Tendrils of ice wrapped themselves around him, the gale of laughter echoed in his mind. Jonathan tried to escape but no matter what he did, he couldn't seem to break free. Her hold was tightening on him, and he felt weak. He hated himself for how he felt. The constant sweating, the nightmares, all of it made him feel as if he were not a man. She laughed and whispered. "You will never be free."
He blinked, memory came back to him, he wasn't there. He was in his parent's house outside Metropolis. He was safe. His dad stood in front of him, concerned. "Are you okay, son?"
Jonathan pushed down the tears that formed, he wasn't going to cry, not at a time like this. "Yeah, sorry. What were you saying?"
"I want to know how you feel about everything. I know that since your mum died things have been quite crazy, and I wanted to see how you felt." Dad replied.
Jonathan thought on the question, it was a loaded one. He knew why his dad was doing what he was doing. Being more involved in the events of the world, making the world a safer place. That was something commendable, and Jonathan could not find anything to complain about there. The fewer children who had to lose parents the better. Yet Jonathan also knew on some level this went against everything he'd been taught at school. "I…I think what you're doing is right, dad. I think that people need their heroes to be more involved. You're not dictating to people how to live their lives. You're simply helping them and removing the threats that are there. You got rid of terrorists after all, and now the governments of Syria and Jordan and elsewhere are having to help their people, not just ignore them. Al Qaeda has gone into serious hiding. In Israel the regime was corrupt, and King Victor seems to have done more to help the people of all religions than any agreement has ever done." Which as far as Jonathan was concerned wasn't saying much the Israelis fucking hated one another. "I think that you know, the thing is right. I just think that something about the way we're brought up doesn't sit well with this."
His dad nodded. "I know. There's some part of me that questions if I'm doing this because I feel I have to, because I want to make the world a better place. Or because I have the power to." Jonathan was surprised at how straight his dad was being with him. Dad had always been a straight talker, but since Mum had died, Jonathan had felt as though his dad had finally begun seeing him as an adult. "I think that this non-interference impulse is so inbuilt into use that we don't know whether we should intervene or not. And of course, there is the fact that many people see me as being a representative of the United States, which merely makes things worse for some views."
Jonathan snorted, he'd read the articles online, by left wing social justice warriors, decrying Superman's interference in countries that needed it. They'd called it racist, said that his dad was interfering because he was a white supremacist. These morons didn't understand the first thing about anything. "The people who think you represent the United States are idiots though, dad. If they knew anything about you, they'd know that you fought for the people of Earth, that you'd choose Earth of any particular country."
His dad nodded. "I know that son, but many people are scared and when people are scared they tend to do and say things that they might otherwise not think about doing. And they often regret it."
"You think this is one of those instances?" Jonathan asked, he knew that some of his classmates from school were of the bent that if there was intervention it was always bad, even when the regimes being replaced or toppled were actually worse for the people there. Something about racism and colonialism, he didn't understand that. This wasn't Iraq, hell this wasn't even Afghanistan, this was something else entirely.
"I believe so, son. I think that the people of the world are trying to come to terms with a lot of things, and I think that there are ways that the League could approach what we are trying to do. I think we've been to blunt, we need to show people why we are doing this. Explain it if you will, rather than simply do it." Dad said.
"And what does Uncle Bruce think?" Jonathan asked. He knew that if anyone would have an opinion on this, then it would be Bruce Wayne, that man for all his talk, was a very opinionated political man.
Dad snorted. "Bruce doesn't approve. He thinks we should let the people get on with their lives and keep letting the governments of the world install tyranny and fear into their citizenry as it is not within our remit to do anything."
Jonathan stared at his dad then, not believing what he was hearing. "He doesn't think removing corrupt regimes and installing the people, the actual people is a good thing? He doesn't think removing terrorists is a good thing? Why? I thought if anyone would appreciate that, it would be him?"
"Bruce is someone who believes in acting on either a very big scale or a small scale. If there is a galactic threat to the world, he will act, or if someone gets mugged he will act. He won't act to topple regimes, or to improve the world in a big way. That has never been his style." Dad replied.
"What are you going to do?" Jonathan asked, about what he wasn't quite sure.
"What needs to be done." His dad replied. They left it at that, as Jonathan needed to make it into Metropolis. He opened the door and sped off, ignoring the tendrils of ice that nipped at the back of his mind. When he got to the coffee shop where they'd agreed to meet, he took a deep breath, opened the door and walked in. He saw her, Caitlin Snow, dressed in a blue shirt, blue jeans, hair loose, and smiling. His heart thudded as he walked toward her. "Hey." He said as they hugged.
"Hey." She replied as they broke the hug and sat down.
"How are things?" Jonathan asked, it felt like years since they'd last met face to face, though they texted all the time.
"Good, the internships are going well. Doctor Wells said that he thinks my paper on the dual atom theory might just get published by the summer's end." Caitlin replied.
"Oh! That's awesome." Jonathan replied. "Congrats!" Whatever his suspicions about Wells, he knew that this dual atom theory thing was something big.
"Thanks." Caitlin replied smiling. "How about you, what have you been up to?"
Jonathan thought for a moment, he didn't want to say nothing, but he also didn't want to talk about the nightmares and the beatings. Instead he said. "Oh you know, bits and bobs. Getting ready for University in the fall." That still seemed so far away, whether it actually happened or not he didn't know.
It seemed Caitlin had picked up on that as well. "Will there be a university to go to, with everything that's been happening?"
"What do you mean? Why wouldn't there be a university?" Jonathan asked.
"I don't know Jon." Caitlin replied. "But the League has been acting very un-league like recently. Who knows what will happen."
Jonathan snorted. "Cait, the League isn't going to start censoring speech or learning. They're just trying to get bad regimes out of power. Surely you can see the benefit of that. Fucking hell, Israel's already on the road to peace." He knew that was low, that Caitlin didn't really care about the whole Jewish struggle thing, but still.
"I know that, I wasn't on about the League, I was on about the US government." Caitlin replied. Jonathan looked at her confused and she elaborated. "If the League, these beings with the power of Gods in them, are acting with more involvement in world affairs, the government is going to get paranoid. Universities are going to get paranoid. Their entire world view is being challenged here. It's already happening. The leading feminist scholars in Harvard, Princeton and Yale have all called for a boycott on Themiscyra because of Wonder Woman's involvement in what happened at Al Hudda."
"What?" Jonathan exclaimed, then looked around to make sure no one was looking at them. he leaned in and whispered. "Diana didn't do anything in Al Hudda. She merely helped the rightful ruler take back what was his."
"Yes, but there were white women there. White middle class women who saw something different. They saw an imperialist taking charge, and they got angry. And now the scholars are doing all they can to make sure free thought isn't being allowed to express itself. They're not doing it directly, but anyone who says anything counter to their narrative is being sacked. Mr Johnson was sacked." Caitlin said.
Mr Johnson was a professor who they both knew, he taught Gender, Politics and History at Harvard, and was a friend to the family. "Because of his views agreeing with what Superman was doing?" Jonathan asked.
"Yes." Caitlin replied.
Jonathan sat back in his chair, completely stunned. That was not something he had expected. Why were these people being so narrow minded. He wasn't even sure how what had happened in Al Hudda was a feminist issue whatsoever, especially as the land had now sunk and re-joined Atlantis proper. He swallowed, the tendrils were whipping at him again. "Then they are fools."
"Fools who have the ear of the government, Jon." Caitlin replied. "The government is going to react to this in one way or another and when they do, there's no telling what's going to happen."
"So, what do you want me to do? I'm not going to ask them to stop doing what they're doing. Cait, the world is fucking messed up. If the League wants to make it a better place, then they have every right to. Rao knows that the governments of the world aren't doing anything. And the press aren't going to do anything other than write about some pervert assaulting women, when everyone in Hollywood knew he was doing that and they did nothing." Jonathan replied, that was something that had come at him like a pan. Feminists getting indignant about that and then calling all men rapists. The tendrils tightened.
Caitlin didn't say anything to do that, she just put her hand on top of his and said. "Be safe alright. I don't think I could bear it if something happened to you."
Jonathan's heart tightened then, the tendrils grew deeper, he could hear her voice, like a gale force wind. He pushed it down and smiled. "I will be." There was silence after that, then he heard someone shout.
"Can you turn the T.V. up?"
Jonathan turned to look at the T.V. and saw some woman standing in front of building on fire, a building he recognised.
"It is with deep regret that we announce that there has been an attack on the Daily Planet. Three suspects entered the building, and left things that were highly flammable. They exploded forty minutes ago. Superman is on the scene now."
Jonathan watched as his dad came and helped remove the fire, but then somewhere else an explosion hit. Jonathan heard it, he heard the screams. He looked at Caitlin and said. "I've got to go." They hugged and then he disappeared out of the building racing toward the scene of the explosion. As he did so he heard laughter, maniacal laughter.
"Come to play, batsy, come to play."
He felt tendrils darken around him. he knew that voice, this wasn't going to go well.