Scene 4 - October 20th

Interior MLED Compound, Continuous

Holly Koval

I had been having such a nice night, up until that moment. Sure, I would have had a good time at home, practicing my magical abilities and trying to get my parents to tear themselves away from their own magical research to help me - well, I would have had a good time with my research, trying to get my parents to pay attention to mine instead of theirs was like pulling teeth - but I tried not to get so wrapped up in research that I forgot about my friends. Coming in and spending some time with Simone was no hardship.

And the new kid that Armstrong was trying to recruit seemed like a good guy - not to mention that they were nonbinary too, even if they probably weren’t genderfluid as they only had one set of pronouns. Plus they were pretty cute - their eyes were a pleasant blue that stood out marvelously against the darkness of their hair, which was a curly mess of a jewfro that I wished I could just sink my fingers into. But, alas, I had just met them, and such things weren’t socially acceptable. Maybe if they joined the Journeymen.

...an amusing thought struck me: since my 21st birthday was in just six months, Kaufman’s graduation to the ranks of the New Champions - or whichever MLED team somewhere in America needed them most - would occur at the same time as mine, if they joined within the next month.

“Who’s Legion?” they asked, raising their voice to be heard over the alarm, and I refocused. “You mentioned them earlier, right Abe? But I don’t think I’ve heard of whoever they are. A supervillain, I assume?” I absently raised a hand, thinking a mind-bending thought and making an impossible gesture with the ease of long practice, and reduced the volume of the alarm to something less headache-inducing.

Armstrong nodded seriously, his demeanor visibly shifting. He was pretty light-hearted out of costume, not taking anything too seriously despite his status as the leader of the Champions. But when he donned the mantle of Canaveral, he took things far more seriously, became more intense. He was undergoing that shift now, a rare sight out of costume. “Legion is an extremely powerful shapeshifter, with no real limits aside from the amount of mass she has to work with. And she can consume organic matter to increase her mass.”

“That’s pretty scary to start with,” Kaufman noted, “but I somehow feel like there’s more.”

“There is,” Alvarez said, rising from her couch. “When she consumes something, she stores its pattern down to the atomic level, and can recreate it. Or mix and match as she desires. She can eat people and take their forms, and it’s impossible to detect without a brain scan.” Kaufman was going pale now, clearly imagining all sorts of horrible things.

“Even that’s not the worst part,” I couldn’t help but add. “She can duplicate herself, too. Spawn an extra body patterned after her own, and then there are two of her - both with the same shapeshifting abilities.”

“I don’t know much about her, to be honest,” Simone admitted. “When she splits like that, is it a hivemind?”

Canaveral - because he was Canaveral now, to such a degree that I could easily imagine his costume in place of the loose button-down and jeans that he was actually wearing - shook his head. “No, which is one of her few weaknesses. If she’s separated from herself they have no connection to each other.” He looked back to Kaufman, completely serious. “You need to go.”

“What? No! I can help!” they protested.

He shook his head. “You’re still untrained and you haven’t joined yet. And yes,” he raised a hand, “I know I took you against gangsters under vigilante laws. This is a different situation - Legion is one of the most dangerous women in the world.”

“Legion is who-knows-how-many of the most dangerous women in the world,” Kaufman corrected. “You’ll probably be outnumbered! You need all the help you can get! Besides,” they added slyly, “would it be safer for me to be out there alone, where she is, or with you guys?”

“Legion is dangerous, but she’s not mindless,” said Alvarez. “She usually sticks to stealth and doesn’t engage unless she has to, and she always has some target in mind wherever she goes. She’s not going to attack someone who seems like a random civilian. But regulations say that you can’t remain when we’re about to go into lockdown.”

Kaufman sighed, defeated. “Alright, alright. I’ll go.” They raised a hand and gave a dejected wave. “It was nice to meet all of you.”