Lost Legionnaires Return

Live Wire, Element Lad, Monstress dead

Earth - One full year to the day after they went missing and presumed dead while heroically trying to close a Blight-caused rift in space, seven former Legionnaires have returned to the United Planets region.

Brainiac 5, Chameleon, Kid Quantum, Saturn Girl, Ultra Boy, Umbra and the composite energy being called Drake Burroughs emerged yesterday from a space warp near the planet Pluto in a spaceship made of fragments of the old Legion Outpost, which had been torn in half in the ruft. Accompanying them was a being they referred to as Shikari, an alien of a race unknown until now.

They return to find a world drastically different from the one they left last year, the most notable of the changes being the forced disbanding of their former team. Nonetheless, many ex-Legionnaires gathered together as the news spread of the return of these seven, prompting speculation that the Legion might somehow manage to re-form, despite the likely opposition of United Planets President Leland McCauley.

The news is not all good. During their ordeal, the lost Legionnaires spent much of their time on the run from a vicious, genocidal race called the Progeny and battled to prevent an all-consuming monster they called the Omniphagos from passing through the warp to United Planets space.

It was in battle with these two foes that Monstress and Live Wire lost their lives to ensure the safety of their teammates and of all of us.

Element Lad, according to the returned Legionnaires, died in the process of returning his teammates to normal space/time from the void into which the rift had thrown them. The heroes claimed to be unable to elaborate on his heroic sacrifice.

President McCauley has declared a day of celebration in the United Planets, to include three moments of silence for those fallen.

Live Wire, real name Garth Ranzz, was a founding member of the Legion. Hailing from the planet Winath, he was briefly replaced in the Legion by his sister, Spark, and the two served concurrently after former President Chu was arrested and the one-member-per-planet rule was relaxed. He also has a brother Mekt with similar powers.

Element Lad, real name Jan Arrah, was the last survivor of the planet Trom, rendered lifeless by Daxamites of the White Triangle cult.

Monstress, Candi Pyponte-Le Parc III of Xanthu, used to be a member of that world's Uncanny Amazers until she joined the Legion following a battle with the sorcerer Mordru.

All three will have monuments on Shanghalla erected in their honor.

Weather Woes on Winath

Winath - Winathian officials have confirmed that a rash of bad weather hurting many farmers' crops were not accidental in nature, but rather, were caused by members of a farming collective seeking to eliminate competition.

Science Police on Winath have announced the arrest of Kalin and Kondor Gulz, members of the newly-formed Millhaven farming collective, on charges ranging from reckless endangerment of life and property to homicide, depraved indifference. They are accused of having illegally used the central weather control station on Winath to release destructive storms against the farms of any farmer who wished to remain independent of their collective.

While the restrictions on export that have accompanied the Blight invasion/epidemic and the shutdown of the Stargate network have had an effect on all planets, agricultural worlds such as Winath have been particularly hard-hit, as customer worlds cannot wait for shipments of food as they might for other consumer goods. The excess inventory has become a concern of Winathian economists, who urged farmers to gather into barter-based collectives so that the world's resources could be better allocated and balanced. While many have done this, few of the collectives have yet achieved profitability.

The Gulz-led Millhaven collective apparently felt they could not afford to wait any longer for prosperity to be achieved and snuck into the climate control stations to drive up the cost of their collective's merchandise by eliminating competitors. They were not discovered until Mekt Ranzz, the rehabilitated Lightning Lord, followed the Gulzes around. His sister, the former Legionnaire Spark, had suspected him of recidivism, and followed him, in the process being available to save many lives and using her electrical powers to reach the control tower and stop the illegal storms. Mekt was unable to do so because his lightning powers were wired to a pain-causing device as a condition of his parole.

It is uncertain whether the Ranzz siblings will remain on Winath following the return of the lost Legionnaires reported yesterday.

President Denies Crisis

Metropolis, Earth - President Leland McCauley has denied that the skirmishes with the Robotica entity on the fringes of United Planets space have developed into a clear and present danger to United Planets citizens. "Yes, there was an infiltration to Earth in which one Science Police officer died," the President said, "but M'Onel stopped it before it could get any further. The Oversight Watch is on top of things."

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