Post by redsycorax on Feb 28, 2022 22:15:39 GMT
The Legion of Super Heroes is the Milky Way Galaxy's greatest assemblage of metasapient heroes in its native thirty first century. Although they began their careers as teenagers, they have long since outgrown that phase of their early lives. Many have married, had children who are now adolescents and tragically, some have died in action. However, this is not a time for tragedy. Reader, you are cordially invited to the wedding of Kara Zor-El (Supergirl) and Querl Dox (Brainiac 5).
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METROPOLIS CE 3022:
A fleet of time bubbles materialised on the reception field as the guests for the forthcoming wedding of two long-time Legion members arrived. There were some present of considerable note- Zor-El and Alura, Supergirl's father and mother and Superman's aunt and uncle; Superman and Lois Lane themselves; former Legion Reservist James Olsen; Barbara (Batgirl) Gordon; Fred and Edna Danvers, Kara's foster parents; Comet the superhorse and Krypto the superdog, the only survivors of the first Legion of Super-Pets; Terra's Marvel Maid and Marvel Man; Posiedonian merman Jerro; and others. As they looked out over the incoming crowd, Brainiac 5 seemed apprehensive:
"Hey, Querl. Why so glum?"
"I keep expecting members of my own family to show up. And I'm not sure I'd want them to mingle. Vril Dox- Brainiac 2 -was machiavellean at best. Lyrl- Brainiac 3 - could charitably be described as machiavellean- he and Vril definitely didn't get on all that well. My father... Kajz Dox, Brainiac 4... tried to redeem the family reputation, but his death was one of the things that motivated me to try out for the Legion in the first place. Apparently, there's already a "Brainiac 6" but he's not even Coluan. While Brainiac 8 is going to be virtuous, as is my distant descendant Brainiac 417, I'm afraid the same cannot be said for Brainiac 12/13. And no, Kara, they're not going to be our descendants. The position of "Brainiac" is governed by cloning on our native Colu, and merit, which means that not all members of the Dox family automatically inherit the position. There was quite a lapse between Brainiac 3 and the birth of my own father in the thirtieth century. Unfortunately, not all of them are particularly savoury characters. You remember the original Brainiac's masquerade as "Pulsar Stargrave", don't you?"
"Yes, Kal told me years ago. You're not the only one with skeletons in your family closet, Querl. You wouldn't want to meet my distant cousin Kru-El. I don't know what happened to him when he was younger, but he had a grudge against my father Zor-El and uncle Jor-El. He was a scientific adept but a corrupt one- he developed a cache of Kryptonian superweapons and farmed them out to Kryptonopolis' criminal networks, which earnt him a stiff period in the Phantom Zone. I'm afraid he was an incorrigible criminal. I don't know what happened to him in the end, although my parents think that he was released from the Phantom Zone on Rokyn and lived out the rest of his life there sometime in the twenty first or twenty second centuries, prohibited from space travel or time bubble access as a condition of his release. At least, I hope he won't show up. He and I have history."
"Kara!" Superman and Supergirl embraced, with Lois Lane at the rear. Supergirl's eyes widened:
"So you and Lois are married now?"
"At long last, yes. We couldn't fight it any longer. We even have a teenage son, now."
"Oh, that's right. I remember- Jon, isn't it? So how are my successor iterations going back in the twenty first century?"
"Well enough. However, when Clark and I got the message, we just had to be here. So... you and Brainiac 5, eh?"
Kara nodded: "It's rather like Clark and you, Lois, only a little more long distance, so to speak."
"And incidentally, I checked- Kru-El has a long term case of Spore Fever caught in the Scarlet Jungle, so he's in a quarantine colony near there on Rokyn. He won't bother you at the wedding."
COLU:
"No, Querl, none of our relatives are in the vicinity of Metropolis or even the Sol planetary system at present. So it looks like there won't be any embarrassments from our side of the family either."
"Thanks, Mom."
SCIENCE POLICE HQ:
"What do you mean he escaped? Blazes! What the nass has happened to security on Takron-Galtos these days? Where's he headed?...Pallas?! ...Yera? It's Gim. Yeah, there's been an escape from Takron-Galtos and it's one of the Legion's old enemies. Yes. ...Samon Vidar. Universo. Yes, you should tell Lauren, even if she is his grand daughter..."
PALLAS: It was the second asteroid in the Sol system to be discovered after the dwarf planet Ceres and is the third largest in diameter after Ceres and Vesta. Its orbital inclination and orbital eccentricity made it relatively difficult to explore, so while Terran exploratory probes and crewed vessels moved into the asteroid belt after the Dawn probe reached Ceres in the early twenty-first century, Pallas was left to the early twenty second century to explore in detail. From the twenty third century onward, however, Pallas' relative high orbital inclination made it an ideal location for a United Planets Interstellar Navy base for the inner solar system, much as Pluto was for the outer solar system. As interstellar tensions diminished over time, Pallas later became a major tourist destination and is a popular site for interspecies weddings.
Encyclopedia Galactica (3021 Edition)
The heroic ensemble for Supergirl and Brainiac 5's wedding was breathtaking in scale, including her Kryptonian and adoptive parents, cousin Kal-El and his wife Lois, Krypto, Comet and Kuiper, Earth's current supercat, the entire past and present membership of the Legion of Super Heroes and Justice League of America, Earth-Two's Power Girl, the Wanderers, the Heroes of Lallor, the heroic progeny within the Legion Academy, Science Police representatives Shvaun Erin and Commissioner Gigi Cusimano, the Rokyn, Coluan and Daxamite Ambassadors, several former United Planet Presidents, and numerous others. While the Coluan phase of the ceremony was strictly rationalist, the Kryptonian segment ended with the familiar Kryptonian sun and moons marital liturgy. Kara and Querl exchanged vermilion and scarlet bracelets chosen for them by their respective parents and repeated the immemorial ancient Kryptonese refrain, while standing on the Jewel of Truth and Honour, retrieved from Kryptonopolis and long since cleared of any residual Kryptonite radiation for over a millenium:
"In the name of Rao, who kindled the sun, I take thee, Querl Dox, for my husband."
"In the name of Rao, who shaped the moons, I take thee, Kara Zor-El, for my wife."
"Spouses, you may kiss one another." As their lips closed, a small white form interposed itself as a raybolt seared the space where they had previously stood:
"Kuiper?"
"Kara, there's an assailant hiding in one of the craters."
As her telescopic vision focused on the intruder, Lauren Gand was aghast at his identity:
"Universo?!"
"Now is that any way to greet your own grandfather, child?"
The teenage daughter of Laurel Gand and Rond Vidar snapped: "You forfeited any right to be called that while you stood by and laughed while Superman-Prime murdered my father, your own son, in cold blood. Uncle Lar, Aunt Tasmia...?"
Mon-El nodded: "He's all yours, Lauren. After what he did to Rond, we owe you this."
Lauren Gand needed no bidding as she took off and flew toward the distant Palladian crater where Universo was located. At a nod from current Legion leader Shrinking Violet, Chemical Kid, the current Legion transmutation adept, Saturn Girl and her telepath son and daughter and Sensor Girl took off after her:
"Why did you even think you could disrupt this ceremony? Arrogance? Hubris?"
Chemical Kid could sense what was in the inertron box wielded by the intruder:
"Careful, Lauren. There's a radioactive lead plus isotope in that box. At the moment." Hadru Jamik used his Phlonian transmutation abilities and the box' contents flashed into tungsten, causing Universo to drop it, while Saturn Girl and her children stood by, using their telepathy to disrupt Universo's hypnotic abilities as Sensor Girl erected a sensory distortion barrier around their attacker. Lauren Gand stalked toward the figure:
"No. No, your precious Legion Code prohibits killing!"
"Oh, Sarmon. No, I'm not going to kill you. That would make me as bad as you are, and in any case, you were just witness to what happened, even though you're morally partially responsible for what happened to my father by neglecting your parental duty to save your own son. Superman-Prime is his murderer and one day, there will be a reckoning between us. However, that doesn't change the fact that your pathetic little lead plus gift would have weakened me so that you could kill or seriously incapacitate me. No, this is just a little...love tap." However, Lauren Gand was the daughter of a Daxamite, with all the powers of her late mother Laurel Gand and her uncle Mon-El. And so, the 'love tap' incapacitated her grandfather- although she would never, ever call him by that title.
Sensor Girl stood by: "Lauren, I have a suggestion to make."
"I defer to your experience, Your Majesty."
"Your...relative... down there has the ability of parahypnosis. However, that can only be effective when there is eye contact and his conscious intent."
Lauren smiled: "Your Majesty, Queen Projectra, you have my full blessing to cast a permanent sensory barrier that will lead him to believe that he has been somehow blinded and has lost that ability."
"Nicely done, Lauren. You refrained from striking down that offal and violating our Legion's sacred code. You will make an excellent Legionnaire when the time comes." Projectra said, clasping Lauren by the shoulder as they turned their back on the shivering Sarmon Vidar, curled into a fetal ball, wondering where his parahypnotic abilities had abruptly vanished to, as Science Police detachments took him into custody - and back to Takron-Galtos.
EPILOGUE:
As Superman prepared to travel back to the twenty first century with Lois and the rest of the Justice League, he paused for a moment:
"Kara? Are you sure you won't reconsider?"
"No, Kal. Querl and I have spent long enough apart and I intend to never let him out of my sight again. Added to which, you still have my successor iterations back downtime to deal with anything that might go wrong back then. However, my place is with Brainiac 5, my husband."
"Come downtime and visit both of us, though." Lois said as she kissed her cousin-in-law and her new husband goodbye.
"And the reciprocal offer is also on the table. But from now on, I'm a thirty first century Superwoman."
THE END.
++
METROPOLIS CE 3022:
A fleet of time bubbles materialised on the reception field as the guests for the forthcoming wedding of two long-time Legion members arrived. There were some present of considerable note- Zor-El and Alura, Supergirl's father and mother and Superman's aunt and uncle; Superman and Lois Lane themselves; former Legion Reservist James Olsen; Barbara (Batgirl) Gordon; Fred and Edna Danvers, Kara's foster parents; Comet the superhorse and Krypto the superdog, the only survivors of the first Legion of Super-Pets; Terra's Marvel Maid and Marvel Man; Posiedonian merman Jerro; and others. As they looked out over the incoming crowd, Brainiac 5 seemed apprehensive:
"Hey, Querl. Why so glum?"
"I keep expecting members of my own family to show up. And I'm not sure I'd want them to mingle. Vril Dox- Brainiac 2 -was machiavellean at best. Lyrl- Brainiac 3 - could charitably be described as machiavellean- he and Vril definitely didn't get on all that well. My father... Kajz Dox, Brainiac 4... tried to redeem the family reputation, but his death was one of the things that motivated me to try out for the Legion in the first place. Apparently, there's already a "Brainiac 6" but he's not even Coluan. While Brainiac 8 is going to be virtuous, as is my distant descendant Brainiac 417, I'm afraid the same cannot be said for Brainiac 12/13. And no, Kara, they're not going to be our descendants. The position of "Brainiac" is governed by cloning on our native Colu, and merit, which means that not all members of the Dox family automatically inherit the position. There was quite a lapse between Brainiac 3 and the birth of my own father in the thirtieth century. Unfortunately, not all of them are particularly savoury characters. You remember the original Brainiac's masquerade as "Pulsar Stargrave", don't you?"
"Yes, Kal told me years ago. You're not the only one with skeletons in your family closet, Querl. You wouldn't want to meet my distant cousin Kru-El. I don't know what happened to him when he was younger, but he had a grudge against my father Zor-El and uncle Jor-El. He was a scientific adept but a corrupt one- he developed a cache of Kryptonian superweapons and farmed them out to Kryptonopolis' criminal networks, which earnt him a stiff period in the Phantom Zone. I'm afraid he was an incorrigible criminal. I don't know what happened to him in the end, although my parents think that he was released from the Phantom Zone on Rokyn and lived out the rest of his life there sometime in the twenty first or twenty second centuries, prohibited from space travel or time bubble access as a condition of his release. At least, I hope he won't show up. He and I have history."
"Kara!" Superman and Supergirl embraced, with Lois Lane at the rear. Supergirl's eyes widened:
"So you and Lois are married now?"
"At long last, yes. We couldn't fight it any longer. We even have a teenage son, now."
"Oh, that's right. I remember- Jon, isn't it? So how are my successor iterations going back in the twenty first century?"
"Well enough. However, when Clark and I got the message, we just had to be here. So... you and Brainiac 5, eh?"
Kara nodded: "It's rather like Clark and you, Lois, only a little more long distance, so to speak."
"And incidentally, I checked- Kru-El has a long term case of Spore Fever caught in the Scarlet Jungle, so he's in a quarantine colony near there on Rokyn. He won't bother you at the wedding."
COLU:
"No, Querl, none of our relatives are in the vicinity of Metropolis or even the Sol planetary system at present. So it looks like there won't be any embarrassments from our side of the family either."
"Thanks, Mom."
SCIENCE POLICE HQ:
"What do you mean he escaped? Blazes! What the nass has happened to security on Takron-Galtos these days? Where's he headed?...Pallas?! ...Yera? It's Gim. Yeah, there's been an escape from Takron-Galtos and it's one of the Legion's old enemies. Yes. ...Samon Vidar. Universo. Yes, you should tell Lauren, even if she is his grand daughter..."
PALLAS: It was the second asteroid in the Sol system to be discovered after the dwarf planet Ceres and is the third largest in diameter after Ceres and Vesta. Its orbital inclination and orbital eccentricity made it relatively difficult to explore, so while Terran exploratory probes and crewed vessels moved into the asteroid belt after the Dawn probe reached Ceres in the early twenty-first century, Pallas was left to the early twenty second century to explore in detail. From the twenty third century onward, however, Pallas' relative high orbital inclination made it an ideal location for a United Planets Interstellar Navy base for the inner solar system, much as Pluto was for the outer solar system. As interstellar tensions diminished over time, Pallas later became a major tourist destination and is a popular site for interspecies weddings.
Encyclopedia Galactica (3021 Edition)
The heroic ensemble for Supergirl and Brainiac 5's wedding was breathtaking in scale, including her Kryptonian and adoptive parents, cousin Kal-El and his wife Lois, Krypto, Comet and Kuiper, Earth's current supercat, the entire past and present membership of the Legion of Super Heroes and Justice League of America, Earth-Two's Power Girl, the Wanderers, the Heroes of Lallor, the heroic progeny within the Legion Academy, Science Police representatives Shvaun Erin and Commissioner Gigi Cusimano, the Rokyn, Coluan and Daxamite Ambassadors, several former United Planet Presidents, and numerous others. While the Coluan phase of the ceremony was strictly rationalist, the Kryptonian segment ended with the familiar Kryptonian sun and moons marital liturgy. Kara and Querl exchanged vermilion and scarlet bracelets chosen for them by their respective parents and repeated the immemorial ancient Kryptonese refrain, while standing on the Jewel of Truth and Honour, retrieved from Kryptonopolis and long since cleared of any residual Kryptonite radiation for over a millenium:
"In the name of Rao, who kindled the sun, I take thee, Querl Dox, for my husband."
"In the name of Rao, who shaped the moons, I take thee, Kara Zor-El, for my wife."
"Spouses, you may kiss one another." As their lips closed, a small white form interposed itself as a raybolt seared the space where they had previously stood:
"Kuiper?"
"Kara, there's an assailant hiding in one of the craters."
As her telescopic vision focused on the intruder, Lauren Gand was aghast at his identity:
"Universo?!"
"Now is that any way to greet your own grandfather, child?"
The teenage daughter of Laurel Gand and Rond Vidar snapped: "You forfeited any right to be called that while you stood by and laughed while Superman-Prime murdered my father, your own son, in cold blood. Uncle Lar, Aunt Tasmia...?"
Mon-El nodded: "He's all yours, Lauren. After what he did to Rond, we owe you this."
Lauren Gand needed no bidding as she took off and flew toward the distant Palladian crater where Universo was located. At a nod from current Legion leader Shrinking Violet, Chemical Kid, the current Legion transmutation adept, Saturn Girl and her telepath son and daughter and Sensor Girl took off after her:
"Why did you even think you could disrupt this ceremony? Arrogance? Hubris?"
Chemical Kid could sense what was in the inertron box wielded by the intruder:
"Careful, Lauren. There's a radioactive lead plus isotope in that box. At the moment." Hadru Jamik used his Phlonian transmutation abilities and the box' contents flashed into tungsten, causing Universo to drop it, while Saturn Girl and her children stood by, using their telepathy to disrupt Universo's hypnotic abilities as Sensor Girl erected a sensory distortion barrier around their attacker. Lauren Gand stalked toward the figure:
"No. No, your precious Legion Code prohibits killing!"
"Oh, Sarmon. No, I'm not going to kill you. That would make me as bad as you are, and in any case, you were just witness to what happened, even though you're morally partially responsible for what happened to my father by neglecting your parental duty to save your own son. Superman-Prime is his murderer and one day, there will be a reckoning between us. However, that doesn't change the fact that your pathetic little lead plus gift would have weakened me so that you could kill or seriously incapacitate me. No, this is just a little...love tap." However, Lauren Gand was the daughter of a Daxamite, with all the powers of her late mother Laurel Gand and her uncle Mon-El. And so, the 'love tap' incapacitated her grandfather- although she would never, ever call him by that title.
Sensor Girl stood by: "Lauren, I have a suggestion to make."
"I defer to your experience, Your Majesty."
"Your...relative... down there has the ability of parahypnosis. However, that can only be effective when there is eye contact and his conscious intent."
Lauren smiled: "Your Majesty, Queen Projectra, you have my full blessing to cast a permanent sensory barrier that will lead him to believe that he has been somehow blinded and has lost that ability."
"Nicely done, Lauren. You refrained from striking down that offal and violating our Legion's sacred code. You will make an excellent Legionnaire when the time comes." Projectra said, clasping Lauren by the shoulder as they turned their back on the shivering Sarmon Vidar, curled into a fetal ball, wondering where his parahypnotic abilities had abruptly vanished to, as Science Police detachments took him into custody - and back to Takron-Galtos.
EPILOGUE:
As Superman prepared to travel back to the twenty first century with Lois and the rest of the Justice League, he paused for a moment:
"Kara? Are you sure you won't reconsider?"
"No, Kal. Querl and I have spent long enough apart and I intend to never let him out of my sight again. Added to which, you still have my successor iterations back downtime to deal with anything that might go wrong back then. However, my place is with Brainiac 5, my husband."
"Come downtime and visit both of us, though." Lois said as she kissed her cousin-in-law and her new husband goodbye.
"And the reciprocal offer is also on the table. But from now on, I'm a thirty first century Superwoman."
THE END.