Heroes Legion: "Year One: Episode 9: Dreamweaver

Chapter 5: Nightmare Alley

DREAMSCAPE/ASTRAL PLANE

Stephanie Walker was the first one Morpheus went after...for obvious reasons that shouldn't be lost on the reader at this point.

He knew how those two felt about each other, that's why this was going to be so much fun for him to watch how Stephanie reacted... when her "dream" of finally getting a real serious relationship started with M-leader was turned into her greatest fear.

That's how he got his kicks now, here on the Astral plane.

He opened the "Door" leading to her dreamscape, and entered.

In her dreamscape, unaware of the fact that this wasn't real, Stephanie stirred herself awake.

It was dark, she looked at the Digital Alarm clock that was beside her on her hope chest. It read midnight on its digital face.

She then noticed she was alone in the bed, and she was still naked underneath the covers of her own bed.

M-Leader was nowhere to be seen.

"Hmmm...." Stephanie mused, "Must have gotten called away on "Heroes Legion" business...he better not do anything that draws any big news to him and the legion. It's too late at night for me to care about it to go and report on it" she yawned.

She rested her head back onto her pillow and started to drift back to sleep.

That was when Stephanie could hear the muffled screams coming from outside her window, which right now had its Curtain blinds closed.

Stephanie woke up again, and grew concerned when she felt the ground shake a bit.

Something was going on outside her apartment window.

She quickly got out of bed and dressed herself in her nightgown and walked toward her curtains before she pulled them aside to see what was going on outside.

She gasped in horrified shock.

Outside her window, the city of New York was burning!

They were hundreds of dead and Mutilated bodies lining the streets as far as the eye could see from the north to the south!

But that's not what really shocked Stephanie.

There, floating outside her window...was M-Leader, his eyes glowing and sporting a sadistic grin that wouldn't look out of place on Meta-Masters face.

"Hello..." M-Leader sneered down at her through the window, "glad to see you've awakened. It would have spoiled the surprise if you woke during the massacre"

Stephanie was speechless, was this M-Leader she saw before her?

"Behold my finest work!" M-Leader said outstretching his arms in an attempt to encompass the burning city behind him, "natural selection at its best"

"Marcus...." Stephanie tried, but she couldn't find the words to describe what she was seeing, M-Leader was acting like Meta-Master!

M-Leader must have heard her thoughts, because he laughed "don't be so shocked Stephanie. Did you think I came out of the explosion mentally sound? Meta-Master wasn't the only one to come out of that explosion "enlightened" after all."