Snowflakes

"It's started."

"Yes. Some people have no imagination."

The command center was deserted. Kid Quantum sat in her chair, reviewing her notes and chewing on her stylus. She glanced up as the door opened and smiled as Cosmic Boy approached and sat beside her.

"'Morning, sweetie," she grinned.

"What're you doing, you working too hard again?" Rokk smiled, knowing how ironic that statement was, "Going over the status quo?"

"Yes. Sensor's turned in her notice."

Rokk winced but nodded, "I wondered how long it would be. I've been expecting it for ages. Frankly, I'm surprised she held out this long."

"So am I," Jazmin sighed, "I think it's been our acceptance that's kept her this long, but she really isn't..." She searched for a suitable word but gave up and shook her head. The mentalist's transformation had been more than she could take. Everyone knew Jeka was on a downward spiral.

"Any idea what she's going to do?" Rokk asked softly.

Jazmin shook her head again, "I don't know." She sighed, "Garth's on indefinite leave. He's gone to Samnor for an undetermined length of time."

Rokk nodded, "That'll be good for him. If there's anybody who's going through more hell than Jeka, it's Garth."

"Yes. The irony is, Jan probably would've been tickled pink by that development."

Rokk chuckled, "He probably would. His people worshipped change and were big on recycling." Jazmin laughed out loud at that.

"Apparition's asked for a stay of field service, though she'll remain active for monitor duty and some covert activities."

"The Legion's version of a stay-at-home mom."

"Pretty much. And of course, Monstress is gone."

Rokk nodded, "Time to start looking at some recruits. Anyone promising among the cadets?"

"That's where I've been looking. Lydda Jath exhibits super-strength, even more powerful than Monstress. She comes from Kathoon."

"That's the night world, right?"

"Right - Kathoon's orbit is so far out that its primary looks like just another star in the sky, albeit it's the brightest star in their sky. Hence her codename, Nox. Her power works basically the opposite of a Daxamite: Strong sunlight saps it."

"Sounds like a candidate for extra-terrestrial missions. Outer space is pretty damn dark."

Jazmin nodded, "And if she's teamed with Umbra, there should be no problems." She tweaked her reader to the next omnipage, "Another natural team are Brek Bannin and Staq Mavlen, codenames Fire and Ice..."

"Other way around," Rokk interrupted, "Brek's Ice, Staq's Fire."

"Oh, did I get it mixed? So I did. Anyways, they've gained enough control over their powers to be given serious consideration. So has Virus, Drura Sehpt, although I'm not sure how useful she'd be in combat. She might be better in espionage."

"How 'bout interrogation? She can threaten to give 'em a nasty flu if they don't 'fess up," Rokk grinned, "'Virus?' I thought she was going by 'Infectious Lass?'"

"She decided it was a bit much to say in the heat of battle," Jazz grinned, "Lyle called it the 'Romana Factor,' whatever that means."

"With that bunch of nerds, who knows? I don't understand half the things they say and I gave up trying, years ago. What about the Robotican cadet?"

"Babbage? Still has some issues."

"Prejudice?"

"Argues. If it.. he.. finds a flaw in your instruction, he won't adapt it, he'll argue about it. Even Brainy finds that exasperating."

Rokk nodded, "And Brainy's got a soft spot for the Roboticans. Sounds like we're putting Fire, Ice, Nox and Virus up for try-outs, then."

"I'm glad you agree," Jazmin grinned, and leaned over for smooch.

The door slid open and there was a momentary pause. "I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that developing a sensor to automatically lock doors upon detection of rising pheromones is on my list of things to do."

Jazmin giggled. "Good morning, Brainy. You're late, I expected you almost thirty seconds ago," she teased.

"I slept in."

"Like it makes a difference anyway," Rokk grinned, "You're always here two minutes early and nobody even starts trickling in until at least five minutes after the meeting's due to start."

"Of course. I make it a point to arrive early just so I can have the pleasure of giving them arch looks for being late," Brainy smirked.

"Got your briefs ready?" Jazmin asked, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Thong today, actually. Laurel seems to appreciate it." The sip went up her nose.

Rokk laughed, "You deserved that one, Jazz. 'Morning, Lyle, Imra... 'Morning, Ayla, coffee's on."

"..whzbg.."

They waited until the majority of active Legionnaires had assembled and arrayed themselves around the conference table. When she was satisfied that they were at least moderately alert, Kid Quantum rose and cleared her throat, "Okay, first item up for bid, as we know Garth is going on indefinite leave and Kinetix is undecided about whether she'll be returning. Apparition's standing down from field service although she'll stay on comms and monitor duty. Sensor turned in her notice this morning." She looked around at the murmur of dejection that ran around the room. "So, we're looking at holding try-outs for Legion cadets Fire, Ice, Nox and Virus, all in favour yadda yadda? Cham?"

"S'okay by me," Chameleon replied, "They're all good, in every sense of the word that I can think of."

"'Kay, motion carried, yadda yadda. Okay, then... Brainy, what's behind door number two?"

Brainiac 5 didn't bother to stand at meetings anymore; he had the room's full attention. "As we know, it's been suspected for some time now that the White Triangle is up to their old tricks again, starting with the spreading of rumours and creation of racial tension in an effort to disrupt interplanetary co-operation. It appears that someone got ahold of some information about our visitor Connor Kent, namely that he was actually an enhanced clone of a Terran man rather than a clone of the real Kal-El."

Cosmic Boy closed his eyes and cringed, "And since he'd made himself so visible..."

"Quite. Some clever yob sowed the rumour that the Last Son was actually human, chosen by the spirit of the Earth. The rumour implies that the story that Kal-El was the last Kryptonian survivor is a plant by the United Planets in an effort to undermine species pride."

Groans ran around the room and Cosmic Boy's hand fluttered up to his forehead. "There are so many believers in the Spirit of the Last Son... Nothing starts a fight faster than religion."

Brainiac nodded, "Quite so. Earth being the origin of the United Planets idea, not to mention of many of the U.P. races, it's clear that the idea was to cause the Terran people to believe they'd been lied to."

"A repeat of the President Chu business," Cosmic Boys sighed.

"Except that it backfired."

"What?"

"Remember the Valor thing some years ago? The Legion rescued Valor who then mysteriously disappeared? Well, some other clever yob put two and two together and came up with seven: Now there's a rumour that our Superboy was Valor, in disguise." Brainy grinned widely as M'Onel bashed his head repeatedly against the back of his chair. "This is having some very interesting effects on the Last Son believers."

Cos rubbed his temples, "Oh grife..."

"Oh yes," Brainy grinned, "The thinking is leaning in the direction that, if Superboy was Valor, then the spirit of the Spirit of the Last Son belief is upheld, because both Superman and Valor embodied similar qualities. Also, Valor was known to have been a Daxamite. Ergo, if Valor was hanging around disguised as Superboy, then he clearly approved of Superman, whether Superman was human or not."

"Oh my god!!" The room burst into a clamour of outraged, confused and laughing voices.

"But I thought the Spirit of the Last Son was a secular belief?" Triad asked.

Cosmic Boy sighed, "It is, but that's not going to matter. We've been seeing that already; the seven Orders of the Brides and Brothers of the Last Son aren't exactly secular. The shift was occuring even before Superboy showed up; that just helped it along.

"And now that it's the target of the White Triangle's propaganda machine, that sentiment is going to get stronger," Kid Quantum added.

"But then what would be the point of telling people that Superboy was Valor?"

Brainiac 5 leaned forward, "The end result of that rumour has been to blunt the effects of the White Triangle's rumour. From that result, we can extrapolate that the rumour's originators recognised that the Last Son belief was becoming more religious and chose to work with it, rather than against it."

Violet chewed her fingernail thoughtfully for several minutes, listening, before she spoke up, "There's the question of why. Whomever seeded the second rumour, what's their goal? Why'd they do it? Are they trying to stop the Triangle's efforts or do they have their own agenda?"

Kid Quantum nodded, "And we have no answers. We've known for a while that the White Triangle were regrouping but this is the first time we've had solid evidence that there's another group operating here. A new player's joined the game and we know nothing at all about them."

"And they've made a spectacular opening gambit," Cosmic Boy agreed, "Whoever they are, they're not amateurs."

Kid Quantum nodded and continued, "Our next area of concern is transportation. Like the old stargates, the thresholds are vulnerable. Officer Erin is working with the Science Police to post guards on the thresholds at all times."

"It's important for everyone to understand that the Kwai are in great danger," Cosmic Boy continued, "They're necessary for the thresholds to function: They will be targetted. Being alien, they won't be exterminated kindly."

Imra nodded, "Understood. We brought Shikari's people here and asked them to be the thresholds' guides; we have a responsibility towards them."

"We do have a contingency plan in place," Brainiac 5 noted, "But it's subject to the same limitations. It'd be better to prevent the need, if we can."

"And to do that, we have to stop the White Triangle."

"It's started."

"Yes. Some people have no imagination."

"Once it's started, it can't be stopped."

"No. But it can be steered."

A hand came down and placed a coloured tile on the floor.

click