by Libbylawrence
Two colorful young women strolled through Weisinger Plaza toward the famed headquarters of the Legion of Super-Heroes. The first girl had attractive features with dark hair and a fit physique. She was silent, not so much due to reticence on her part, but rather due to her orange-complexioned friend’s ceaseless chatter.
“Like, this is sooo totally starshine!” said Comet Queen. “Three days leave from the Legion Academy, and the weather programming is set for sunny skies for the whole holiday! Could that be anymore excelsior?”
Laurel Kent smiled and smothered a laugh as her friend failed to wait for any possible reply. Laurel, a descendant of the legendary Superman, possessed his fabled invulnerability, and she hoped one day to make the transition from Legion Academy pupil to active member of the group of super-powered champions whose headquarters loomed directly ahead.
Comet Queen’s bizarre appearance and super-powers came from the time she had plunged through the tail of a comet in the hopes of gaining powers and the chance to join the Legion. She had indeed gained super-powers of flight and generation of an energy cloud, but she had only managed to earn a spot at the Legion Academy, where former Legion members Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel instructed their pupils in the fine art of being a hero or heroine. (*)
[(*) Editor’s note: See “New Business,” Legion of Super-Heroes v3 #11 (June, 1985).]
A handsome youth with a flashy jacket and a stack of holo tapes flew by them with a radiant smile. “Sun Boy! He is totally nebulae!” gushed Comet Queen.
“He is a hunk,” said Laurel as she watched him fade out of view. “That’s twentieth-century slang. I guess he is on his way to college. He is a busy guy, between being a Legion hero and continuing his physics studies, too.”
Comet Queen rolled her eyes. “I’d like to stay after class with him! He is the Romeo Maximus of the LSH!” They continued walking around the complex and glanced upward at the headquarters itself.
“You know, Mr. Taine says the original base was smaller and was built to look like an early rocket,” said Comet Queen.
“Sure,” said Laurel. “In fact, the regrouped Substitute Heroes use it now.”
As they passed the long row of statues, which depicted various members, Comet Queen frowned up at one particular statue. “Brainiac 5 is such a major chill factor!” she said.
Laurel shrugged. “I don’t know. He has had a lot of emotional problems. I feel sorry for the guy. It can’t be easy to be mega-smart. The whole world must seem like children in comparison to him.”
“He had a thing for Supergirl,” said Comet Queen. “That is totally morbid. He strikes me as the kind of man without any romance or passion about him. He’s all science and no heart!”
***
Meanwhile, within the Legion Headquarters, Brainiac 5 approached a brooding Timber Wolf. “Brin, would you please retrieve one of my data droids from the storage tesseract-section 34-C,” he said.
Timber Wolf scowled. “Yeah, sure. Why not? It’s not like I have a life outside of this place. Not anymore!”
Brin Londo moved off with his characteristic loping stride in the direction of the extra-dimensional storage tesseract. The section of Legion Headquarters designed for storage only took up a small amount of space in terms of the dimension in which it was located. However, due to the nature of Brainiac 5’s design, the area expanded nearly infinitely into extra-dimensional space.
Speaking into the remote that led to Computo, Brainiac 5 said, “Computo, disable tesseract-section 34-C for approximately the next two hours. ”
***
Later, when Shrinking Violet attempted to access the storage tesseract from outside, she noticed it slide open to reveal Timber Wolf locked in a passionate kiss with Lightning Lass.
Salu Digby smirked slightly. “Excuse me. I didn’t mean to interrupt.” The couple turned and separated slightly.
“Sorry, Salu. We got stuck in this crazy storage center,” he said. “It would not respond to any command we gave. We talked and worked things out. Ayla accepted my apology for not rushing off to join her when she decided to leave the team. She saw my side at last!”
Ayla Ranzz nudged him playfully. “I was stubborn. I mean, I came back to the team, too. How could I reasonably be mad at Brin for knowing what was really best for us all along? I should learn to trust his instincts! We settled everything while we were stuck inside the storage area. I didn’t want to use my powers to fry the system, since that might have left us trapped for even longer than the malfunction did. Of course, now I really don’t mind being in here!” She added this with a wink.
Salu shrugged. “Young love. How nice. I’ll leave you two to whatever.”
“Ayla, Brainy will be sore that I didn’t deliver his droid,” said Brin.
Ayla frowned. “That’s funny. That’s why I was inside here, too. He asked me to bring one to him!”
***
Back in his multi-lab, Brainiac 5 smiled as he saw the couple emerge from the storage area hand in hand. “Computo, your timing is slightly off,” he said. “Recalibrate your system. You opened the tesseract a few seconds early. No real harm done, though.”
The End