SG/Admin: (2/2) Rough Cut #1 - Previously on the League

                   ROUGH CUT PART 2 OF 2 - DO NOT RELEASE

                  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

     "*Susan?!*" Alice demanded.

     Elizabeth looked at Alice, then looked away, "I'm sorry," she said. "She's ideal."

     "We agreed, damn it! We agreed we would keep her *out* of this life!"

     "We did. She didn't." Elizabeth showed her the file.

     "She's been a vigilante for five years?" Alice asked, softly.

     "Yeah."

     "And you never told me?"

     "She made me swear not to, Alice. She knew you were against it. Part of you hadn't accepted how far she had come. That she wasn't a child in a woman's body any more."

     "And you let her become some vigilante of the Northeast?"

     "I didn't 'let' her do anything, Alice. She followed the calling of her blood."

     "Fighting crime?"

     "Hunting."

     "And now you're going to use her. Use her to *hunt* the League."

     "She's perfect, Alice. She's absolutely perfect. She's beautiful but has almost as much presence as Bruce did. She can train Lochaber as well or better than anyone -- even Rip. And she's good at what she does, Alice. She's better than I was. She's better than you were. She's... she's as good as Akane was back in the day."

     "And look how great that turned out for Akane."

                                   # # #

      {{They're her friends, Lil,}} Elizabeth heard echo through her mind. And with that echo she felt Alice's pain -- her pain at being protected from a hard truth -- her pain at Elizabeth herself, as well as her sister. {{You're asking Susan to take her friends down.}} 

      }{They were my friends too,* Elizabeth sent back. }{And I trust her, Alice. More than anyone else I could ask, I trust Susan. I trust her to see this through, and I trust her not to go too far.}{ 

     "I... need to go jogging," Alice said verbally. "Work out a few kinks. Sometimes, the world only makes sense when I'm running, y'know?"

     "...sure. Do you know when you'll be back?"

     Alice shrugged. "Hard to say."

      }{But you... will be back?}{ 

     Alice looked at Elizabeth, and despite herself, her lips quirked into a smile. {{Moron,}} she thought back. {{You don't need to ask that. Even now.}} 

                                   # # #

     Kirby frowned. "Why doesn't the Rogers Foundation just recruit the League into Lochaber?"

     Mandy sighed. "In a nutshell? Someone doesn't want heroes coming back. Until we can figure out who's doing it and how they're getting away with it, we can't go legitimate."

     Kirby made a face. "You're fighting symptoms, when you should be treating the disease. If you find out who's messing with the system *sooner* rather than later, you can maybe get it dealt with *before* Lochaber starts making your lives *really* hard."

     "Okay," Mandy said. "Tomorrow, we'll start an in-depth investigation. But we need to do it hand in hand with protecting the city. People *die* when we're not on the streets, Kirby. There are no acceptable losses."

                                   # # #

     "All right. What do you want, Kirby?"

     "To keep the secret of the League's location, your leading them, and all the stuff that would make Mom's blood pressure explode?"

     "Essentially."

     Kirby smiled a bit. "I want in."

      "Kirby, we don't send *nine year olds* out into combat."

     "Why not? Uncle Tim wasn't much older when he started, and I'm way better trained than he was."

     "Stuff it, kid. If it's a choice between you outing us and me endangering your life, I'll give you my L-Phone to call your mom right now. Here's my offer: three nights a week, after my work, I'll 'tutor' you. On those nights, you'll help me. Call it an internship. You do what you're told, and in return you'll get experience and see how we do things."

     "And help fight crime?"

     "In *support,* not on the field. Period."

     "But--"

     "No buts, kiddo. You stay in the base, and if you break the rules, you're out."

     Kirby's lip curled. "Aren't you scared I'll tell Mom?"

     "Nope." Mandy grinned. "You like the League. You like what we do. You don't want to see us broken up any more than we want to be arrested."

                                   # # #

                               [August 1998]

     Trudy cocked her head. "What did it feel like?"

     "What? Betraying the closest friends I ever had -- a family who can't look me in the eye now?" *The only man I ever loved,* she didn't say out loud.

     "Nah, I know what *that* feels like. I meant the Sensation stuff. What did it feel like?"

     "...it," Maria half-whispered. "...it was just... touch. He made me feel like he was touching me. Good touches and bad touches -- touches that felt wonderful and touches that felt hideously painful."

     "And you ate it up with a spoon and did whatever it took to get more of the good feeling? Including betraying the Mob, fighting them, *hurting* them, and *beating* them? And nearly getting them killed in the process?"

     "*Yes,*" Maria hissed.

     Trudy nodded. "Would you do it again? If Sensation walked through the door and offered to get you off in my office right here, right now, but only if you punched a hole through my chest, would you do it?"

     "Yes," Maria said. "If Sensation walked through the door, alive and with his powers intact, I would kill or torture you if it meant he would touch me for just ten seconds. I would do it for the pleasure. I would even do it for the pain. I betrayed my closest friends for him. You wouldn't even merit a pause."

     Trudy half-smiled. "It's good to know these things. You're hired, Silverado. I *knew* you're an addict. I didn't know if *you* knew. And now I do."

                                   # # #

                              [November 2007]

     "For the record, You can call me Carillon, and you all work for me. Internalize that fact quickly and we'll all be pretty happy. For the next four weeks, you six are *mine,* I will train you and refine you. You will be my weapon and my arsenal alike. Halfway through, we will announce you to the world and begin to patrol the streets. At the end of that training, I will oversee you as you each train six recruits of your own. Four weeks after *that* your recruits will train six recruits of *their* own, and no one in this city will stand before us. Do you understand me?"

     "Yes *ma'am!*"

                                   # # #

     Susan moved her face next to Brick's. "If you ever -- *ever* -- challenge my authority while we are in a real combat situation, I will cut your heart out, Michael Johannson. I will hold it in my hand while it beats its last, and then I will bury it beneath an ashwood tree at least one hundred years old. And a year and a day after that, your bones will tear themselves from their coffin, the tree will animate with your tortured spirit, and both will seek me out to serve me for a hundred years plus one. And *they* will *never* talk back. Do you understand *that,* 'Brick?'"

     "...yes..." the terrified man said in a tiny voice.

     "Good." Susan smoothly took to her feet. "Get up. We need to doubletime to catch the others."

                                   # # #

     "Susan freaking Liddell?" Darrin sounded incredulous. "Alice's retarded sister?"

     "Oh, Jesus," Maria said. "Here we go. You can't even open your mouth without offensive slurs falling out of it!"

     "I mean it," Darrin said. "I remember when she first started hanging around the Acadely. It was like talking to a nine year old!"

     "Hey!" Kirby said. "Watch your mouth."

     "Sorry, l'il K -- it was like talking to a *stupid* nine year old."

                                   # # #

     "She's not disabled," Roger said, softly. "She was *never* disabled."

     "He's right," Cairi said. "By the time I departed this mortal coil, she was almost scary smart. Doctor T. did something with her, and Doctor Burns had something to--"

     "I was involved with that too," Roger said, sitting up. "We... resolved the dissonance in her nature."

     "What does that mean?" Dani asked.

     "It means trouble," Mandy said, finally speaking up again. "Susan's half faerie."

     "She's as much alien as human, from our point of view," Roger said, "After we helped her, she evolved like crazy. Sometimes, in really scary ways."

     "That's the thing," Mandy said. "She's probably the most loving person I've met, and I'm pretty sure she'd plunge a knife into your eye without a second thought."

                                   # # #

     "If you fight 'Carillon' herself--" Mandy said.

     "We don't hold back?" Dani asked.

     "You won't have the chance to hold back. I wouldn't rule out her taking half the team down by herself. And that includes Hazard and Reflects."

     Dani snorted. "Don't go overboard, Mandy. I'm sure she's tough, but we've got the edge on her in experience and I'm pretty sure I'm still thermonuclear."

     "Oh God," Darrin said. "She didn't just make an overconfident statement, did she?"

     "She did," Cairi said.

     "Elvis damn it, we *talked* about this, Boomer," Maria said.

     "Okay, okay. It all goes back to the public. The public loves us and the cops love us. If Susan goes all alien freaky half-elf, the public won't stand for it. If they take us out, we'll finally get enough of a backlash to force some changes through. Seriously, it's win/win."

     "Someone write down the day and time she said that," Mandy said.

                                   # # #

     "I'm going to go see the Hawaiian," Roger said.

     "Parvenu, I don't want you anywhere near him," Mandy said. "He's dangerous. You know he's dangerous."

     "He knows where every body is buried, Ops. He can get us on the trail. Hell, he might already have the answers, and he owes me like three favors--"

     "Ops is right," Dani said. "This guy is major league oh my God trouble, Rog. You know that. Don't forget everything he did -- to Trudy, to my brother, to me, to the whole freaking world--"

     "Would someone *please* tell me who the Hawaiian is?" Cairi demanded.

     "There's a deal in place," Mandy said. "If we break it, even down here, the magical pact will be broken and the Hawaiian will be free to out us officially."

     "I'm going with him," Dani said. "If that bastard--"

     "No, you're not. Or have you forgotten the Galatea protocol?"

     "I can *handle* it," Dani said. "I'm not going to live my life in fear, Mandy."

     "Down here it's Ops, you know that. And you don't have to live your life in fear, because you're going to live it in anger at your unreasonable boss who won't let you go and potentially be subverted into a weapon of mass destruction on behalf of a war criminal. Parvenu and Incandescence will go see the Hawaiian.

                                   # # #

     Mandy spoke louder. "*Capacitor and Reflects,* I'm really sick of this mutual hatred. If you can't cope with each other--"

     "Hey, I'm more than happy to let them shoot at her instead of me," Capacitor said. "It's not my fault she's an unrepentant bitch."

     "I *will* kill you one day."

                                   # # #

     "I don't like the idea of you making yourself the focus of every nutjob and gang banger in the city!" Alice almost never yelled at Susan, but when she did... "But you and I both know the real purpose of Lochaber--"

     "The *real* purpose of Lochaber is to reclaim Boston from chaos and pain," Susan said, a slight edge in her voice. "That includes the chaotic efforts of vigilantes."

     "Oh, I didn't realize you disliked 'vigilantes' so much," Alice snapped back. "What since you've apparently *been* one for the last *five years* without telling me!"

     "I don't like causing you unnecessary pain or worry," Susan said. "It's not my fault you still think I'm ten years old. I'll forgive you a lot but you have to forgive me too."

     "For what?"

     "Growing up."

     Alice stared at Susan for a long moment.

     Susan looked back, defiantly.

     "I would like to have had the chance to back in 2003," Alice said softly. "You know, right about when you started lying to me?"

                                   # # #

     "Trashman!" Parvenu said, grinning. "I shoulda known you'd be here! Let's show these--"

     "Don't you two have an appointment to get to?" Trashman said, his voice ice.

     "Come on," Incandescence said. "We got the bystanders clear. Let him clean up the trash. It's what he does."

     "Yeah," Parvenu said, watching as the dumpster detective laid out two more with a split kick. "I just don't get why he has to do it alone."

                                   # # #

     "So why do Reflects and Capacitor hate each other so much?"

     Mandy paused from her mission status screen, and looked at Kirby. "Capacitor's a hedonist. He likes surrounding himself with all the best, and just enjoying himself instead of working hard."

     "Oh." Kirby paused. "And that's bad?"

     "Maria thinks so."

     "So what is she?"

     "A Catholic. It goes deeper, but it comes down to they don't see life the same way, and for whatever reason they push each other's buttons like no one's business. And there's stuff from their time in school. And Reflects was... there was a problem with her old team, and most of them were students at the Academy. When Reflects left them she came here. Capacitor made it pretty clear he was on the Mob's side. And *then* after the war Reflec*tion* joined the A.L.U. along with Capacitor's sister, and that just cemented everything."

     "Why?"

     "Because Reflection and his sister both made it in, and he didn't."

                                   # # #

     Cairi didn't speak, she just stared. She stared at the man called the Hawaiian -- clearly named for his shirt. She stared into the blackness of his sunglasses, eyes wide and mouth opened, as she realized she was staring at the very disgraced, very fugitive and *very* former Special Special Agent Richard Less, of the now defunct Mega Intelligence Bureau.

                                   # # #

     Cairi's voice sounded like a hiss. "That's Richard Less, Roger! He's wanted for war crimes in literally every nation on Earth! He joined the ULA, launched the Genocidal Wars with them, and helped them conquer America! He declared himself the Dictator *of* America! Not to mention he subverted your *own wife* into a weapon of mass destruction and called her the second Radian!

     "I know," Roger said, softly.

     "Why are we even *talking* to him?"

     "Because he knows things we need to know. And because...."

     "Because *what?*"

     "You need to know three things about the Hawaiian. First off, he really was that dangerous, and there's a good reason everyone else hates him. Second off, I don't hate him, even after everything with Dani, and you know I'd gladly sacrifice my unliving soul for her. I hate who he was, and I hate what he did, but he's...."

     "He's what?"

     "The third thing is this. Sometimes... sometimes, when you're a given person, and you're pushed all the way to the extreme of that person, you break. That person dies, and the person you become is as far away from who you were that you're someone else, and the only rational thing to do is accept who you are isn't who you were."

     "That was remarkably circular," Cairi said.

     "Maybe so. Maybe so."

                                   # # #

     "We need some information--" Roger started.

     "We all have needs," Less cut in. "We need life. We need hope. We need oxygen. We need food. We need fucking gin. Do I have any gin? No. Life sucks sometimes." Less looked back at Cairi. "So, do I call you Incandescence, Hellfire, Matchstick, Ms. Richards, Cairistiona, Cairi, or 'Not Christina Ricci?'"

     Cairi blinked. "Wha-- how... how did you know that?"

     The man smiled a wicked smile. "I'm Richard Less, Firecrotch.""

                                   # # #

     Cairi's hair began to smolder and her eyes began to glow. "I've had just about enough--"

     Less whirled and pointed at Cairi. "You say you know what I did," he snapped. "But you haven't followed my life. You haven't seen what I've seen. You never even saw me take a shower. You don't know anything about me. You just know what you've been *told.* Which means you don't know anything at all."

                                   # # #

     "No wonder they named you 'Dick,'" Cairi muttered.

     "Don't ever call me Dick," Less said cheerfully. "It's not healthy."

     "Not healthy? What, are you going to kill me again?'

     Less whistled sharply. "Leverage!" I shouted. "Leverage! C'mere boy!"

     The cutest damn dog who ever lived ambled out of the bedroom. Less reached down and scratched him behind the ear. "You like him?" he asked.

     "Yes--" Cairi said, almost involuntarily.

     Less pressed the barrel of a Glock into Leverage's skull. "Good to know. Here's how this works. If you ever, *ever* call me Dick again, I will shoot this dog in the head. If you fail to correct your friends when *they* call me Dick, I will shoot this dog in the head. If you do not work tirelessly and ceaselessly to reinforce to everyone on the fucking planet that my name is Richard Less and no one ever calls me Dick, not once, not even to *themselves,* I will shoot this dog in the head. Do you believe me?"

     "You're insane," Cairi breathed.

     "Do you believe me?"

     "...yes."

     "What's my name?"

     "...Richard."

     "What do *you* call me?"

     "...Mister Less?'

     Less pulled the gun away from Leverage's skull. "Outstanding."

                                   # # #

     "Richard," Roger said, his voice quiet now. "We need to know who's responsible for this."

     "Define 'this.'"

     Cairi still sounded angry, but she was serious now. "Giant concrete walls in Boston. Exclusionary zones. Federal, state and local legislation against heroes. The rise of crime in the streets."

     "And we need to know why," Roger added.

     I looked at them, and chuckled. "And you honestly think Chinese food is out of the question? I may be the only one in the room with a metabolism, but if we're gonna take that kind of time, I'm gonna get pretty fucking hungry."

     "You mean you know the answers?" The chick sounded surprised.

     "What's my name?" I asked her.

     "Richard Less."

     "Then don't sound so surprised."

                                   # # #

     "So... but.... what middleman would be involved here? There's all these criminal groups, but they all have different agendas," Cairi said.

     "Different and *insane* agendas," Roger agreed.

     "Agreed and agreed. But what do they have in common?" Less asked.

     "Damn it, aside from their being criminals in the first place, there's nothing that really ties them all together." Roger sounded frustrated.

     "Nothing?" Less asked with a slight smile.

     The dead kid shook his head. "Nothing. They have different goals, different powers, different methods, different... gear...." his voice trailed off.

     "Roger?" the Cairi asked.

     "Cairi... they may all be different, but... but they're all the same, too. They have powers and gear."

     She blinked and got it. "They need resources."

     "Which means someone has to be supplying them! No, not just supplying them. *Empowering* them."

     "And for all their power and all their grand sounding goals, none of them have any presence outside of Boston, which means--"

     "--they have to be going to a common supplier," they answered in unison.

     Less chuckled. "Welcome to intelligence."

     "So, money," Cairi said. "Low level officials, inspectors, even cops must be getting paid off.

     "It's more than that," Roger said. "Someone's got to set up the supply lines and pass them through the walls to wherever these processing plants or factories are, all without being noticed, all in a city that's currently as hard to move through as a space station under martial law. That doesn't just take money. That takes influence."

     "Which only makes sense if the supplier is working towards the same end as the people who set the walls up in the first place. They didn't just create ghettos with the walls. They created the conditions--"

     "--that led to the formation of active gangs threatening the ghettos. And that creates fear--"

     "--and fear creates the power to increase control over the population."

                                   # # #

     "You'd be surprised how much of life comes down to resource management," Less said, dropping cheese on the floor for Leverage to eat. "You want to field an army? You got to feed and clothe them too. So far, you guys have had it pretty swank. Even on the run, you've got Brainy Smurf providing you tactical info, sweating the details, making sure your yuppie phones have their yuppie batteries. When you guys are crouched in a hovel one door down from a meth lab and across the hall from a pack'a Net.trolls, you're going to learn just how dearly a bag of baked Lays comes, much less the tools you need to fight a war against shadowy overlords."

     "We won't let it come to that," the dead kid said. He sounded firm.

     "You should write down just when you said that," I said. "Seriously. There's nothing that'll keep you quite as happy when you can't nail your wife for six months 'cause she can't take her clothes off without killing the rest of your team like reviewing that quote."

                                   # # #

     "So what is it you're providing for *us?*" the dead kid asked.

     I shrugged. "Confirmation and a roadmap. What you do with it's up to you."

     "And what do you get out of it in return?"

     I grinned. "I have my little projects, and it's always nice to get some forward motion on them."

     "So you're using us?"

     "Oh yeah."

                                   # # #

                               [August, 1997]

     His pants were black, his skin and hands were stained with blood, even though the sword was clean. He turned, looking at her with hard grey eyes. "You're not Dreamweaver," he said softly.

     "N-no," Cordelia said. "I'm... my name's Cordelia. I'm a Dreamer. D-Dreamweaver couldn't -- there was--"

     The man snorted, turning away. "They send children to see me, now?"

     Cordelia shivered. "I'm no kid," she said. "My mother disappeared within the first week of the war. There's armed troops in my city, and a ton of the kids I've known since forever are dead now. What makes you think there's a kid left in America?"

                                   # # #

                              [November, 2007]

     Snapdragon grinned. "Hey -- Cordelia, they got a codename for you yet?"

     "Call sign," the requisitions officer snapped. "You don't have codenames, you have call signs."

     "Whatever. What's it going to be, Deal?"

     Cordelia looked at herself in the mirror once more, smiling softly at what she saw. "Reverie," she murmured. "Call me Reverie."

                                   # # #

     "Then we can use the paper trail to find the supplier," Incandescence said. "And that means we can find out just who's letting them flood the streets with chaos and using the resulting fear to exert control--"

     "That's not what you do," Kirby piped up. "You've got to shut them down!"

     "What?" Parvenu turned to the boy. "I know it seems like we have to focus on the street issue, but as long as we do that, we're really treating symptoms of the problem instead of--"

     "I know that," Kirby said, in that tone of voice young boys had -- the one that said 'you're really an idiot, aren't you?' "That's not why we need to shut down the suppliers! The whole setup needs the gangs to work in the first place. Take out the supplier and the gangs will suddenly be cut off. Whoever's using the supplier as their middleman will have to replace those supplies and keep the gangs in gear or Boston'll start making up ground fast. That'll flush them out of hiding and then they can be caught. And we can get real evidence then, and that means the good cops will shut them down, and then we win!" Kirby looked around. "Right?"

     Incandescence and Parvenu looked at each other."

     "How the Hell did you come up with that plan?" Parvenu asked.

     Kirby shrugged. "I'm the son of Trashman and Healer."

                                   # # #

     "The Hellfions?" Incandescence asked. She sounded amused. "Not Hellfiore, or Hellfired, or Hellfireans? Man, I sort of wish I still had a publicist on staff, Shiny."

                                   # # #

     Kirby looked confused. "Those three. 'Sparky.' 'Shiny.' 'Boomer.' What the heck?"

     "Oh." Parvenu shrugged. "I can't help you with that.

     "It's simple," Hazard said, standing back up. She pointed a thumb over her shoulder at Incandescence. "She's Sparky."

     Incandescence slid out of her chair, shifting to point at Reflects. "She's Shiny!"

     Reflects had preemptively stood already, making her own gesture back to Hazard an elaborate, showy one. "She's Boomer! And! We are--"

     The three shouted in unison, executing an elaborate move with their arms that was somewhere between competative cheerleading, something the Power Rangers would come up with when drunk, and the semaphore signals one would desperately flag towards a distant boy scout camp. "Chicks! With! Attitude!"

     The three held pose for a long moment.

     "O...kay," Kirby said slowly. "So... the Hellfions. They're a new gang, then?"

                                   # # #

     "So-if-the-Hellfions-are-using-the-same-suppliers-how-can-we-turn-that-to-our-advantage?" Reflects repeated in a slight monotone.

     "Oh -- you're asking me? I'm an intern, remember?" Kirby smiled.

     "Sorry -- you'd just had some good insights. I just thought--"

     "I'm not saying I don't have an answer."

     Parvenu turned to look at Kirby. "You do?"

     "Sure. Right now the Hellfions are new -- that means they're still getting used to how they do things, and almost everyone's a recruit instead of a vet. Which means they're probably way sloppier than the other gangs when going, say, to a secret base to meet with their suppliers. "

                                   # # #

     "Be that as it may," Ops said, "how do we take the opportunity this lead represents given our current team and our current mission. Like we said the last time this came up -- we can't risk the lives of civilians even if it means--"

     "We have to cut this off at the source," Parvenu said. "Preferably *before* Lochaber arrests us."

     "We can *totally* take Lochaber," Hazard said. "Don't even worry."

     "You and your Murphy invocations," Incandescence said, grinning.

     "I'll take care of it," Ordinal said, softly.

     There was a pause in the room.

     "You?" Hazard asked. "What -- are you going to get Rip in?"

     Incandescence turned away. Silently, Reflects put a hand on the fiery girl's shoulder.

     "Rip's in the midwest doing important things," Ordinal said. "Don't worry. I know someone who can handle this."

     "You do?" Capacitor asked.

     "Yes." Ordinal looked at Ops. "But he won't do it for free."

     Ops frowned. "We don't exactly have petty cash, Ordinal."

     "I'll pay for it," Reflects said -- she being the best off of the team, financially. "How much are we talking?"

     "Twenty five dollars a day, plus expenses."

     There was another pause.

     "And... this guy doesn't *suck?*" Capacitor asked. "At those prices?"

     Ordinal smiled, almost nostalgically. "You haven't seen the expenses yet."

                                   # # #

     "Oh my," Darrin said, rolling his eyes. "Is it the fifteenth already? Where ever does the time fly?"

     "Shut up. It's been a bad couple of days, all right? It's not like you won't get something out of it, too."

     Darrin pushed the door shut. "Oh, I know. How I do know. Because if there's something that never gets old, it's having you condemn me for liking sex during the day and then showing up unannounced expecting it at night."

                        ROUGH CUT - NOT FOR RELEASE

                  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

     Elizabeth stared at the monitor.

     "Told you," Alice said with a grin.

     "That... was... entirely missing the point of a synopsis."

     "I know, right?"

     "I mean... it was longer than some posts!"

     "I *know,* right?!"

     "I... need to call my agent."

     "What -- I don't think you can block this--"

     "Block it?" Elizabeth slowly smiled. "It's episode length. I want to get *paid* for it."

     Alice paused. "Yeah, I'm calling my agent too. God I love this partnership."

DO THEY LOVE THIS PARTNERSHIP?

DOES EVERYONE FEEL CAUGHT UP?

DOES *ANYONE* FEEL CAUGHT UP?

GOD, I NEED A DRINK.

Superguy.

SG/Admin: (1/2) Rough Cut #1 - Previously on the League

                          Superfluous Productions

                               Soundstage #4

                         So Very Out of Continuity

     Elizabeth Tirkoff drank sparkling water and looked over her lines. It was easier before she needed the glasses. But then, age could be like that. "Man, when did I become such a prig?" she asked.

     "You don't want me to answer that," Alice Mercury said, walking over to the craft services table. "Gods -- tell me again why I don't just cook things for the production?"

     "Union rules and they don't want to pay you."

     "And that's why we're partners." Alice grinned. "Hey, did you see the 'previously' prologue?"

     "The what?"

     "Oh -- it's been, what, nine years since all this started, so they wanted to do a recap. Only Sabre wanted to be all 'artistic' and 'episodic,' so he had editorial put together a whole reel of fast cut quotes and stuff to summarize... you know, everything."

     "Oh -- oh wait, yeah. They had me come in and do ADR -- rerecording some lines to make them fit, stuff like that."

     "Right, yeah. Anyway, they put it together."

     "Cool -- a quick fifteen second intro for Episode 9, then?"

     Alice paused. "Um... no."

     "No?"

     "Well, in terms of word count?"

     "Yeah?"

     "...probably clocking in around eighty-five hundred."

     Elizabeth stared.

     "I'm serious."

     "Eighty-five hundred words."

     "Yup." She paused. "Wanna see it?"

     "Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss this disaster."

                  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

                   SUPERFLUOUS PRESS EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

                                ROUGH CUT #1

                       "Previously... on the League"

                        ROUGH CUT - NOT FOR RELEASE

                                [June 2000]

     Trudy frowned. "So how are you and Jane going to--"

     Dianna smiled slightly. "I have no idea. I'm just going to get used to wearing a skimpy lame outfit and draping around one of Mike's legs. Isn't that what space opera heroines do?"

                                   # # #

     Dianna paused. "Hey Trudy... where's the Trash Can Lid?"

     Trudy paused. "Where it's supposed to be."

                                   # # #

     Mandy snorted. "You people have plans. Me? I'm getting up at the same time tomorrow, taking a shower, heading to B Tower and going to work. Retirement's going to look exactly the same as fighting crime."

     Dani rolled her eyes. "Rub it in, Harken. I had to get an apartment."

                                   # # #

     Lauren shook her head. "You're going off and getting married. I've got a service sector job. Mike, Dianna and Jane are flying off in a Xolchipalian ship. Mandy's taking over the new Rogers Institute. Maria's living an accidental heiress's lifestyle. Trudy -- where do you go from here?"

                                   # # #

     Dianna took her Xolchacomm off, and dropped it next to Dani's. "You know... if you ever need us...."

                                   # # #

     Mike laughed. "I feel badly for Mem. He wanted to be so badly. He's finally primed to graduate and everyone knows there's not going to be one any more."

     Trudy nodded. "He'll land on his feet. It's what he does."

                                   # # #

     "That's that," Mandy said. "Final paychecks will be direct deposited, for those of you who care about Earth money."

                                   # # #

                               [October 2007]

     "Hazard!" one of the police officers shouted. "On the ground with your hands over your head!"

     "Why do they always address you," Reflects asked. "I'm standing *right here!*"

     "I guess I stand out in a crowd better."

     "And yet, you manage to be so unnoticable. I'm jealous, really."

     The officers looked at where the pair had disappeared in a burst of Cherenkov radiation. "I guess they got away again."

     "Yeah." The officer grinned. "Damn shame, huh? Start arresting the Scions?"

                                   # # #

     "Everyone assumes the League is backed by the Rogers Institute," Scholarman said.

     "All that could be handwaved away," Nouveaux Skunk said. "The problem is Trashman. When he's sighted fighting alongside them--"

     Elizabeth frowned. "Trashman's dead," she said. "Everyone in this room knows that."

     "Good for everyone in this room," Mandy answered. "It doesn't matter. So long as people see this 'League' and think 'Adjusted League,' it's going to reflect on us."

                                   # # #

     "You understand the League's right," Mandy said to Elizabeth. "The people *do* back them. The city and the state may say to arrest them, but the police don't. And if they did, the city's population would have a fit."

     "They're not the Adjusted League. And I don't care who says it. We both know there's no Trashman. Not any more."

     "So... you're not advising me to leave the League alone?" Mandy asked softly.

     Elizabeth looked at her for a long moment. "No. I want them taken out. *However* we have to do it."

                                   # # #

     There was a rush of wind and a green blur shot past and grew a wriggling appendage. Alice Mercury, in the green and yellow costume with the lightning bolts on it, was holding a young blond boy in a grey training outfit by the scruff of the neck. "*There* you are," the speedster snapped.

     "*Kirby,*" Elizabeth snapped. "I've *told* you not to go snooping!"

                                   # # #

      {{Kirby's too good,}} the former Momentum sent telepathically to Mandy and Elizabeth. {{He goes psi-null when he goes stealthy and invisible. I've had to track him down by figuring out psychic dead spots.}} 

      }{Greeeeeat,}{ Elizabeth sent back. }{My son the sponge.}{ 

                                   # # #

     "They're gonna throw the league in jail," Kirby said. "They're all pissed off because Trashman sided with them instead--"

     "*Kirby!*" Elizabeth snapped.

     Kirby flinched. "Sorry."

     "We don't use that language. We find better ways to express ourselves. And that's not Trashman."

     "You just don't want it to be Trashman. If it's Trashman, then he didn't die. He just left you!"

                                   # # #

     "You're late," Ordinal said, quietly.

     "You ever try getting a garbage packer through traffic without attracting attention," Trashman asked.

     "I can't say I have. Did Ops send you?"

     "I don't work for Ops."

                                   # # #

     "You know, you might want to adjust your tone, boy. We're United States Marines."

     The stranger snickered. "No you're not."

     "What did you say?"

     "I said that not one of you is a Marine. I know you guys are liars and bullies, but are you also stupid?"

                                   # # #

     "You don't get to call yourself a Marine. They cast you out, and struck your name from the rolls, and any *real* Marine would kick your ass for *presuming* to use their name. Do you hear me? It's over, Jake. No more bullying. No more attitude. No. More. Free. Lunch."

                                   # # #

     "Afternoon, Sheriff!" The stranger smiled. "Just pitching in. Doing my bit for community service."

     "Looks to me like assault. Looks to me like somebody needs to learn a lesson."

     The stranger grinned broadly. "I couldn't agree more. Arrest them, and I'll gladly sign a statement."

     "You don't understand. I'm going to arrest *you.*"

     The stranger chuckled. "Well, you can try. See that man back there? He's my brother. He videotaped the whole fight, and he uploaded it to the Internet. The wonders of the broadband card, huh?" The stranger leaned closer to the sheriff. "If you arrest me, I'll have all the evidence in the world for a wrongful arrest lawsuit. We'll also have plenty of evidence for a state investigation. Am I under arrest, Sheriff?"

                                   # # #

     "What is it?" Dan asked.

     "Eminence," Rip answered. "Two hundred and nineteen dollars a bottle for the mass market stuff. The real stuff is only available to close confidents of Andrew Goodwin or Chalandra Harkness." He turned to look at the woman standing behind them.

     "Rip Davis," the woman said.

     "Healer," he answered.

     "Not anymore. We need to talk."

                                   # # #

     "When the Lickmi invaded, Anansi was crucial in driving them up into the Somerville War Commercial District. By the time they had the walls up and the direct invasion contained, the Anansi were entrenched in the Boston Harbor Islands. If you haven't noticed, crime is rampant in the streets of Boston proper. You think anyone has the manpower to drive a full on militia out of an ex National Park?"

                                   # # #

     "The Feds stay out of Boston," Elizabeth said. "They have since--"

     "They have since they ran a black op to hack Intercontinental Salvage's computer and got them to erect unfeasible and implausible concrete walls around Boston and its neighborhoods. Let's not kid ourselves about the Federal government's interest in Boston."

     Doctor Tirkoff looked down at the table. "The walls contain--"

     "The walls don't contain jack, Liz. The aliens have *spaceships.* By definition they can fly over those ridiculous things."

     "Don't call me Liz."

     "Don't screw around with me. This 'Lochaber' of yours isn't about policing the neighborhoods. If you want the neighborhoods safe, take those gigantic eyesores down, and throw your support behind the League."

     Doctor Tirkoff's eyes narrowed. "We're not supporting the League. We're taking them down."

                                   # # #

     "We are the inheritors of Bruce Rogers and his foundation. Safeguarding the good name of the Adjusted League Unimpeachable is our responsibility."

     Rip looked at his teacher, and shook his head, laughing. "The amazing thing is you believe that horse shit."

     Doctor Tirkoff narrowed her eyes. "Rip--"

     "Your city is in crisis, Liz! What's worse, it's in *permanent* crisis, because that's what someone wants. Now you and Mandy want to clamp down on honest to Christ super heroes -- your former friends and coworkers -- out of some freakish control urge, and you think I'm going to have anything to do with it? My ex girlfriend is on that team, for Christ's sake!"

     "There's a right way to do these things," Doctor Tirkoff said. "That was the first lesson I taught you."

     "The second thing you taught us was to consider the circumstances before the regulations."

                                   # # #

     "Rip, they're using Trashman's name." Doctor Tirkoff's voice was quiet.

     "I know."

     "But you won't help us stop them?"

     "No."

     Doctor Tirkoff looked away. "Why not?"

     "Because they're right. Because they're doing what you taught them to do. Because someone has to help the city, and they're the ones willing to do it. Because they're my friends. And because you and Mandy have lost perspective."

     "Rip--"

     "And even if all of that weren't true? My sister's in the League, Liz. Allegedly." Rip folded his arms. "Are you honestly suggesting I go up against her?"

                                   # # #

     "Tell me something, Mem."

     "They don't call me Mem any more."

     "They don't call me Liz any more, but that doesn't seem to stop you. If you believe all of this... if you *really* believe all of this... why are you wandering around the Midwest like Michael Knight? Or are you telling me the League wouldn't have you?"

                                   # # #

                    [1997 - The Christmas Eve Offensive]

     Arsenal did not cry out, though her eyes went wide. As the spasm faded, she slumped back into her chair. "You stabbed me," she said, wonder in her voice.

     "Yes," Egoiste said, taking his seat again. He did not look at her. He did not speak with rancor. He simply began programming the autopilot.

     "The traitor. The one Oracle prophesied about. It wasn't Artifact. You just managed to deflect suspicion onto him." Arsenal didn't sound angry. She was surprised, perhaps. But not angry. "I'm helpless."

     "I know," he half-whispered.

                                   # # #

     Arsenal managed to turn her head to face her brother. "We're going to die."

     "Yes," Egoiste said.

     "Together."

     "I would not..." Egoiste's breath caught, and his voice faltered, for the first time. "I could not do this and survive. Not if you were going to die, sister."

     "I know, Anthony." Arsenal's own voice sounded very small. Her French was almost simple -- the dialect of their childhood, not their cultured present. "Why are you doing this?"

     ""Because it wasn't supposed to be this way."

                                   # # #

                               [October 2007]

     "Lord Egoiste," the Tsuchigumo Warrior said. "Master Atrax has requested your presence in the Obelisk.

     "Did he say why?"

     "No, Lord," the warrior said. "But it sounded important."

     "Master Atrax's summons are always important, warrior."

                                   # # #

     "You were supposed to give us support!" Iceweaver shouted. "Where the Hell *were* you? Do you think I *like* needing Parvenu to heal me after--"

     "You're not supposed to let them *shoot* you," Capacitor said,

grinning.

     "I swear, if you bail on us one more time--"

                                   # # #

     "Ordinal's on a call," Hazard said. "Her mom called -- The Leonard Maltin Groupies are staging an attack, and she 'ported over to stop them."

                                   # # #

     "Right. I wanted to call everyone -- or almost everyone -- in for a briefing. Life's about to get more complicated."

     Parvenu arched his eyebrow. "More complicated? There are factions and gangs dominating Boston's neighborhoods. There's gigantic absurd concrete walls everywhere making any kind of coordinated response impossible. There's pressure to have us arrested. There's an alien invasion penned in up at Somerville. How much more complicated can we possibly get?"

     "The Rogers Institute is about to begin training a cadre of paranormal security officers under the project name Lochaber. Their mission will be to begin regaining control of the Boston streets once and for all. Their unofficial -- and primary -- mission will be arresting all eight of you."

     "Well, that complicates things," Parvenu said, cheerfully.

                                   # # #

     "You have to have a fallback," Alice said. "If Rip won't do it, who's next on the board's list?"

     "You are," Elizabeth said.

     "You know better," Alice said.

     "Yes I do. So what we need is a public figure who people will like and trust, who *we* can trust at the same time."

     "And who has the power we need, leadership abilities, but won't buck the system more than we want. Jesus, when did we become the Mega Intelligence Bureau?"

     Elizabeth frowned. "On my side? 1989."

                                   # # #

     "So why not you?" Alice asked. "You can trust yourself, right?"

     "I'm retired."

     "Gotcha. So. You need to find someone who's good on camera, smart, powerful, has leadership abilities, will do what we expect him to do, that we trust, who trusts us, and who won't have a problem taking down the League."

     "Pretty much, yeah."

                                   # # #

     "Part of Ingress's research is Altiversal travel," Ordinal said to her adopted mother. "The rumors that came out of Canada back in the 90's were cautionary, but they also suggested that there might be an Altiverse out there where things never fell apart. No Lickmi invasion. No Genocidal War between the Awe Inspiring Force and the Unimaginable League Amoral. It's a seductive picture."

                                   # # #

     "Boston's dangerous, Mom," Ordinal said, softly.

     Doctor Laura Davis smiled a bit more, touching her adopted daughter's face. "Then it's handy I have a brave daughter who can bend time and space, isn't it. And wear a sweater. It gets cold in Boston, you know."

                                   # # #

     "Honestly, I underestimated Elizabeth's issues with the League," Mandy said. "When the Lochaber solution presented itself, she grabbed it with both hands."

     "Which means?" Capacitor asked.

     "Which means *my* plan of building an overly bureaucratic, hidebound institution died before I could even outline it. Lochaber's going to exist, it's going to be well armed and well trained, and it's going to be effective."

     "And its unspoken mandate is arresting us," Hazard said. "Greeeeeeat."

                                   # # #

     "They need a leader," Incandescence said. "Right? Who's she tapped?"

     Mandy half-smiled. "Memorex."

     There was a moment of silence, before several of the League burst into laughter. "Never in a *million* years," Capacitor said. "I know Memorex turned us down, but he'd never, *ever--*"

     "Rip would never do it," Incandescence said softly. "He wouldn't."

     "I know," Mandy said. "I'm the one who pushed to have him at the top of the list. The advantage of a big brain is knowing how to line up the bank shots."

                                   # # #

     Parvenu raised his voice. "I know that with the city in chaos it's never been a good time to start figuring out *who* and *why* so many levels of government seem to want Boston in a state of Hell and the League arrested. But we have a shot at getting some information, and a *little* bit of time before Lochaber starts putting serious heat on us! We need to take it!"

                                   # # #

     "Elizabeth won't use your secret identities against you," Mandy said. "Part of Bruce Rogers's will stipulated that no beneficiary of his estate would compromise the secrets of the members or associates of the Adjusted League Unimpeachable. The Rogers Institute and Elizabeth Tirkoff can try to arrest you, but they can't use your secret identities against you. That's why I had you all shift codenames."

                                   # # #

      A figure -- who had been invisible and undetectable until Ordinal entered the room and sensed his mass in the corner -- finished misting into view after being teleported onto the conference table. He was smaller than anyone else there, and looked somewhere between scared and delighted. And, of course,nine. "Um, hi guys," he said.

     "Well, shit," Hazard said.

     "Language," Mandy said. She sighed. "Hello, Kirby."

                                   # # #

     "Hey... Kid...." Mike Green said, tentatively. "...you're leaving. For years, Mandy wanted you to give her super powers and you wouldn't--"

     "She doesn't have super powers."

     "My point is, you and her... you finally got to a point where she just wanted top be with *you,* and now you're leaving."

     Kid Solipsism sighed. "I think you underestimate Mandy. I'd say she's one of the most intelligent of all the delusions I ever created."

     "Really?" Mike said. "Mandy's as smart as Andy Awesome or Lady Awe Inspiring? That seems--"

     Kid Solipsism snorted. "What did I just say?"

                                   # # #

     Upstairs, Mandy Harken lay on her bed, her unbreakable brip on the bed next to her. In her head, a gear shifted. Thoughts connected. Mandy blinked, and sat up. "Oh."

                                   # # #

     "What are you *doing* here, Kirby?" Mandy was exasperated, though not really angry.

     "You keep going away, and once I noticed that you went to the Load Pan Bay but you never actually came out the doors, so I got curious. I made sure you really did get in the elevator and I watched below and you never came out, so I decided to follow you."

     "Kirby, this is really important," Mandy said. "If your mother or other people found out--"

     "I get it, Aunt Mandy." Kirby was serious now, turning to look at her. "And don't worry. Mom can only read my actual thoughts if I let her in. I won't tell on you."

                                   # # #

                              [November 1996]

     "Alice!" the girl said, bouncing, her face lighting up as she ran to Momentum, her movements broad like a child's. "You came back!"

     "Course I came back, Susan." Momentum's face softened, and she took her sister's hand. I want to introduce you to a friend of mine," Momentum leaned forward. "She's a *superhero.*"

     Susan's eyes got wide. "Really?" she whispered.

     "Really. Wanna meet her?"

     "Yes!"

     Momentum grinned. "Susan, this is Healer. She's a superhero."

     Susan bit her lip. "H'lo, Miss Healer," she said, shy.

     Healer smiled warmly. "Hello, Susan. I'm very, very glad to meet you."

     That got a larger smile from the seventeen year old. "Really?"

     "Really. I hope we can be good friends."

                                   # # #

                               [October 2007]

     Elizabeth turned towards the girl. "Hello, Susan."

     Susan turned to face Elizabeth. "Hello, Lil."

     The pair embraced.

     "It's so good to see you," Susan whispered.

     "I know, Suz-i-q. I know."

     Susan giggled. "You haven't called me that for a long time."

     "It seemed appropriate." They separated. "But... I'm not here for a social visit."

     "I know."

                                   # # #

     "Where's Trashman," Kirby asked.

     "We don't exactly tell him where to show up, little guy," Capacitor said. "Dude shows up when he wants or when we need him."

     "He does his own thing," Reflects cut in. "He spends a lot of his time back in Dark City, and I guess he shows up in other places too. And he helps us when we need it. They say he's got access to some of the vestiges of the old Xolchaportation Network."

                                   # # #

     "What did they mean about Reflects's best friend?" Kirby asked. "Someone died?"

     "Well, yeah," Incandescence said. "I did. Here's the thing. Reflects and I gained our powers at the same time -- she got the power to deflect damage away from herself, though for a long time she couldn't control it. And I was turned into fire which later turned into Hellfire. We found out that I was actually killed in the accident -- so I was less a hellfire woman, and more a hellfire ghost. And I had a chance to ascend to Heaven. Only it was the wrong Heaven, and there was a clerical error, and then I had the chance to come back, only by then history had been rewritten and my life was being occupied by someone else."

                                   # # #

     Ops shook her head, turning to Kirby. "At least we've delayed your Mother finding a leader for Lochaber."

     "You haven't delayed her."

     Ops blinked, looking back. "What?"

     Kirby shrugged.  "Mom doesn't delay, she diverts. By now she's probably already pitching to someone else."

     Ops shook her head, turning to her work. "I hope you're wrong."

     Kirby signed. "I'm never wrong. I'm the son of Trashman and Healer. You're lucky I just know when to keep my mouth shut."

                                   # # #

     "Susan... Lochaber's official mission is retaking Boston's streets, but unofficially...."

     "Unofficially, Lochaber's going to take down the League," Susan said. She didn't sound surprised. "Does Alice know you're here?"

     Elizabeth looked down.

     Susan nodded. "I didn't think so. That's not like you, Lil."

     "Alice would have talked me out of seeing you, Susan. And you're perfect. You're powerful, you're smart, you can be a leader, you can keep care of your own, you know the League members, and--"

     "And dress me in the right clothing and the television will love me." Susan smiled a bit more. "Of course I'll do it. My first loyalty is to you. I owe you everything, Lil. Alice owes you everything. I love you. Is this something you want?"

     "Yes," Elizabeth said softly.

     Susan nodded. "Then I'll do it. I'll train Lochaber. I'll lead them. We'll retake the Boston streets. And we'll take the League down."

     "Just like that?"

     Susan took another long sip of chocolate milk, the glass remaining ever full. "Just like that."

                                   # # #

                              [February 1998]

     "I've written the coordinates down," Memorex said. "The top location is the rendezvous point for the fleet. The bottom's the location of Islandilai. Lady Awe-Inspiring's runnin' the whole war from there."

     Trashman nodded. "All her forces are moving into position. If they can get back to Islandilai's resources, they could rearm or worse. That base has to be taken out."

     "And so does Lady Awe-Inspiring," Dangerousman said. "If we can find a way to kill her."

     Memorex swallowed. "...can I come with you?" he asked.

     Trashman looked at Memorex for a long moment. "We're not going as superheroes," he said, softly. "We're going to kill her and destroy her base. Heroes don't do what we're about to do." Trashman put his gloved hand on Memorex's shoulder, and looked into the young man's eyes. "Rip... I need you to be the hero I can't be after this," he said. "I've never met any hero who believes as passionately as you do. Do good work, Rip. Make us proud."

                  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

                   ROUGH CUT PART 1 OF 2 - DO NOT RELEASE