Just for the "L" of it...

[Ontir]

This is a "Legion" version of the X-Men's "Write me an "X" thread: Pick a point in any Legion continuity (PLEASE, JOIN IN!!!), and diverge:

Mine begins during "the Gap." Batch SW-6 have been revealed to the worlds, which was curious enough, but now Batch SW-7, lead by Lightning Boy, has arrived as well. Brainiacs 5 & 6 have developed a test to determine which of each group is "prime," or "clone." No one group is totally comprised of either. More alarming, is the revelation that there is a control device built into the clones, which when triggered, will make the clones the obedient slaves of the Dominators. Brainiac 5, is a prime, while Brainiac's 6 & 7 are clones. As the seventh Brainiac recuperates from injuries, Brainiac 6 has worked tirelessly in the multi-lab, to create an RNA serum that will eliminate Dominator control.

"Clever boy," says Brainiac 5, looking over the data. "It's this specific cluster here, that does the trick?"

"Yes." Brainiac 6, busily synthesizing his RNA antedote, repsonds.

Brainiac 5 begins to alter some of the information in the sequencer.

"What are you doing?"

"The Dominators ought not to be in control, 6. Don't you agree?"

"Yes, that's what I'm..."

"Of course, that doesn't mean that someone else shouldn't be."

"What?!? 5, what're you up to?"

"How many have you already innoculated?"

"Just me. What are you doing?"

Brainiac 5 puts his hand on 6's shoulder, activating an electro-screen.

"Someone really needs to be in control, don't you think?"

The younger falls, unconscious to the floor, as the elder continues re-sequencing the antedote, and filling hypos.

[Ontir]

Ontir's alt.Legion ~ Chapter 2

“I’m your sister, Garth.” Ayla said to Lightning Boy.

“What are you talking about?”

“I wasn’t’ sure, there wasn’t a clone of me in your group, and Gossamer, the one from SW-6, she’s a clone, so…”

”I don’t know who you are, but I’m from Winath!” Garth replied.

“I know, me too…”

”Then you know, I don’t have a sister – if I did, I’d have two. I’ve got an identical twin brother – Mekt.”

“I don’t understand?” Ayla said, “There are only two of us, if she’s the clone, then I…”

Brainiac 5 entered the room, and interrupted:

”I’m sorry Ayla, I hadn’t run your scan yet.”

“What does it mean?” she asked nervously.

“I checked the records on Winath..."

"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING, THEY HAVE TO HAVE MY BIRTH RECORD!"

"There is one, but it doesn't hold up to scrutiny. You, that is you and the other Ayla appear to be a cross-gender clones of Garth…”

"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!" Ayla insisted.

Can you recall, is there a moment where you absolutely remember being with your parents, on Winath?

"YES!" she answered, wiping tears away. "The three of us, ME, and Garth, we'd just gotten a Klanth hatchling for our birthday..."

"No, said Garth," staggered by the swarming information, "That was Mekt and I, on our seventh birthday. You, "Garth shakes his head. "You weren't there.

”I’M NOT REAL?!?”

“You’re as real as every other clone, you’re just not a prime. Neither you, nor Gossamer are.”

“Look,” said Garth, unale to deal, “You two don’t need me, so...”

Garth brushed past Brainiac 5, exited, turning his back on the sister, the woman who was a complete stranger to him.

Stunned, Ayla began to cry, softly. Had she been looking at 5, she’d have seen the smile on his face, she wouldn’t have been fooled by the soothing tone. She would have questioned the contents of the hypo, as it zipped against her skin.

“Shhhhh…” said Querl, “It’s just a little something to take the edge off. None of this will matter to you when you wake up, I promise.”

She had just enough of her faculties to question the meaning of his statement, but not enough strength to fight. She drifted off, oblivious to the passing of the last free moment of her life.

[Ontir]

Given how bloody boring the current book is, and the possiblities they COULD have worked with, I decided to brainstorm here a bit:

Legion World: All hell is breaking loose in the Threshold Room. Kid Quantum tries desperately to stabilize things, as Karate Kid, Umbra, Cosmic Boy, Wildfire, and Dreamer try to shut down the system, while hanging on for dear life.

"4!" yells Dreamer.

Everybody braces as Jazmin drops the shield over that portal. Shikari races through, barely able to escape the pull of the void.

"HELP ME!"

"KARI!" Wildfire yells, lashing out at the control panel. The circuits overload, and that one gate shuts down. "COS! WE'RE GONNA HAFTA SHUT THE OTHERS DOWN TOO!"

"Not YET! I want to give as many people as possible, a chance to get back!"

Jazmin turns to Rokk, "Baby, I can't hold this much longer!" He begins to respond, when Nura yells...

"3!"

Jazmin drops the shield, the portal surges and Mon-el, Lightning Lass, Virus, and Tellus emerge. Tellus shoves the women forward, as Mon-el throws himself across the Portal, blocking the way. Again, Wildfire lashes out, shutting the gate down. The two groups look familiar, but somehow different, but the questions will have to wait..

"15!" yells Nura.

The group turns to a gate behind them. It surges, and the room quivers. The nano-screen in the control booth shatters. Gear anchors himself, and tries to catch Chuck and Tenzil, but it's too late, in a flash, they're gone. For a moment, the gate is quiet. Then a sudden surge.

"More!" screams Nura, "More are coming..."

A flash of energy knocks Mon-el, sending him hurling toward another portal, which is thankfully blocked by Jazmin.

"Block it now!" yells Nura. Jazmin does, and as the glow fades, Triplicate Girl, Element Lad, and Brainiac (W/K) appear, gasping for breath.

"Transmatter..." Brainiac says. Then looking around, "Who in the cortex?.."

"Brainy!" Mon-el yells, "You've got to figure out how to shut this down!"

"I've never seen these systems before!"

"You can do it," says Mon-el, "I've got faith in you."

Momentarily stunned by the appreciation, Brainiac pauses.

"MOVE YER ASS!" yells Wildfire.

"Now THAT'S what I'm used to!" Brainiac says, as he begins to check the systems over, then noticing... "NURA?"

"Yes?"

"Honey, you're alive!?!"

The group, as one, "HONEY???"

[Ontir]

Chapter 2

The group stuggles to maintain coverage over the increasingly wild Threshold portals.

"CASSANDRA!" Yells Nura. "17 and 12!"

Everybody braces themselves. Tellus strains to hold the others in place, as Brainiac and Jazmin strain to alter their fields, opening only the two portals with incoming traffic. 17 is the first to spring to life.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaa..." a sphere erupts through the portal and begins to bounce around the room. Quickly behind it, is a wildly over-muscled blonde guy, dressed in white and blue, carrying an odd variation that has to be Imra. He's barely through, when the portal begins to pull him back. He rotates, and frys the circuits with heat vision, the portal is dead.

"A HAND!"

The voice emerging from 12 is familiar, and to some, the costume is, as well.

"Starboy?" asks Virus.

"MON!" he says, ignoring Virus, "Grab Chami!"

Springing forward, Mon-el reaches out to grap the amorphous blob that Starboy is towing, surprised to find a tendril reaching out to latch onto him.

"No more." says an exhausted Nura.

"That's our cue, people." says Brainiac, as a number of Legionnaires shut down the last few portals.

The blob begins to reform into a vaguely humanoid form, revealing those berthed inside: Sensori, Kinetix, Lonewolf, Inferno, and Nosh. The last surviving Legionnaires of their Earth.

"One more portal, babe..." Rokk tells a depleted Jazmin. Their relief is shortlived, the portal humms oddly. "NURA?" Rokk asks.

"I didn't see this coming!"

Energy surges, striking Starboy, who is pulled back into the rift. Over the telepathic plug, he assures them, "It's OK, I knew this would happen..."

Jazmin strains, trying to get ahold of him. Thinking she's got him, she pulls with the last of her strength, to find that instead, Tyroc has emerged.

"Cuz?" asks Jazmin.

"Jaz? That you?" How'd you end up on Legionworld?"

[Ontir]

"Tasmia! You're alive!"

Umbra turned toward the somewhat familiar voice, but by the time she did, Mon-el was very nearly on top of her. Startled, but still a warrior, she calmly reached out, took his hand, pivoted, and redirected his flight, sending him smashing into what remained of the Threshold Control Booth. Continuing the motion, she turned back to the giant blonde man in white, taking in his broad, muscled chest, and continuing down...

"..and who are you?" She asked him, noticing his great... strength. The stranger ignored her.

"Jan? Baby, I thought I lost you!" he said.

"You two know each other?" she asked, but to her surprise, the only response, was Jan shoving her out of the way, to greet the young man who to him, is a stranger.

"Jan Arrah, Element Lad, so NICE to meet YOU!"

"Element Lad? What a weird code-name."

"What do you know me as?"

"Alchemist!" the stranger replied.

"Excuse me," said Brainy, "we appear to be a collection of variants from our own worlds, except for you..."

"Who is he?!?" Saturn Girl's voice echoes through their minds. "HE is Powerboy! The inspiration that lead to the Legion's formation! The greatest Legionnaire, ever!"

The news leaves the rest of the assembly somewhat bewildered.

"Powerboy?" Asked Brainy, "then you would be related to Powergirl?"

"That's my Mom!"

"And your father is?.."

"I'm not supposed to say."

"Really? Why?"

"He said I shouldn't."

"Who said? Is it your father?"

"No, the L..."

Mon-el steps in, looking at Powerboy, standing beside Element Lad.

"Brainy, leave him alone for a minute. We've all been through hell today, and if Saturn Girl vouches for him?"

"I do."

"That's always been enough for me. Besides, if this is happening up here, what's happening on Earth, and everywhere else?"

"WHOA!" gasped Powerboy.

"I see it too," Mon-el said.

"I sense them," added Saturn Girl, "TWO EARTHS!"

[Ontir]

Legion world 3.8 standard Terran hours since the last Threshold was shut down.

“Element Lad has transmuted enough of this… world,” said Brainiac, “into Nth Metal, which thanks to Satur… Esper’s abilities, is being held away from the chaos, but…”

“The two worlds are still ripping apart,” interjected Cosmic Boy.

“No,” countered Gear, “More like being shuffled together - BADLY.”

“So it’s working itself out?” asked Virus.

“NO!”

“What is it Nura?” asked Brainiac.

“Two worlds, filled with the same people, in the same time-space.”

“Uhm… so?”

“Cos, do you NEVER pay any attention to ANYTHING I tell you?!?”
“That’s rhetorical, right?”

“Cos,” said Gear, “a person can’t be in the same place, at the same time. If they are, and they touch, you get…”

“Anti-matter explosion!” said Umbra, ‘Metropolis B’. Hey, if the people go boom, why not the world?”

“WELL?!?” asked Cosmic Boy.

“I require more data…” said Brainiac.

Mon-el activates all telepathic plugs, and addresses all the Legionnaires:

“Attention all Legionnaires, this is Mon-el. The situation on the Earths is critical. As they merge, the people, unlike the worlds can obliterate each other, merely by touching, we need to keep as many of them, from coming into self-contact, as possible…”

An unfamiliar voice rings out:

“JUST WHAT THE @#$% DO YOU THINK WE’RE TRYING TO DO?!?”

“Who IS this?” demanded Mon-el.

“KONO! WHO THE @#%$ DO YOU THINK IT IS?”

“Never mind her! This is Dr. Shakespeare of this Earth’s Legion of Heroes, Kono, Neon, Sade, Rokk, and Loomis are the only ones left! If you can get here, we could use the help!”

“Shikari!” yelled Wildfire, “Can you find them?”

“I sense the path.”

“Good!” turning to Power Boy, “Goldie! You and Jan are with us. Jaz, kinetix, let’s move it!

“I’m coming too,” said Mon-el.

“Well, open an airlok, an…”

“And the rest of us?” asked Umbra.

“Babe,” said Mon-el, pretending not to notice Tasmia’s reaction to the familiarity, “We can all survive HV, if more tech goes down…”

”Fine!” We’ll monitor from here, and see what can be done.”

The seven stepped into the airlok. It cycled shut, and they all entered the void, making their way to the worlds below, merging like a badly shuffled deck of cards.

“We need to get things together,” said Nura.

“For what?” asked Tyroc.

“You, Cosmic Boy, Karate Kid, Lightning Lass, Gear, Lonewolf and Chameleon… as soon as he... She? Chameleon will transport you to the surface, and later, four of you, will be among the seven brought back.”

[Ontir]

Wildfire was disturbingly bloated. His main means of saving those guilty of "touching themselves," was to absorb the anti-matter energy before it could obliterate, while other Legionnaires quickly separated them, or as much was left. It was a seemingly un-ending task, with little hope of ending well. Weissinger Plaza was littered with at least 3 Legion HQs, buildings merged together, overlapping, and in the process killing a number of their Legionnaires, as well as some tourists.

"OW!" yelped Mon-el.

Others cried out more strenuously. There was a new buzz in their minds. Four more Legionnaires had joined the fray, rather abruptly.

"Who's out there?" asked Esper.

"IMRA?!? Is it REALLY YOU?"

"This is Imra... Rond?"

Standing in a small blast zone, still glimmering with chronal energy, were 5 more Legionnaires: Rond "Mobius" Vidar, Ghost 6, Nemesis, Calorie, and Monstress.

"Imra? Gods, honey!" said Monstress. "How'd you survive the Progenitor?"

"Later, Candi, if there is one!" countered Rond.

"Vidar!"

"Brainy? You're still alive here? GOOD!" Do you have any chronal capacitors where you are?"

"... I can't say I'm familiar with such a device."

"Imra, can you connect my mind with Brainy's and upload the specs to him?"

"I'll try. Perhaps I should include Gear?"

"Who?" said Rond.

"Do it!" ordered Brainy. "Rond, you seem to know what's going on here..."

"It's all about Glorith, the Time Trapper, the Infinite Man, some ancient called Krona, and of course dear old Dad! They've gang-banged the timestream, and now it's all coming apart, or rather the walls that keep the multiverse separate are breaking down, and it's all coming together."

"So you want me to use the capacitors that Gear is building, to interface with Computo, and..."

"Do the math to save the universe."

"How," aksed Imra, "How do you safeguard us?"

"They can't." replied Nura. "There is no future, beyond 15 minutes. They are going to set up an algorithm?"

"Something like that," said Brainy.

"Which will use super-strings to map out one set of everyone and everything. If there's only one of us, then we should be safe. Those who've self-contacted will cease to exist everywhere. The rest of the duplicates... one will be kept, all others discareded."

"I can't accept that!" yelled Power Boy.

"I understand, but it's one of each, or none at all," said Rond, "We have no choice."

"Brainy?!?" aske Mon-el.

"I need not to speak now," Brainy replied, interfacing with Rond, Gear and Computo, via Esper, beginning the arduous math, which could only be accomplished by the collective of 4 such minds.

Isolated on Legion World, they could do nothing but watch in horror, at the sights below. Legionnaires stood powerless in crowds, as people they'd saved were thrown by the convulsing of time. Some thrown apart, and others thrown together in flashes of anti-matter, eliminating them from history. Buildings splintered, merged, warped, and altered. Each unique person or thing was immutable, safe; but forced to bear witness to the sublime horror, enfolding two worlds, which were quickly becoming one. Each unique shimmered, and as the number of uniques increased, the shimmer became blinding, until nothing at all was visible.

[Ontir]

Powerboy stood, scratching his butt.

"What's the matter, Babe?" asked Alchemist.

"I feel like I was about to do something important, and..."

"Now you don't know what it was..." Esper interupted.

"Yeah." replied Powerboy.

"Me too." Said Mon-el, as he rose above the plaza, surveying his teammates.

Powerboy, Alchemist, Esper, Spark, Violet, Shady, Bouncer, Duette, Tellus, Tyroc, Quantum, Kinetix, Monstress, Wildfire, Mobius, Ghost 6, Sensori, Leviathan, Brainiac, Gear, Shikari, Neon, Ivy, and myself. We're all here.

"And I must thank you."

Mon, along with the other Legionnaires, turned quickly toward Tour Weissinger. Looming above the fountain, was the Infinite Man. In his hands were the Time Trapper, Krona, and Universo.

"Your quick work freed me from their trap, and I was able to help your device re-build the chronal barriers."

"So everything is, as it was?" asked Duette.

"It would certainly seem so." the Infinite Man said, as he and his captives faded away.

Shifting into a non-combat form, Leviathan asked, "So what do we do now?"

In the plaza, a crowd waited with baited breath for the answer.

Computo's voice filled their heads.

"Emergency alert, quadrant 42!"

"Same as we always do!" said Mon-el, as the Legionnaires soared to the flight-deck, and the cruiser Computo was readying.