Post by redsycorax on Sept 10, 2018 3:45:17 GMT
Danielle Foccart brushed a stray fragment of hair from her scalp as Mon-El entered the lab. It was strange, seeing Jacques sister as their new resident twelfth level intelligence like this, but they had to get used to it, given that they had lost Querl, perhaps forever, now possessed by the nanoresidue of his distant ancestor, the original Brainiac. Understandably, given what had happened to the original third Triplicate Girl replicant at the extensors of the original Computo, Luornu was still leery of her. He hoped that would pass.
"Hey, Dani. Do you have Tasmia's latest pregnancy scan results?"
"Oui, M'sieur Lar. The red sun microimplant continues to function perfectly and there are no abnormalities within the foetus. You 'ave a fine, healthy developing child. The Ectogenesis Suite is still online should you and Madam Tasmia require it."
"Thanks, Dani. Hopefully that won't be nec-" Abruptly, a klaxon shattered the peace and solitude of Legionsphere. Mon-El slipped the news into a cape pouch as he and Danielle ran from the clinic, in the direction of the main sensor array.
Luornu was on site and started replicating as soon as she reached the epicentre of ambiguous activity. At times like this, she wished that Cham was still a member and that Ayla and Salu weren't still on honeymoon. From elsewhere, the outline of Imra Ardeen Ranzz- Saturn Girl- hardened into solidity as she finished teleporting to the incident site. Her hands began to pulsate with telekinetic energy as she sealed off the facility and her brow furrowed as she detected a telepathic imprint. She motioned to Mon-El as he and Danielle made it into the facility:
"Timebound unknown presence trying to exit the vortex."
"Kal? Kara? AU articulations of either?"
"Lar, it's not from the past. It is Kryptonian- I'm getting broadcast psionic information that is consistent with what we know about that world. But the thoughts are disjointed and random, which suggest injury. You'd better be ready to neutralise him or her when they come through. Danielle, can you rig up a vortex cage?"
"Oui, Madame Imra. What is the gradient...?"
"It's...CE 4000. Almost a millenia from now. Which is odd, considering that the limited data we have on Earth's future suggests that only Supergirl (on one occassion), the Flash, Abrakadabra and Professor Zoom ever penetrated any further than our own time."
"Whatever it is, it's coming through now." Mon-El flew to intercept the figure as it left the timestream and the multiple Cargggian incarnations of Myriad assumed their positions as the intruder achieved solidity and form. It offered no threat as it materialised and started to fall and Mon-El caught it. His brow furrowed:
"Zar-Al? But according to Kal, he's dead. Kal met him when his father Zal-Zu provided a prototype timeship to insure that Zar would be able to harvest zeelium, an element that would have dampened down the accelerating thermonuclear fusion and ultimate detonation of Krypton's core. They couldn't find any, so Zar returned to Krypton and died with his father when that planet reached critical mass and exploded." Danielle ran a sensor over him and bit her lip:
"DNA data confirms that this is Zar-Al. It is fortunate that Superboy retrieved some cellular samples and blood to enable identification and medical treatment. M'sieur Lar, you say that he was supposed to have died back on Krypton after the failure of his original mission?"
"Any signs of kryptonite poisoning?"
"Oui, He appears to have experienced multiple stabbings by a kryptonite blade and the residue is in his bloodstream. Damn. If only Madame Salu were here and we could call on her biocontraction ability to 'elp in this situation."
The ravaged face of the Kryptonian opened his eyes and weakly moaned a word that made little sense to the assembled Legionnaires - for now: "C-Convocation. Meta.. S-Sapients..."
"Merde..." Danielle swore, as the intubation momentarily failed. Mon-El took over, inserting it in Zar-Al's forearm. Slowly, the Kryptonian lost his iridescent green pallor as the kryptonite microfragments were flushed from his bloodstream. After two minutes, his eyes hesitantly flickered open:
"W-where am I?"
"The Legion of Super Heroes arcology, CE 3001. And you're definitely speaking Kryptonese, buddy. Perhaps Kal-El told you about me? Mon-El, Lar Gand of Daxam?"
"I...have to get back uptime..." Mon-El restrained the still groggy Kryptonian:
"Nothing doing, red. Now calm down and tell us about what happened since you left Earth with that bogus zeelium shipment and returned back to Krypton."
"It...was my father, Zal-Zu. I..I...originally intended to stay there and die with him. Instead, he knocked me out and loaded me into the time capsule. I...was boosted into the time vortex but the spatiotemporal reprecussions of Krypton's explosion pitched me into Earth's...distant...future. I...arrived in CE 3978. Once there, ...met... Convocation of Metasapients."
"That's twice you've mentioned them. Who are they?"
Zar-Al hesitated before acknowledging: "They're your descendants."
Several hours later, the available Legionnaires met in their conference room. Mon-El cleared his throat:
"According to Computo's cellular assay, there's no doubt about it. The genetic records are an exact match for Zar-Al, aka "Krypton Kid." Moreover, his samples also show retrograde chroniton shifts characteristic of time travel into the past, from a point one thousand years in our future."
"I hate to say this, but we may be dealing with a threat that can seriously injure a Kryptonian or Daxamite class metahuman. Which restricts our response parameters to individuals in that metahuman category. So...Mon, Ultra Boy, Luornu, and we'll need Kara from downtime... Mysa, you'll be necessary if there are vulnerabilities to magick." Imra remarked.
"Imra, have you telepathically scanned Zar-Al to ascertain more details?"
"Yes, and what I've obtained is damned confusing. Projectra?"
The lights dimmed as Sensor Girl provided a visual accompagniement to her colleague's commentary:
"The Convocation of Metasapients is a forty-first century analogue of our own organisation. As Zar-Al has said, he was flung to the forty first century by reason of his father's response to his imminent death. However, the real surprise is in its membership."
"Is this a joke, Imra?" retorted Mon-El, as his eyes widened.
"Absolutely not. That is Jeem Rehtu, of the waterworld Preztor. Or, as we knew him, Command Kid. It turns out that he is one of the founding trio of the Convocation of Metasapients. The other is Zar-Al/Krypton Kid. As for the third, meet Lora Laing, Gravity Girl."
"But according to Superboy, that was Lana Lang, using an antigravity belt, back in twentieth century Smallville."
"Apparently not this version, although Laing is her descendant. She's from Rahkbat, Alpha Centauri Bb, a super-Earth. Consequently, she has superstrength and flight abilities, as well as limited invulnerability to anything that can't penetrate her biomagnetic field.
"And these are Size Lad, Blackout Boy and Magnetic Kid from Murra. Which isn't an antagonist of the United Planets. They have exactly the same abilities as their Murran spy counterparts in our own past. Turns out Murra was provided with multiple colonisation sources after an undisclosed cataclysm in the 32nd Century rendered its original inhabitants extinct. And I'm sure Jeckie recognises Prince Projectur and Saturn Lad."
Projectra raised an eyebrow: "But they did not exist in reality. They were two male Legionnaires in disguise, due to a specific cognitive obstacle testing process created by fears that I was suffering from psychological malaise."
Saturn Girl shook her head: "No. This Projectur is from Orando. Imran Ranzz appears to be my distant descendant, but he is from Titan. This is Supremo/Allan Vale, from the terraformed asteroid aggregate world Adam, at Earth's trojan point. Yes, exactly. Like Krypton Kid, he's another historical accquaintance of Superboy from the twentieth century.
Jupiter Boy is a pantrope and native of a genetically engineered Helium 3 mining colony on Jupiter, whose abilities are in the same class as Gravity Girl. Ragnar the Robot Fighter has hyperathletic martial arts capabilities akin to those of Karate Kid in our own time. His abilities appear to have specifically evolved in the face of human/robot supremacist conflicts on Aktaal, his homeworld. Superlad and Superlass appear to be descendants of Superman, possibly even his children from an alternate universe.
Andromeda is a Daxamite. Her name is Laurel Gand, suggesting that she is either your descendant, or descended from one of your relatives. By contrast, Computo V appears to be descended from Danielle. Myke Essad is a temporally displaced individual, originally from the 28th Century, a World War VI veteran with the ability of antimatter fusion, otherwise known as Solja. Matter Eater Kid- Renkil Kem- is from our time, the brother of our late colleague Tenzil- Matter Eater Lad. And I'm sure our older members also recognise Don and Dawn Allen, descendants of the twenty-first century metahuman speedster Flash, also from our own century.
Okay. The question is, given that the bulk of the CMS appear to be temporal refugees, how did they end up in the forty-first century?"
"Glorith? Mordru? The Time Trapper?"
Luornu cleared her throat: "Does it have to be a deliberate act? What if someone in the forty first century simply wanted a temporally anterior version of our own organisation, and then utilised advanced technology to assemble that group?"
"Except Projectur and Saturn Lad never really existed. Although these versions are our descendants, just as Andromeda appears to be a distant descendant of Lar and Tasmia. This cannot be coincidence. I suggest we take the aforementioned uptime and find out who exactly the Convocation of Metasapients is..."
CE 4068: STANHOPE
High above North America, a Legion timesphere materialised, with Krypton Kid, Saturn Girl, Mon-El, Ultra Boy, Supergirl White Witch and Sensor Girl within it. Arcing high above the landscape, they witnessed another familiar figure:
[That's Ayla! Isn't it?] Ultra Boy noted as he scanned the figure with his cosmic ray vision. Saturn Girl shook her head:
[No, Jo, it isn't. She's Gallia Ranzz, a descendant of our own Lightning Lass, and seems to have an augmented version of her ancestor's electromagnetic powers. I'm unsure how exactly, given that Garth, Ayla and Mekt acquired their abilities through an accident with the Lightning Beasts on Korbal. She definitely does have some of Ayla's DNA but there are additional attributes. Her nom de combat is "Ionstorm."] Imra replied.
Then she started, as another figure came into view:
[My 'descendant,' if such he is.]
Above the fragmented islands of North America, Supergirl frowned:
[Guys? I've been here before. Mxyzptlk pranked me, although he was masquerading as Robin at the time.I don't think it's him this time. Mysa?]
[I agree, Kara. There seems to be no thaumaturgic or quantum disturbances that usually accompany dimensional interventions by fifth dimensional beings. Nor, for that matter, spaciotemporal disturbances that would indicate deliberate manufacture of an artificial future to entrap us, such as those that Glorith or the TIme Trapper would use. ]
Oblivious to their telepathic plug conversation, Krypton Kid abruptly flew from the timesphere. He gestured:
<Gallia, Imran. It's okay. They are who they seem- the legendary Legion of Super Heroes.>
<Zar, there's something that you need to know. Essentially, everything they've told you about me and some of our colleagues is essentially correct. Most of the CMS are temporally displaced. As to why...>
As the mixed entourage of Legion and Convocation members touched down in Local Group Confederation Square, Imra turned to her male counterpart:
"All right, Saturn Lad. Tell me why you're an exact copy of a fake Legionnaire in a Legionnaire training exercise. And why Jeem Rehtu has his illusion-casting abilities back after he was only able to perform them through demonic possession."
"It's okay, Saturn Girl. We're a multiversal composite team as well. The original Crisis on Infinite Earths caused a massive tear within the spatiotemporal fabric of forty-first century Earth and most of us ended up for that reason. Others of us are your bona fide descendants. Ionstorm is my distant cousin, for instance- she inherited Lightning Lad's electromagnetic abilities and I got your formidable psionic abilities."
Sensor Girl looked away: "Forgive me, Ragnar. You remind me too much of someone I used to know. And love."
Ragnar nodded: "Val Armorr. Some things do recur, Your Majesty." And with that, Prince Projectur stepped closer to Ragnar and the two men kissed. She relented:
"Why was Zar-Al thrown back to our time period?"
"Possibly because he was the only one who could have survived the turbulence within the time vortex at this point. Time travel isn't as safe as it was during your historical period. We have our own share of metasapient villains to manage, as well. Some of them have killed Convocation members."
"And here was me thinking that you were a more innocent future reincarnation of us."
Projectur shook his head: "We are prepared to kill threatening metahuman individuals if they constitute threats to the safety and lives of other sapients."
Sensor Girl nodded: "Perhaps some of us are more akin to you than you are aware, Moreover, some dangers have survived the passage of the millennia."
"Such as?"
"You call her Glorith, I believe."
Saturn Girl stepped back: "Glorith?!"
Projectra nodded: "I know. She was erased from causality when the existences of Superboy and Supergirl were reiterated within this current timeline and the Time Trapper was resurrected. Unfortunately, given that the Trapper was the now non-existent "Superboy-Prime,' she has recoalesced."
Supergirl bit her lip: "Who is this woman, Projectra? It seems that I should know her, but...oh." Saturn Girl uploaded the Legion's previous experiences with the temporal manipulator into the Kryptonian's mind.
At that point, Laurel Gand touched down in the CMS courtyard, gasping at the appearance of Mon-El amongst the others: "Ancestor?!"
"Yes, but... you can't be my descendant, there's no trace of Talokite DNA within you, and I'm married to Tasmia Mallor, Shadow Lass. And she's pregnant. So. Collateral relative?"
"H-how could you...with an offworlder?" Laurel gasped.
Saturn Lad frowned: "Laurel? You've been a member of the CMS almost since its foundation. It's a little late to start spouting that xenophobic Daxamite White Triangle drek."
"Nass." Laurel began to transform into someone else- distinctly taller and more malevolent, her lips cruelly twisted in a sneer.
"Glorith. I wondered how long it would take you to reveal your deception. Now, Kara!" Supergirl grabbed Glorith from behind, capturing her within a power harness and cancelling her abilities out. She accelerated into the Bleed and threw the time manipulator into a resilient Green Lantern power prison that had once housed a malignant group of metahumans known as the Crime Syndicate of America. Glorith howled and hammered at the bubble, but Supergirl was long gone.
Back in the 41st Century, Mon-El had disclosed what the others had suspected:
"You were right, Jeckie. This is a pocket universe, akin to the one that Superboy had been redacted into before we restored history to its original path. It's more inhabited than the one that the Time Trapper dreamt up, though. See what I mean, Kara?"
"Yes. There are telltale flaws within the fossil records that suggest they've been artificially manufactured, I can see that with my microscopic vision.'
'Does that mean that the Convocation is?" Ionstorm asked.
Saturn Girl shook her head:
"It seems that Glorith wasn't quite as good as manufacturing pocket universes as the former Time Trapper. This one is larger and it has escaped her control. Moreover, Kara slipped a little something into Glorith's bubble when our adversary was too angry to notice."
"Meaning?" Saturn Lad queried.
"She's temporally sensitised now. She will never be able to enter this period of history again, even if she escapes the bubble out in the Bleed. You're free. And it's good to have uptime allies, even if it's in an alternate universe to our own."
Kara nodded: "Earths One and Two get on quite well back in the twenty first century. Which reminds me. I have to get back to the past now."
Projectra sighed: "So should we. This excursion has been enthralling, but this crisis is now over. And if we stay her too long, the risk of time pollution escalates, no matter how divergent from our timeline this pocket universe is. Farewell, our new allies. Call the Convocation!"
"Long live the Legion!" chorused the Convocation of Metasapients as their counterparts from the thirty first century past boarded the time bubble and Mon-El and Supergirl sped back through the time vortex to the Legionsphere and the others home.
THE END
"Hey, Dani. Do you have Tasmia's latest pregnancy scan results?"
"Oui, M'sieur Lar. The red sun microimplant continues to function perfectly and there are no abnormalities within the foetus. You 'ave a fine, healthy developing child. The Ectogenesis Suite is still online should you and Madam Tasmia require it."
"Thanks, Dani. Hopefully that won't be nec-" Abruptly, a klaxon shattered the peace and solitude of Legionsphere. Mon-El slipped the news into a cape pouch as he and Danielle ran from the clinic, in the direction of the main sensor array.
Luornu was on site and started replicating as soon as she reached the epicentre of ambiguous activity. At times like this, she wished that Cham was still a member and that Ayla and Salu weren't still on honeymoon. From elsewhere, the outline of Imra Ardeen Ranzz- Saturn Girl- hardened into solidity as she finished teleporting to the incident site. Her hands began to pulsate with telekinetic energy as she sealed off the facility and her brow furrowed as she detected a telepathic imprint. She motioned to Mon-El as he and Danielle made it into the facility:
"Timebound unknown presence trying to exit the vortex."
"Kal? Kara? AU articulations of either?"
"Lar, it's not from the past. It is Kryptonian- I'm getting broadcast psionic information that is consistent with what we know about that world. But the thoughts are disjointed and random, which suggest injury. You'd better be ready to neutralise him or her when they come through. Danielle, can you rig up a vortex cage?"
"Oui, Madame Imra. What is the gradient...?"
"It's...CE 4000. Almost a millenia from now. Which is odd, considering that the limited data we have on Earth's future suggests that only Supergirl (on one occassion), the Flash, Abrakadabra and Professor Zoom ever penetrated any further than our own time."
"Whatever it is, it's coming through now." Mon-El flew to intercept the figure as it left the timestream and the multiple Cargggian incarnations of Myriad assumed their positions as the intruder achieved solidity and form. It offered no threat as it materialised and started to fall and Mon-El caught it. His brow furrowed:
"Zar-Al? But according to Kal, he's dead. Kal met him when his father Zal-Zu provided a prototype timeship to insure that Zar would be able to harvest zeelium, an element that would have dampened down the accelerating thermonuclear fusion and ultimate detonation of Krypton's core. They couldn't find any, so Zar returned to Krypton and died with his father when that planet reached critical mass and exploded." Danielle ran a sensor over him and bit her lip:
"DNA data confirms that this is Zar-Al. It is fortunate that Superboy retrieved some cellular samples and blood to enable identification and medical treatment. M'sieur Lar, you say that he was supposed to have died back on Krypton after the failure of his original mission?"
"Any signs of kryptonite poisoning?"
"Oui, He appears to have experienced multiple stabbings by a kryptonite blade and the residue is in his bloodstream. Damn. If only Madame Salu were here and we could call on her biocontraction ability to 'elp in this situation."
The ravaged face of the Kryptonian opened his eyes and weakly moaned a word that made little sense to the assembled Legionnaires - for now: "C-Convocation. Meta.. S-Sapients..."
"Merde..." Danielle swore, as the intubation momentarily failed. Mon-El took over, inserting it in Zar-Al's forearm. Slowly, the Kryptonian lost his iridescent green pallor as the kryptonite microfragments were flushed from his bloodstream. After two minutes, his eyes hesitantly flickered open:
"W-where am I?"
"The Legion of Super Heroes arcology, CE 3001. And you're definitely speaking Kryptonese, buddy. Perhaps Kal-El told you about me? Mon-El, Lar Gand of Daxam?"
"I...have to get back uptime..." Mon-El restrained the still groggy Kryptonian:
"Nothing doing, red. Now calm down and tell us about what happened since you left Earth with that bogus zeelium shipment and returned back to Krypton."
"It...was my father, Zal-Zu. I..I...originally intended to stay there and die with him. Instead, he knocked me out and loaded me into the time capsule. I...was boosted into the time vortex but the spatiotemporal reprecussions of Krypton's explosion pitched me into Earth's...distant...future. I...arrived in CE 3978. Once there, ...met... Convocation of Metasapients."
"That's twice you've mentioned them. Who are they?"
Zar-Al hesitated before acknowledging: "They're your descendants."
Several hours later, the available Legionnaires met in their conference room. Mon-El cleared his throat:
"According to Computo's cellular assay, there's no doubt about it. The genetic records are an exact match for Zar-Al, aka "Krypton Kid." Moreover, his samples also show retrograde chroniton shifts characteristic of time travel into the past, from a point one thousand years in our future."
"I hate to say this, but we may be dealing with a threat that can seriously injure a Kryptonian or Daxamite class metahuman. Which restricts our response parameters to individuals in that metahuman category. So...Mon, Ultra Boy, Luornu, and we'll need Kara from downtime... Mysa, you'll be necessary if there are vulnerabilities to magick." Imra remarked.
"Imra, have you telepathically scanned Zar-Al to ascertain more details?"
"Yes, and what I've obtained is damned confusing. Projectra?"
The lights dimmed as Sensor Girl provided a visual accompagniement to her colleague's commentary:
"The Convocation of Metasapients is a forty-first century analogue of our own organisation. As Zar-Al has said, he was flung to the forty first century by reason of his father's response to his imminent death. However, the real surprise is in its membership."
"Is this a joke, Imra?" retorted Mon-El, as his eyes widened.
"Absolutely not. That is Jeem Rehtu, of the waterworld Preztor. Or, as we knew him, Command Kid. It turns out that he is one of the founding trio of the Convocation of Metasapients. The other is Zar-Al/Krypton Kid. As for the third, meet Lora Laing, Gravity Girl."
"But according to Superboy, that was Lana Lang, using an antigravity belt, back in twentieth century Smallville."
"Apparently not this version, although Laing is her descendant. She's from Rahkbat, Alpha Centauri Bb, a super-Earth. Consequently, she has superstrength and flight abilities, as well as limited invulnerability to anything that can't penetrate her biomagnetic field.
"And these are Size Lad, Blackout Boy and Magnetic Kid from Murra. Which isn't an antagonist of the United Planets. They have exactly the same abilities as their Murran spy counterparts in our own past. Turns out Murra was provided with multiple colonisation sources after an undisclosed cataclysm in the 32nd Century rendered its original inhabitants extinct. And I'm sure Jeckie recognises Prince Projectur and Saturn Lad."
Projectra raised an eyebrow: "But they did not exist in reality. They were two male Legionnaires in disguise, due to a specific cognitive obstacle testing process created by fears that I was suffering from psychological malaise."
Saturn Girl shook her head: "No. This Projectur is from Orando. Imran Ranzz appears to be my distant descendant, but he is from Titan. This is Supremo/Allan Vale, from the terraformed asteroid aggregate world Adam, at Earth's trojan point. Yes, exactly. Like Krypton Kid, he's another historical accquaintance of Superboy from the twentieth century.
Jupiter Boy is a pantrope and native of a genetically engineered Helium 3 mining colony on Jupiter, whose abilities are in the same class as Gravity Girl. Ragnar the Robot Fighter has hyperathletic martial arts capabilities akin to those of Karate Kid in our own time. His abilities appear to have specifically evolved in the face of human/robot supremacist conflicts on Aktaal, his homeworld. Superlad and Superlass appear to be descendants of Superman, possibly even his children from an alternate universe.
Andromeda is a Daxamite. Her name is Laurel Gand, suggesting that she is either your descendant, or descended from one of your relatives. By contrast, Computo V appears to be descended from Danielle. Myke Essad is a temporally displaced individual, originally from the 28th Century, a World War VI veteran with the ability of antimatter fusion, otherwise known as Solja. Matter Eater Kid- Renkil Kem- is from our time, the brother of our late colleague Tenzil- Matter Eater Lad. And I'm sure our older members also recognise Don and Dawn Allen, descendants of the twenty-first century metahuman speedster Flash, also from our own century.
Okay. The question is, given that the bulk of the CMS appear to be temporal refugees, how did they end up in the forty-first century?"
"Glorith? Mordru? The Time Trapper?"
Luornu cleared her throat: "Does it have to be a deliberate act? What if someone in the forty first century simply wanted a temporally anterior version of our own organisation, and then utilised advanced technology to assemble that group?"
"Except Projectur and Saturn Lad never really existed. Although these versions are our descendants, just as Andromeda appears to be a distant descendant of Lar and Tasmia. This cannot be coincidence. I suggest we take the aforementioned uptime and find out who exactly the Convocation of Metasapients is..."
CE 4068: STANHOPE
High above North America, a Legion timesphere materialised, with Krypton Kid, Saturn Girl, Mon-El, Ultra Boy, Supergirl White Witch and Sensor Girl within it. Arcing high above the landscape, they witnessed another familiar figure:
[That's Ayla! Isn't it?] Ultra Boy noted as he scanned the figure with his cosmic ray vision. Saturn Girl shook her head:
[No, Jo, it isn't. She's Gallia Ranzz, a descendant of our own Lightning Lass, and seems to have an augmented version of her ancestor's electromagnetic powers. I'm unsure how exactly, given that Garth, Ayla and Mekt acquired their abilities through an accident with the Lightning Beasts on Korbal. She definitely does have some of Ayla's DNA but there are additional attributes. Her nom de combat is "Ionstorm."] Imra replied.
Then she started, as another figure came into view:
[My 'descendant,' if such he is.]
Above the fragmented islands of North America, Supergirl frowned:
[Guys? I've been here before. Mxyzptlk pranked me, although he was masquerading as Robin at the time.I don't think it's him this time. Mysa?]
[I agree, Kara. There seems to be no thaumaturgic or quantum disturbances that usually accompany dimensional interventions by fifth dimensional beings. Nor, for that matter, spaciotemporal disturbances that would indicate deliberate manufacture of an artificial future to entrap us, such as those that Glorith or the TIme Trapper would use. ]
Oblivious to their telepathic plug conversation, Krypton Kid abruptly flew from the timesphere. He gestured:
<Gallia, Imran. It's okay. They are who they seem- the legendary Legion of Super Heroes.>
<Zar, there's something that you need to know. Essentially, everything they've told you about me and some of our colleagues is essentially correct. Most of the CMS are temporally displaced. As to why...>
As the mixed entourage of Legion and Convocation members touched down in Local Group Confederation Square, Imra turned to her male counterpart:
"All right, Saturn Lad. Tell me why you're an exact copy of a fake Legionnaire in a Legionnaire training exercise. And why Jeem Rehtu has his illusion-casting abilities back after he was only able to perform them through demonic possession."
"It's okay, Saturn Girl. We're a multiversal composite team as well. The original Crisis on Infinite Earths caused a massive tear within the spatiotemporal fabric of forty-first century Earth and most of us ended up for that reason. Others of us are your bona fide descendants. Ionstorm is my distant cousin, for instance- she inherited Lightning Lad's electromagnetic abilities and I got your formidable psionic abilities."
Sensor Girl looked away: "Forgive me, Ragnar. You remind me too much of someone I used to know. And love."
Ragnar nodded: "Val Armorr. Some things do recur, Your Majesty." And with that, Prince Projectur stepped closer to Ragnar and the two men kissed. She relented:
"Why was Zar-Al thrown back to our time period?"
"Possibly because he was the only one who could have survived the turbulence within the time vortex at this point. Time travel isn't as safe as it was during your historical period. We have our own share of metasapient villains to manage, as well. Some of them have killed Convocation members."
"And here was me thinking that you were a more innocent future reincarnation of us."
Projectur shook his head: "We are prepared to kill threatening metahuman individuals if they constitute threats to the safety and lives of other sapients."
Sensor Girl nodded: "Perhaps some of us are more akin to you than you are aware, Moreover, some dangers have survived the passage of the millennia."
"Such as?"
"You call her Glorith, I believe."
Saturn Girl stepped back: "Glorith?!"
Projectra nodded: "I know. She was erased from causality when the existences of Superboy and Supergirl were reiterated within this current timeline and the Time Trapper was resurrected. Unfortunately, given that the Trapper was the now non-existent "Superboy-Prime,' she has recoalesced."
Supergirl bit her lip: "Who is this woman, Projectra? It seems that I should know her, but...oh." Saturn Girl uploaded the Legion's previous experiences with the temporal manipulator into the Kryptonian's mind.
At that point, Laurel Gand touched down in the CMS courtyard, gasping at the appearance of Mon-El amongst the others: "Ancestor?!"
"Yes, but... you can't be my descendant, there's no trace of Talokite DNA within you, and I'm married to Tasmia Mallor, Shadow Lass. And she's pregnant. So. Collateral relative?"
"H-how could you...with an offworlder?" Laurel gasped.
Saturn Lad frowned: "Laurel? You've been a member of the CMS almost since its foundation. It's a little late to start spouting that xenophobic Daxamite White Triangle drek."
"Nass." Laurel began to transform into someone else- distinctly taller and more malevolent, her lips cruelly twisted in a sneer.
"Glorith. I wondered how long it would take you to reveal your deception. Now, Kara!" Supergirl grabbed Glorith from behind, capturing her within a power harness and cancelling her abilities out. She accelerated into the Bleed and threw the time manipulator into a resilient Green Lantern power prison that had once housed a malignant group of metahumans known as the Crime Syndicate of America. Glorith howled and hammered at the bubble, but Supergirl was long gone.
Back in the 41st Century, Mon-El had disclosed what the others had suspected:
"You were right, Jeckie. This is a pocket universe, akin to the one that Superboy had been redacted into before we restored history to its original path. It's more inhabited than the one that the Time Trapper dreamt up, though. See what I mean, Kara?"
"Yes. There are telltale flaws within the fossil records that suggest they've been artificially manufactured, I can see that with my microscopic vision.'
'Does that mean that the Convocation is?" Ionstorm asked.
Saturn Girl shook her head:
"It seems that Glorith wasn't quite as good as manufacturing pocket universes as the former Time Trapper. This one is larger and it has escaped her control. Moreover, Kara slipped a little something into Glorith's bubble when our adversary was too angry to notice."
"Meaning?" Saturn Lad queried.
"She's temporally sensitised now. She will never be able to enter this period of history again, even if she escapes the bubble out in the Bleed. You're free. And it's good to have uptime allies, even if it's in an alternate universe to our own."
Kara nodded: "Earths One and Two get on quite well back in the twenty first century. Which reminds me. I have to get back to the past now."
Projectra sighed: "So should we. This excursion has been enthralling, but this crisis is now over. And if we stay her too long, the risk of time pollution escalates, no matter how divergent from our timeline this pocket universe is. Farewell, our new allies. Call the Convocation!"
"Long live the Legion!" chorused the Convocation of Metasapients as their counterparts from the thirty first century past boarded the time bubble and Mon-El and Supergirl sped back through the time vortex to the Legionsphere and the others home.
THE END