Another time, Another Place
title: Another time, Another place
creator: Saintash
warnings: worksafe XD
pages: 9-ish
Legion of choice: Legion cartoon
Summery: thrown out of There time by the time trapper Brainiac 5, and Invisible kid
have to find a way to get back to where they belong
I just want to let the world know that chapter 10 of this story hates me... with a fiery passion of three thousand suns. Chapter 7 loved me. But 10 I have started four times and finally, when i was happy with it my computer ate it.
What was once three pages of story is now just of lines and Squares of hate.
Once again i want to thank my awesome beta Brainiac 5. who makes this story way better then it really is.
Oh when i planed this story out, this chapter was ment to have the only passing apreance of Rond, but he Demaned that he be in it more and so took over Lyle's job of Brainac 5's of super best friend.
-----Just in case your not you don't know who Rond Vidar is, in the golden/sliver age of comics he was brainaic 5 best friend was Rond Vidar who was brilliant and worked at the time institute and was brainy lab assistant For many years.-----
~A Fourth Ring~
Kara didn't get a chance to say anything else to the duo, because the teacher entered the room, stopped short and stared at the two new people in the room.
"Can I help you boys?" she demanded, raising one of her long gray eyebrows and folding her arms across her chest.
The one called Lyle turned up the charm, smiling at her. "We're new. I'm Lyle Norg and this is my step brother Earl Docks,” he said, gesturing at the dorky blonde. “We just transferred in, and we were told this was our first class." The boy with the green eyes stared at the teacher but didn't speak, looking the teacher in the eyes.
The teacher stared at the two for a long moment. "I didn't get any notice about this… you two look to young to be in here.” she grumbled. “This was probably another mix up-- you need to pass my personal inspection to get into this class! Sit tight; I'm going to send you down to the office after roll call and have them give me a transcript of your grades." she unfolded her arms but glared at the boy with the green eyes. "And take off your
gloves while you are in my class."
Kara noticed he looked uncomfortable with that idea.He tightened his hands bit, and did not break eye contact with the teacher. "I'd rather not," he said firmly.
Lyle spoke up for a second time. "He was in a fire when two years ago burned his hands pretty bad-- they're over-sensitive to light and touch."
Kara tried to peek under the gloves but couldn't. She blinked and tried to see underneath anything that was underneath them and was still unsuccessful. She backed up in her chair a little, concern blossoming in her chest. That was not good.
The Teacher looked cross as if she wasn't buying the ‘two-year fire’ tale Lyle had weaved. "If you two do belong here, I want a note from his doctor."
They nodded hesitantly, and waited until she called roll and sent them on their way. Although both looked a little reluctant to leave, they departed when told to. Kara watched as they stood in the hallway, not talking for a long minute. They were giving one another odd looks, so they were communicating somehow. They stood making faces and hand gestures, then headed in the opposite direction that they were sent to. They didn't speak but neither of them looked at all happy. One of them, the boy with brown hair, made an odd movement with his hand and ran off to the bathroom. The green eyed boy stood looking clueless, then shrugged and continued on his way.
With the strangers gone, Kara went back to staring at the boy two seats to the left of her. She had never really spoken to him, but he looked like someone she had dated back on her own planet. He seemed to be like him too. Both were nice, funny. but this boy had two different colored eyes. That was what separated the earthling from the boy she used to know. Of course, she had not had any idea of who she was, so by the time she had gotten the hang of life as a teen on earth every one had branded her a freak.
Kara sat in class and half listened to what her teacher was talking about. The only thing that caught her attention was when the teacher made an inaccurate statement-- it was something no earth scientist recognized yet. Moments like these sorely tempted her to become a person of science outside of school when she was old enough-- just so she would feel better about wasting time, life intelligence her sitting in the classroom.
After what felt forever, the class was over. The bell rang and there was a rush to get from one class to the next. Kara did her best not to touch any one and kept her head down. She tried to be invisible, because when she was Linda Lee that was what she wanted to be.
Life on earth was so different from the life she’d had before her father had saved her. For starters, the school system on Krypton was fitted to every individual, while on earth it was just the opposite; everyone was required to fit into a mold that clearly didn't work for many. Her home planet social life was so different she couldn't even begin to compare them. Teens on earth screamed for attention and tried to simultaneously be invisible.
Avoiding people was easy, because nobody wanted to touch the freak.
Out of the coroner of her eye she thought she saw blonde, green-eyed boy. But when she turned for a better look, he wasn't there. She had to find out who he and his 'step-brother' were; the last thing she wanted was to fight some super villain in the middle of school.
Turning back around, she bumped into someone, throwing them across the hall. "Oh no." Kara whispered. "I'm so sorry!"
It was the boy that had the mismatched eyes. He looked angry. "Watch it, you freak!” Kara tried to help him up, but he slapped her hand way. "Why would I want your help, damn weirdo!"
"I'm really sorry-- I didn’t mean--"
"Why don't you just go home? You don't belong here!" he snarled, pushing her. Kara fell back more in shock than in an attempt to look normal.
Kara felt like she was going to cry. It had been an accident. She hadn't meant for him to fall, she didn't mean for the slightest touch to send a human flying-- it just happened under a yellow sun. A crowd had gathered around them at this point.
"She said she was sorry!" the blonde, gloved boy seemed to appear at her wasn't yelling but it was very clear he was upset. He was glaring very angrily at the boy with the mismatched eyes.
Kneeling down, he helped Kara to her feet, glancing at her for a second. His face softened and he smiled, then it reverted to the scowl he directed at Kara's classmate. If anything, his glare got colder.
"Oh look… the freak has boyfriend coming to her rescue," the boy with mismatched eyes said disdainfully.
She felt the green-eyed boy’s fingers tighten reassuringly around her. Again, she noticed that he was cute, but something about him was very off. Although she wasn't getting a bad vibe from him or his brown-haired 'step-brother', he seemed to know more about her than he should. That was a bit scary, but it was getting easier to just think of him as a very cute, slightly dorky guy who had come to her rescue.
"It was an accident. Anyone with eyes could see that," the blond voice got very cold. "Apologize for shoving Linda."
The boy with the mismatched eye stood two feet taller than the blonde, and had what looked like fifty pounds more weight on him. "No." he snapped, and pushed Kara’s shoulder again. This time she had to think about it and go with it so his hand wouldn't break.
It happened so fast Kara was too shocked to stop it; The boy who had come to Kara's rescue let go and hit the taller teen in the stomach. Doubling over in pain, her attacker didn’t notice as her rescuer raised one arm and brought it down against the taller teen's back. The bully hit the floor with a loud smack, knocked out by the force of his fall.
The green-eyed boy turned his furious look on the crowd, and they moved aside, giving him the room. Grasping Kara’s seemingly delicate hand in his gloved one, the blonde boy pulled her after him. They were a good distance away from the crowd before he spoke, his voice soft. None of the anger that had been there moments before could be found in his tone as he glanced up at her. "Don't waste time worrying about guys like that; at the height of his life, he’ll probably run a gas station."
They continued walking, now nearly ninety feet away from where the crowd was. The green eyed boy went on talking. "But you, you're amazing-- the kind of girl that people a thousand years from now will still be talking about."
He pulled her in another hall way the intersected with the main hall-- it was far less crowded. Staring at him so hard she could have sworn her X-ray vision was on, Kara realized again she couldn't see through this teenager; the thought was unsetting "Who are you?" she demanded.
He turned, looked at her let her hand go, he almost looked sad that she asked "I'm--"
"What part of low profile do you not get?" the brown haired boy appeared from around the corner. "You're unbelievable, you know that? I can't go any where with you!" the brown haired boy looked very, very upset. "We need to be gone, now!"
The green-eyed boy nodded. "Yeah, I know." he smiled at Kara and brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it. "Until next time, Kara of the Zor-El."
When he let go there was a note in her hand-- it had that hadn't been in his hand moment a ago. He ran off with the brown haired boy and dashed around the corner again; she used her x-ray vision, but they were gone.
She in unfolded the note.
------
"Now that we can't go back there… What should we do?" Lyle sighed and let out a short yawn. It was a nice day outside-- it really was a shame they had planed to spend their time inside. Still, despite his good night of sleep he was still exhausted.
Lyle had calmed down once they’d left the school; he couldn't really be that mad at the Clouan, Brainy tended to treat girls in an over-the-top chivalrous manner. That had been a nightmare when he first joined the Legion, as it made him look condescending with chauvinist tendencies. After awhile, however, he and the female team mates seemed to work out a balance. Brainy really didn't like it when males picked on females, and had taken it upon himself to be a defender of any female-- so long as they weren't trying to kill him or his teammates.
Brainy glaced at the watch he had bought, since his ring could no longer tell time. It was close to noon.
"You said 4:30 in the park in the note, right?" Invisible kid nodded in affirmation. Brainy began pacing. "I can't really do anything with out getting in touch with Clark, we really need to see what wrong with my ring, and I didn't steal enough from Lex to buy any type of Tec. So I can't work on anything, and we can't do anything that will make this face paint run."
Lyle took a deep breath of fresh air; it was one thing he never got back home "So… want to go eat some ice cream and try that thing they call Pizza that Clark kept going on and on about? Oh and get a movie that is supposed to take place around our time and see how wrong they are?"
Brainy raised an eyebrow, turning to glance at his friend. "You want to go back to the hotel room?" he didn't look happy with that idea. Lyle could see that the scientist in the Coluan wanted to explore 21st century life so he could write papers about it later.
"I'm still tired… I could use a nap,” Lyle said weakly.
Brainy didn't argue about going back to the hotel, though he voiced his complaints and disbelief that the brown haired earthling could still be tired. "You were asleep for two days… how can you be tired?" to him sleeping that long was a crime. If Brainy got six hours of straight sleep he would be angry with himself for wasteing time.
Invisible kid gave Brainy a look "I was out for two days?" he demanded, thinking about the knowledge for a long moment "I must have been more whipped then I thought, what with the stress of a new three month old who hates me and all that."
They crossed the street and cut through an alley to get to the back of the hotel. Fortunately, it was close to the school so it wasn't much of a walk. "Your son may be three months old, but he doesn't hate you."
Brainy had originally invited Lyle out for this very reason-- the earthling was convinced Danni hated him and although Brainy was given this information by a neutral party, it was Chemical King's way of asking Brainy for help.
"My son has cried every second I have ever held him." Querl opened his mouth to say something, but Lyle dint give him the chance to speak. "He'll stop the second any one else holds him, he wont let me feed him, and screams if I'm the only one in the room with him-- my son hates me."
It was hard to argue with Lyle; Danni was really the most well behaved baby in the known universe… unless Lyle was any where near him. Even if some one else was holding Danni and Lyle was near the baby, the closer Lyle got, the fussier and generally not happy the baby became. "Come on, he's three months old. You’ve got to give him time before you make that statement. Like a year."
"That's not really helping," Lyle muttered. Lyle didn't think he could take a year of his son crying because of him.
The two retreated to the room in which they had in taken up residence. After renting a movie that was very off from how the world really worked in their time and trying pizza for the first time. Neither of them liked it, and both were determined to introduce Clark to really good food for teens on the go. Lyle had taken a short nap and when he awoke, Brainy had been lying stomach-down on the bed, flipping through the channels on the TV screen.
Every four seconds the station would change. Lyle knew the look on the Coluan’s face-- he was absorbing information, entranced. That was good, because that was really the best time to talk to Querl, when he was focused on something else. Best time to get any gossip, too, if he knew any.
"Do you mind if I ask you something personal?"
Brainy didn't move his head. "Shoot."
"Why aren't you speaking to Rond? Right now he could building a time cube we could be
On or way home."
Brainy hadn't spoken to Rond in a few months, and there were several layers to that question. Brainiac 5 chose to take the very literal form of the question, not the subtext. "Time calculation math is very, very advanced, there aren't that many people who know how to check the calculations. If he's off with the smallest mistake he could cause a rift in time that can destroy all history in the universe. It may take a few days, but I'm confident that I can work something out from our end."
Brainy's ego was too big to ever admit that he too could possibly make a mistake on his end; it never even factored into his line of thinking. But Brainiac 5 had a point; there was most likely five people that could check that kind of math and they could take years doing it.
"So why aren't you talking to Rond in general?"
"Rond knows what he did," Brainy said firmly. Nothing on Brainiac 5's face changed, which meant that the fight Brainiac 5 was having with his best friend wasn't what was bothering Querl. Brainy had the most obvious looks in all of the legion when it came to lies or keeping secrets; keeping his face expressionless was not one of them.
That just made Lyle’s job that much harder; if had been Rond, at least he knew a jumping point on how to get Brainiac 5 back to normal… but since it wasn't, it was going to be hard. Brainy had lived a year and change away from the Legion, he’d met tons of people in that time, and had plenty of experiences that he wouldn't talk about, any one of them could be the problem.
Brainiac 5 didn't stop what he was doing; he remained focused on the TV, a completely blank face staring at the screen. "I know what you’re doing, and you can tell Saturn girl I'm fine, there is nothing wrong."
"I'm not-"
"I may not be able to read minds, but I know Saturn girl. I bet the second I was out of ear shot she asked you to find out what was wrong." his voice was calm, with no inflection at all. "She thinks I'm about to have a break down. Next time you talk to her, you will tell her I'm fine-- because I am." Querl stood suddenly, turning off the television. "We need to get going; I want to be at the Park before Super Girl."
By four thirty it was chilly out, and despite how warm the spring day was earlier, the park had now been cleared of any people. Kara had dropped her Linda Lee look for the meeting. They knew who she was; it was pointless to pretend now. She had no clue as to their reason for meeting her, the note had been extremely vague. Just a time and a place with the word please after it.
She scanned the horizon but neither boy was visible.
"Wow I thought you looked breath taking as Linda." the boy with the green eyes’ voice said appreciatively from behind her.
Kara spun around and pulled up in a defensive stance. The two teens were standing behind her, the boy with the green eyes was smiling and gave a sort of half wave. The boy with the brown hair and head band gave his friend half of an eye roll. "We come in peace." the boy with the head band said in a very humorous tone, smiling with is hands up in a very surrender-like manner.
"Who are you?" Kara demanded. She didn't want to play any games.
The boy with the green eyes spoke this time. He showed her his flight ring "My real name is Querl Dox and his name really is Lyle Norg, We are legionnaires-"
"Really?" Kara beamed and dropped her defensive stance and covered her mouth like she was praying, her let the smile peek out from both sides of her hands. "Are you here to ask me to join you like Kall?"
It wasn't very often that Lyle wished that the formula he had made to make him invisible, also did different things like give him super speed so he could think faster then Brainiac 5.
This was one of those times.
Before his thoughts could come up with a response, Brainiac 5 did. Apparently since he had come to her rescue he was now capable of putting words in to sentences around her with out making him look like a complete moron-- either that or hours of TV from this time era had dumbed him down enough so he wouldn't over think what he was saying.
"Once we’re able to get home I would love it if you came with us and joined our team. I think you'd like it in our time… You might even want to stay," he said, smiling at her, with none of the telltale signs of lying. Brainy meant every word that he was saying; it was at that moment Lyle realized that contacting Super Girl was quite possibly the worst idea Brainiac 5 had ever had. It was clear he was smitten with the Maid of Might and he was going to do every thing in his power to get her to come with them. Brainy may not have known where the path he was treading on right now was going, but Lyle could.
Brainy could read most people well, what made Lyle so important to the legion was he could read Brainy, and Lyle knew that when Brainy was fixated on something, he was going to do it no matter what the cost. And he was fixed on Super girl, whether he knew it our not.
"You can't get home?" her smile faded slightly. She touched Brainy's arm. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Yes." Lyle spoke up, a little worried that she was flirting with Querl. "We need you to call your cousin, and have him bring his flight ring here."
Her smile faded a bit more. "That's it?" she asked, having been hoping for something more dramatic than a phone call.
Brainy opened his mouth but Lyle nudged his side to shut the Coluan up. Brainy glared at his friend, but Lyle ignored him and spoke again before Brainy had a chance. "We don't know his number, and we tried to call directory to get in touch but there are forty two Clark Kents in metropolis its not like we can call each one and say 'Superman? Hi, it's your friends for the 30th century can you bring that ring we gave you to your home town?"
She thought about and laughed slightly, "I guess your right. I can call him, but i'm going to have to go home, I don't have a cell phone." she turned towered the bushes where she had hid her close a good fiftty feet way. "Let me get changed first." in a flash she was gone and back. She still had everything from school on her.
"Let me help you with your books," Brainaic 5 moved closer to Super Girl and gently reached for the books.
"It's okay, they’re not heavy. Well… not to me," she didn't let go of them and didn't really look him the eyes; she missed the days when cute boys asked to carry her things.
"Nonsense, what kind of gentleman doesn't offer to carry a beautiful lady’s things?" Brainy replied.
She let go and blushed slightly at his words. "Ready to go, guys?"
"Actually, it's just going to be me." Brainy smiled. "Lyle’s going to head back to where we're staying and report in Saturn girl, the current leader." he said the words with such authority the Lyle knew he was going to be doing that, whether he wanted to or not. "He has lots to tell her."
Lyle knew Querl was talking about their earlier conversation, and couldn’t help feeling like he was watching a train wreck. Something huge and powerful was about to cause a painful disaster, but in no way could he even dream of stopping it himself. Good thing he was friends with Superman; Superman knew how to stop a train wreck.
In his mind, Invisible Kid was hoping that Super Girl would insist that he should tag along. "I don't really need to be there for a phone call, still, it would be better if we stuck together." Lyle made a point of sounding like he wanted to come, but was being left out. He was give Brainy a look, but Brainiac 5 ignored him.
"…No, I think you should report in-- you don't want the whole team worrying, you know how crazy every one get when someone misses ‘check-in’ time," Querl replied dismissively.
Lyle knew if he insisted on coming that Super Girl would know something was up. Invisible Kid was holding on to the hope that she was just being nice and not really flirting back; actually, he was praying for it. "Well then… I'll see you little later." Lyle said slowly, then turned himself invisible and floated away.
Lyle had just walked in the hotel door when the phone rang. On his way back he’d stopped to get something called Chinese; setting down the food he picked up the phone. "Yes?"
"I have good news, and better news… and some news you are not going to be thrilled with." Brainy's voice crackled from what Lyle guessed to be the Kent's house line. "What do you want me to start with?"
"From bad to better, if you don't mind," Lyle answered.
"Well, Clark was able to get us one of the most sophisticated technological places on this planet to work in, but we have to wait until Saturday. The owner wants to make sure we won’t be “up to no good”, so getting home has been pushed back a few days."
Lyle wasn't thrilled, but then again, beggars really couldn't be choosers. "Okay, so the good news is?"
"Super Man is letting us stay at his parents house- they are away but he called them and they okayed it." Lyle really didn't want to call that good news, because now Querl and Kara where going to be under the same roof. "They have a barn, so we can work on getting home at any hour of the day with out being seen. Its far from anyone in town so we don't have to worry about people finding out our secret."
Lyle stooped to think for a second-- maybe that was good news. "And the better news?"
"I was talking to Kara and I think some of the technology that's in her and Superman's space craft from Krypton could be used to substitute for a fourth ring."
"You're kidding, that's great news!" Lyle exclaimed.
"Do me a favor-- call Rond have him brain storm on what we can use, and how far we can stretch three working rings. Also, if we cant get my ring working, what would be the best substitute for it in this time period? Even if it's not on this rock, superman is willing to help us so if it’s possible to get, we can get it. Have him do the major math and have both Chameleon Boy then Dream Girl check it."
"Got it. Any thing else?"
"just check out of the hotel at when your ready to make sure it's clean, and head over here if we not here the code to get in is 06301938."
"Wait. Why won't you be there?"
Querl suddenly stooped speaking English he started speaking intergalactic. "I asked Super girl out, you know to show me the town. And she said yes I'm not one hundred percent sure if it's a date or not-- I don't think I was that clear when I asked. Either way, we may be gone for awhile."
"Brainy, that is a very bad idea." Lyle’s tone was dangerously low. Had he been standing next to the Coluan, he might've hit him.
There was a pause on Brainy's side of the line. Still speaking in a language Kara couldn't "I know," He said offhandedly after a moment, like he wasn't really paying attention. "But… I'm going to tell you something I have never told any one else." there was a slight pause. "I really do have a thing for blondes that can snap me in half."
Before Lyle could say another word, Brainy hung up. Lyle grabbed his head and rubbed his temples; Brainy was giving him a massive headache. He walked to the bathroom splashed cold water on his face. Turning, he held his ring up-- to his surprise, Rond answered. He could see both Dream Girl and Chameleon Boy sitting behind Rond.
"Saturn girl said you be checking in around now. I told her you were going to ask for Rond. " Dream Girl said; her voice was soft and lazy as ever.
"Boss lady is on a date with an agricultural technician; he stormed in and kidnapped her. It was brutal-- I'm going to have nightmares for weeks!" Chameleon boy fell back dramatically. "We were helpless to stop him! Helpless, I tell you, helpless!"
Lyle filled the three of them in on the plan. Rond took the orders with out question, but after every thing had been explained, Rond spoke. “By having you talk to me, does this mean Brainy's still mad at me?" he asked, not looking at Lyle.
"You're still dating his ex, right?" Dream girl spoke with the smallest of smiles.
Chameleon Boy leaned back over the group. "I'm going to say… no."
“I'm going to give him another week he can't function with out me.” rond smiled at Dream girl. “isn't that right?”
"He said you knew what you did." Lyle replied, then grinned. "I should get going, but before I go, I have something to show you-- promise me you will show this to everyone."
Please Review
The Reviews get me threw my horrible days of work and crazy Parents who spend every waking second trying to rob me of my will to live....
creator: Saintash
warnings: worksafe XD
pages: 9-ish
Legion of choice: Legion cartoon
Summery: thrown out of There time by the time trapper Brainiac 5, and Invisible kid
have to find a way to get back to where they belong
I just want to let the world know that chapter 10 of this story hates me... with a fiery passion of three thousand suns. Chapter 7 loved me. But 10 I have started four times and finally, when i was happy with it my computer ate it.
What was once three pages of story is now just of lines and Squares of hate.
Once again i want to thank my awesome beta Brainiac 5. who makes this story way better then it really is.
Oh when i planed this story out, this chapter was ment to have the only passing apreance of Rond, but he Demaned that he be in it more and so took over Lyle's job of Brainac 5's of super best friend.
-----Just in case your not you don't know who Rond Vidar is, in the golden/sliver age of comics he was brainaic 5 best friend was Rond Vidar who was brilliant and worked at the time institute and was brainy lab assistant For many years.-----
~A Fourth Ring~
Kara didn't get a chance to say anything else to the duo, because the teacher entered the room, stopped short and stared at the two new people in the room.
"Can I help you boys?" she demanded, raising one of her long gray eyebrows and folding her arms across her chest.
The one called Lyle turned up the charm, smiling at her. "We're new. I'm Lyle Norg and this is my step brother Earl Docks,” he said, gesturing at the dorky blonde. “We just transferred in, and we were told this was our first class." The boy with the green eyes stared at the teacher but didn't speak, looking the teacher in the eyes.
The teacher stared at the two for a long moment. "I didn't get any notice about this… you two look to young to be in here.” she grumbled. “This was probably another mix up-- you need to pass my personal inspection to get into this class! Sit tight; I'm going to send you down to the office after roll call and have them give me a transcript of your grades." she unfolded her arms but glared at the boy with the green eyes. "And take off your
gloves while you are in my class."
Kara noticed he looked uncomfortable with that idea.He tightened his hands bit, and did not break eye contact with the teacher. "I'd rather not," he said firmly.
Lyle spoke up for a second time. "He was in a fire when two years ago burned his hands pretty bad-- they're over-sensitive to light and touch."
Kara tried to peek under the gloves but couldn't. She blinked and tried to see underneath anything that was underneath them and was still unsuccessful. She backed up in her chair a little, concern blossoming in her chest. That was not good.
The Teacher looked cross as if she wasn't buying the ‘two-year fire’ tale Lyle had weaved. "If you two do belong here, I want a note from his doctor."
They nodded hesitantly, and waited until she called roll and sent them on their way. Although both looked a little reluctant to leave, they departed when told to. Kara watched as they stood in the hallway, not talking for a long minute. They were giving one another odd looks, so they were communicating somehow. They stood making faces and hand gestures, then headed in the opposite direction that they were sent to. They didn't speak but neither of them looked at all happy. One of them, the boy with brown hair, made an odd movement with his hand and ran off to the bathroom. The green eyed boy stood looking clueless, then shrugged and continued on his way.
With the strangers gone, Kara went back to staring at the boy two seats to the left of her. She had never really spoken to him, but he looked like someone she had dated back on her own planet. He seemed to be like him too. Both were nice, funny. but this boy had two different colored eyes. That was what separated the earthling from the boy she used to know. Of course, she had not had any idea of who she was, so by the time she had gotten the hang of life as a teen on earth every one had branded her a freak.
Kara sat in class and half listened to what her teacher was talking about. The only thing that caught her attention was when the teacher made an inaccurate statement-- it was something no earth scientist recognized yet. Moments like these sorely tempted her to become a person of science outside of school when she was old enough-- just so she would feel better about wasting time, life intelligence her sitting in the classroom.
After what felt forever, the class was over. The bell rang and there was a rush to get from one class to the next. Kara did her best not to touch any one and kept her head down. She tried to be invisible, because when she was Linda Lee that was what she wanted to be.
Life on earth was so different from the life she’d had before her father had saved her. For starters, the school system on Krypton was fitted to every individual, while on earth it was just the opposite; everyone was required to fit into a mold that clearly didn't work for many. Her home planet social life was so different she couldn't even begin to compare them. Teens on earth screamed for attention and tried to simultaneously be invisible.
Avoiding people was easy, because nobody wanted to touch the freak.
Out of the coroner of her eye she thought she saw blonde, green-eyed boy. But when she turned for a better look, he wasn't there. She had to find out who he and his 'step-brother' were; the last thing she wanted was to fight some super villain in the middle of school.
Turning back around, she bumped into someone, throwing them across the hall. "Oh no." Kara whispered. "I'm so sorry!"
It was the boy that had the mismatched eyes. He looked angry. "Watch it, you freak!” Kara tried to help him up, but he slapped her hand way. "Why would I want your help, damn weirdo!"
"I'm really sorry-- I didn’t mean--"
"Why don't you just go home? You don't belong here!" he snarled, pushing her. Kara fell back more in shock than in an attempt to look normal.
Kara felt like she was going to cry. It had been an accident. She hadn't meant for him to fall, she didn't mean for the slightest touch to send a human flying-- it just happened under a yellow sun. A crowd had gathered around them at this point.
"She said she was sorry!" the blonde, gloved boy seemed to appear at her wasn't yelling but it was very clear he was upset. He was glaring very angrily at the boy with the mismatched eyes.
Kneeling down, he helped Kara to her feet, glancing at her for a second. His face softened and he smiled, then it reverted to the scowl he directed at Kara's classmate. If anything, his glare got colder.
"Oh look… the freak has boyfriend coming to her rescue," the boy with mismatched eyes said disdainfully.
She felt the green-eyed boy’s fingers tighten reassuringly around her. Again, she noticed that he was cute, but something about him was very off. Although she wasn't getting a bad vibe from him or his brown-haired 'step-brother', he seemed to know more about her than he should. That was a bit scary, but it was getting easier to just think of him as a very cute, slightly dorky guy who had come to her rescue.
"It was an accident. Anyone with eyes could see that," the blond voice got very cold. "Apologize for shoving Linda."
The boy with the mismatched eye stood two feet taller than the blonde, and had what looked like fifty pounds more weight on him. "No." he snapped, and pushed Kara’s shoulder again. This time she had to think about it and go with it so his hand wouldn't break.
It happened so fast Kara was too shocked to stop it; The boy who had come to Kara's rescue let go and hit the taller teen in the stomach. Doubling over in pain, her attacker didn’t notice as her rescuer raised one arm and brought it down against the taller teen's back. The bully hit the floor with a loud smack, knocked out by the force of his fall.
The green-eyed boy turned his furious look on the crowd, and they moved aside, giving him the room. Grasping Kara’s seemingly delicate hand in his gloved one, the blonde boy pulled her after him. They were a good distance away from the crowd before he spoke, his voice soft. None of the anger that had been there moments before could be found in his tone as he glanced up at her. "Don't waste time worrying about guys like that; at the height of his life, he’ll probably run a gas station."
They continued walking, now nearly ninety feet away from where the crowd was. The green eyed boy went on talking. "But you, you're amazing-- the kind of girl that people a thousand years from now will still be talking about."
He pulled her in another hall way the intersected with the main hall-- it was far less crowded. Staring at him so hard she could have sworn her X-ray vision was on, Kara realized again she couldn't see through this teenager; the thought was unsetting "Who are you?" she demanded.
He turned, looked at her let her hand go, he almost looked sad that she asked "I'm--"
"What part of low profile do you not get?" the brown haired boy appeared from around the corner. "You're unbelievable, you know that? I can't go any where with you!" the brown haired boy looked very, very upset. "We need to be gone, now!"
The green-eyed boy nodded. "Yeah, I know." he smiled at Kara and brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it. "Until next time, Kara of the Zor-El."
When he let go there was a note in her hand-- it had that hadn't been in his hand moment a ago. He ran off with the brown haired boy and dashed around the corner again; she used her x-ray vision, but they were gone.
She in unfolded the note.
------
"Now that we can't go back there… What should we do?" Lyle sighed and let out a short yawn. It was a nice day outside-- it really was a shame they had planed to spend their time inside. Still, despite his good night of sleep he was still exhausted.
Lyle had calmed down once they’d left the school; he couldn't really be that mad at the Clouan, Brainy tended to treat girls in an over-the-top chivalrous manner. That had been a nightmare when he first joined the Legion, as it made him look condescending with chauvinist tendencies. After awhile, however, he and the female team mates seemed to work out a balance. Brainy really didn't like it when males picked on females, and had taken it upon himself to be a defender of any female-- so long as they weren't trying to kill him or his teammates.
Brainy glaced at the watch he had bought, since his ring could no longer tell time. It was close to noon.
"You said 4:30 in the park in the note, right?" Invisible kid nodded in affirmation. Brainy began pacing. "I can't really do anything with out getting in touch with Clark, we really need to see what wrong with my ring, and I didn't steal enough from Lex to buy any type of Tec. So I can't work on anything, and we can't do anything that will make this face paint run."
Lyle took a deep breath of fresh air; it was one thing he never got back home "So… want to go eat some ice cream and try that thing they call Pizza that Clark kept going on and on about? Oh and get a movie that is supposed to take place around our time and see how wrong they are?"
Brainy raised an eyebrow, turning to glance at his friend. "You want to go back to the hotel room?" he didn't look happy with that idea. Lyle could see that the scientist in the Coluan wanted to explore 21st century life so he could write papers about it later.
"I'm still tired… I could use a nap,” Lyle said weakly.
Brainy didn't argue about going back to the hotel, though he voiced his complaints and disbelief that the brown haired earthling could still be tired. "You were asleep for two days… how can you be tired?" to him sleeping that long was a crime. If Brainy got six hours of straight sleep he would be angry with himself for wasteing time.
Invisible kid gave Brainy a look "I was out for two days?" he demanded, thinking about the knowledge for a long moment "I must have been more whipped then I thought, what with the stress of a new three month old who hates me and all that."
They crossed the street and cut through an alley to get to the back of the hotel. Fortunately, it was close to the school so it wasn't much of a walk. "Your son may be three months old, but he doesn't hate you."
Brainy had originally invited Lyle out for this very reason-- the earthling was convinced Danni hated him and although Brainy was given this information by a neutral party, it was Chemical King's way of asking Brainy for help.
"My son has cried every second I have ever held him." Querl opened his mouth to say something, but Lyle dint give him the chance to speak. "He'll stop the second any one else holds him, he wont let me feed him, and screams if I'm the only one in the room with him-- my son hates me."
It was hard to argue with Lyle; Danni was really the most well behaved baby in the known universe… unless Lyle was any where near him. Even if some one else was holding Danni and Lyle was near the baby, the closer Lyle got, the fussier and generally not happy the baby became. "Come on, he's three months old. You’ve got to give him time before you make that statement. Like a year."
"That's not really helping," Lyle muttered. Lyle didn't think he could take a year of his son crying because of him.
The two retreated to the room in which they had in taken up residence. After renting a movie that was very off from how the world really worked in their time and trying pizza for the first time. Neither of them liked it, and both were determined to introduce Clark to really good food for teens on the go. Lyle had taken a short nap and when he awoke, Brainy had been lying stomach-down on the bed, flipping through the channels on the TV screen.
Every four seconds the station would change. Lyle knew the look on the Coluan’s face-- he was absorbing information, entranced. That was good, because that was really the best time to talk to Querl, when he was focused on something else. Best time to get any gossip, too, if he knew any.
"Do you mind if I ask you something personal?"
Brainy didn't move his head. "Shoot."
"Why aren't you speaking to Rond? Right now he could building a time cube we could be
On or way home."
Brainy hadn't spoken to Rond in a few months, and there were several layers to that question. Brainiac 5 chose to take the very literal form of the question, not the subtext. "Time calculation math is very, very advanced, there aren't that many people who know how to check the calculations. If he's off with the smallest mistake he could cause a rift in time that can destroy all history in the universe. It may take a few days, but I'm confident that I can work something out from our end."
Brainy's ego was too big to ever admit that he too could possibly make a mistake on his end; it never even factored into his line of thinking. But Brainiac 5 had a point; there was most likely five people that could check that kind of math and they could take years doing it.
"So why aren't you talking to Rond in general?"
"Rond knows what he did," Brainy said firmly. Nothing on Brainiac 5's face changed, which meant that the fight Brainiac 5 was having with his best friend wasn't what was bothering Querl. Brainy had the most obvious looks in all of the legion when it came to lies or keeping secrets; keeping his face expressionless was not one of them.
That just made Lyle’s job that much harder; if had been Rond, at least he knew a jumping point on how to get Brainiac 5 back to normal… but since it wasn't, it was going to be hard. Brainy had lived a year and change away from the Legion, he’d met tons of people in that time, and had plenty of experiences that he wouldn't talk about, any one of them could be the problem.
Brainiac 5 didn't stop what he was doing; he remained focused on the TV, a completely blank face staring at the screen. "I know what you’re doing, and you can tell Saturn girl I'm fine, there is nothing wrong."
"I'm not-"
"I may not be able to read minds, but I know Saturn girl. I bet the second I was out of ear shot she asked you to find out what was wrong." his voice was calm, with no inflection at all. "She thinks I'm about to have a break down. Next time you talk to her, you will tell her I'm fine-- because I am." Querl stood suddenly, turning off the television. "We need to get going; I want to be at the Park before Super Girl."
By four thirty it was chilly out, and despite how warm the spring day was earlier, the park had now been cleared of any people. Kara had dropped her Linda Lee look for the meeting. They knew who she was; it was pointless to pretend now. She had no clue as to their reason for meeting her, the note had been extremely vague. Just a time and a place with the word please after it.
She scanned the horizon but neither boy was visible.
"Wow I thought you looked breath taking as Linda." the boy with the green eyes’ voice said appreciatively from behind her.
Kara spun around and pulled up in a defensive stance. The two teens were standing behind her, the boy with the green eyes was smiling and gave a sort of half wave. The boy with the brown hair and head band gave his friend half of an eye roll. "We come in peace." the boy with the head band said in a very humorous tone, smiling with is hands up in a very surrender-like manner.
"Who are you?" Kara demanded. She didn't want to play any games.
The boy with the green eyes spoke this time. He showed her his flight ring "My real name is Querl Dox and his name really is Lyle Norg, We are legionnaires-"
"Really?" Kara beamed and dropped her defensive stance and covered her mouth like she was praying, her let the smile peek out from both sides of her hands. "Are you here to ask me to join you like Kall?"
It wasn't very often that Lyle wished that the formula he had made to make him invisible, also did different things like give him super speed so he could think faster then Brainiac 5.
This was one of those times.
Before his thoughts could come up with a response, Brainiac 5 did. Apparently since he had come to her rescue he was now capable of putting words in to sentences around her with out making him look like a complete moron-- either that or hours of TV from this time era had dumbed him down enough so he wouldn't over think what he was saying.
"Once we’re able to get home I would love it if you came with us and joined our team. I think you'd like it in our time… You might even want to stay," he said, smiling at her, with none of the telltale signs of lying. Brainy meant every word that he was saying; it was at that moment Lyle realized that contacting Super Girl was quite possibly the worst idea Brainiac 5 had ever had. It was clear he was smitten with the Maid of Might and he was going to do every thing in his power to get her to come with them. Brainy may not have known where the path he was treading on right now was going, but Lyle could.
Brainy could read most people well, what made Lyle so important to the legion was he could read Brainy, and Lyle knew that when Brainy was fixated on something, he was going to do it no matter what the cost. And he was fixed on Super girl, whether he knew it our not.
"You can't get home?" her smile faded slightly. She touched Brainy's arm. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Yes." Lyle spoke up, a little worried that she was flirting with Querl. "We need you to call your cousin, and have him bring his flight ring here."
Her smile faded a bit more. "That's it?" she asked, having been hoping for something more dramatic than a phone call.
Brainy opened his mouth but Lyle nudged his side to shut the Coluan up. Brainy glared at his friend, but Lyle ignored him and spoke again before Brainy had a chance. "We don't know his number, and we tried to call directory to get in touch but there are forty two Clark Kents in metropolis its not like we can call each one and say 'Superman? Hi, it's your friends for the 30th century can you bring that ring we gave you to your home town?"
She thought about and laughed slightly, "I guess your right. I can call him, but i'm going to have to go home, I don't have a cell phone." she turned towered the bushes where she had hid her close a good fiftty feet way. "Let me get changed first." in a flash she was gone and back. She still had everything from school on her.
"Let me help you with your books," Brainaic 5 moved closer to Super Girl and gently reached for the books.
"It's okay, they’re not heavy. Well… not to me," she didn't let go of them and didn't really look him the eyes; she missed the days when cute boys asked to carry her things.
"Nonsense, what kind of gentleman doesn't offer to carry a beautiful lady’s things?" Brainy replied.
She let go and blushed slightly at his words. "Ready to go, guys?"
"Actually, it's just going to be me." Brainy smiled. "Lyle’s going to head back to where we're staying and report in Saturn girl, the current leader." he said the words with such authority the Lyle knew he was going to be doing that, whether he wanted to or not. "He has lots to tell her."
Lyle knew Querl was talking about their earlier conversation, and couldn’t help feeling like he was watching a train wreck. Something huge and powerful was about to cause a painful disaster, but in no way could he even dream of stopping it himself. Good thing he was friends with Superman; Superman knew how to stop a train wreck.
In his mind, Invisible Kid was hoping that Super Girl would insist that he should tag along. "I don't really need to be there for a phone call, still, it would be better if we stuck together." Lyle made a point of sounding like he wanted to come, but was being left out. He was give Brainy a look, but Brainiac 5 ignored him.
"…No, I think you should report in-- you don't want the whole team worrying, you know how crazy every one get when someone misses ‘check-in’ time," Querl replied dismissively.
Lyle knew if he insisted on coming that Super Girl would know something was up. Invisible Kid was holding on to the hope that she was just being nice and not really flirting back; actually, he was praying for it. "Well then… I'll see you little later." Lyle said slowly, then turned himself invisible and floated away.
Lyle had just walked in the hotel door when the phone rang. On his way back he’d stopped to get something called Chinese; setting down the food he picked up the phone. "Yes?"
"I have good news, and better news… and some news you are not going to be thrilled with." Brainy's voice crackled from what Lyle guessed to be the Kent's house line. "What do you want me to start with?"
"From bad to better, if you don't mind," Lyle answered.
"Well, Clark was able to get us one of the most sophisticated technological places on this planet to work in, but we have to wait until Saturday. The owner wants to make sure we won’t be “up to no good”, so getting home has been pushed back a few days."
Lyle wasn't thrilled, but then again, beggars really couldn't be choosers. "Okay, so the good news is?"
"Super Man is letting us stay at his parents house- they are away but he called them and they okayed it." Lyle really didn't want to call that good news, because now Querl and Kara where going to be under the same roof. "They have a barn, so we can work on getting home at any hour of the day with out being seen. Its far from anyone in town so we don't have to worry about people finding out our secret."
Lyle stooped to think for a second-- maybe that was good news. "And the better news?"
"I was talking to Kara and I think some of the technology that's in her and Superman's space craft from Krypton could be used to substitute for a fourth ring."
"You're kidding, that's great news!" Lyle exclaimed.
"Do me a favor-- call Rond have him brain storm on what we can use, and how far we can stretch three working rings. Also, if we cant get my ring working, what would be the best substitute for it in this time period? Even if it's not on this rock, superman is willing to help us so if it’s possible to get, we can get it. Have him do the major math and have both Chameleon Boy then Dream Girl check it."
"Got it. Any thing else?"
"just check out of the hotel at when your ready to make sure it's clean, and head over here if we not here the code to get in is 06301938."
"Wait. Why won't you be there?"
Querl suddenly stooped speaking English he started speaking intergalactic. "I asked Super girl out, you know to show me the town. And she said yes I'm not one hundred percent sure if it's a date or not-- I don't think I was that clear when I asked. Either way, we may be gone for awhile."
"Brainy, that is a very bad idea." Lyle’s tone was dangerously low. Had he been standing next to the Coluan, he might've hit him.
There was a pause on Brainy's side of the line. Still speaking in a language Kara couldn't "I know," He said offhandedly after a moment, like he wasn't really paying attention. "But… I'm going to tell you something I have never told any one else." there was a slight pause. "I really do have a thing for blondes that can snap me in half."
Before Lyle could say another word, Brainy hung up. Lyle grabbed his head and rubbed his temples; Brainy was giving him a massive headache. He walked to the bathroom splashed cold water on his face. Turning, he held his ring up-- to his surprise, Rond answered. He could see both Dream Girl and Chameleon Boy sitting behind Rond.
"Saturn girl said you be checking in around now. I told her you were going to ask for Rond. " Dream Girl said; her voice was soft and lazy as ever.
"Boss lady is on a date with an agricultural technician; he stormed in and kidnapped her. It was brutal-- I'm going to have nightmares for weeks!" Chameleon boy fell back dramatically. "We were helpless to stop him! Helpless, I tell you, helpless!"
Lyle filled the three of them in on the plan. Rond took the orders with out question, but after every thing had been explained, Rond spoke. “By having you talk to me, does this mean Brainy's still mad at me?" he asked, not looking at Lyle.
"You're still dating his ex, right?" Dream girl spoke with the smallest of smiles.
Chameleon Boy leaned back over the group. "I'm going to say… no."
“I'm going to give him another week he can't function with out me.” rond smiled at Dream girl. “isn't that right?”
"He said you knew what you did." Lyle replied, then grinned. "I should get going, but before I go, I have something to show you-- promise me you will show this to everyone."
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