Chapter 16: Bust Up
"You wanted to see me, Kal?" Diana asked, Clark didn't look away from the computer screens, instead he simply said.
"Thank you for coming, Diana. I know you're busy, but we needed to talk." He pointed to something happening in Australia. "What do you think that is?"
Diana came and stood next to him and then replied. "It looks like a group of people are protesting."
"What do you think they're protesting?" Clark asked.
"I don't know, Clark." Diana said in a tone that belied her frustration. "Humans protest a lot of things."
Clark looked away from the screen and at Diana. "They're protesting us Diana. They're protesting our interference in their affairs."
"Ungrateful little…"Diana said before Clark interrupted.
"They're not ungrateful, Diana, they're scared." Clark replied. "They're used to us coming out and fighting bad guys, not getting involved in the affairs of their governments. They think we're trying to take over and they're terrified."
"So?" Diana asked. "Let them be terrified. Humanity could do with being a bit terrified."
Clark wanted to bang his fist on the table, but he knew doing that wouldn't get his point across, so instead he simply said. "Diana, we need the people to trust us, if what we want to do is going to work. We need them to see that we're on their side, we're not their enemies. We can't achieve that if we go off the rails."
"What are you talking about Clark?" Diana asked.
"Arkham." Clark said looking her right in the face.
"Not this again." Diana sighed.
"Yes, this again." Clark said. "Diana, you went beyond what we agreed. Let's put to one side the fact that you wanted to kill those criminals first, and focus on what you did to Oliver."
"What about it?" Diana retorted. "He wasn't going to help us and he was in the way, so I dealt with him."
"You hit him so hard he nearly died." Clark snapped. "Victor had to use a defibrillator to prevent him from dying." The image of Oliver's inactive form slumped on the ground was burned into Clark's memory he was hardly likely to forget that as long as he lived.
"I didn't mean to." Diana protested, but he was stopping us from doing what we needed to do."
Clark grabbed Diana by the shoulders and said. "We do not hurt our own, Diana. Oliver is a member of the Justice League and a friend. He is one of us, how can you expect the people of Earth to trust us if we hurt our own?"
"He shouldn't have gotten in the way!" Diana said.
The anger that had been festering in him since Metropolis nearly spilled over, Clark could feel his eyes heat up, but took a breath and pushed them back down. "Diana, until you can control yourself when faced with a friend who doesn't agree with you, you're going to have to stand down."
"What?!" Diana demanded.
"You heard me." Clark said, his voice sounding cold to his own ears. "We do not attack those who are our friends. Until you learn how to use your words to talk with people, there can be no further discussion amongst us."
"Clark…." Diana began.
"Dismissed." Clark said, turning back to look at the computer screens, the protest had been dispersed by Shazam and Green Lantern, peacefully. He could hear Diana muttering to herself as she turned and walked away, but he felt it would do her some good. He didn't like what had happened to her over the past few weeks, something dark had possessed her, it seemed.
"Gideon, bring up the footage of the prisoner." Clark commanded.
Almost at once an image appeared before him, of a man with blonde hair and green eyes, scars all over his face, and a defiant set to his jaw. Clark looked at him and sighed. This was another thing he would have to fix, thanks to Diana's impetuousness. He took a moment to compose himself and then shut off the computers and walked away from the computers. He turned around walked down the corridor, through the doorway, took a left, then a right, and then keyed in the code that opened another door and then he walked through and found himself face to face with the Shining Knight.
"What do you want?" The man snarled.
"To talk." Clark said, raising his hands placatingly.
"So, talk." The man snapped.
"Why were you guarding those inmates at Arkham?" Clark asked. "When Oliver found you, you said you needed time to adjust to the new world. Why did you end up guarding the worst of the worst? And who pushed passed you to get to the Joker?"
The man's shoulders sagged and the fight left him. "The one true King found me. He said he needed me to do something for him, and as such I was honour bound to comply. I did what he asked of me, and I stood guard. Nobody at Arkham knew who I was and they did not know I was there. I was the silent guardian who prevented those pieces of filth from escaping. But then on that fateful day something went wrong."
"What did?" Clark asked.
"She appeared." The man said. "The one who had betrayed the King once before. She appeared and she did something to me. She used some sort of magic that went passed my defences and knocked me out. When I came to the Joker was escaping and the hounds of hell had appeared."
"Who was this woman?" Clark demanded.
The man looked up at him and his eyes were haunted, he looked as though he was venturing through hell. "History knows her through many names, but I knew her by one name, and one name only. Her name was Morgan La Fey."
Clark looked at him and asked. "The Arthurian witch?"
"The one and the same." The knight said. "She has come back into this world, and that can only mean one thing."
"What?" Clark asked.
"The end of days is upon us." The knight said.
