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The Fire In Which We Burn
Chapter 4
A story by Nik Stanosheck and Mark Weisenberger
Triad stood outside Chuck Taine's room at Legion Headquarters. Part of her didn't see the need of talking to him, part of her was afraid of hurting his feelings, and part of her didn't want to let go of her relationship with him. But she had to talk to him.
She knocked on Chuck's door, but there was no answer. She knocked again, still no answer. "Chuck?" she called out, "are you there?"
The door to Tenzil Kem's room, which was right next to Chuck's, opened and Tenzil stuck his head out. "Chuck's not here Lu," he said.
"Oh," said Triad, "well can you tell me where he is? I kinda need to talk to him."
"He and Vi went out," responded Tenzil, "I'm not sure where they went."
"Oh," said Triad, "thanks anyway."
"No prob," said Tenzil as he closed the door.
"Well thank Valor that's over," said Triad Purple as Triad split into her three bodies. "Now that Chuck's with Vi, we don't even need to talk to him."
"We probably should still talk to him though," said Triad Orange, "Tell him our side of the story."
"I don't see why we need to," said Triad Purple. "Why do you even care? You weren't in love with him, you were still stuck on M'Onel!"
"Will you two just shut the sprock up?!?" yelled Triad Neutral, with tears streaming down her face. The other two had been so busy arguing they didn't notice that Neutral had been crying since they split.
"Sister," said Triad Orange, "are you alright?"
"No, I am not alright!" said Triad Neutral.
"This is about Chuck and Vi isn't it?" asked Triad Purple. "Why should you care? We're with Superboy now!"
"I know," said Triad Neutral, "but finding out that Chuck is out with Vi made me realize that I'm not over him yet."
"Look," said Triad Purple, "it wouldn't have worked out with Chuck anyway. You were the only one who was attracted to him. And we all are attracted to Superboy."
"I hate to admit it," said Triad Orange, "but Purple is right."
"Come on," said Triad Purple, "let's go. We Promised Superboy we'd show him around 30th Century Metropolis."
And with that, Triad re-combined and went to find Superboy.
"Boy," said Superboy, "I can't believe how much Metropolis has changed!"
"Well, it has been a thousand years since you lived here," giggled Triad.
"Do you mind if we go by where the Cadmus Project used to be? I'd like to see my old home again."
"Sure SB," said Triad.
"Lu," said Superboy, "you can call me Kon-El, that's my Kryptonian name. Superman gave it to me several months before I came here."
"Ok Sup…er…Kon-El."
The two of them flew over to where Cadmus used to be, but as soon as they got there, Superboy doubled over in pain.
"Kon-El!!!" cried Triad. "Are you alright?"
But Superboy couldn't answer, for he had blacked out from the pain.
When Superboy came to, he was at Legion headquarters, in Dr. Gym'll's office. Dr. Gym'll, Triad, Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl were all standing over him.
"Kon, are you alright?" asked Triad.
"I'm fine Lu," said Superboy, "just a headache."
"I saw no physical reason for a headache," said Dr. Gym'll. "In fact I saw no reason for any pain whatsoever."
"Now that you mention it," said Superboy, "it felt like it was coming from inside my brain, if that makes sense."
"Superboy," said Cosmic Boy, "would you mind if Saturn Girl did a scan to see what it was?"
"Fine with me," said Superboy, "I'd like to know myself."
Saturn Girl put her hand to her head and scanned Superboy's mind. "It was a psionic scream, from Dubblex. He said that Cadmus Project was under attack by someone called Match."
"Match?" exclaimed Superboy. "Then we gotta go back!"
"I'm not sure that's wise Superboy," said Cosmic Boy. "We have a policy that we don't interfere with the past."
"My friends back home are dying!" said Superboy. "I'm going back with or without you."
"Alright," sighed Cosmic Boy, "I'll assemble a small team to go back and assist you."
Superboy, Triad, Chameleon, Spark, Star Boy and Cosmic Boy stood on Brainy's time platform. Brainy stood at the controls.
"I set controls for the date, time and place that the psionic scream was sent from," explained Brianiac 5. "You should arrive there a few moments after it was sent."
"Can't you send us to right before it was sent?" asked Superboy. "It could be a matter of life and death for Dubblex, he's been like a father to me."
"I'm afraid I can't," said Brainy. "If you arrived before the scream was sent, it might never be sent, which would cause a time paradox."
"Spare us the lecture Brainy," said Star Boy. "Just do it!"
And he did.
The team materialized inside the Cadmus Project just as an explosion went off. The lower half of Superboy's body was pinned beneath a pile of rubble. He looked around and saw that the other Legionnaires were unconscious. Then he saw Match.
"Ah, Superboy," sneered Match, "I see you finally made it. Just in time to see me kill your friends one by one." Match picked up Triad by the neck, "Starting with this one!"
Superboy heard a snap as Match tightend his grip on Triad's neck. He screamed in agony as tears poured down his face.
(To be continued soon!)
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