Other than that, the medical team checking over the ritualist appear perfectly competent. The technology they're using is Krypton-inspired, but human designed and built. Nothing I couldn't do with a power ring, but I imagine that they trust their instruments more than mine.
The physician studying his face looks my way.
Don't dismiss whatever
assumptions they have due to ideology, OL. I have no doubt they already have
opinions about the boy, whatever their instruments say.
"The skin of the cheeks is new?"
"Part of what happens when they're affected by the demonic magic is that they get a Glasgow grin." I reach up to my own right cheek with my right hand, tracing a line along my own cheek. "I felt it would be detrimental to his recovery to leave it in place."
It's also
nasty as hell. I doubt it would make them any
more kindly-disposed towards him...
"I would have preferred a unaltered specimen."
"There's a planet containing hundreds of people with similar alterations. We need this one to be able to open the portal."
That's still a big 'if', OL. And for all you know, Wolf's already working on making another portal.
"He hardly needs his cheeks for that. I assume that's how he got here in the first place?"
I turn to The Bat.
Boy, this doctor is really rubbing OL the wrong way, isn't he? I suppose he's finally getting a taste of how some people see him.
"I assume that the Reich has dispensed with the Hippocratic Oath?"
"The version used may not be what you are familiar with. Doctor, the status of the patient?"
I shudder to imagine the adjustments... Bet they align a lot with the perceived 'value' of the patient, in racial terms...
"We haven't finished the full genetic workup-."
"Just.. what you have."
Basically, is he okay to be woken up? OL
is kind of on the
clock here.
"The subject is in reasonable general health. I would usually say that for a youth of his age his physiology is underdeveloped, but since I do not know his background-."
"Please, Doctor."
I'm guessing he's usually not so
rushed, hmm?
"He's short, his muscles are not developed for strength and he's underfed. Left arm was broken in two places but has almost fully healed. Initial blood results show… No disease, and perhaps a heightened stress level. That might explain some of the other abnormalities. Brain development appears normal, though the patterns of activity are similar to those of coma patients."
"I don't suppose that you have any magic scanners, do you?"
Some of those
could just be the whole demonic cultist thing. If I remember right, he was also Middle Eastern, and that region is never in a pleasant shape in
any DC universe. Never
mind being a dupe for Deathstroke.
"Magic is a tool for primitive peoples who lack the whit for technology. It is not a tool for a proper Aryan."
Ah.
Get used to this, OL. Most of the planet are like the doctor here, I suspect.
I generate an opaque shield around myself and The Bat.
"You're going to need to explain that one to me, because it sounds like it might become relevant."
Ah, a quick bit of exposition, eh? It'll be interesting to see how Mr Zoat manages this.
"When Karl Kant's capsule first arrived, the Führer determined that he was an Aryan of a more advanced sort sent back in time from national socialists in the distant future."
"What?"
...To be fair, it's not that crazy, given some of the
other beliefs about Aryans, at the time. Nor is the time-travel thing as part of Kal-El's origins.
Red Son, anyone?
"You think that makes less sense than a perfectly human-seeming alien?"
"I don't see why he would have felt the need to weigh in at all. The origin isn't a point of ide… Ol… Ogy."
...Hitler would have claimed
Jesus was an Aryan, if he could have managed it. Are you so surprised that he'd pull something
this crazy?
Except that was a febrile time. If he could make immediate political capital out of it, he would. It's not as if Nazi biological pseudoscience made any sense anyway.
"Yes. We know better now, but the policy was established. The technology we had been given was a pure Aryan technology from the pure Aryan future, so that was the only avenue we would follow. Everything else was for the subhumans. There's some leeway, but magic is officially banned."
And then we remember that Herr Fledermaus, for all his
reasonable authority figure cred, is
still a Nazi. One likely
raised with the ideology, given his
youth circa World War II.
"Would you mind if I quote you on that?"
"No? It is public knowledge?" He looks puzzled. "In what context would be quoted?"
...Are you asking
just so you can say that a Nazi would try to ban magical research?
"If anyone asked me about banning magic again, you would be quoted as a leading national socialist superhero. It could help me convince a lot of people."
"Then by all means."
Admittedly, it'd be to convince people the
other way. But he doesn't need to know
that.
"But now people know that he's an alien..?"
"Some people are more ideological than is… Sensible. Claims have been made that Krypton is a world that will be colonised by Aryans in the future, rather than an alien world."
And how would that even
work?
No, no, don't try to
explain it, I don't want to
lower anyone's intelligence by hearing the justifications...
"So magic is abhorrent."
"If it were essential, we might be able to get some tribal shaman from one of the African subhuman reservations. It would be better not to. And in any case, if they had the power to travel to alternate worlds then they wouldn't still be here."
...African.
Reservations. Yeah, I could see why they'd
want to leave.
"Kryptonians didn't study parallel universe travel. You're having to innovate after being led by the hand for seventy years. How lucky do you feel?"
"Is magic a proper Aryan field of study on your home Earth?"
...I don't know, what's your feelings on the '
Aryanness' of Atlanteans? I mean,
some versions of the concept probably think that Aryans were ancient Atlanteans, or some silliness.
"It's becoming increasingly mainstream, both because of the utility and because we keep getting attacked by magic users. The concept of 'Aryanness' isn't relevant to us."
"I see." He nods at the barrier, and I drop it. "Sorry, Doctor, we needed a private conversation. You were saying?"
No doubt the doctor was taking advantage of their discussion to get some more tests done...
"A coma. Obviously I don't know anything about magic, but great strides have been made in the field of psychopharmacology in recent years. I'm confident that we can rouse him."
"Good. Then please, cont-."
...Let's not go rushing in
blindly here, guys.
"Wait. What exactly are you planning on injecting him with?"
"Are you a physician?"
No, but he
can make a good showing as one using his Ring. Especially with a Purple Healing Ray in tow.
"What approximately are you planning on injecting him with?"
"Various psychoactive substances, neurotransmitters-."
Oh god, he's going to be
tripping balls when he wakes up, isn't he?
"Side effects."
"Does potential long term harm really matter in this instance? He's a degenerate and almost certainly a subhuman."
Curb the impression of Doctor Mengel, buddy. Little
more at stake here.
"It matters because we need him coherent. Just being conscious isn't enough if you mess up his memory or hand eye coordination."
The doctor looks to The Bat for instruction.
He has a point. Not much good having him
awake if he can't remember how to cast the portal spell, or is so shaky that he can't do the hand gestures.
"He has a point, Doctor. I know little more about magic than you do, while he is better informed."
The doctor disgruntledly acquiesces.
Probably with a silent curse towards all 'dumbkopf Wunder-Mensch...'
"I suppose we can baby him, if you insist. But that will almost certainly delay him regaining consciousness."
The Bat nods. "We will manage. I-."
Better than
breaking a teenage boy's
mind for the sake of
expediency.
A low, warbling alarm sounds throughout the castle, causing The Bat to march over to a wall-mounted communications device. He presses a button, then grimaces before turning to me.
"It seems that the demons are not taking this lying down. Will you accompany us as we discipline them?"
Ah, looks like Superman and the Kants decided to hold off attacking? Or maybe they've got Wolf by the short-and-curlies and
forcing him to open the way for them...
