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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Broccli_Head" data-source="post: 1057963" data-attributes="member: 105">Legion Extreme Issue#7:Legion Extreme vs. the Ultimates Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point, OahuThe KC-141 Starlifter prepped for take-off. It was close to midnight as two large coffins were driven into the spacious cargo hold of the airplane. Escorting them and then securing them into the bay were members of PRIMUS, the United States agency that dealt specifically with parahumans. Earlier that day, they had secured two delta class supervillians with the help of Boston’s own Legion Extreme. Now they were loading them onto the aircraft destined for Stronghold—the US’s maximum security prison for paranormals. They were leaving earlier than expected, on the suggestion by Jae Sun Lee, de-facto leader of Legion Extreme. There had been too much coverage of the raid. They had to advance the timetable as there was no telling how quickly the rest of the Ultimates would respond, if at all, to the plight of their comrades. Jae Sun reminded the members of PRIMUS that Binder, leader of the Ultimates, was no idiot. It was even rumored that he had once been part of UNTIL, the United Nation’s anti-super agency, so they ran some spin control leaking to the press that they would be leaving early the next morning when now in fact they were due to depart shortly after midnight. Jae Sun shook his head as he, Somnus, Valor, Dragonfist and KenYamaguchi (the local Silver Avenger) boarded the plane.  Meteor Man flew in over them. “I told Darkfire and Slipstream that it was imperative that they come, but they did not listen. I will give Meteor Man credit for one thing. At least he has his priorities aligned correctly.” Dragonfist nodded in agreement.  Somnus and Valor moved quickly to monitor the “hot boxes” to make sure that Slick and Radium’s vitals were alright. Suddenly, the INTRUDER ALERT alarm sounded throughout the complex. Yamaguchi spoke into his wrist-radio and then looked to Jae Sun. “There is a suit of powered armor flying at rapid speed towards the base. It could be Cyclone!”Jae Sun, however, shook his head looking at his own communicator, a custom-made-by-Armando-Montoya, holographic, wristwatch.  “Please tell the base to stand down, Mr. Yamaguchi. I believe it is one of our own.”“A new member?”Jae Sun rolled his eyes and replied, “Let us just say that he is a provisional member.”He spoke at the hologram of the flying figure above his watch.“Cosmic Knight, you are approaching a highly armed military base. Please land and walk to the gate. You are late, did you know?”Valor shook his head and muttered under his breath, “Rebellious, independent students….what can you do?”Cosmic Knight did as he was told and soon was clanking along the tarmac towards the Starlifter.“How did you know?” asked  Dragonfist.“I watch lots of television! I left right away when I saw the report on SNN.” If the rest of the team could have seen inside of Cosmic Knight’s helmet they would have seen Theo Coolidge wearing a broad smile. Jae Sun groaned. If Cosmic Knight knew about the plan, then so did the Ultimates. “We need to leave, post-haste!” he yelled to the Silver Avenger over the din of the jet engines, and climbed aboard. Soon, the KC-141 was zooming into the sky towards the east. **Darkfire walked along a moonlit beach. Deep in the recesses of her sometimes amnesic memory she remembered a place like this. The moon and the sky was a different color and she seemed to recall two suns, one almost always causing a perpetual twilight.  True nights like this were rare. This whole world is way too orange! she thought. She saw the great silver bird streak across the sky. Most of her companions were in the belly of that beast on their way to put the bad men in a deep dungeon. She was so grateful for Dragonfist for translating the “earth” words to concepts she could understand.  “Planes” were full of grass in her world and what was a “Maximum Security Prison”? She imagined Stronghold as a bleak fortress with black towers. Or maybe that was another repressed memory? She shook her head and sat in the sand letting waves lap against her feet and buttocks.  Anaka Ai Lee was a nice enough man. Too bad he was a little homely.With her peripheral vision she spied the couple that Uncle Jae Sun had asked her to monitor. He had hinted that the skinny blonde man was Slipstream and he needed watching when it came to his interaction with the human female. Not that Darkfire had needed any help. They smelled the same after all…like sand and sea mixed in with man-smell. She could hear snatches of their conversation on the wind….It wasn’t going well. “I really appreciate you asking me here to Hawaii. It’s been a nice little vacation. Brian, you’re such a great friend.”Brian scowled. Fortunately, the darkness hid his features from Elisa Perez, Meteor Man’s girlfriend. “Thanks for looking after me while Bobby had some urgent business.”The surfing superhero felt pangs of guilt. Already the transport was heading east across the Pacific. He should have been there.  What was he doing here?Your making the most of a great opportunity, Brian. When Meteor Man’s away…., spoke his inner voice. In the moonlight he briefly switched to Slipstream and then back to Brian Parker to shock Elisa with a boost of superhero presence. “Elisa, you mean more to me than just a friend.”He reached out to hold her hand as they walked along the beach. She responded briefly, but then pulled her hand away. “Brian, please take me back to the hotel.”There was a hint of fear in her voice.  He wanted to say so much more…like “I can treat you better than Bobby,” or “You don’t need him. You need me,” but Brian remained quite, feeling defeated. I should have gone with the rest of the guys.Awkwardly, and in silence he escorted Elisa back to civilization. **Somewhere below Millennium City, Michigan…“Starbird! To me!” shouted the metallic voice. Through the large underground cavern a large modified stealth fighter glided towards a man wearing golden-metallic, green-highlighted, powered armor.  Another man in silver-gray powered armor joined him. His suit was sleeker, more aerodynamic, and apparently built for speed. Two more men joined them. Both were almost perfect physical specimens in black spandex. Across the smaller of the two’s chest, lightning bolts had been stylized. Between his fingertips, electricity arched.  The other was barrel-chested, the largest of the four. A red star had been emblazoned on his costume and a cape flowed behind him without any wind.  They climbed aboard the stealth plane.“I don’t know, Binder. It seems foolish to go after the kids,” said the large man. They had a policy of addressing each other by their aliases when dressed for action. The man in the green-highlighted armor did not even turn to acknowledge his compatriot. “We don’t leave any of our own behind.”Inside he was thinking less nobly. Binder could have cared less about Slick, but he was not finished studying Radium. He shuddered at the thought of someone else getting hold of a living fusion reaction. Then he’d never be able to get back at Them!The electric villain Thunderbolt added, “Besides, I’m tired of sitting around. We haven’t beat anyone down recently. I’m looking forward to smacking these Chumps around.”Binder pursed his lips. Thunderbolt was a loose cannon.  He motioned to the last of the quartet, Cyclone to take the pilot’s seat. Cyclone had remained silent. He actually cared about the well-being of his fellow misunderstood vigilantes, and he knew the others did not really share his sentiments. He flipped switches on the fly-by-wire pilot's console of the vehicle and it began to lift towards the ceiling. Binder typed at another keyboard and gave commands for the hidden hatch to open. Behind them, Blackstar had already triangulated the trajectory of the PRIMUS plane headed to Stronghold, being an expert on sub-atomic emissions and electromagnetic waves. They could actually home in on Radium despite any shielding PRIMUS came up with. He sent his calculations forward. Meanwhile, Thunderbolt examined the specs for the KC-141, determining how best to cause the most havoc. His near-maniac laughter unnerved the rest of the Ultimates. “Precision and speed, gentleman. There will be no time for extra-curriculars. We don’t know the full capabilities of Legion Extreme. Let’s hit them hard.”Cyclone shrugged. He knew at least one of them, or at least had known his father. He had been a good man. How was the son? He sighed and focused back on piloting. **The klaxon sounded at Homestead. Defender monitored the screen as the base radar had detected a large metal body in range. Nighthawk, also awake late that evening ran in at the sound. “What?”Defender quickly accessed the database. “It looks like the Ulitmates are airborne.”“Where?”He watched the radar emission fade out and cursed.“Lost ‘em. Contact the rest of the team. There could be trouble.”A sonic boom echoed across Lake Erie.  Anyone looking towards the night sky would have seen a dark shape shimmer and vanish as it headed west. **“Well, we have crossed the ocean without incident,” squawked Jae Sun over the plane’s internal communications. Ken nodded, and tapped his headphones, pointing towards Valor McCoy and Somnus who had removed them. “They say it interferes with their mindlink, ”“Looks like we’re almost over California and into Nevada,” said Meteor Man joining them in the cargo hold as he closed the door that led to the hallway and then the cockpit. “That’s an affirmative,” called one of the pilots. “Well, gentleman, so far, so good,” responded Yamaguchi, “See we didn’t need you. You could have stayed in Hawaii.”Just then they heard a boom from the outside. Cosmic Knight switched to his IR perception and thought that he saw a humanoid figure (generating a lot of heat) streak across the top of the plane. Then he saw something else detach itself from the 'streak'...Instinctively, he braced for impact. Some sort of projectile--it hit too fast to tell exactly what it was--slammed into the KC-141 tearing a hole in the ceiling and continuing through the floor. Decompression followed. Meteor Man and the Silver Avenger went flying out the bottom.  “Nooooo!” he cried uncontrollably as chaos erupted. He thought that he saw electricity arc across the hull of the plane. Lights in the cargo hold exploded, and the Starlifter lurched.  The Ultimates had arrived.</blockquote>

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