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Chapter 24
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She had expected the room to be stuffy or decorated with all sorts of diagrams on female physiology, but this one was neither. The air was circulated and filtered silently. The walls had pictures of natural sights around the world. Tatiana examined the pictures for a few minutes before taking out her phone to read something on the Internet. After waiting a considerable while, as was normal with any doctor’s office, she was joined by Doctor Trish Terrell.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” said the doctor. “That’s the second time this week someone tried to abduct me. I trust my staff has already begun the lab work?”

“Um, yes,” said Tatiana. She rubbed her arm, still a little surprised that they had taken her blood so readily and easily.

“Good, good. You’ll find that our tests run faster than most in the country without losing any amount of accuracy, and the results will be as confidential as you want them to be. Now, with this being your first visit here, why don’t you tell me about yourself?”

“There isn’t much to tell without talking about my powers or what I do with them.”

“Also as confidential as you want it to be.” She smiled reassuringly.

“By day, I’m both a housewife and a coffee girl. My family owns those barista carts found around the city’s hospitals and a few other places.”

“Oh right, I was wondering where I’ve seen your face. Go on.”

“By night, I’m a hero with a certain level of invulnerability and teleportation. Which reminds me, I don’t understand how they took my blood so quickly and easily. I never had the chance to warn them about normal needles breaking on my skin.”

“We have a pressing test that tells us which tools to use. Tougher skin and muscles mean a higher end of the spectrum. They’re good at spotting what is needed in no time at all.”

"Still, though, that was a surprise. Five years ago, my friend told me you were the best doctor she had, but I didn’t know you were this good.”

“My staff and I have our moments. So, who was this friend?”

“Judy Tanimoto.”

“Oh yes. Terrible tragedy.” Her mother Mai still came in for check-ups, the doctor noted internally. The topic rarely came up then. “I’m sure you don’t want to talk about that, however.”

“No, I really don’t. I came here, you see, because I’ve been feeling sick at sporadic times, and my boobs have been aching lately.”

“OK, yes, your chart says as much. What about your cravings?”

“What about them?”

“Anything specific lately?”

“Fries with honey, and a little extra salt. It lasted for over a couple weeks.”

“Do you have sex often?”

“Lots with my husband, and proud of it! Oh, I know what you’re thinking. Yes, it’s totally unprotected, and no, we’re not exactly trying to have kids. It’s just that, the possibility never really dawned on either of us.”

“You seem like a perfectly healthy young woman, barring any additional tests I may have to run. There’s no reason you can’t get pregnant.”

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be pregnant. Tatiana just didn’t want to get her hopes up. She’d spent the last five years acquiescing over the chance that the same accident that gave her powers also took away her ability to have children or start a family, though it sadly didn’t take away her cycle.

Tatiana said, “I have invulnerability, though.”

“So do a number of metahumans out there.” The doctor reminded her. “You’ve probably heard of a few heroes or villains who’ve had children after their invulnerability powers manifested.”

“All of them men.”

“What’s that got to do with it?”

“You’re the doctor. I can survive being shot at without a scratch like those men can, but they’re the ones doing the penetrating.”

“Mrs. Sanchez-Brooke . . . Mind if I call you Tatiana? Look, you said it yourself that you’re able to have sex. I can only assume you mean vaginally, as oral would be another story. Anyways, it’s you who are invulnerable, not your sex cells. If anything, it’s a wonder that you and your husband went . . . how long without protection? And no pregnancies yet?”

“Five and a half years.”

There was a knock on the door. Doctor Terrell accepted a new folder from the nurse on the other side, and closed the door again before reading its contents.

She then said to her new patient, “Congratulations, you’re going to be a mother.”

Mary and Kyra arrived at the front door of Warren’s friend’s house, each with an arm around the other’s waist. The door opened before Mary could knock.

“Hey, guys!” said Tatiana. “Come in, quickly. The party’s just getting started.”

“What are we celebrating?” asked Kyra as she and Mary followed their friend into the mansion.

“Oh, a lot of things, sweety. Besides, who needs a reason to have a good time?”

“It’s still nice to know when there is one.”

“Yeah, you’re right about that. My doctor today eased a bunch of my worries.” In fact, even now, she was still adjusting to the news, herself. Tatiana, pregnant! She would need to tell Wyatt and the rest of her family after she was done telling herself the revelation.

“Oh good, I’m glad.”

“You can sense it, can’t you?” Tatiana asked Kyra.

“I think it’s an effect from the succubus powers. It’s weird, but I guess it’s useful. Somehow? Congratulations, by the way.”

“Please don’t tell anyone. Not yet.”

“Don’t tell anyone what?” asked Mary as they ventured deeper into the mansion.

“You don’t know, but she does? Huh. Well, don’t worry about it. You’ll find out soon enough. I just need time. I’ve never thought that, well . . . ever since I got my powers . . . Oh, never mind. I’m only going to confuse myself more if I keep rambling.”

The ladies reached the room where the men were waiting.

Tatiana continued, “Jeff got a raise at work earlier today. And then there’s Warren. He’s back in one of his inventive moods.”

Mary jested, “I thought we were celebrating, not running for the hills? Warren, what are you doing with those turrets from the base?”

“Cannibalizing them, and salvaging the spare parts for storage or selling. I’ve got a better use for these things right now.” Warren explained.

“Why here, though? We could all have met at the base, for that matter.”

Warren’s almost-wicked grin spanned across his face. He said, “Mary, my friend, this is our base. Or will be soon. I got my buddy to agree to using his place for all things relating to the League. It’ll knock out half of the projects on my to-do list, including providing us with running water.”

Kyra said, “No complaints from me.” She still remembered staying at the old base, and having no access to a shower or toilet down there.

“I just have to move some things including the computer, and we’ll be all set.”

“Which reminds me,” said Tatiana. “Kyra, regarding your base access. I do believe you were only given temporary access at the time, weren’t you?”

The turrets budged and rang. They were activating.

“Tatiana,” said Mary in a warning tone of voice.

But, Tatiana went on, “It’s been over a week now, and we’ve saved you a number of times already. On the other hand, you have proven to me that you do have some worth as a hero that has yet to be explored.”

“Tatiana, Warren, what are you two doing?”

“Quiet, Mary. Please.”

“It’s OK, Mary,” said Kyra. She was uncertain what was coming, but she felt her body tremble with fear. Those turrets did not help. She stepped forward. “What’s going to happen to me now?”

“Happen to you? Silly woman, welcome into our League.”

The men cheered “Viva la Dallevan!” and the turrets transformed into dancing robots as the music picked up.

Mary planted a palm over her eyes, and moaned. Five years after it had first been said during a group meeting, that phrase was still just as wrong, and yet still accepted. Plus, she did not like feeling duped, even if the result was Kyra’s official induction into the League.

Meanwhile, Kyra was overwhelmed by everything she was seeing and hearing. Ohm Wire, a villain by consequence but still a villain, was being accepted with open arms into a group of heroes. She didn’t know what to make of that, or what to say to everyone.

Warren walked up to her and said, “I’m working on something that you can use on the field when you’re ready to do some heroics. I still have a couple hundred projects or so, but I’ll try to get it ready for you very soon.”

“It isn’t anything obscene or dangerous, is it?”

“Not at all. I just thought it would be nice if you could use a communication device that won’t short out or worse when you start generating electric fields. I’ll keep you posted when I’ve had more time with it.”

“Thanks for that.”

Next, it was Jeff who talked to her. He said, “I look forward to working with you.”

“You too,” stated Kyra.

“You don’t mind being a hero now, right? I know it seems like we’re throwing this on you.”

“Oh, it’s nothing. This seems more exciting than anything else I’ve had thrown on me. Though, truth be told, I sort of miss my mom trying to get me to perform at some major dance recital. Maybe someday, when things are back to . . . relatively normal, I’ll perform in public just once for her.”

“Let’s make it happen then. To the future, young lady.”

Mary asked Tatiana, “Shouldn’t it be ‘el Dallevan?’”

Tatiana, however, just smiled back at her and walked off.

It was Wyatt who said, “Relax. Don’t worry about the small stuff, and enjoy the evening. We’re a family again, and things are looking up.”

Plans moved forward, and now, so did he.

Bates, who had taken on this form in public one last time, meandered through the estate now that it was empty except for the magically preserved men in the cellar. This place carried memories, both happy and sad. It held secrets, some darker than others. It was meant to be a gift to honor the master of the Circle. A place for him to use however he pleased.

However, it had served its use, and its time was up, for he was the demonic master, and he willed it.

In an instant, light and flame consumed the estate and sent shockwaves and tremors several hundred feet into the ground. Bates laughed as the devastation took his human form with it. The body would have recognized pain, as the entrapped soul certainly did in its final moments in this plane of reality; but he did not while his true form remained. There was no doubt in the arch-demon’s mind that the earth recognized pain as well.

The estate was no more. Now, there was only a crater blown out of the island, and within it burnt wood, flame, and flesh seared until only black and ash remained.

Smoke rose into the air, but the arch-demon’s laughter may have beaten it to the dark sky.