The End of Days Pt. 1 - Phoenix Rising

“Baby can you get that?” a husky male voice said in her ear. Emma groaned her displeasure.

“You get it!” She huffed, pulling the down comforter up over her ears. It was Saturday morning. Nobody with any decency called your home on a Saturday morning anyway.

“This isn’t my house and it isn’t your house phone.” He grumbled, following in her disappearing act under the blankets.

“Damn it” Emma said, reaching over for her cell. It was one of her two cell lines. “Phoenix” she spit into the receiver. Phoenix Queen was her full moniker, but no one ever used it. Technically no one ever used her full name of Emerald either, but that was by her own design.



“Phoenix, we have a problem.”


Don’t we always, Emma thought to herself.

“What’s up Jerry?” Jerry was her local law enforcement contact. He was the only person on the Local force who was allowed access to her on-call number. He’d been there for her when she’d gotten started. It also didn’t hurt that he was one of the few non super humans who knew her by her first name. He thought it was cute that her mother had named she and her sisters after precious stones: Diamond, Ruby and Emerald. As adults, they all went by nickname: Di, Bea, and Emma. There were fewer jokes that way.

“I’ve got a reporter here saying that you were scheduled for an interview in front of the station today. What do you want me to do with him?”Emma sighed.

“Did you really call me at 9 in the morning about this Jerry?” she was annoyed.

“Give me a break Phoenix, the rest of the world is up! Some people don’t get to sleep in.” He scoffed at her bad attitude as if she were being lazy.

“Was the rest of the world up helping to rescue flood victims in Thailand last night or was that me?” She was angry, her hands were heating up. She hated how being a super human made people feel as if they had a right to her time, like she owed the world her service.

“Oh, my bad your royal hotness. I didn’t know you were on that one. Get your sleep then Kiddo. I’ll reschedule the interview for you.” Jerry handled the local press for her, and he was mostly a good guy, just a little bothersome sometimes.

Justin pulled the blankets from over his face. He was a looker, for certain. His cinnamon brown skin was melted evenly over his sharp features and chiseled frame. His eyes were light grey, so light that people sometimes thought he had cataracts or was blind.

“Since you’re up now Em, how about some breakfast?” He asked sheepishly.

“How about you go to hell? I’m tired Justin.” She scolded the man.

“Hey, I came all the way from New York to be with you last night in Thailand. That doesn’t earn a brotha some grits and eggs?” Emma pursed her full lips to the side and wrinkled the creamy caramel skin of her forehead in response.

“You travel at the speed of lightning Justin; that took you all of 2 seconds. Let’s just be honest, you came last night because you knew I would take you home afterwards, not because you were so anxious to help out in Thailand.” Justin offered one of his trademark smiles that the TV camera’s loved.

“Actually it only took a fraction of a second, but who’s counting right? Besides, what is the point of having a super hero boyfriend, if he isn’t going to step up and help you out from time to time?” He said placing a placating kiss on her furrowed brow.

“You aren’t my boyfriend Justin, we’re screwing.”

“Right” Justin retorted. “We’ve been screwing regularly for two years, you have the keys to my place, I have the keys to yours, I’ve washed your car, you’ve washed my laundry and I’ve met your mother. I am your boyfriend Emma. Get over it.”

Emma rolled her eyes. He always had to be so damned logical. On the upside, he could literally send chills down her spine considering his ability to manipulate electricity. That was a pretty handy trick in the bedroom.
The world knew her would-be man as The Spark, but the real Justin Chambers could be something of a buzz kill, which was kind of ironic with him being the living embodiment of electricity.

“Whatever, how do you want your eggs.” Emma asked as she wrapped up in a white cotton sheet and padded barefoot across the carpet out of her bedroom and into the kitchen.

“The same way I’ve wanted them for the last two years Em,” Justin teased. He was good for teasing. Despite everything, the man was in a constant good mood. It was extremely annoying.

Her house was cozy but a little big for a single woman. It was a single story three bedroom place located on a cul-de-sac. That meant, of course, that she lived right in the heart of suburbia: Corona, California.  The only reason she was able to get the place so cheap was because her sister, Bea, was a realtor and managed the property. That was her superpower, aside from being telepathic, which may or may not have helped her home sales.


Di, the eldest, was Telekinetic and a very popular stylist in Hollywood, or where ever a filming would take place. They each took jobs that allowed them the freedom to move around and disappear from time to time. Emma was an editor for a popular women’s magazine, which Justin blamed for her Uber-progressive, independent woman, super commitment issues.

Emma tied her sheets tight and went to gathering eggs from the fridge. Before she could pull a skillet out, Justin was rummaging the fridge in his boxers. Emma had expected no less. She would make the eggs but he would make the pancakes, sausage, hash browns and fresh squeezed orange juice. That was always the way of it. Not only because he could have everything prepped and ready to cook in seconds, but because Emma was a horrible cook. Justin often puzzled at how someone who had complete control of flame managed to either burn or undercook everything.

“Hey Em, the pilot’s out on the stove again.” Justin called back behind him as Emma pondered if she would use garlic salt or seasoned salt on the eggs. “I don’t understand why you don’t just get a new oven. This one is always going out.” Justin grumbled. He was the type of guy who enjoyed shiny new things like 3D flat screen TV’s and high tech gadgetry. He never got why Emma held on to old things. Nothing in her place was new or up to date. She didn’t even have cable.

“Why would I waste the money when I can just do this?” She approached the stove, turned on the gas and stared intently at the pilot, her eyes turning the bright orange of fire. A giant flame, 3 feet high, burst from the pilot, and with a wave of her palm, Emma settled it down to size.

“You could have just lit a match.” Justin said shaking his head. “Or better yet, get a stove that works. You keep that up, one of your neighbors is going to see you and know who you are.”

“They already know who I am. I am Emerald May Davis. Phoenix queen is just an annoying knick name the press gave me.”

“Really? I thought Phoenix Queen was your birth name. I had no idea that super heroes had real names and real lives, and did things like make breakfast in their underwear. ” Justin said in the most serious voice he could muster.

“Don’t be an ass Justin.” Emma scowled while tossing a kitchen towel at her barely dressed man.
“And don’t get your panties in a bunch Em. Oh wait, you aren’t wearing any panties right now are you?” He asked, turning quickly and pinning her against the cabinet. Before Emma could protest, Justin’s hands were holding firmly to her waist and lifting her up and onto the cabinet.

“I thought you wanted eggs?” Emma questioned teasingly. Justin untied the makeshift knot and watched the sheet fall away from Emma’s slender frame. Her B cups bounced pleasantly into view.

“I changed my mind.”

“And I thought you were worried about people seeing” Emma was barely able to say as she gestured towards the open kitchen window she was sitting in front of. It was hard to speak with Justin already suckling at one of her pert breast and with his thumb gently circling her center of pleasure, sending tiny static shocks through her body in just the way she liked.

Her words stopped him in his progression.

“You know what I meant Emerald about being seen. We have to be careful about people finding out, and you know that. You know what happened with Carlos.” His voice was suddenly stoic. She knew he was serious because he’s used her first name, all of it.

Emma was silenced. Carlos Moreno was a fellow brother in arms. He’d been fighting crime and helping save the world since he was a teenager. He moonlighted as football coach at his local high school. After more than ten years of serving the world, he decided he wanted to retire, teach full time and focus on his family. His wife was pregnant.

Carlos revealed his identity to the world. The next day at work, while taking questions from his students about being a super hero, he was asked to step outside by a bunch of suits. Sure, he could have fought his way out of there, but the government knew he would never put his kids in jeopardy that way. No one ever saw him again after that day. His wife, Janet, gave birth alone. Soon after, suits came for her and the baby. Even with all the resources in the super human community, no one ever found out what happened to them.

Simone dipped her head, pained at the thought of losing her long time friend. She’d been at Jan and Carlos’ wedding.

 Her mother had taught Emma and her sisters long ago, that no matter how much they tried to help people, someone would always be afraid of them and someone would always be willing to lock them away forever and treat them like lab rats for their own personal gain. Her mother had lived that reality. She didn’t want it for her girls. She sighed and laid her head down on Justin’s shoulder.

“Do you think that maybe you can come with me today to pick out a new oven?” Suddenly keeping a low profile seemed like a great idea.

“Yeah babe, you got it.” Justin placed a soft kiss to her bare shoulder.

“I kinda killed the moment. So… I’m not getting any now I am?” he asked cautiously.

“That depends” she said against his chest.

“On what?” he asked, somewhat hopeful.

“If the suits ever got me, would you come for me?”

“Not a chance Em. If the suits ever got to you that would mean that I was already dead, because I would never let it happen so long as I lived.” Emma smiled.

“Oh yeah, that answer definitely gets you some.”

“It does, does it?” Justin says clasping his fingers in Emma’s messy hair and turning her face up to him. “Right here, right now?”

She spread her thighs and wrapped them around his.

“Right here, right now.”

She’d worry about the suits another time. The fact was that they were coming. She knew and so did all the other heroes. The joint governments were coming for them. The day of the super hero was coming to an end.