Post by dans on Apr 21, 2022 20:33:31 GMT
The Legion of Super Teens
Prelude
World War II was just over, and the Allies had WON... and then the world ended. When the skies had turned red, a week after the surrender of Japan, everyone thought that maybe some leftover Axis scientist had invented the final doomsday weapon, but when the pink curtains had started dropping from the sky, sweeping over random sections of the world, simply 'erasing' everything, touching all countries heedless of their alliances during the war, no one could pretend any longer that this was a doomsday invention by man. The world was ending - scientists said the universe itself was ending! There seemed to be nothing anyone could do, and yet, billions did all they could to resist, often joining in desperate alliances with those who had recently been mortal enemies, though it proved impossible to resist the irresistible devastation. There were a few - a scant few - who seemed to be immune to the destructive effects of the pink curtains. A small group of teens, each of whom had amazing super powers. The small group banded together and continued to fight, until the day when everything just... ended. Not with a bang, not with a whimper - just... gone.
And suddenly, the world was restored - almost exactly as it had been the day before the skies had turned red. And no one remembered the end of the world, or the devastation that had preceded it - except those scant few who had been immune to the destruction. They remembered it all... including the comradeship they had formed during their brief alliance at the end of the world. No one else around them remembered the end of the world, and no one believed their stories. Eventually, to retain their sanity, they had each sought out the others, and as they gathered together again, with the world alive again, they had determined that they would remain as allies - and fight to defend their world. Thus was born... the Legion of Super Teens!
Coast to Coast TV
“Alright, gang, we’re approaching the Fortress of Fear, the dreaded lair of the Axis of Awful. Stay low, below radar, and wait for my signal!” Wonder Boy, the leader of the Legion of Super Teens, updated his team via the mystical communication/transportation gems which were part of the Legion emblem insignia they each attached to their chests while they were on Legion missions. While most of the Super Teens were capable of flight, Wonder Boy and Amazona were not, so they were riding in the cabin of the small, super-fast two seat jet that had been designed for their use by the boy genius Dickie Dean, a close affiliate of the Legion. Wonder Boy could run as fast as any other Legionnaire could fly, but the air rushing past him at those speeds made communication impossible - so he flew in the jet with Amazona.
Each of the Legionnaires had recently battled on their own and defeated powerful members of the Axis of Awful. By adding up small clues gleaned by each Legionnaire, Golden Lad and Golden Girl, whose powers included super-wisdom, had figured out the location of their base, square in the middle of the Sahara Desert, over a thousand miles from any inhabited areas.
"We're pretty sure we didn't defeat ALL of the members of the Axis, so there are likely a few of the rats still hiding out in this dump," Wonder Boy reminded his teammates. "Red Reaver and Rubberman are still on the loose. And we don't even know who the leader is - but whoever it is, is probably still inside and very dangerous!"
"You should sit this one out, Wendy! You'll just get knocked out again, and one of us invulnerable fliers will have to rescue you," the voice of Bingo, the Wonder Boy, sneered back over the gem-communicators. Bingo had actually supplied the gems - courtesy of his genie, Yama Lama Ka-Bang. He was bitter because he felt that Wonder Boy had stolen his name - and he resented anyone telling him what to do.
"Keep your mind on the fight, Bingo!" Wonder Boy replied tightly.
"Hey, I see the place on the horizon with my high voltage vision!" Golden Lad yelped in excitement. "And there's a guard. Someone 12' tall, wearing black armor and carrying a sword... and, oh, great... he's got a big swastika on his belt buckle."
"That sounds like the German robot they called Black Mail!" Wonder Boy noted. He had the most experience dealing with Axis forces overseas during the war; most of the rest of the team had dealt more frequently with more 'local' threats to their cities. "The rest of you guys, surround the place and be ready to attack on my orders. Golden Girl and Dynamic Boy, you guys go in first against the robot. See what you can learn about him, and how tough he is, and the rest of us will back you up if you need us. I'm going to put this bird down, and Amazona and I will make the rest of the approach on foot."
Golden Girl was the most mature of member of his team, and he thought Dynamic Boy might be the most durable, though he also tended to be one of the more reckless. But he had nothing on Bingo.
"Hi HO!!" Bingo yelled, and charged the giant robot at top speed, well in advance of his teammates. "You guys try and keep up!"
"Goldy, Dyna, see if you can keep that idiot alive!" Wonder Boy snapped. Three Legionnaires should be enough to handle the robot. For an instant he debated keeping the rest of his forces hidden in reserve - but the sudden appearance of the rest of the Legion when three of them were already on-scene wouldn't surprise anyone, especially an evil mastermind. "The rest of us, keep an eye out for other bad guys, and let's find a way into this place!"
It was too late to stop Bingo now. 'I hope he doesn't get hurt!' the leader thought. Even though he had more problems with Bingo than any other two Legionnaires, Wonder Boy considered him to be one of the Legion's most important 'secret weapons'. Though the overall power sets of the various members of the Legion were pretty similar from one Legionnaire to another (super strength, enhanced durability, super speed, and flight for most of them), each of them had at least one unique power or ability that they tried to keep secret from their enemies. Bingo's 'secret ability' to call on a magical genie was the most versatile of these hidden powers.
The three Legionnaires fighting Black Mail were easily holding their own. Amazona and Super Ann had triggered a trap that had released a cloud of Mental Fog (created by the Beard, and then improved by Boss Silky) and had begun fighting with their teammate Captain Truth, who was immune to external mental control. Fortunately for Captain Truth, Mental Fog not only dominated the will of those who were affected by it, it also considerably lowered their intelligence and ability to act independently, and he was able to drive his teammates out of the cloud of gas, though it would take them a few minutes to recover their normal strength.
Wonder Boy and Golden Lad were battering through a barred entrance when Golden Girl contacted the team through their insignias.
"After the fights we just went through, this seems like it's really too easy. My intuition tells me it's a trap!" she spoke with authority. Golden Girl's 'secret power' was her intuition - when she said "My intuition tells me..." none of the other members could remember an instance when she had ever been wrong.
Golden Lad was using his 'high voltage vision' to examine the interior of the Fortress of Fear. "There's nobody inside!" he yelled. "And... I think that thing's a bomb!"
Wonder Boy didn't hesitate. "SKAT!" he yelled at the top of his voice. It was a trigger word, and it activated ALL of the insignia devices at once - and the Legionnaires instantly vanished, to appear instantly in their brown house clubhouse headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
As soon as they arrived, after he'd made sure his entire team was safe, Wonder Boy dispatched Captain Truth, the fastest flier on the team, back to the Sahara Desert to see if they had fled an actual trap, or simply been scared off. In less than an hour, Truth was back to report that there had been a giant explosion in the middle of the Sahara Desert - and as he was reporting, the Hot Line phone to the White House rang. Wonder Boy answered, and was not surprised when it was the President. Nobody else had access to that phone!
"Wonder Boy, thank the Lord you're safe! There was an atomic bomb explosion in the Sahara Desert a little while ago, and the Axis of Awful has claimed to the press that they've destroyed The Legion of Super Teens!"
The President insisted that the team needed to make an immediate public appearance to avoid public panic. "Every TV station in Washington, and every news agency we can contact, will have representatives in the National Mall in Washington in a half hour. You'll be there, and we'll go live nationwide." He didn't give them a choice, and none of the Legionnaires was willing to argue with the President.
"I guess the plane is good and gone," Amazona noted. The transport spell only worked on people, so the poor plane had been atomized in the explosion. "We'll meet you guys there! Bet I get there before you do!" She vanished. She couldn't run as fast as some her teammates could fly, but she had a good chance of winning her bet.
It wasn't the first time someone had boasted of destroying the Legion of Super Teens, and it wouldn't be the last. It WAS their first appearance on coast-to-coast TV... but again, it wouldn't be the last.
Jealous Interlude
Even in a team of super heroes, jealously can rear its ugly green head. Even in a team of the greatest heroes the world has ever known... Even right after they had just completed the most difficult mission of their careers... defeating the Axis of Awful!
"I can't believe the others made that phony Wonder Boy the leader!" Bingo the Wonder Boy groused in his secret sanctum <his tree house>. "He stole my name and what does he bring to the team that we don't got already? Nuthin! He gets knocked out by a good punch to the back of his head, and he can't even fly! Why, if it weren't for the magic talismans my 'genie' Ka-Bang..." The tree house rattled, there was a flash of light and a sound like lightning striking - and Bingo was replaced by his other identity, Jerry Jones Jr. He didn't miss a word of his angry soliloquy, though, "... whipped up for everyone on the team, to transport us instantly to the clubhouse in Philadelphia, he wouldn't even be able to make it to a meeting on time! I don't know why everyone thinks he's so special!"
He stopped talking for a moment, and then his dour expression changed as a sly smile spread across his face.
"Yama Lama Ka-BANG!' he chanted, but this time Jerry didn't change. This different chant had a different effect. In a corner of the room, an awesome magical being appeared in a flash of light and the roar of lightning striking nearby... an Asian man, under a cap of off-white fuzzy fur that made him seem a foot taller than he was, wearing a blue silken lounging robe which was decorated with mysterious Eastern Asian mystical symbols and trimmed in black fur. He radiated a subtle blue glow, and the air around him popped with snaps and crackles of mysterious mystical energy.
"Yama Lama Ka-BANG!' he chanted, but this time Jerry didn't change. This different chant had a different effect. In a corner of the room, an awesome magical being appeared in a flash of light and the roar of lightning striking nearby... an Asian man, under a cap of off-white fuzzy fur that made him seem a foot taller than he was, wearing a blue silken lounging robe which was decorated with mysterious Eastern Asian mystical symbols and trimmed in black fur. He radiated a subtle blue glow, and the air around him popped with snaps and crackles of mysterious mystical energy.
"You called, young Master Jones?" the genie Yama Lama replied, in a high piping voice. Jerry was afraid to say so, but that voice actually hurt his ears.
"Yeah, I want you to make me a magic television and show me the greatest boy hero of them all! Then I'll convince the rest that we should invite him to join the team - and THAT will show that big shot Wonder Boy!" As the genie began to gesture, Jerry spoke up again hurriedly. "Make it in color, like Wizard of Oz movie, OK?"
"As usual, Master Jones, your wish is my command!" The genie gestured, there was another brilliant flash of blue-white light and a roar that should have deafened anyone nearby, yet didn't, and with a 'poof' and an explosion of vapor, a TV stand appeared across the small room, and on top was an RCA Victor TV with an 8" screen, showing a color image.
"This boy hero does not exist in our own world, but on another, but I can transport you to his world - or him to ours!" the genie offered.
"Boy, oh boy! Are we going to teach that stuck up Wonder Boy a lesson! Steal my name, will he? He'll pay for that, and for being such a snot!" Jerry exulted.
An Unusual Day
So far, it had been a great morning selling papers. The Fawcett City Falcons has swept a double header yesterday from their hated rivals, the Trenton Tip Tops, leaping over their nemesis in the standings, and the Marvel Family had cut the ribbon to open a new amusement park called "Marvel Land" yesterday, to unbelievable crowds. Adults were buying papers like they were donuts! This month's new funny books had just arrived and it seemed like every kid in the city got his or her allowance last night. The was going to be the biggest sales day since the day Japan had surrendered!
Freddy Freeman, the proprietor of the newsstand, was chatting with two of his favorite customers, Sterling Morris and Joan Jameson, when he heard a crashing noise inside his shed. He turned to see a kid racing away, and he could see that his cash box was missing. He yelled and tried to hurry after the thief, but there was no way he was going to catch the guy. He had to find a way to get away and say his magic word - but there were too many people around. Suddenly, one of the people on the street, a kid a couple of years younger than Freddy, with dark hair and freckles, stuck out a foot and tripped the runner. The thief tripped and fell awkwardly and thudded to a painful stop against the curb - and then Joan caught up with him, and a second later Mr. Morris huffed up, along with the rest of the people who'd given chase.
The kid who had tripped the thief scooped up the cash box and carried it back to the news stand, and handed it back to Freddy. He leaned closer, spoke so nobody but Freddy could hear him. "There you go, Captain Marvel, Jr. You don't have to worry about giving your secret away now!"
"Who, me?" Freddy asked quickly. "What are you talking about?" But the mysterious lad was already getting lost in the crowd on the sidewalk.
***~~~***
An hour later, Freddy was taking his lunch break. He'd just come out of Doc Quartz's Malt Shop when he heard a bank alarm blaring. This time, he COULD do something. He ducked into the alley and clearly spoke the name of his hero, "Captain Marvel!" There was a thunderous BANG! as the magic lightning struck, and it was Captain Marvel Jr. who emerged from the alley and zoomed toward the bank.
But by the time he reached the bank, there was nothing for him to do! There was a crowd of bewildered people in the bank lobby, buzzing with questions and excitement. "What happened?" "Where'd their guns go?" "There was some kind of a blur, and then their guns flew up into the air, and they fell into a pile!"
Indeed, there was a pile of three men, writhing weakly in front of the tellers' booths, three men in zoot suits who looked like classic movie gangsters, and when Cap looked up, there were two pistols and a Tommy gun embedded in the ceiling. As he was looking up, a cute girl with long, strawberry blonde hair wearing a yellow shirt and green Bermuda shorts jabbed him in the stomach with an elbow. Startled, he turned and she winked at him. "Nobody saw Freddy change! Your secret is safe," she said, then slipped into the crowd of spectators, which was growing as people poured in from the streets to see what the commotion was all about. Cap Jr. started to push through to follow her, but he was instantly surrounded by thrilled fans and autograph seekers.
'What's going on?' he thought, as he started signing pads, dollar bills, the brims of caps and occasionally the waist of a shirt quickly pulled out of the belt, while slowly making his way to the exit. 'Do those two really know who I am? Do they really know Freddy Freeman is actually Captain... er... me?' Even in his thoughts, he tried to stick to his habit of not repeating his name - and even with all his care and practice, he still sometimes got in trouble when he changed from his Marvel form to his Freddy form by accident in a dangerous situation!
***~~~***
Freddy was shuffling slowly home from work. He was worried about the two kids who seemed to know his secret, worried so much that perhaps he was even distracted and not watching the sidewalk. His crutch came down on a marble, a big shooter that had fallen out of some kid's pocket as he hurried home for dinner - and he lost his balance! His crutch jerked up in front of him like it was alive and he toppled backward before he could even try to catch his balance, and it seemed like he was probably going to take a nasty whack in the head when a young man, maybe a year older than Freddy and a bit taller, suddenly appeared from behind him and easily caught him and stood him back up straight until Freddy got control of his crutch and his balance again. This fellow was handsome, with black hair and wide shoulders, and he was wearing blue jeans and a blue sweater with a yellow star on the chest over a red shirt with button collar.
"Glad I could help, Freddy! Wouldn't do for you to maybe end up in a hospital and sideline Captain Marvel Jr. for a while, would it? Take it easy!" He held out a folded sheet of paper. "Here, this is for you!" and then he hurried off.