Chapter 30: Severed Heads

Dinah moved the torch to the right and saw that there were more of those weird looking buttons on this side of the wall as well, she shivered slightly, it was damnably cold this far underground. She walked forward and tried to ignore the ghastly art on the walls, but trying to ignore the paintings of severed heads was harder than she had thought.

"Where the fuck are we?" Dinah found herself asking.

"We're deep in an underground bunker that belonged to one of Captain Atom's old friends from the war." Stargirl said.

"Which war?" Dinah asked, after all Captain Atom had fought in about five wars that she knew of.

"The Second World War." Stargirl said. "That's why there's so many severed head paintings on the wall. This was a bunker belonging to a man called the Shining Knight before he went mad."

"Ah." Dinah said. They kept walking a little bit longer, and eventually the paintings disappeared. They came to a door and Stargirl began typing a code on one of the alarm panels, the door before them clicked and swung open, Dinah saw Stargirl walk into the new room and so followed suit.

This room was much plainer than the last room they'd been in. This was just filled with white walls, and a small book case. Stargirl didn't move there, but instead turned around and looked at Dinah. "You asked me why I'd joined the resistance before."

"Yes?" Dinah replied unsure of where this was going.

"I wasn't completely honest with you before." The other woman said.

"Oh?" Dinah asked wondering where this was going.

"Yes, I joined because of the reasons I gave you, but also because I think we're living in a time that could well see every right, women have ever fought for rolled back." Stargirl said her voice filled with sincerity.

"How so?" Dinah asked.

"Think about it, if Superman and Batman are stopping girls in the third world getting essential items needed to prevent them from dying, what will they do here? Superman lost a child, how do we know he won't embrace the darker corners of a man's psyche and decide to outlaw abortion. He is from the South after all." Stargirl said.

Dinah wanted to laugh, but the seriousness with which that was said prevented her from doing so. Instead she gently said. "I've known Superman and Batman for a decade. They've shown nothing but the greatest respect for women's rights the world over. I do not think they are deliberately preventing women from getting the equipment they need. I think it is likely a misunderstanding."

Stargirl frowned. "Are you willing to tell that to the fifty women who died in Pakistan because they couldn't get access to sanitation equipment from the UN due to the ridiculous decrees Superman instituted?"

Dinah snorted this time. "You mean the same UN that allowed terrorists to attack women unimpeded for simply wanting to go to school and to get an education?"

"They were trying to negotiate a compromise. Superman's terms ended that." Stargirl said simply. "And now the decrees are targeting minorities and thus making those minorities target women. We've seen an increase in the number of honour killings in places like Pakistan, and in Muslim communities in the West. Not to mention what happened in the UK."

Dinah had to laugh. "You really think that Superman's terms are causing Muslims to destroy their own women? Stargirl, what was happening in the UK was happening long before Superman came about. You're treating these people as if they're nothing more than savages reacting at the slightest insult."

"So, you don't care that women aren't getting the treatment they need?" Stargirl snapped back.

"That's not what I said." Dinah replied, anger beginning to boil within her. "I do think you need to be careful with where you put your judgement though."

"And what about Batman?" Stargirl asked. "He's sided with Superman; he's already installed a surveillance system across most of the east coast. You know how I know that? Because friends of mine got caught."

"Got caught doing what?" Dinah asked.

"Trying to organise an anti-Superman rally. They were discreet about it and then they got arrested for it. I wasn't aware that protesting against Superman was a crime." Stargirl said.

Dinah shifted slightly, she'd always worried that Bruce would go down this route, and without Superman there to hold him back, she knew that something like this could keep happening. "That wasn't right or fair of him. But that doesn't justify stating that they're causing these minorities to turn on their women."

Stargirl snorted and moved to the bookshelf as she did so, she spoke again. "Superman isn't my main concern, he's strong and powerful, but he's not that smart. No, my main concern is Batman and he's Martian Manhunter's concern as well. You know he had an entire archive of material on how to deal with each member of the Justice League stored on his computers. J'onn only found out about it because he was there the day Superman killed the Joker."

"Wait, he was?!" Dinah exclaimed shocked, she'd not see J'onn during the search for Lois, or during the funeral, how could he have been there.

"He was one of the cops who stood guard outside. He saw what happened and he read the Batman's mind. When Superman plunged his hand into the Joker's chest, Batman was thinking about those protocols." Stargirl said.

Dinah shifted. She had always wondered if Bruce had kept such a list, but she had never wanted to ask, fearing the answer, but this, this didn't sit right with her. "I see. Perhaps there's still time to save both of them then."

Stargirl snorted. "Only if we use drastic measures."

"What do you mean?" Dinah asked.

Stargirl pulled out three books from the bookcase and the thing turned, revealing an oak panelled door with another code on it. Stargirl entered the code, and this door opened and something was pushed forward. Dinah wasn't quite sure what it was until she saw something that looked like a freezer. She gasped. Stargirl turned around. "The only way to save them is to make them turn on one another. And there is only one person who can do that."

Dinah saw who it was in the freezer tube now. A figure with green hair and pale white skin and a scar running from one ear to the next. She looked at him and then at Stargirl and asked. "How?"

"Captain Atom has his friends." Was all the other woman said.