Generation Legacy Issue #7 "Innocence Lost" - Part 1

[Shalimar]

Kelly wakes up slowly, keeping her eyes closed, she just breathes in the scent and the warmth of Tommy's room. Opening her eyes gingerly, she sees Tommy's head on her chest, and she can't help but smile contentedly, remembering everything that they had done last night, how good everything felt.

That was so wonderful...I mean, I guess I'm not his first, cause that was like so amazing, I can't believe it, just soo wow! The girl thought to herself, smiling down at Tommy.

She let her eyes wander around the room, trying to really get a sense of what it was Tommy cared about. Her gazed rested on the busts for awhile, trying to figure out who they were, but in the end she just gave up, figuring it would be fun to just ask Tommy, and get him to tell her about them. She looks about more, her eyes coming to a rest on the picture. Awww, he looks so cute like that, but who is she, is she his sister? Yea, she must be, look how much they resemble each other.

She glances about, startled, at the sound of Neuro's voice, her eyes widen at the sight of him, and she calls the wind to telekinetically to raise the covers to hide her naked-ness, in embaressment, embaressment heightened by Neuro's derisive comments about her selling her body.

"Its none of your business who I'm with," she whispers angrily, trying not to wake up Tommy, "I love Tommy, and he loves me, just go away, no one wants you here, here or anywhere. Even your Pantheon friends wanted to kill you, one even did." she says, smirking at him, and trying to hide her confusion about what was going on.

 

[Tokiwong]

"Its none of your business who I'm with," she whispers angrily, trying not to wake up Tommy, "I love Tommy, and he loves me, just go away, no one wants you here, here or anywhere. Even your Pantheon friends wanted to kill you, one even did." she says, smirking at him, and trying to hide her confusion about what was going on.

"Strong words puppet. People always seek to destroy what they fear, my so-called death lends credence to my power. For as long as I have you, I m not truly dead, I am very much alive. Your mind is my playground, my garden of Eden, puppet. But mark my words puppet, I have survived death, and I will survive anything you try and throw at me," he walks closer till he looms over Kelly.

"Your love is pathetic, puppet. It is sickening to think that you would whore yourself out like this, and for what? Him? What do you know about Tommy? What do you know about the girl? You think you know everything, but you know nothing about him, or his past with Pantheon, among other things..." Neuro replies leaning forward and blowing on her neck.

Tommy rises slowly, "Oh your awake," he kisses her cheek, and smiles. Before standing and heading to a sink to wash his face, and brush his teeth, "man, I have a busy day ahead," he gestures.

 

[Shalimar]

"No...no, your not real, I'm just imagining you cause I'm all worried about Phase and getting shot...your not really here...your not...Your just trying to make me even more scared..." she says, scrunching her body up into a ball beneath the covers, murmuring the word no over and over again before falling silent. When Tommy kisses her, she looks up at him scared, looking into his eyes.

"Tommy wasn't...he couldn't have been pantheon... he's...he's not like you Neuro... hes nice... he's a nice person, he cares... he's not a monster... not like you... " she says to Neuro, still watching Tommy like she is looking for his reassurance, his help.

"Go away Neuro, I hate you, stop lying." she says, turning to look at him. "GO AWAY!" she screams at the mentalist, throwing a lightning bolt at him.

 

[Agamon]

The shock of the news about Kelly stuns Anika into silence as Yoshi, Tony and Ryan traded jabs. "If only I could have talked her into staying," she thinks with a sniffle.

He offers his hand to Ryan, "But hey I am sure, you guys being the experts and all will get it right the first time."

Listening to conversation for the first time, she shakes her head, doubt beginning to creep into her mind. "This isn't a training session. We could die like Tommy and Kelly." She takes a couple deep breaths and tries to empty her mind and focus on the conversation.

 

[Samnell]

Mr. McCallister adjusts hi glasses, “First I want to say, that I am sure you are aware of what happened to Tommy, and he has my condolences. But that I not my primary concern at this time; what is important to me is the future of the UNJE.

Mark almost killed the message right then.

“Alright,” he sighs, “let me get to the heart of the matter. I resigned from the UNJE as of 1015 this morning Mudaba Adin time. It was a decision of morality versus duty, and trying not to sell my soul. You asked me why we are sterilizing people, I don’ have an answer for you, but I do know that no one at our Institute has been sterilized yet, but I think that will change soon.

Great. How do I tell anyone without ending up in prison?

The UNJE is pushing forward; I knew I could not hold them back, and I wanted no part in it. Bu you are not alone, I m on your side from the outside, I will be back stateside, but you have friends in the UNJE. Get in contact with Kensei, Oracle, or even that jerk Roundhouse; they are good people. I wish I could say more, but I will be in contact,” he says looking right into the screen.

Oh that's convenient. Roundhouse just happens to be right here. Mark pictured himself saying something to Roundhouse and UN troopers bursting in halfway through.

“Finally Jun Min is on my side, I don’t know where you stand Mark, but I have an idea that your on our side. The UNJE is not the enemy but elements within the UNJE are, I will need your help, because you’re still on the inside. I don’t want the UNJE to collapse, they do good work, but I do wan to remove certain elements. If you are with m, send a reply Mark, and I will be in contact at a later date. I would use caution in who you trust, there is no way in knowing who is with us and against us, even among your friends, “He finishes.

This is perfect. He should have told Ryan all this stuff. At least he's already paranoid. So I can trust all of five people, counting McCallister, with this stuff and I only really know two of them. Why the hell did they make me the leader?

“Don’t let this detract from your current mission, stay the course. I know that will be difficult but your doing a good thing, the right thing. You are making a difference, remember you’re the leader, the team will draw their strength from you,” he finishes as the message ends.

Because you didn't drop enough on me today. Mark wanted to puke. This is stupid and I'm going to screw up my whole damn life and I'm actually considering this?! It's not like I haven't made enough bad life choices already. Now I just need some coke and I'll be set.

Mark got up and paced the office a few times, hands starting to tremble. Four million from the UN. Ten more from Reebok. I have an agent coming from Germany on Tuesday. I have clothes that fit. Mark looked down at his uniform. I guess that counts. And I have a real bed and a bathroom and the toilet works when I puke in it.

Mark sat back down at the terminal and swallowed. Hard. "I have a job to do," he reminded himself. He looked at McCallister's frozen face for a long moment and made a text reply:

"Thanks. It was a long plane ride with the news and we just found out about Kelly. I'll think about what you said about things."

 

[Aenion]

Karen

Kal looks at his watch, “Maybe we should cut this short, Aris says she has a lead on Red Witch and wants to follow it up. Young Justice business, unless your willing to put yourself in harm’s way…” he says glancing to Karen over his shoulder.

Karen looks disappointed at first when Kal says he has to go, but perks up "If you don't mind I'd like to come with you, I'd love to help. You said you could use someone like me on your team. Unless you think that Aris will be too angry to think straight when I'm around," she smirks, "I'm starting to think she's more dangerous to me than Genocide or Pantheon."

 

[KaintheSeeker]

Cassie

Thanking Pandora, she logs off the company site and pulls up some information on the location of the offices and anything she can find on this Dr. Whitman. Compiling what she knows she gets up and goes to look for one of the few adults taht she thinks she can trust (Most likely Jun Min darn it!)

 

[Tokiwong]

Cassie

Thanking Pandora, she logs off the company site and pulls up some information on the location of the offices and anything she can find on this Dr. Whitman. Compiling what she knows she gets up and goes to look for one of the few adults taht she thinks she can trust (Most likely Jun Min darn it!)

Cassie is able to find the offices easily enough; they are actually located in the vicinity of the VSC Tower, which appears more like a mountain then a simple building, which dominates the Mudaba Adin skyline. Information on Dr. Whitman is harder to come by, but she is able to find out that he is an expert in the field of baseline genetics, and has dabbled into the science behind elite genetics and the source of their powers.

Once Cassie finishes, she finds Jun Min in her room. She opens the door pulling a shirt over her head; she looks fresh from a shower. She smiles, “Hi Cassie, how are you, come in,” she waves for Cassie to enter, “How is everything?”

Karen

“Aris can learn to deal with is,” Kal replies with a generous smile, “besides I would feel better if you were with us, but it could get dangerous. But you are pretty dangerous, yourself.”

Kal turns and whispers to her, “Aris thinks that the Red Witch may be working with a company called Vanguard Secure Computing, or something like that. While I was out with you last night patrolling, she was doing a little detective work of her own.”

Kal starts walking motioning for Karen to follow, “So the plan is simple, we bust in their, find the Red Witch. We find her, we have a good shot in tracking down Genocide, and then its payback time, and hopefully find a way back to my own reality…”

“Leave it to Kal to over simplify things,” Aris says floating down behind Kal and Karen, “if she is going I have to rethink the plan, but… we have a better chance of surviving, I mean succeeding.”

Kal cracks a smile, “Sweet, tonight is head bashing time.”

Kelly

Tommy glances over his shoulder as Kelly begins to lose her mind. He spits out hi toothpaste into the sink, just as Kelly mentions Pantheon. He looks about ready to say something when Kelly sends a surge of lightning through the large room slamming through Neuro, who just laughs, and into the far wall, chipping blaster and stone, with a thunderous clap.

Neuro smiles, “Now you have to wonder puppet, am I really real? Or am I just a persistent delusion created by your crumbling psyche? Although we both know the truth is somewhere in the middle, right puppet? You are stuck with me puppet, accept it, the sooner you do, the sooner we can start really enjoying ourselves, like the old days.”

Neuro kneels and blows Kelly a kiss, fading away and behind him she sees Tommy, looking just a smidge freaked out. He walks back slowly, “Let me guess, you had another vision of Neuro? It looks like whatever he did to you, is getting worse,” he glances to the damage done, “violent even. I would not put much stock into what it may be telling you, if it is anything like Neuro he made lies and half truths his business, being a mentalist only made it that much more insidious. But your safe here, once you are cleaned up, we can bring in the expert, and I think we can get this little issue resolved.”

Tommy seems pragmatic as he sits on the bed, “Trust me.”

Bangkok

Pramoj appears in the main room, and switches the monitor to a surveillance image of a two-story club called Ultimate 80’s A-Go-Go, “Strength has been seen in the vicinity of this club on several occasions in the past two weeks. We have footage of the elite, right her,” he tabs the remote, and footage rolls of a nine foot tall muscled man with a comparatively small head in a black business suit. He dwarfs the thugs at his side, as he enters the club through its large double doors.

Pramoj freezes the frame with Strength entering the building. “Strength is a Charlie class elite, he is immensely strong, tough, and his body can repair itself quickly. He is like a living tank, he can take massive amounts of physical punishment and not slow down. We have not moved in on him for that reason, the last elite that did, a local hero was found in the bay, bloody, broken, and bloated. But I am sure that Legacy will succeed with ease.”

Mark

As Mark finishes sending the message, another message comes in. A real-time video message from Paragon, flares to life on-screen. Paragon looks relieved seeing Mark’s face, as he speaks, “I just heard about what happened, those bastards will pay for that, we are making it a top priority for Justice Elite, and I am actually on my way to Venice to handle this matter personally. I don’t want you to worry about Surge, or your classmates Mark, Justice Elite will handle the matter.”

“But I did have another reason to contact you, Bryant McCallister, your old instructor has quit Legacy. We are not sure why, and I want to believe that he just got tired of his work, but his timing could not have been worse. I hate to ask this of you Mark, but you cannot trust him,” Paragon says flatly.

“The UNJE has evidence that he my have been a Pantheon plant, and an internal investigation is underway at the Institute and abroad to get to the heart of the matter. I want to believe that Bryant was on the level, but I have to put the UNJE first. As we all do. Mark, has he contacted you at all today?” Paragon finishes waiting for Mark’s answer.

 

[KaintheSeeker]

Cassie is able to find the offices easily enough; they are actually located in the vicinity of the VSC Tower, which appears more like a mountain then a simple building, which dominates the Mudaba Adin skyline. Information on Dr. Whitman is harder to come by, but she is able to find out that he is an expert in the field of baseline genetics, and has dabbled into the science behind elite genetics and the source of their powers.

Once Cassie finishes, she finds Jun Min in her room. She opens the door pulling a shirt over her head; she looks fresh from a shower. She smiles, “Hi Cassie, how are you, come in,” she waves for Cassie to enter, “How is everything?”

Cassie

"I had some sort of deja vu episode at the mall, and followed up them up." pulls out her print outs and lays out what she found on the company. "The more I look, the more the deja vu hits. So, should I investigate this or let the school handle it? And.. well, no one has told me anything about what they found out about me?"

 

[Samnell]

As Mark finishes sending the message, another message comes in. A real-time video message from Paragon, flares to life on-screen. Paragon looks relieved seeing Mark’s face, as he speaks, “I just heard about what happened, those bastards will pay for that, we are making it a top priority for Justice Elite, and I am actually on my way to Venice to handle this matter personally. I don’t want you to worry about Surge, or your classmates Mark, Justice Elite will handle the matter.”

Mark blinked in astonishment. Talk about timing. "I'll tell my team," Mark answers soberly.

“But I did have another reason to contact you, Bryant McCallister, your old instructor has quit Legacy. We are not sure why, and I want to believe that he just got tired of his work, but his timing could not have been worse. I hate to ask this of you Mark, but you cannot trust him,” Paragon says flatly.

Mark gaped in genuine surprise. He figured they'd be down on McCallister after he quit, but Mark hadn't expected to be on the receiving end so quick.

“The UNJE has evidence that he my have been a Pantheon plant, and an internal investigation is underway at the Institute and abroad to get to the heart of the matter. I want to believe that Bryant was on the level, but I have to put the UNJE first. As we all do. Mark, has he contacted you at all today?” Paragon finishes waiting for Mark’s answer.

A plant? Is he the spy? Mark hadn't thought about that possibility. "I was in his office this morning. He called me down to give me a datacard to look over before the meeting I was supposed to make today and set me up with my new room." Mark said in his most forthright manner. Something about this whole day doesn't smell right. McCallister says don't trust the UN because they want us sterilized and Paragon says don't trust McCallister because he's a spy.

"Who will be taking over supervising Legacy business now that he's gone? We've had a lot of upsets already today and my team's going to want to know," Mark asked with genuine sincerity and curiosity. And I hope it's Jun Min or someone and not you. Keeping his inner turmoil under wraps, Mark did his best to project only honest confusion and concern.

To think I could have just stuck with acting after I graduated.