Legoniare Files: The Girl From 2022

Penny Thompson

The explosion was what caught her off guard. Then the evil laughter. Then the screams.

Penny wished she had invested in sound-proof walls.

Dropping her tools and rolling out from beneath the pickup, Penny ran to her open garage door.

She felt her blood, and the oil dripping down her cloths, go cold.

She had heard of Clarion, most people had. The evil magic kid with the cat.

A neighbor of hers had dressed up as him for Halloween.

But this was Clarion the chaos Bringer. Watching as he ripped buildings from the foundations, change people to pigs like Circe, and do some other undescribable things with just a flick of his wrist and a few backwards words was a nightmare come to life.

It brought to mind the attack a few months ago. The public wasn't given much information but was aware a being like Clarion has caused major natural disasters around the world.

He was a few blocks down from her mechanics shop, halted in his rampage by Dr. Fate.

Penny had seen Fate on tv a few times, but he--they?--looked different. The crack in the helmet for one thing. And body...

He looked more like a young woman than older man that she was used too.

But how does one get used to superheroes?

The point was, Clarion was getting closer and she needed to get out of here.

Penny took off, grabbing nothing.

It's funny. When she first moved here, and went through her first supervillain attack, she had been panicked, scared to leave her work or belongings behind.

But she had learned two things: there aren't looters during a battle and her life mattered even more than her expensive tools.

Penny usually hunkered down in the bomb shelter under Dina's Pancake diner, as did most of her neighbors.

She stopped to help elderly Mr. James get to the restaurant.

"Thank you." He gasped as she laid him down on the floor.

"Zoe! Matt!" A voice screamed.

Penny whipped around. It was dark in the shelter with the dim lighting but she could see Mike Wagner trying to stand up while he screamed.

"What's up Mike?" Penny said as she gently sat him back down. His ankle looked swollen.

"I-I don't see my kids!" He sobbed.

A quick search if the room confirmed the 15-year-old twins were a no show.

"Those stupid bloggers..." Penny mumbled as she ran outside, despite the cries of those in the bomb shelter.

Clarion has reached her shop. The roof was missing as was the garage door. Oddly, the tools were exactly where she had left them.

Any smart person would have run away from the evil child magician fighting an ancient powerful magician.

But Penny knew Matt and Zoe were not smart when it came to things like this, and she charged toward the frey.

Red and yellow magic whipped around and backwards spells filled ber ears.

"Zoe! Matt!" She howled.

There. A nonmagical flash. Running into a small alley right in the middle of the fight, but shielding occupants, Penny found two brown-haired teens looking through a camera at the fight.

"And what is up with Dr. Fate? That doesn't like like his body." Zoe spoke as if on the news.

"This magical fight is nothing like a few months ago, when volcanoes erupted around the world, the plates of earth turned into weapons, and..." Matt announced.

"And me whooping your butts for blogging!" Penny shouted as she grabbed the two by their shoulders.

The twins, famous super hero bloggers, pouted for a minute, despite the carnage around them.

Penny had half a mind to leave them there.

"Ain't no superman gonna save you eganars!" She growled as she dragged them back toward the diner. "Had your papa all worried sick. And after Jim's death."

Penny had just pushed the two guilty kids into the diner...when the door slammed shut in her face.

Stepping back, Penny saw the teens pounding on the door from the inside, calling her name in worry.

Trying the door herself, she found she couldn't open it.

Before she could panic, Penny order the twins to get to the shelter.

Now the fear started to settle in. She didn't have anyone to be strong for, and Clarion was getting closer.

She remembered hearing about a security guard who crossed a Lord of chaos. Penny shivered.

Running around the diner, Penny slid to a halt at who she found waiting for her.

Three women, looking exactly alike except with different colors, had their back to her, facing a cloaked being waring a helmet of gold.

Behind golden head was a blue suited man whose shoulders and chest were decorated with lightning bolts.

None of them noticed Penny.

She had no clue who these guys were, but if she had learned anything from living in Metropolis, it was how to identity a super, hero or villain.

And those outfits were just screaming super.

"My emperor and empress will be displeased the legion interrupted thier plan." Golden head spoke, voice sounding as mechanical as a voice recording.

"Well, good thing we're not interrupting. We're stopping you, Time Jump." The lightning guy said.

"In 4x the time." Gold--Time Jump joked.

"No. We only need 3 to beat you!" Lightning said again just as the triplets jumped Time Jump.

Honestly, Time Jump didn't seem like a good personal fighter. He had held a device in his hand, apparently a weapon, but the orange triplet had knocked it out of his hand while purple and white took him down.

"That was too easy." The purple one cheered as the others laughed.

Typical heroes.

Suddenly, a shining yellow portal opened behind them.

Penny felt herself slowly getting sucked in behind the heroes and Time Jump.

As she flew into the yellow hole with a scream, Penny wondered what kinda heroes these guys were.