Part 5

"Jane, call 911! Hurry!" Daria was gone, with nothing but a fading emerald trail in the sky behind her.

Seconds later, Daria arrived at the Gupty home. Just as she feared, the house was ablaze. The car was gone, but she knew that Lauren and Lester didn't like to keep the kids out this late. The children must still be inside.

I need to get in..how? She raised her fist and a battering ram erupted, splintering the front door. She flashed inside and landed on the foyer. The air was thick and dark with smoke. Her aura protected her lungs from the smoke and heat, but Daria couldn't see a thing. "Tad! Tricia! Where are you?" No answer. Let me try infrared..no good, too much heat all around. Wait a minute...are these? Yes! The stairs...

Daria flew up the stairwell to the second level. No flames here, but smoke everywhere. Here's the kids' room.. She entered the bedroom and swept it with her goggles...empty! Where are they? "Taaad! Tricia!"

She stopped and listened. Flames downstairs getting louder...must be getting closer. Can't hear anything...wait! She thought that she could just make out muffled voices. She scanned the room again...Of course! The closet! Daria ran over and opened the closet door. There the kids were, huddled on the floor in their pajamas, clutching each other and sobbing.

"I woke up and smelled smoke and there was smoke everywhere and I woke Tad and we couldn't breathe and we ran to the closet and started yelling - Who are you?" The girl said, coughing.

"It's okay, Tricia. I'm a friend. Here, you and Tad grab on to me, we're getting out of here." She picked up the Gupty children, one in each arm, gripped them tightly, and extended her aura to enclose them. "Don't be afraid of the light, it'll protect you from the fire. You ready?" They nodded. "Good. Here we go."

Daria flew the children through the window and deposited them on the front lawn, near the sidewalk arch. "Are you two okay?" She asked.

Tad and Tricia were jumping up and down, chattering, the fire momentarily forgotten. "We were flying!" "We flew!" "I know you now, you're a superhero!" "You're Green Lantern!" "I thought Green Lantern was a guy!" "I thought Green Lantern was black!" "Is that ring magic?" "What else can you do? Quinn has got to see this!" They looked around. "Quinn! Where are you? There's a real live superhero here!"

Daria gasped. "Quinn's your babysitter?" She looked back at the house, now fully ablaze. "Oh my god, she must still be in there! You two stay here!" Daria raced back inside the inferno.

Quinn wasn't upstairs with the kids, Daria thought, she must have been downstairs. Still can't see...infrared is useless, have to feel my way around...feel! That's it! She willed her goggles away and replaced them with a sonar set. The entire area sprang to life as ultrasound filled the room and bounced back to her headset. Daria checked the dining room and living room. No Quinn. The kitchen was an inferno. If Quinn was here, it was too late. No it can't be. Daria bit her lip, bitterly. Am I too late?

Can she be anywhere else? Wait! The laundry room!

Daria flew across the kitchen, down a short hall and into the laundry room. It was filled with smoke, the flames just reaching it. Quinn lay sprawled across a hamper. Daria quickly examined her. No signs of burns, but she was clearly unconscious. She picked up Quinn like a rag doll and slung her across her shoulder.

The side of the house erupted in a explosion of flaming debris, the center of which was a green bubble, inside of which Daria carried Quinn. She flew to the Gupty children and deposited her on the lawn. She's not breathing, Daria thought. What do I do? Well, here's where watching all those medical shows comes in handy. She began CPR, straddling Quinn's chest and beginning chest compressions. One, two, three, four, five, six...breathe one breathe two..

Tad and Tricia had long ago figured out to unblock their cable TV, and had seen enough medical shows on the sly to see that Quinn was in deep trouble. "Is Quinn all right?" Tricia asked, pulling on Daria. "Green Lantern, is Quinn gonna die?" Tad started to wail.

One, two, three, four, five, six...breathe one breathe two.. "No, she's not going to die," Daria grunted. Both children were now terrified, crying and screaming. How am I going to calm them? More compressions.. One, two, three, four, five, six...breathe one breathe two.. Daria thought. She could hear sirens in the distance. Will they get here in time?

"Tad, Tricia, hush." Daria closed her eyes, and in a blinding flash, her costume was gone, replaced by her street clothes. As if on cue, Quinn coughed, and then started to breathe on her own. Daria turned to the kids, smiled and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "You know I wouldn't let anything happen to my sister."

Daria! You're Green Lantern! You're a superhero!

"Let me see if I can save your house, kids." Daria stood and fired a beam at the Gupty house, enveloping it in a dome. A vacuum pump attached itself to the dome and whirred loudly, sucking the smoke into the sky. In seconds, the fire was out.

"Yay, Daria, you did it! The fire's out!"

"Shh, don't tell anyone," Daria said, kneeling and taking each child by the hand. This is our secret, okay?"

Tricia spoke. "What do you think we are, stupid? We know all about secret identities. We'll never tell. Right, Tad?"

Daria heard a moan. Quinn was starting to come around. "Dar-" She coughed. "Daria! Are the kids-"

"Don't worry." Daria propped up her sister. "They're fine."

"Yeah, D- a new Green Lantern saved us," Tad said. "She saved you too!"

Tricia thought quickly and then nudged Daria. She then pointed skyward. "See? There she goes!"

Taking Tricia's cue, Daria held her hand behind her back, formed an image of herself in costume and made it streak across the sky.

"A skirt with tights? "Quinn sighed. "That's so 90's." She lay down again.

Daria could hear the Lawndale FD arrive at the far side of the house. She collapsed the bubble and the house started to smolder again. The firefighters rushed inside, knocking out the hot spots.

"Hey you guys, over here!" Daria looked up and saw Jane leading two paramedics with a stretcher.

While they treated Quinn, Jane hastily took Daria aside. "I saw most of it," Jane whispered. "I've got you covered."

A TV news crew arrived and set up, breathlessly reporting the arrival of a new Green Lantern in Lawndale and her dramatic rescue of three people in a house fire. While the sister of one of the victims rode with her to hospital, her friend and the other two victims gave the reporter a dramatic story of how the GL saved the three, put out the fire and modestly took off before they could thank her properly. Jane even provided an artist's sketch of Lawndale's own superhero.