“Hey Ben. I know you’re probably still at work but I’m just checking in with you like I said I would. I’m with everyone. They had some knight business to take care of so I’m just catching up with Ley. Yes that Ley. I’ll tell you all about it later. I love you.”
Hanging up Cal looked up at the sky and sighed. He had watched them take off into the space from the temple. Rather than go back home he wanted to catch up with everyone. Especially Ley. The celestial had seen far more than Cal could ever imagine in the galaxy and he was very interested in what they had gotten into.
But what he hadn’t expected was to see Gen sticking around. She didn’t strike him as someone who was much of a team player. From what little he remembered from their fighting when she was a dark knight. But he decided to make some sort of conversation with her. “So you’re a famous movie star huh?”
“Yes. Well was. Not so famous since I took some time off,” she replied.
“Right. Recovering from Hawk,” he mused. “That was a mess and a half. But at least it ended up working out right?”
“I guess you could say that.”
“You did get a boyfriend out of the deal right?”
She glanced at him and rolled her eyes. Cal shrugged and looked back over at Ley. The celestial had kept a hand to the crystal the past few minutes. They had their eyes closed and something like discomfort entered their face. Even Gen looked at them confused.
“Is he okay?”
“They. And I’m not sure. Did Key ever look like that?”
“Once. When they were ‘seeing the galaxy’. That’s what he, they, called it but it didn’t make sense to me then. Whatever they’re looking at, it’s not here.”
That didn’t make him feel any better. Walking over to them slowly they started to hear Ley mumbling to themselves. “No. That’s not possible. What is that doing in this part of the galaxy. They’ve gone into something far too dangerous while unaware. I have to do somethin-“
Before he could elaborate red and yellow light came down on the temple. Cal and Gen both held their hands in front of their faces from the impact. When the light faded Marco and Sarah appeared and then their armor fell away and they sank to their knees shaking.
Cal rushed over to them, putting his hands on both of their shoulders, “What happened? Where’s everyone else?”
“They’re gone,” Marco said hitting his fist against the ground. “They’re gone and we couldn’t save them!”
Sarah looked at him and tried to come up with something to say but the words didn’t leave her mouth. She shook her head fighting back tears. “Jack. Oh God Jack. Marco.” She looked at him and her tears finally fell and he wrapped his arms around her tightly.
“What happened up there?” Gen asked and she couldn’t keep the panic out of her voice. “Where’s Owen? What the hell happened to Owen?”
Sarah tried to talk but she couldn’t control her voice well enough so Marco took over for her the best he could, fighting his own tears. “We went to the moon to investigate the ship. When suddenly Jack started acting weird. Owen and Seth tried to stop him but he attacked them. And then whatever happened to him happened to them.”
Sarah hiccupped and motioned to her face, “They had. A symbol. Two horns and. And an eye on their faces,” she drew over her own face where it would have appeared. Gen stood up straighter her eyes widening. She tried to imagine that gentle loveable loser of hers attacking his friends and she couldn’t. It sounded insane.
Marco rested her head on his shaking his own. “We ran together but Kat stayed behind to buy us time so we could get back here.” Cal stiffened at that and Marco looked away. “We have to figure out what happened to them and how to reverse or fix it.”
“Legion happened to him,” Ley said softly and everyone looked at them. “I am sorry.”
“Did you know?” Marco growled getting to his feet and manifesting his gun. He pointed it at the celestial and glared. “Did you know!”
Ley met his gaze steadily and Marco looked down. “I did not know beforehand Marco. Only too late did it dawn on me what was occurring and by then it was too late.”
Marco shook his head staring at the celestial for some kind of guidance, “What is it Ley? What was that thing? What did it to do them?”
“Legion is a psykik entity of terrible power. It is not a simple powerful being but a hive mind. It absorbs all conscious energies that it can find into itself to grow in power and knowledge. It seeks out people to take their minds and add to themselves.”
“A hive mind?” Cal repeated. “Like they all think as one? They all act as one?”
“Precisely.”
“Alright great. Those things exist too,” he shook his head already getting a headache. “But what’s it doing here? And did it do that to Kat and the others?”
“Legion is not something that should be here. I’ve kept tabs on its existence galaxies away. It is nowhere near powerful enough to travel here let alone to take over the minds of four of you fueled with celestial power.”
“That’s because it doesn’t belong here.”
The darkening afternoon sky filled with light not unlike their own except this was tinged with stars. Four of them struck down, black, yellow, green and red. They covered their faces and watched as the lights dissipated. Jenny and her crew stepped forward and normally she would have been excited to see two of her parents but, in this instance, she knew what was happening. She knew they were in trouble.
“We know how to deal with Legion,” the blue skinned captain said stepping forward. “And we’re going to help you get rid of it for good.”
“Who the hell are you guys?” Gen asked ready for a fight.
“We’re the Astro Knights,” Jenny said putting her hands on her hips.
The Harlequin Library 