Epilogue: My Name Is Lois Lane, And I Was Impregnated By A Centaur Cock

"Hello, Lois," the chorus of voices answered back.

The Titans Tower room was empty except for a circle of chairs. Lois Lane had stood up to make her little announcement, conscious of how her t-shirt was too tight, an inch of belly exposed between the bottom of the shirt and the waistband of her jeans. In a month, she'd outgrown all of her normal pants; most women weren't showing this much at 10 weeks, but Doctor Midnite had encouraged her to follow her appetites.

"Eat healthy," he said, "but eat. Don't reach for the junk food, but eat full meals. Keep healthy snacks around, if you are going to snack."

So Lois had. Pickles, sour cream, yogurt, kale chips, almond milk, tea, carrot sticks and celery, fresh fruits and frozen vegetables...but it almost seemed like she was constantly eating something. Craving something. The pounds had packed on, and Lois knew this was only the beginning.

She looked around at the heroines gathered here, and there was understanding in their faces. They had been where she was...in some sense. Lois took a deep breath and continued.

"It was ten weeks ago. I had gone for a night out, looking for these women who had gone missing...I ran into the sorceress Circe. At first, she mistook me for a prostitute. Later, when she knew who I was..." Lois shook. Swallowed. "The doctor says it's twins."

She sat down, heavily. Surprised at the emotional effort it had taken to say just that much.

Wonder Woman, dressed in civilian clothes, offered a reassuring smile.

"Welcome, Lois. You're among friends here. We're all survivors. We're all here to share our stories, to gain support from each other. Would anyone else like to share their stories with Lois?"

Stargirl. The blonde who couldn't keep her hands off her golden staff.

"It was right after my 18th birthday. There was this gang of human traffickers...a splinter group of the Crips. One of them got the drop on me with chloroform. I think...I think they started to **** me before I woke up. When I did, I was tied and gagged to a bed, and the chemicals were in my nose and mouth. I remember their leader kept saying this hateful, racist stuff...'black bred whitebread' is what he called me, after he wiped his cock off on my nose. I was rescued, six weeks later, but not before...I had a miscarriage at 14 weeks."

Catwoman, in elegant blacks and greys, wearing her sunglasses indoors.

"The early days, back when I was taking escort work in between jobs, to make ends meet. Dominatrix work, usually, not penetrative sex. I was meeting a regular client. I thought he just wanted me to step on his cock again. Shove my heel in his ass. Make him empty his wallet. Typical paypig stuff. Except I let my guard down. He had a taser concealed. I didn't see it in time. He was on me before I could recover, just pumping in...the whole thing barely lasted five minutes, and his knots were pathetic. I beat his face in and knocked out half of his teeth but...well, I had to get an abortion, seven weeks later."

Vixen, the black woman in her golden pant-suit, long nails picking at the stuffing in the chair through a hole in the side.

"My powers...make me susceptible to some animal-based villains. I'm interspecies fertile. Not normally something that comes up, but there was this villain called 'The Shark.' Like, literally, he was a tiger shark, hyper-evolved by exposure to radiation, until he became a humanoid with mental powers. He shouldn't even be attracted to human women, but...he had this plan to spawn more mutant sharks. Started **** women off boats, taking them to his lair. Inseminating them. Some artificially, some...the old fashioned way. Trying to figure out what went wrong. I tracked him down...used my Totem powers to take on the abilities of a shark, so I could follow the scent-trail through the water...but he had this electrical trap set up, and it got me. when I came to he was...he had already done it. I guess that was the good part. I never felt him. Although sometimes, I dream, and I think I could see him hovering over me...feel his hemipenes in me..." Vixen shook. "...gestation for tiger sharks is up to 16 months, and they're born in litters. Once he confirmed the pregnancy, he planned to build a device to accelerate it...wanted to use me to breed an army. But he underestimated my powers. I broke free...and he ran away, once he saw he couldn't beat me. I rescued the women and...there are species that can spontaneously abort. So I did. There were seventy of them. Pure sharks. Nothing human in them."

Carol Ferris sat with her legs crossed, directly opposite from Lois. She met the reporter's eyes.

"Before I became a member of the Star Sapphire Corps, I was possessed by an entity called Star Sapphire," Carol said. "And I would physically transform into her...and that Star Sapphire met this villain called the Predator. They...got intimate. I don't understand the whole superphysics or metaphysics of it, but Star Sapphire got pregnant. But I didn't. We were sharing my body, but we were separate and...for the next nine months, there were these times when I was a passenger in my own body. One minute I would be myself, flat stomach and no powers, and the next minute Star would take over and I'd feel what it was like to have this huge pregnant stomach, aching milk-filled breasts, and...and it took a real toll on me, especially at the end...I had to change into Star to give birth. It was like I experienced all the effects of a pregnancy, but it wasn't really mine. I guess you could say it was like being a surrogate, except I never asked for it. It was never me in control. I couldn't abort it, and I couldn't keep it, and..."

She twisted the violet ring around on her finger. "...I still think about the child, you know? I know they're not mine, and the Star Sapphire entity is long gone, but I wonder what happened to it. I wonder if that's what it'll feel like, if I ever decide to have a child of my own."

There were others. All the stories were different, and yet in a way, they were all the same. Lois Lane listened, and wondered how she had missed this over all the years she had been involved with the superhero community. The reality of these women's lives, the risks they took, the harsh realities of biology. She wondered how many others were out there who couldn't bring themselves to join the group, or maybe didn't know about it. How many women had gone through their pregnancies alone...and in a way, she felt glad to be here, glad she had decided to come and share her story with these women. With people that would understand what she had gone through.

Wonder Woman leaned over and gave the pregnant reporter's shoulder a squeeze.

"You don't have to come to every meeting," the Amazon said. "But we're here if you need us. To share our stories. To listen to what you're going through and offer our help."

"Thank you," Lois said sincerely. "Thank all of you. I really appreciate this. I didn't think that I would but..."

Warm tears flowed down from the reporter's eyes and she laughed.

"S-sorry, must be the hormones, I get weepy at the drop of a hat these days..."

It ended with a group hug. All those women coming together, taking the time just to offer a friendly ear and voice for one another...and for that brief hour, Lois felt like the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders.