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The Legion of Justice by tynnechris
The year: 1942. The place: The world we know as Earth-2.
Diana, princess of the Amazons was dreaming. It was not a pleasant dream. A city, full of towering buildings and strange vehicles. Flying, running and running throughout the city were dozens of men and women wearing brightly colored costumes. And towering above it all was... a titanic woman; no, not a woman, a machine, made of golden metal, that seemed to sneer at the tiny beings below.
"Hear me, All-Star Squadron!!! I have brought you now to this city of the future... where you will meet your DEATH at the hands of MEKANIQUE!!!"
A gruesome battle then ensued. Countless of the brightly-garbed beings tried to fight, only to be fried by the robotic monstrosity's blasts. Even the Spectre and Green Lantern only seemed to feed the robot's murderous frenzy when they tried their unearthly might. Finally, only Liberty Belle and Johnny Quick remained. Libby clung to the injured speedster... and looked up to see a giant gold foot closing in.
"No," she screamed, "NOOO--"
Diana awoke... screaming the same word.
"Hera! Again that same dream. My allies, my friends... all murdered. But where was I?! A few others were missing as well. By the gods, what does it mean?"
The robot Mekanique had turned up at the Perisphere headquarters of the All-Stars a few months ago. She claimed she was from the future, that the future would be saved if the All-Stars saved the lives of several people. Robotman seemed quite taken with her. Why had Diana dreamed of her... doing that to her friends? If it was an omen, then she would prepare herself. She felt cold as she remembered the sight: the greatest heroes the world had to offer... crushed like they were nothing.
Chapter 1
The scene: Somewhere above the Indian Ocean. It was daytime, apparently noon, some months after the Crisis on the world of Earth-2. It was far from the coast, so any waves present were small, and no boats could be seen. That was both good and bad; if there were boats nearby, the crew would be shocked and frightened by the upcoming event. But then, those who would soon appear would not mind any help they could get. Speaking of them, here they came now!
A streaking emerald comet raced towards the waters. It made contact! The splash was incredible.
"--guh... BURROUGHS!!! --sputter-- Oh you moron!!" A girl emerged from the now-churning water, wearing a rather outré indigo outfit.
"Listen: I am not taking the blame for this. According to your grand-uncle's coordinates, this should've been Gotham, or at least the old United States!" was the reply from a visored figure in a dark green and black body-suit.
"It would've been if you'd not jumped the gun, as usual. Where's Horus?"
"Can't the blasted bird swim?!"
"I'll get him, don't worry," said another young woman, this one wearing a bodysuit that seemed to shimmer like a night sky full of stars. Soon she emerged from the water encased in a shimmering field, a tawny-brown-feathered figure that was drenched and unconscious in tow.
The indigo-suited girl grimaced. "I certainly hope Kid Terrific's group isn't in the same mess. We were supposed to warn the forebears. And now we have to figure out where we flamin' are. Ohhh..." Canary treaded water over to Greenfire, who remained silent after his gruff remarks. She got the feeling then and there that saving the world wasn't going to be much fun this time.
Chapter 2
THE ADVENTURES OF JEMI OLSEN
The Smallville Gazette wasn't exactly big on the earth-shattering stories one had in the big cities, at least not in Jemi's opinion. Not that she was complaining; not exactly, at least. It was just that, for a girl who grew up hearing the stories her grand-uncle could tell, covering a tech-show in nearby Midvale paled in comparison. Here she stood, waiting in the lobby while her brother tried to find the men's room. She sighed. The convention could have at least brought in the interesting companies, like TylerCo or Knight-Tech. Instead there were a slew of PCs that looked to be virtual clones of each other. Exciting... really.
"Not too likely to be the most exciting point of my career," she grumbled to herself. "And the punch tastes like they forgot to add the sugar."
"Ms?" a floor person said who looked her way.
"Nothing," said Jemi, smiling. "Just speaking a thought out loud."
"Oh..." he smiled. "You may be right about the punch. We were in quite a hurry to set up, and--"
The man was cut off by an odd crackling noise. Jemi realized that her hair was standing up on her head, like in science class when the teacher had her touch a generator. All of the computer screens went to flashing. What the heck? Suddenly the strange charge in the air seemed to collect into the center of the show floor. The lights all dimmed, and a ball of electrical energy seemed to form into distinct shapes.
"Oh God I hope this isn't a supervillain attack!!! We don't get those in Kansas!" screamed some passerby right Jemi's ear. She tried to tell herself it was just the tension of the strange thing happening that made her want to deck him.
A hush fell on the room as the shapes became... people? A girl who looked to be her age wearing a garish skin-tight outfit, which was made all the more weird by a yellow triangle on the outfit's torso that read "Fair Play" in stylized script. Why did that seem so familiar? Before Jemi could process that, there were the others: A boy who shone from head to toe like he was made shiny gold, and a panther standing on two legs?!?
"Ohhh crud... Did weee overrr-shoot?" it spoke!!! And it had even managed to form its... muzzle into a rather worried expression.
As one could guess, most people in the room lost their composure. Quickly.
"AAAAAAGGGHHH!!!!"
"Super-villain freaks!!!"
"Call the police... hell, call somebody!!!"
People started running everywhere, the show's security trying calm them down, call the authorities, and get a bearing on the bizarre intruders, all at the same time.
"Well, I don't think this is the residence of the Monitor, do you?" Jemi heard the girl with the "Fair-Play" triangle say to the man-panther.
That didn't sound like your typical master-criminal thing to say, thought Jemi. She snuck as close as she could, though the fact that everyone else was running away from the three was making that difficult. Maybe they were a new hero-team, or maybe this was all a prelude to vaporizing the room. Resolutely Jemi made her way over, the phrase, This is either my first big scoop or the stupidest thing I've ever done, repeating over and over in her head.
The girl of the three lifted up a bronze-colored cube. One of the security people who managed to get past the panickers lifted up his gun.
"Freeze now!!! Do not attempt to fire that device!" He was sweating, flushed, and his voice was cracking like a thirteen-year-old boy's. The girl lifted an eyebrow, making Jemi think incongruously of Mr. Spock.
Chapter 3
JEMI'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE
"I assure you, Officer, I mean to harm no one. I am truly sorry to have disturbed you." The girl actually seemed sincere, more worried about the officer's feelings than the fact he was brandishing a gun at her. "This is not a weapon," she said, eying the cube. "Gernsback... initiate." The cube came to life with a glow, and the crackling effect was back in the air. Panther-guy and the golden metallic guy moved closer to the "Fair Play" girl.
"Oh God they're gonna kill us all!!!" shrieked the security man, turning and bolting at top-speed. Jemi paid him no mind, now utterly fascinated by the glow enveloping the three strangers. She was very close to them now; she even felt tendrils of the odd energy touching her.
"Who are yo--" she started, but her voice was cut off as if she was on a radio that got unplugged. The glow vanished, along with the three strangers... and Jemi! The room was empty and silent now, except for the hum of computers. A door opened, and into the main hall came young Jimmy.
"Jemi?" he called. "I couldn't wait for the police, and the show people didn't know where you were. Ohmigosh... Jemi?!!" No one was there to answer.
Chapter 4
MEANWHILE, IN THE EASTERN HEMISPHERE...
The sky above the ocean was streaked with two trails... one a blazing emerald, the other a shining haze. Within these two trails, Canary and her rather lost squad attempted to get there bearings. It was only partly good news so far.
"According to the cube Cathy gave us, we are in the right year, down to the month," Theresa had stated earlier, her eyes gleaming like the starfield pattern she wore.
"And the bad news?" Canary asked.
"We're... on the wrong side of the world. And, uh... the cube got drained by, uh..."
"It was Burroughs' stunt, wasn't it?!?" said Canary. Greenfire huffed at that, but said nothing. Good, let him stew. He might learn to control himself. Canary was distracted from her negative thoughts by Horus. Poor guy. He still hasn't recovered from the near-drowning. Was in and out of consciousness. When he is awake, he babbles... like now.
"Shiera... oh, beloved... I can feel you near... Hector... my son.... I've missed you both so..." His speech grew slurred, and he was out again.
For what seemed like the millionth time, Canary wished Cathy was on this squad. Among other things, she knew Feitheran physiology, and might've been able to snap their Hawk Lad out of whatever it was that he was going through. Theresa laid a hand gently on Canary's shoulder.
"I have good news," said Star Lass
"I could use some. Are we near Gotham?"
"No... but we are near another of our destinations!"
"Where?"
"Badhnesia!"
Chapter 5
OH, BADHNESIA!
"Noodles!!! All over the statue... Never saw such a mess!!! Well, not since I accidentally made T-Bolt conjur up Tapioca pudding by the metric ton, and that was a joke... which just goes to show that in this crazy world anything can happen. I mean, my life has been living proof of that since the day I said that phrase. Er, am I boring you?" Johnny Thunder ceased his stream of running commentary to gaze at his neighbor in first class, one... what was his name? ... Delbert Saxonfield, or some such weird name.
Delbert's head snapped up, and he wiped a bit of drool from his face. "...ah... No, no, Mr. Thunder... I love listening to celebrities recount their experiences. I still don't see why you travel by plane, though... A man of your, er... talents..."
"Shucks, I was never very talented. It just feels good to travel in an ordinary way for once. It's actually a novelty in my case. Besides, I haven't visited Badhnesia for a long time. It seems more like a homecoming this way."
Johnny looked out the window, admiring the view as the clouds floated close beneath. Mr. Saxonfield settled back in and was soon snoring. Johnny sighed and pulled out his copy of Jonathan Law's latest thriller. Heh. Unlike most authors, good ol' Jon had actually lived through adventures far beyond those on the printed page, and he had made quite a good writing career out of it. He ought'a drop by Jonathan's place sometime this year, he thought to himself.
***
"LD-7 reporting... Target: Johnny Thunder is soon to reach the Badhnesian International Airport. I am ready."
"Excellent."
***
Landing out in a vacant field, the Legion of Justice Squad A pulled out their supplies, such as they were. Canary tended to Hawk Lad. Star Lass and a grudgingly penitent Greenfire flew off in search of the local airport. Discussion of Canary's "pep-talk" was their conversation topic of choice.
"She didn't really mean that about selling us to the Mist-Master and his Society of Assassins, did she?" asked Greenfire.
"If we fail to save Thunder? No..."
"Good. I've had enough of her threats!"
"...she's more likely to order Liberty Lad to fold us into an envelope, then mail us to Wotan's palace on Hades!"
"..."
"You'd better believe it!"
Chapter 6
JEMI'S BOGUS JOURNEY
Jimmy Olsen, the bearer of his grand-uncle's namesake, studied the videotape of his sister's last known appearance. A cameraman had videotaped part of the show for Midvale's local TV station, only to have it become a major news story about the mystery superhumans, and -- the tape didn't record for very long -- the man had run off before Jemi's fate could be seen. Jimmy sighed, rewound the tape again. If only the sound quality wasn't so bad. He reached one of the few parts where bits of dialogue could be heard:
"...crud, did we over (garbled)?"
"...(garbled) I don't think this is the residence of the Monitor, do you?"
The sole security person to confront the beings claimed that they had lifted a weapon of some sort, but that just didn't fit. The girl was weraing a uniform that had struck Jimmy as being familiar, somehow, and then he found out why: The red and green bodysiut, the "Fair Play" insignia... it was a streamlined version of a costume worn by the deceased JSA member known as Mister Terrific; hardly something a super-villain would choose... or would they?
Jimmy sighed again. His parents were inconsolable, and the authorities couldn't help more than they already were. Mrs. Kent had said that Mr. Kent was on a trip of some sort, and that Clark was gone 'til after the weekend. It was just too frustrating.
"Where are you, sis?!!"
Chapter 7
TYING UP SOME LOOSE ENDS
"LD-7 reporting to Mekanique: Thunder will not be here... the Ragnarok incident has occurred."
"Excellent! This is a bonus. Return to the base, Lightning-Master."
***
The Ultra-Humanite was ticked! "I thought you promised me this 'Legion of Doom' would help me destroy the JSA, Mekanique!!!"
Mekanique seemed amused by the outburst. "But they will help us. The Ragnarok incident's outcome is uncertain, but either the JSA will be gone forever, or it will be greatly weakened by the battle. We, in the meanwhile, will destroy all the future JSAers, and any hope of the United System and the Legion of Justice to even exist, much less challenge Frederson's -- and your -- future empires."
"Infinity, Inc. and the Junior JSA?"
"And all of the families, allies, and loved ones. Why don't we start with... Will Power?"
"I've never heard of that one."
"And you never will..."
***
Star Lass froze Greenfire in the sky with a field.
"What now?!?" complained the 23rd century bearer of the Starheart.
"Canary contacted me. According to the cube, Ragnarok has started. Thunder will already be gone."
"Crud."
"We have to find a way to the United States... now!!!"
***
Kiku listened to the news report. Johnny Thunder had disappeared, and advanced reports from the JSA Brownstone indicated that he had gone off with the team to save the world... again. The report also mentioned further action being taken by a Junior JSA. The idea intrigued her.
"If I cannot meet my favorite hero, then I will go meet his young friends!" She started turning the dial.