Phoenix Reaction

A Tale of the Legion of Super-Heroes

by Bonita del Rio

Cautions: Explicit birth


A moment ago, they were celebrating. A band of friends, with the help of a legend, had saved Terra's moon and its population of twenty million from a Daxamite madman intent on destroying it. Garth Ranzz was alternately proud of his wife, Imra, and berating her for risking herself and the two children she would soon bear to save Luna. Laurel Gand fretted about the madman from her homeworld and prayed Imra's telepathic powers could keep him unconscious.

Dev-Em defeated her twice, despite her title as the Universe's Greatest Heroine. Her friend, Vi, scratched the Legion mascot behind his massive ears. All of them, whether they used the title or not, felt like Legionnaires again and revelled in the feeling.

Then Imra began screaming before light and shockwaves hit their ship. Laurel ran to the storage bin where she had dumped Dev-Em and discovered it was empty.

"Here I am, Sweetcheeks," the mocking Daxamite announced as he wrapped his hands in her long blond hair and pushed her face through the wall of the ship. Dev-Em held her so she would have no leverage to break his grip. He patted her bare derriere and then slapped the supposedly invulnerable tush with a super-strong hand. Laurel yelped in pain, although the vacuum stole the sound. Dev-Em let go of her and flew through the same wall.

Before Laurel jerked her head out of the new port hole, she saw where the Moon was. Somebody destroyed it for Dev-Em.

The tragedy could not slow her. Immediately, she pulled her head out and repaired the damage with spare metal plates and heat vision so no more atmosphere could be lost.

"Are you all right?" Violet asked as she ran up to her. The shorter woman looked at the angry red-purple mark on her colleague's buttock. "Is that a bruise?"

"Yes it's a bruise," Laurel retorted tersely. "And I will be all right, as soon as my dignity recovers. How about the rest of you?"

"Garth's getting the ship under control. Furball's upset and Imra's..."

"Imra's WHAT?" Laurel demanded.

"Hysterical. She keeps screaming about 'all those people'. What happened, Laurel?"

"We blew it; Luna's gone and in minutes Earth will start feeling it. Exiled or not, I should go down there. But I know how little I'd really be able to do."

Violet's eyes filled with stunned tears as her hand covered her mouth in an instinctive gesture. Laurel hugged her briefly. "Did the vacuum get to the bridge at all?"

"A little."

"Heroes' blood!" Laurel shouted and ran to the bridge. If Imra was affected by the vacuum at all, her water could break. And if what she and Vi feared was true... if Imra did telepathically sense the deaths of twenty million people, plus God knew how many Earthers were already dying....

When the women arrived on the bridge, Garth was unstrapping his wife from the emergency restraints. A large wet stain ruined Imra's dress and ran over her stockings. Suddenly the telepath grabbed her husband's arm and squeezed as a contraction wracked her body and twenty million death screams wracked her mind.

"Oh, Lord," Garth groaned. "Not now." Gently, he wiped Imra's face which was drenched in sweat and tears. She was hiccuping for air between wild sobs. Again, she clutched Garth's sleeve, using it as an anchor to her surroundings as the death screams of an entire population threatened to pull her into the same abyss as the Lunarites were. "Imra!" he shouted, holding her shaking body against his own. "Stay with me, darling, we've got too much at stake now."

Laurel smelled the fluids before she saw the Ranzzes. "Is she in labor?"

"Yes, but--"

"Violet, lay in a course for Titan. Imra's own people might know how to help her better than we do."

"Right, Laurel."

"She's in labor now, Laurel," Garth protested.

"Then we'll have to deliver the babies now, won't we? Fortunately, the three of us are familiar with the procedure. Right, Imra?"

Imra whimpered incoherently. Furball shambled over to investigate the sound of hurt. He sniffed at the prone woman and licked her face.

"Go away! Get out of here!" Garth yelled.

"N-no, it's all right, Garth. He just wants to help." Imra protested weakly.

"Honey, be reasonable. We don't have any sterispheres or a pain suppressor-field. That animal--"

Imra paled in response to Garth's words. "Please... your anger...I-I--" her explanation was choked off by another contraction. After it passed, Imra glared at her husband and with deep breaths she explained, "I am going to have these babies... on... this... SHIP! Now I need... something to help keep me out of telepathic shock and in touch with my immediate reality. You are elected to do that! If Furball can help keep me sane, then I'm all for him staying... RIGHT HERE!"

Laurel smiled slightly as she listened to Imra override her husband's protests. Carefully, she took off Imra's boots and stockings as Imra explained to Garth what he needed to do. "Vi, I'm going to need clean cloths and some warm water. Also, turn down the lights a little. If that medikit has any psi-supressents, bring them."

"Right." Violet responded and looked for the items.

Laurel reached for Imra's free hand as Furball watched intently. "Don't worry, Imra. I've learned emergency medicine from the best and ended up delivering my little one all by myself when Rond was away. You've got the best coach for twins we could ever ask for, right beside you. You just do what you have to. We're all right here for you."

"Thank you, Laurel." Imra sighed. "Garth, I need you..." Despite the hoarseness in her throat, Garth could hear the intonation she used. She needed to share his mind, his very thoughts and memories. His soul was the safe haven she could hide in, away from the psychic cry whose echoes she could still feel. Remembering the training she gave him, Garth began to seek his spiritual balance so that his thoughts would help when she merged her mind with his.

Furball reached for the hand Laurel released, and grasped it in a seeming parody of Laurel's soothing gesture. For a moment, the beast's and woman's minds touched and she knew who the beast was.

(Brin?) she mindcalled in shocked recognition. The part of Furball's mind that could remember being human and a friend to the telepath, acknowledged her presence. Stunned out of her fragile grip on reality, she mindlinked with her husband as the next set of contractions began.

It was through Garth's mind she saw the birth. The sights his eyes gave her were textured with his love and worries for her, as well as gratitude for Laurel and the deep sense of wonder he had as he watched the miracle of his daughters entering the universe. Imra knew the twins were both girls from the moment their brains were totally developed. With a sense of relief and satisfaction, Imra sensed that they were not psychically damaged by the destruction that was happening in the Sol System as the Moon's deaththroes shook Earth into its own dance of destruction. Two worlds had essentially died fiery deaths during the twins' arrival. She also thought of the little death Brin went through every time he transformed from man to beast and back again. Someday, she promised herself, she would find Brin in his human form and convince him to let the others find a way to heal him and allow him the chance to become human permanently. Until that time, though, she would never tell another soul. Not even Garth knew, for she held that thought to herself.

The second twin was crowning, and Imra's thoughts were sheathed in pain.

The moon's explosion didn't mean anything, the ship and psishock became unimportant as she pushed and pushed and prayed the baby would hurry up and get out of the birth canal!

After an eternity of pain, the second twin was born. Garth carefully cleaned his new daughters as Laurel helped Imra with the afterbirth. Both the father and the midwife kept telling Imra how beautiful her children were, as if she didn't know already.

"We'll be entering Titan's atmosphere in ten minutes and have clearance to land at the hospital." Violet announced. "It figures we'd be ten minutes too late for the girls to arrive in style. What're their names?"

Imra looked at Garth, who handed her the two infants. They were both pink from their trauma, but it pleased both parents to see one had a reddish sheen of hair while the other was blonde. "They were going to be Dacey and Dorrit. But now, I think we'll name them Selene and Rhea, the Greek Titans of myth that represented the Moon and Earth, in honor of the worlds that died as they were born."

Garth shook his head. "Imra, we can't hang them with that guilt. Let's give them a chance to choose their own fates instead of making them live with the fact that we failed to save two worlds."

"You're right; Dacey and Dorrit is who they are," Imra agreed, as she started crying again, but this time the tears were not from shock and pain. They were tears of grief for the millions of innocents who died that day and would die in the days following, mingled with the relief that she and her daughters were not among them, thanks to those who were her dearest friends.