Chapter 6
Garth felt he would rather be facing a hundred LSV members than sit in the dismal-looking hospital room with its whitewashed walls and dull, uniform furnishings, helpless to do anything but watch and wait while the doctors tried to diagnose the girl he loved, while Imra herself lay prone, comatose, and very sick on a hospital bed. He didn't like feeling helpless and unable to do anything.
"We haven't a clue what to do, Imra", he said, taking her still hand in his. "We're afraid to tell the doctors anything significant, but we all know we're close to losing you, and that scares us even more. I know what you would say. You'd tell us to leave the timeline alone and take you back to the thirty-first century, and what happens then will happen. But it's harder for us to make a choice. I don't want to choose."
He sighed. "The doctors think you're in a coma, but maybe your healing trance will be able to cure whatever's making you sick. That would be a win-win situation for everyone. But what if it doesn't work that way? Then what?"
The door slid open and Tinya, Chuck, and Luornu came into the room.
"Hey", said Tinya. "How's she doing?"
"For a healing trance it's normal", replied Garth. He looked at Luornu's hair, which was missing its purple and orange stripes. "Where're the other two you's?"
"One's at the vending machine and the other's stationed right outside Dr. House's office", White Luornu answered.
"Are you sure that's wise?" asked Chuck.
Luornu shrugged. "I don't know, but I am thirsty, we need a forewarning if House decides to do something, and we need to make it look like everyone's here."
"Point taken", Chuck conceded.
Just then one of Luornu's other two bodies burst into the room. "Look out, guys! House and all the other six doctors are on their way here right now!" she warned, before combining with White Luornu.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Cameron hurried alongside House as she talked.
"We have a patient who's dying, and we need the truth to cure her. Can you think of any other way to get it?"
Cameron was about to answer when Chase asked, "Is that the girl you were chasing yesterday?"
Foreman glanced at the vending machine and saw the white-haired Luornu waiting for her drink. "Yeah."
House abruptly changed direction and headed for Luornu, leaving six surprised doctors in his wake. He reached out a hand and caught Luornu's shoulder, then proceeded to pull her along on his way back to his flock of previous and current employees.
"Hey!" she protested, trying to pry his hand off.
"You are one very elusive young woman", House said, repeating Thirteen's words of the day before.
"Let me go", said Luornu.
"Not until we get some answers", said House.
"Where are we going?"
"Somewhere. I'm not telling you till we get there, 'cause you might run away."
Luornu was painfully aware that this did not bode well for the Legionnaires.
When the doctors reached the room, they saw, to their utmost astonishment and disbelief, that there were not three teenagers with their patient, as they had expected, but four – and the fourth looked exactly like the girl House was holding onto very tightly now.
"Get in", House ordered. Chase, Cameron, Foreman, Thirteen, Kutner, and Taub all filed in, then House finally released Luornu, locked the door, and yanked the curtains closed. "You've all got some explaining to do", he said to the five Legionnaires. "First of all, tell me why you" – he pointed his cane at the Luornu he'd just brought in – "and you" – he indicated the other girl in the room who was the splitting image of her – "look exactly the same, right down to the two stripes in your white hair."
The Legionnaires knew they were caught, but one of the Luornus – House couldn't tell which by now – tried to salvage the situation anyway.
"Um…we're identical twins."
"Right." House snorted. He wasn't sure about a lot of things concerning this case, but he did know that those two weren't identical twins.
"Is this façade really necessary?" Taub inquired. "Your friend could die, and we won't be able to help her."
At the anxious silence that followed, Cameron took pity on the teens and added in a gentler tone, "We can treat her, but we need to know the truth and all of the facts. At the moment we're just running blind, and that doesn't help."
The four Legionnaires exchanged glances and didn't say anything for a while. Then Tinya caught Garth's eye, and he nodded after some hesitation. Tinya took a deep breath and prepared to reveal the truth.
"Well, um…" she began. "Lu…"
Luornu understood and complied immediately, splitting one of her bodies into two and removing both her holorings. Now, much to the stunned amazement of the seven doctors, there were three Luornus, and each had a different hair colour.
"We're not exactly triplets", Purple-hair Luornu explained. "We're more like three thirds of the same person."
"But we've got slightly different personalities", added Orange-hair Luornu.
"But we're still the same person", put in White-hair Luornu, and the three of them combined into the one, original Luornu they had first seen. "I'm Triplicate Girl, from the planet Cargg, and I'm a member of the Legion of Superheroes."
House's eyes were wider than even Chase, who had known him the longest, had ever seen them. The other doctors bore similar expressions.
Garth closed the fingers of his left hand into a fist, and a white-blue ball of electricity crackled around it. "I'm Lightning Lad, from the planet Winath, and I helped found the Legion of Superheroes."
Chuck inflated into a ball, upsetting both Cameron and Thirteen, and bounced up and down. "I'm Bouncing Boy, from Earth, and I'm a Legionnaire too."
Finally, Tinya sank through the floor and came up behind the doctors, who were by now too stunned to process most things. "I'm Phantom Girl, from the planet Bgtzl, and I'm also from the Legion."
"Your patient is Saturn Girl, a telepath from the Saturnian moon of Titan, and one of my co-founders", said Garth, pointing at the bed.
"And we're all from the 31st century", declared all three of Triplicate Girl's bodies.
There was a deadly quiet silence following this unbelievable announcement. House, naturally, decided to break it first, with the statement that came most readily to his mind – the usual reaction that accompanied this type of declaration and the only logical explanation he could find.
"You're all insane."
"We are not", Garth declared hotly.
"I know it's a lot to take in", said Chuck, "But it's true."
"Yet another reason why you all belong in a psych ward", muttered House.
"If that's true, how can we do everything we just did?" challenged Garth, lighting up his fist once more to prove his point.
"That…I don't know", admitted House. "I'm still trying to come up with a rational explanation for that – if there even is one."
"There is", said Tinya. "You are not the only inhabitants of the universe. We all come from different planets, and as such, we all have different physiologies, in which centuries of evolution have developed precise genetic codes that results in our individual powers."
"You're starting to sound like Brainy", Chuck mumbled.
"Look, the fact of the matter is", put in Orange-hair Luornu, "that the 31st century is a very different place from the 21st."
House shook his head. This experience was becoming more and more unreal by the minute, but as he could find no other, logical explanation for everything, he thought he was willing to accept what these teenagers said as the truth.
"Okay, so say I believe you", he started slowly, "What can you tell me about Miss Mind Reader's biology over there?" He pointed his cane at Imra.
"Well, first of all, she's not in a coma", Purple-hair Luornu replied.
"Not in a coma?" repeated Foreman. "But all the signs…"
"Yes, it may seem that way physically", said White-hair Luornu. "But it's not a coma."
"What is it, then?" asked Taub, somewhat skeptically.
"It's a healing trance", Garth answered. "Her mind's shut her body down so it can recuperate, but her brain's still working. Usually, she heals herself well enough, and she wakes up good as new, but I'm not sure what the result will be in this case. She's never been so sick before." He looked away, and Tinya rubbed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"All right", said House. "No coma – healing trance. Got it. What else?"
"The anomaly you found in her blood, the pair of extra chromosomes…?" began Chuck.
"How'd you know about that?" Kutner interrupted.
"Erm…" Orange-hair Luornu looked sheepish.
"Never mind", Kutner said.
"Yeah, anyway, that chromosome pair is the genetic code for Imra's telepathy", continued Chuck. "She's the most powerful telepath of her generation."
"Which is absolute diddly-squat to me, seeing how it isn't medically relevant to her case", pointed out House. "Next."
"Blood types in the 31st century are complex and more varied", said Tinya. "Imra's red blood cells contain what you term protein A, but also a substance called telophyte, which is present only in Titanians and which renders blood transfusions from a normal 21st century Type A impossible."
"Great. No transfusions. Anything else?"
The Legionnaires looked at each other. "We can't think of any other biological differences at the moment, but you could talk to her previous doctor", Chuck suggested hesitantly. Garth shot him a look, and Chuck understood that if Brainy was annoyed at this turn of events, he would be blamed for it.
"Wonderful", said House, seeming genuinely pleased. "Who is he?"
"Brainiac 5, another Legionnaire", replied Orange-hair Luornu, ignoring the raised eyebrow from her white sister.
At this, any pleasure he had shown vanished. "Brainiac? You mean the psychomaniac robot guy who was Superman's arch-nemesis?"
White-hair Luornu sighed exasperatedly. "I told you he'd react that way."
"What?" Orange-hair asked defensively. "Brainy would be the best person to tell him about Imra's physiology."
"Excuse my sisters", said Purple-hair Luornu. "What they mean to say is that our Brainy is not the Brainiac 1.0 of your century, but rather a distant descendant who has turned away from his legacy and is a hero."
"Are you saying Superman and Batman and all the other heroes of the 21st century exist too?" asked Kutner.
"Well, I don't know about the 'other heroes'", replied Orange-hair Luornu, "But Superman and Batman, definitely."
"Cool", said Kutner, smiling. Thirteen glanced at him incredulously. "What? It is."
"And unfortunately Brainiac 1.0 too", muttered White-hair. "Now can we please get back to Imra's case before we shatter any more perceptions or world views?"
"Yes, let's", spoke up Chase unexpectedly. "I'd rather not find out if giant slugs and man-eating plants are real too."
"Well, actually…" began Orange-hair Luornu.
"Can it!" said Purple-hair, elbowing her orange sister in the ribs. "They don't need to know that stuff. Besides, White's right. If we're gonna call Brainy, we might as well do it now so Dr. House can get on with diagnosing Imra."
"Thank you!" said House.
Garth took his ring out of his pocket and put it on his finger. "Brainy, this is Lightning Lad. Come in."
The green face of the twelfth-level intellect appeared almost immediately, took stock of the situation from what he could see, and said, in a tone speaking volumes of disbelief and incredulity, "You told them?"
"They were closing in, Brainy, and they caught Trip while she was split", explained Tinya, forestalling any verbal abuse from the Coluan.
Brainy sighed. "Very well. Let me talk to Dr. House."
"Glad to oblige", said House, stomping over to Garth. "Fascinating", he remarked. "It's actually a hologram transmitting over space as well as time. How did you people come up with such a thing?"
"Ahem", Brainy said pointedly. "We are here to discuss Saturn Girl's case, not 31st century inventions. What do you need to know?"
"What I need", said House, "is for you to get your green ass down to the lowly 21st century to do a differential diagnosis with my team – and while you're at it, why don't you bring a few units of Type A Titanian blood in case your friend happens to need a transfusion. A trans-time call is no way to solve a medical case."
"Impossible", said Brainy flatly. "We already have five Legionnaires a thousand years in the past with three holorings and a time-bubble device; a sixth person with more advanced equipment would be asking for a disaster, in such that the ramifications of such an act would have a 48.6% chance of paving the way toward an unprecedented…"
"Shut up!" said House. "I don't need to hear all that. You brought your friend to the past so I could diagnose her; to do that, I need you to do a differential diagnosis with my team; to do that, you need to come here. Now, I'll ask you again: do you want to get yourself and your smart mouth over here, or do you want your friend to die?"
There was a short pause, and Brainy sighed again.
"I'll be there in a minute."
"You do that", said House, as the call terminated.
A/N: So the cat's out of the bag. Well, it had to happen some time. Don't worry, though, I think I resolved the problem well enough - but that's for you to find out in the final chapter. Anyway, Violet Rose, congrats on guessing that Imra's only in a healing trace. And leath, I know I seem to torture Imra no end, but she's my favourite character. For some weird reason, the more I like a character, the more I torture them. But I won't go overboard. Promise.
We have a new reviewer today! Please welcome the sister of Devilbunnyxox, TheEclipse93! Thank you to Eclipse for reviewing, as well as Devilbunny, leath, and The Violet Rose. Special thanks to Violet for reviewing on every single chapter so far. And if you guys want in on my subscriber's list (meaning you'd receive a heads-up and literary trailers for every story I write), drop me a line! Even anonymous users can get on the list, if you're willing to give me your email address. If you don't want to, that's okay.
Disclaimer: Has this ever happened in canon? No? Well, then, I obviously don't own the shows.