.  I'm just a pessimist, that's all.  And 
I was right, too.

It didn't start out that bad, I guess.  We found Brainy right 
away and except for a broken leg he was fine.  Tasmia too, 
thank the gods.  She was bleeding from a lot of cuts and 
scrapes and shaken up by the whole thing, but altogether 
she was in good shape.  She had me plenty frightened for a 
minute there.

And then we found out about Clark.

I was just getting ready to breathe a large sigh of relief that 
no one was badly injured here when Brin's nose lowered 
the boom on *that*.  I heard the words "kryptonite" and 
"breached transuit" and I was *out* of there, searching the 
rubble like a manic.  Finding him wasn't hard, actually.  
Easiest thing I've ever done, as a matter of fact.  I heard the 
angry screaming almost before I was completely 
dematerialized.  I just followed my ears.

There they were, all right.  An immaterial Mon-El hovered 
over Clark kicking and punching futilely at a tiny piece of 
glowing green kryptonite half the size of my thumbnail, 
vainly trying to grasp it, to kick or toss it away, screaming 
like a Banshee bird.  I don't speak a word of Daxamite so I 
had no idea what he was saying.  But the helpless rage on 
his face didn't leave too much to the imagination.

Clark's transuit was breached, right enough.  He was a 
vivid shade of bright, flourescent green that would have put 
the most highly bred Coluan to shame.  I don't think he was 
breathing.  Scrunching down, there was just room for me to 
materialize, grab the kryptonite fragment and fling it as far 
away a I could.

Then I screamed for Jo.