Legion of Substitute Heroes: Future Shock, Epilogue: Hero or Villain?

by Martin Maenza

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The blonde woman in the pink and white uniform stepped out of the room to join the others. Cosmic Boy turned to her and said, “So, Imra, what did you find out?”

“I was able to read his mind easily enough,” Saturn Girl said to her teammate and the assembled Subs. “His being in a sleep state helped that out a lot. Good job, Drura.” Infectious Lass smiled, and Chlorophyll Kid stood a bit taller.

“He was speaking a variant of old English,” Cosmic Boy said. “Is he from the past?”

“Yes,” Saturn Girl replied. “The twentieth century, to be exact.”

Superboy’s time?” Night Girl asked.

“More like the latter part — the 1980s. Turns out his aggression toward life forms of a nontraditional Earth nature stems from a traumatic experience of experimentation. That was pretty prominent in his thoughts and memories. It was rather painful for him.” Imra Ardeen Ranzz bowed her head a bit. “Plus, he lost a good friend to that.”

“The other guy he was frozen with,” Stone Boy said.

“Yes,” Saturn Girl said. “I understand he was called Behemoth, the one who died. This one is called Prometheus. He was part of a group called the Hybrid.” (*)

[(*) Editor’s note: See The New Titans: Horror of the Hybrid.]

“So, he’s a criminal?” Double-Header’s right side asked.

“Or maybe a confused hero?” Double-Header’s left side countered.

“Not sure yet,” Saturn Girl said.

“So, what do we do with him?” Chlorophyll Kid asked. “Send him back home in a time bubble?”

“I don’t think so,” Saturn Girl said, shaking her head. “From what you all told me and what the doctors said, it appears that Prometheus was alive the entire time from his imprisonment in ice to now. In a sort of coma-like, suspended animation if you will. We couldn’t send him back, even if we wanted to, as he can’t really exist in the same time period simultaneously without potential for paradoxes to occur.”

“Plus, there is the matter of the number of accounts of assault and damage to property that occurred here today,” Cosmic Boy said. “Lucky for him that Dr. Hastings was not killed, or there would be a murder or manslaughter charge to go with it.”

The others nodded in agreement.

“I think that, for the time being, it is best that he’s kept restrained in a facility that can handle someone of his power level,” Saturn Girl suggested. “He’ll have a lot to digest as he gets familiar with the time period he’s now found himself in — learning Interlac and the like. Plus, he’ll need some counselling as he deals with the loss of all those he ever knew, and he learns to respect other life forms beyond his own. If he then shows remorse for his actions, maybe he can avoid imprisonment for his actions.”

“A whole lot of future shock to have to deal with, eh?” Color Kid said.

“Most definitely.”

The End

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