14th March
16:11 GMT -5
"You did this?"
Ah, she's located
my brief fling with genocide, a reconstruction of the destruction of the Citadel Complex playing on the screen.
"A few friends and I, yes.
"
"You purged them."
"I prefer precise descriptions. We didn't feed them
laxatives after all. We exterminated them. And I'm
slightly uncomfortable that it feels like you're going to imply there's no difference between what I did and what your forebears did.
"
"What do
you think the difference is?"
"There was a story a Jew who escaped N-.
National Socialist-
" She nods appreciatively.
"-Germany. He'd fought in the First World War and been awarded an Iron Cross. But the restrictions on Jews were getting worse and he didn't particularly want to get murdered. So he withdrew his money from his bank, packed his suitcase and headed for the border. The border guard wanted to examine the contents, because it was illegal to take more than a certain amount of money out. So he handed it over, the guard popped it open, took one look at the Iron Cross on top,
heiled him, closed the suitcase without examining it and handed it back.
"
"If a Jew had an Iron Cross then he
stole it."
"Eighteen thousand Jews won an Iron Cross during World War One.
" I point to the monitor.
"Feel free to look it up. I can't promise that there are scans of the individual certificates attached, but unlike the National Socialist Party we haven't purged our archives. Heck, there were even a
few Jews who won an Iron Cross during the
Second World War, fighting for Finland.
"
She's already accessing the archives of the German military, which has made a point of ensuring that the information is easy to locate. Truth isn't a
perfect tool for keeping out National Socialist mind control efforts, but I suppose that you do what you can.
"Jews in the World War One military served disproportionately in front line roles-.
"
"There were no front line Jewish officers."
"True, but that was because it was illegal for them to be given front line commands, not because they were ducking them. Honestly, it's like-.
"
"Recognized, Superboy B zero four, Miss Martian, B zero five."
The zeta tube lights dim, and Kon and M'gann stroll in. M'gann's in Megan mode, and neither of them notice Angelika at first. Kon glances my way-
"Hey."
-and then returns his full attention to M'gann.
"Hi there. This is-
"
M'gann notices Angelika first, blinks in surprise and then smiles.
"Hi! Um, who-?"
"Overgirl.
" Since she didn't say I could call her Angelika.
"She's a Supergirl-equivalent from a parallel universe. I'm minding her until the League can work out how to send her home.
"
"Good-." Her eyes fix themselves on Kon's chest. No, Kon's red 'S' on black background emblem. "-afternoon."
Kon gives her a small smile. "Another kryptonian, huh?"
"That is not quite right. It would be more accurate to say that I am a combination of human and kryptonian."
Kon's smile broadens slightly. "So you're more of a
me-equivalent." He walks forward and holds out his right hand. "I'm Superboy."
Angelika steps around the hologram and shakes his hand. "Overgirl. Though it sounds strange in English."
"Oh!" M'gann grins. "Are you from a parallel universe where everyone's genders are reversed? Are you dating your
Mister Martian?"
"Ah-? No. No, I am not dating a martian."
Though she doesn't appear to feel the same level of visceral disgust at the idea that she did at the idea of dating a 'subhuman'.
"My Earth is not so similar to this one."
Kon nods. "Oh? What's different?"
"We have had access to kryptonian technology for sixty years. Earth technology is far more advanced as a result." She glances back at the screen. "Though this holographic interface is not too different from what I used at home."
"So… Is that it? Did a Kryptonian ship crash-land on Earth or something?"
"No, our..
Superman came to Earth at an earlier point in our history than yours. The people who found him analysed his pod, accessed its data stores and took information from there."
Which… Means that Hitler shared more kryptonian technology with the world than our Kal-El. I… Don't think I want to think about that. Interesting that she's not mentioning the
impact of the divergence regarding the Second World War. If she's trying to get someone else's perspective… Fine, that can only help my case. Though I hope she manages to be more subtle than just asking 'so how do you feel about Jews, Superboy?' or something.
Kon nods sympathetically. "Yeah, Superman's not keen on doing that. I don't really get it. I mean, humans already have nuclear missiles and-" His eyes flick my way. "-death rays and stuff, so what difference does it make if they get kryptonian crystal-based construction technology as well? If
anything, tougher buildings should make people
safer."
Har-Zod isn't in favour of sharing with humans. And Kal-El is the closest thing to legitimate kryptonian authority here. I've… Got a contingency plan for if the League needs to end its relationship with the UN
for some reason. The Kryptonian database has all
sorts of designs which could be easily marketed without threatening anyone's secret identity, enabling the League to be financially independent and entirely open about where the money was coming from.
"Unfortunately, even kryptonian technology is not impervious to weapons which terrorists can bring to bear."
I might wonder whether or not the Nazis-. The
other Nazis would have killed her parents in order to get a test subject. But if there
is an ongoing insurgency, they'd hardly
need to. Particularly if they didn't have a special reason to think that she would be a success, and particularly given that a German couple who themselves would have grown up in an intensely Nazi-friendly environment would probably have been
happy to allow their daughter to become superhuman.
"Sure, but it's better at it than human stuff."
I raise my eyebrows.
"What's your armour made out of again?
"
"Okay, yeah, but we still can't make enough orichalcum for construction projects."
Sad but true.
"So, what can you do?"
"Everything that Overman can, but to a lesser degree."
Kon frowns. "You can fly?"
"Yes." Overgirl rises into the air. "You cannot fly?"
"No. Didn't have heat vision, either."
"But you do now?"
"Kinda." His eyes
blaze with white light and M'gann backs away slightly. "But not from-."
"Recognized, Aqualad, B zero two."
Ohhhh….
Fiddle.
