Chained Lightning
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Contents
Story Synopsis
TV listing
Lightning Lad discovers that his sister, Ayla, long thought to be lost in the same Lightning Beast attack that gave him and his brother, Mekt, their powers, is really alive. However, Ayla is now in the form of pure electromagnetic energy. Lightning Lad must find a way to save Ayla before Imperiex can harness this energy for his own diabolical use.
Expanded synopsis
On an desolate planet, three siblings have crash landed - the twins Garth and Ayla, and their older brother Mekt. The twins are scared, but Mekt wants to lure a Lightning Beast to recharge their ship. The beast is being uncooperative, and the twins implore Mekt to do something, for if they get hurt it'll be all his fault. He promises to get them home safely, but the beasts surround them and blast them with their lightning. Mekt's hair turns white as a result, and Garth gets scarred on his right eye. Satisfied that they've killed their prey, the beasts lumber off. The two boys are alive, but their sister Ayla is nowhere to be found - only the remains of her stuffed monkey. Garth - Lightning Lad - awakens from his dream in his bedroom.
Lightning Lad walks into the common area, where Kell-El tells him that not only did he hear that Garth was having a nightmare, he snores, too. He asks Lightning Lad who "Ayla" is, but he ignores that and the two go to the briefing room. Brainiac 5 tells Bouncing Boy that Shrinking Violet will be filling in for Superman on this mission, as Superman is saving the universe on the other side of the galaxy. He mocks her powers, but she says that she can do more than just shrink. He begins the briefing. Two weeks ago, a space storm appeared in Upscan space, the storm appearing to be pure electromagnetic energy, but it seems to be coinciding with increased activity in Dominator space. Brainy thinks the Dominators are looking to tap the energy field to power a tachyon cannon, which is powerful enough to destroy cities or even planets. The Dominators have had the tech for a long time, but not the power source. Brainy's plan: disperse the energy field, whatever the cost. Lightning Lad has a vision of his sister, calling out his name, and flashes back to how they got to Korbal: they had taken their cruiser out for a joyride, but ran out of power. The planetoid did not have sentient life, only lightning beasts, which should be enough to recharge the ship's energy cells. The ship drops through the atmosphere towards the surface. Ayla tells Mekt that she needs him, and then her face turns into a skull and Mekt wakes up from his dream. Mekt - Lightning Lord - enters the bridge on Imperiex's ship, humming the song that they sang as kids. Imperiex tells Mekt that now that the Dominion has "provided" this toy, it's up to them to supply the batteries. Mekt wants to get out of the area, but Imperiex will not be rushed. He tells Mekt that the files he downloaded from Computo indicated that his brother was a member of the team, and wants to make sure that there's a definitive outcome to their sibling rivalry. Back on the Legion cruiser, Bouncing Boy announces that the Dominion is making final preparations before fueling, but Brainy says that they need to get rid of the storm, asking if Lightning Lad has made any headway on solving that problem. Garth looks at the map and announces some interference, and has another vision of Ayla begging for his help. He flies off the bridge. Brainy looks at his screen and sees scrolling Interlac. Kell-El comforts Lighting Lad, who explains that either he's seeing a ghost or he's losing his mind. Their involvement in this case has led them near Korbal, where he and his brother were infused with their powers ten years prior and where they lost their sister. He says he thinks she's now haunting him, not just in his nightmares, telling him that he didn't do enough that day to save her. Suddenly the ship is hit with a blast. Shrinking Violet announces that their engines and weapons are now offline. They're under attack by the Dominators, Mekt, Validus, and Imperiex's Destructo-Bots, and Kell-El realizes that Imperiex is now working with the Dominators. The Legionnaires fly off to confront their foes. Kell-El takes on Validus; Bouncing Boy rebounds into some robots, causing them to fly off; Brainiac 5 turns mecha and blasts at the robots; Shrinking Violet goes inside and causes one to explode; and Lightning Lad blasts some more. Mekt appears, and Garth confronts him, asking how he justifies working for someone like Imperiex. Mekt says that Imperiex is going to win, and says he's looking out for his little brother. Garth asks if that's in the same way as he looked out for Ayla, and Mekt replies that maybe she wouldn't have died if he hadn't had to fight the beasts all by himself. They hurl electricity at each other, but at one point in their standoff Ayla appears. Imperiex shows up and tells Mekt that now he's going to be an only sibling.
Lightning Lad is caught by Imperiex's blast and injured severely - his energy is leaking out uncontrollably. Imperiex orders his forces to pull back as they've already inflicted enough damage. Only Brainy's force field is protecting them now. Bouncing Boy asks if they should pursue, but Kell-El says that they should get Lightning Lad inside instead. Back in sickbay, Bouncing Boy announces that the engines will be back online soon, and Kell-El tells him that Lightning Lad's right arm took the brunt of the blast. Brainiac 5, in surgery to attach a cybernetic arm to Lightning Lad, reluctantly accepts Shrinking Violet's offer to help set the microcircuits to his biological systems, but seeing her work, when she's finished he compliments her on a job well done. On board Imperiex's ship, Mekt confronts him, arguing that Imperiex interfered in his fight with his brother, but Imperiex tells him that there is a price to power, and that was a small price to pay. They being fueling the tachyon cannon, but as they do, feedback from the storm causes small explosions everywhere. Imperiex says that as long as the fuel tanks hold, that's all he cares about. On the Legion Cruiser, Lightning Lad wakes up to Kell-El and Shrinking Violet nearby. He flexes his new arm, but Violet tells him it's not just a new arm, it's a Cybernetic 4000 with lots of extra firepower. Just then, the ship is rocked by a sonic pulse from the storm, threatening to tear the ship apart. It started when Imperiex started fueling the cannon, almost as if the storm is alive. If it's trying to communicate, they can't understand it, but Violet attempts to filter out the noise. In a girl's voice, they hear the children's rhyme "The Monkey Rode on the Rocket Ship". Garth recognizes it as Ayla's voice.
Brainiac 5 theorizes that the attack which gave Garth and Mekt their powers somehow converted her into pure energy, which became the storm and which over the last 10 years has grown and accumulated power. Lightning Lad realizes that he's not crazy, she has been trying to contact him, and they have to stop Imperiex. He contacts Mekt aboard Imperiex's ship, and tells his brother that their sister is alive, inside the cloud. If they don't stop, they'll lose any chance to save her. Imperiex denies their request and shuts off communication. Brainy and Garth argue about saving Ayla or dispersing the cloud to stop the cannon, but Violet suggests recreating the circumstances which caused her to be turned into energy, but reversing the events. Brainy says it would be possible, but they'd have to get Mekt's help and empty the cannon's fuel tanks. Kell-El, Lightning Lad, and Bouncing Boy leave the ship to draw Mekt out from the cannon area, with Garth getting to take his new arm for a test run. Meanwhile, Brainy sneaks Violet into the ship, where she will rewire the cannon. While Kell-El tangles with Validus, Mekt tells Garth that if it's to help Ayla, he'll whatever they want him to do. He says that he messed up pretty big all those years ago, and he's been messing up ever since. The Legionnaires and Mekt leave for their ship, under the gaze of Imperiex who now considers Mekt a traitor. He orders the cannon to fire, but as it charges, it blows up instead. Imperiex teleports off the cannon-ship before it explodes, and the energy cloud is released. Mekt and Garth pool their resources and take in the cloud and expel out lightning, which coalesces into the form of a little girl. Ayla hugs her brothers, but she hasn't aged a day since the accident. Mekt asks if Garth is going to arrest him now, but Garth replies that they made a promise not to get him into trouble if they got home safely. Mekt says he appreciates the gesture but he's done running from his past. Arriving on Winath, the twins find a gift from Mekt - a holo of the three of them as kids. Mekt has a similar one - in his cell on Takron-Galtos.
Cast
Legionnaires
The following appear in the episode:
Villains
- Imperiex
- Mekt Ranzz
- Validus
- Imperiex's Destructo-Bots
- Dominators
Other Characters
- Ayla Ranzz
- Lightning Beasts (flashback)
- Unnamed guards on Takron-Galtos
- Unnamed prisoners on Takron-Galtos
Miscellaneous
- Dominator tachyon cannon
- Legion Cruiser
Locations
- Korbal (in flashback)
- Upscan space
- Winath
- Takron-Galtos
Trivia about the episode
- When they're scared, Garth and Ayla used to sing "The monkey rode on the rocket ship... and bumped his head on the moon" to the tune of "Here we go 'round the mulberry bush".
- Interlac usage:
- Approaching the plant Korbal in flashback, the computer reads in Interlac (in part) "... BASED LIFE NON SENTIENT ENERGY FIELD ..." with pictures of a Lightning Beast on it.
- As Lightning Lad stares at a map of the cloud, text reads "LIGHTNING BEAST STRIKE".
- Prior to his joining, Kell-El wanted to stop for nothing in his pursuit of Imperiex, that he would accompany them but that he would not join the team. Now, he chooses not to pursue, instead choosing to rescue a teammate.
- The Cybernetic 4000 arm comes in both left and right models, and fires explosive charges, lasers, and lightning, all powered and amplified by his own bioelectrical energy.
- Violet's look and costume is nearly a mirror-image from her post-Zero Hour look. Instead of a purple costume and flower in her hair with a green streak, she's got a green costume (as her pre-Crisis costumes) and flower with a purple streak.
Quotes
- Brainiac 5: "Let's see... replace the powers of the greatest hero ever, with the ability to ummm, become smaller. Sounds like a fair trade to me."
- Young Garth: "You said this was going to be a joyride, Mekt! Not feeling the joy."
- Brainiac 5, under attack: "A little help here?!" Shrinking Violet: "Someone called for a little help?" Brainiac 5: "She gets small and she makes puns."
- Mekt: "That was my brother, my fight. You had no right to step in like that!" Imperiex: "Consider it a favor. One less birthday present to buy. There are prices to pay for power, Mekt. This was a small one."
- Shrinking Violet: "It fires explosive charges, lasers, and of course lightning, all powered and amplified by his own bioelectrical energy. In other words, it makes things go boom. Ha ha [snort]."
- Imperiex: "Trade the universe for a little girl? Tempting, but no thanks."
Adaptations
- Lightning Lad loses his right arm (fighting the Super-Moby Dick of Space) in Adventure Comics #342.
