JLA: The Greater Good free porn video

JLA: THE GREATER GOOD by BobH (c) 2014 When Green Lantern Hal Jordan is transformed into a woman it leads to surprising revelations about his teammates, but what dark secret lies behind them? A tale of the LGBT Justice League of America. ****************** All characters herein are owned by DC Comics. ****************** Note: This story is set after FICTIONS, the first of the LGBT JLA tales, and contains spoilers for that one. If you haven't already, you should probably read it before this one. It's very short (unlike this one). My thanks to Zapper for the beta-read and for his useful suggestions. ****************** Prologue: Arthur Curry aka Aquaman, King of Atlantis, slumped back on his throne, appalled by what he had just been shown. "Is it real, Vulko?" he asked his chief advisor. The little man was stroking his beard and frowning at what the device in his hand was telling him. "I'm very much afraid it is, your highness," he said. "The presence of tachyons confirms we did indeed look through a time portal into the future." Aquaman ran his fingers through his blond locks and regarded the woman who had brought him this unwelcome news. A stooped and elderly sea-witch, she was ugly and ill-formed, and leaned heavily on her staff, her long grey hair drifting lazily in the currents that flowed through the throne room of this underwater kingdom. In less enlightened times she would have been called a 'sea hag', but far more important than what name to call her were her mystical abilities. "Show me again," he demanded. "As you wish, my lord," said the witch. She stamped her staff on the ground and a violet light flowed from the jewel at its apex, light that slowly formed a perfectly round disk. At first it appeared full of opaque swirling colors, but as this gradually cleared so an image began to form. It showed Aquaman, in the same green and gold costume he was currently garbed in, fighting with Mera, his queen. A strikingly beautiful woman with long red hair, she was using the full range of her 'hard water' powers against him in a vicious, no holds barred assault. As he watched, Aquaman saw his future self accidentally push Mera onto an upturned piece of metal, and the queen died. The scene then shifted to show her lying in an open coffin. "Enough!" said the king, sweeping his trident through the image, dissipating it. "Is this then my destiny; to slay my wife? Can nothing change her fate?" "The queen is currently in an Atlantean asylum," said the sea witch, "driven mad by grief at the death of your son. If nothing is done to alter the course of events then yes, she will escape from it and she will die at your hands." "'If nothing is done to alter the course of events'?" said Aquaman. "Then they can be altered?" "There are ways," said the sea witch, pursing her lips, "but while fate can be altered and destiny cheated, such a thing cannot be achieved without a price being paid." "Tell me how witch, I command you. There are few prices I would not pay to forestall the events you have shown me this day." "Very well, but what I have to tell you is for your ears and your ears alone." "Vulko," said Aquaman, turning to his advisor. "My lord, I must protest..." began Vulko. "Your protest is noted, loyal Vulko, but I still require you to leave us." Grimacing, Vulko bowed to his king, casting a distrustful look at the witch as he straightened up. Turning, he marched from the chamber, beckoning the palace guards standing at attention on either side of the throne room doors to follow him out as he passed between them. When they were alone, Aquaman turned his attention to the sea witch again. "Speak," he said, "tell me how this future can be averted." "As you wish. You are able to function despite your grief at the loss of your son; the queen is not. In this you are stronger than her. She can only be cured if you take that grief from her, if you are the one to shoulder that burden and deal with it in her stead." "Gladly," said Aquaman. "The problem is that the only way to deal with her grief is for you to become her." "Become her? What do you mean?" "I mean that you would become her, and she you. It would be a body-swap, but done in such a way that only your souls would be moved. Your memories would remain with your original bodies." "So each of us would believe themselves to be the other?" "Quite so. I can make it so that a copy of your own memories are transferred along with your soul, ensuring you at least would remember who you really are, but to do the same in her case would defeat the object of the exercise." Aquaman thought for a few moments then nodded, his mind made up. "I said there were few prices I would not pay to forestall the events you showed me, and I meant it," he said. "Let's do it." The witch stared at him quizzically. "To give up one's very identity is no small thing, she said. "Why would you do this?" "Because I love my wife," came the reply, "and love conquers all." PART ONE: GREEN - 1 - The great wheel that was the satellite headquarters of the Justice League of America spun slowly on its axis as it circled the Earth in geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles above the North American city of Metropolis, keeping the same face turned to the planet below. One advantage of geosynchronous orbit was that the cycle of night and day on the satellite was the same as that for the place it orbited above. It was now almost eight in the evening in Metropolis which meant it was now almost eight in the evening here, too. For Batman this had been a rare shift of monitor duty. Not so for the Flash, who was due to teleport up from the Midwest to relieve him at any minute. In the months since the death of his wife, Barry Allen had been pulling more and more monitor duty at his own request. Checking the internal screens from his seat at the monitor desk, Batman saw that Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and the newly-divorced Atom were working away in the laboratory, seeking a cure for Green Lantern's current condition, while Wonder Woman and Green Lantern were in the observation lounge. With its large window giving a panoramic view of the Earth beneath them it was a popular place for JLA members to relax. Diana was sitting at one end of the deep leather sofa that faced the window while Hal was perched on the arm at the other end. He had a beer in his hand, she a Scotch and a cigarette in hers. Since coming to what she called 'Man's World' Diana had diligently explored its pleasures as part of her cultural immersion in American life, acquiring a taste for single malts and Marlboro Lights along the way. Being seen as a role model, her smoking and drinking was kept from the public, as was the lesbianism she had only recently exposed to the world. Although, in retrospect, given that she came from an island that had been populated entirely by women for thousands of years, this should not have been a surprise. Diana had revealed she was in a long-term relationship with another woman but not who that woman was. As one of the world's most brilliant detectives Batman knew he could probably find out if he put his mind to it, but he chose not to. Everyone deserved some privacy. He knew what had prompted Diana's revelation of course, how could he not? It had been weeks since the events in New York but it was a cast-iron certainty the footage was playing on TV somewhere in the world right that minute. Out of curiosity, he did a computer search and in less than a minute the familiar images were marching across the screen as part of a documentary airing in Canada. SUPERMAN AT STONEWALL The words appeared over the shaky amateur cine-camera film of Superman landing amid the battle between police and the denizens of New York's Stonewall club and the narrator's voiceover began: "Owned by the Mafia, the Stonewall Inn in New York's Greenwich Village catered to an assortment of patrons, but it was most popular with the poorest and most marginalized people in the gay community. These were the drag queens, representatives of the newly self-aware transgender community, effeminate young men, male prostitutes, and homeless youth. Raids and shakedowns of gay bars by the NYPD were routine and though resented were never met by resistance. Until the day those at the Stonewall decided they had had enough. The riot that erupted was unforeseen, but even more unforeseen was Superman arriving and putting a stop to it. Though regarded as an establishment figure and steadfast defender of the status quo, on this occasion his sympathies clearly lay more with the protesters than with the police. The world learned why at a news conference he gave the following day: Superman was gay." Batman still remembered his conflicted feelings about the event, and his disappointment that Clark had not felt he could confide in him with such an important fact about who he was. Superman had not told anyone what brought him to the Stonewall that night. Looking through footage from the event, Batman had focused in on a particular redhead, a pretty young drag queen. Audio and visual analysis by the satellite's alien computers, which were decades in advance of any on Earth, had found the high pitched signal that would only have been audible to Superman and identified it as coming from the redhead's wristwatch. The redhead was Jimmy Olsen, visiting from Metropolis. Batman was not surprised at this revelation about Olsen - he had donned drag in pursuit of newspaper stories more often than could be explained by necessity - and the watch made it all but certain he was Superman's boyfriend. It was not the man's signal watch he knew his friend had given to Jimmy but a much smaller, daintier woman's watch. And if Superman had made one he had almost certainly made the other. It seemed Green Arrow wasn't the only one besotted with a boy in girl's clothing. And now there was Green Lantern. Batman looked again at the monitor feed from the observation lounge. The last time he had seen him Hal Jordan was male. Now he was a woman. The League members toiling in the laboratory were working to reverse that transformation. There had not been time to brief Batman on what had happened to Hal when he teleported up from Gotham City to begin his shift, but he would get an explanation before leaving the satellite tonight. Making sure all the alarms were set, he got up from his chair and headed down to the observation lounge. As he exited the monitor room so an invisible figure that had been watching him glided over to the desk and started tapping at the computer keyboard, searching for a particular file.... "So how do you feel now you've made your announcement?" Hal Jordan was asking Diana when Batman entered the lounge." "Good," replied Diana, "like a weight has been lifted from me. To have remained silent after Clark has been so brave would be dishonorable, particularly since having my powers back after so many months without them meant I had no excuse for not doing so. I hated concealing who I am but did so out of respect for the customs of Man's World, so it was a relief to let the world know I'm also gay and to stand proudly at Superman's side." "The world's two most admired superheroes coming out like you guys did should speed-up the progress of gay rights in this country." "I hope so." "And what about you?" asked Batman, joining the conversation. "How are you now suddenly a woman, Hal?" "An alien virus," replied Hal, "Grandin Gender Reversal Disease. I caught it yesterday on a mission to the planet Calor for my bosses the Guardians, and within twelve hours I looked like this. Its effects are usually short-lived. Not this time. I appear to have been infected by a mutant strain whose effects are potentially permanent. And because the GGRD virus is yellow there's nothing my ring can do about it. It hasn't really sunk in yet that if Atom and the Hawks can't find a cure then I'm stuck like this." "And the Guardians can't help?" "They wouldn't understand that it was a problem. As long as I perform my duties as the Green Lantern of this space sector my gender is irrelevant to them. Not that I have been performing them lately. I took a leave of absence and Green Arrow, Black Canary and I have been travelling around the US together, at first with a Guardian who had been assigned to us to learn more about humanity. Ironically, immediately before the Guardians sent me to Calor I'd been on trial in another dimension for the crime of being male. The universe has a perverse sense of humor." Batman studied his teammate thoughtfully. Beyond the obvious womanly curves, Hal had also lost both muscle-mass and some height. This had presumably burned off as part of the transformation, a process that might even have powered it, which meant it wouldn't automatically come back if that transformation could be reversed. No, a lot of eating and exercise would be required. The virus had made his teammate shorter, his features softer, and his movements more feminine. It hadn't made his brown hair any longer, but then hair length wasn't biologically gender-specific. "How is being transformed into a woman affecting you?" he asked. "You should have some idea, Bruce," said Diana. "How did being transformed affect you?" "I don't...." "That's right!" said Hal, snapping his fingers. "I'd almost forgotten I once turned him into you, Diana." "We were all transformed into other members of the League during that case," said Batman, "but it was only a masquerade; I knew it wasn't permanent." "Even so, it must've given you some insights," insisted Diana. "Ordinarily a geosynchronous orbit is only possible over a spot on the equator," said Batman, "but incorporated into this satellite's structure are the technologies of several alien races that make it possible for us to remain in geosynchronous orbit above Metropolis." "What has that got to do with the transformation?" asked Hal, sounding puzzled. "I'm getting to that. Other alien tech, this time from Hawkman and Hawkgirl's homeworld Thanagar, gives the satellite it's artificial gravity, but that gravity is a few percentage points off from Earth-normal." "It is?" said Diana. "I never noticed. "Neither did I," admitted Hal. "I wouldn't expect you to," replied Batman, "because you have your power ring and you, Diana, have your enhanced Amazon strength. What I have is my body, a normal, human level body trained to the highest possible physical peak. I am acutely aware of it. I know its limits and its capabilities to a very precise degree. Gravity being off by a few percentage points means the pull on my body also being slightly off. Most people wouldn't notice. I do. So you can imagine how off-balance I felt becoming a Wonder Woman facsimile. I was a different height and my weight was distributed about my body in ways totally unfamiliar to me." "So that's all you took from the experience of being a woman?" said Diana, incredulously. "Being a bit physically 'off-balance'?" "Yes. Was I supposed to take something else from it?" "I think most men would have a bigger, more complex reaction to turning into a woman," said Diana, shaking her head as Hal nodded in agreement. As brilliant as he was, Bruce could sometimes be the most obtuse of men. A buzzer sounded indicating someone arriving on the satellite, and Flash's light lit up on the status board in the lounge that showed who was currently on board. "Saved by the bell," said Batman. "If you'll excuse me I need to get back to Gotham. The night is still young, and crime never sleeps." "Sometimes that man is impossible," said Diana, taking a last long drag on her cigarette before stubbing it out. "Only 'sometimes'?" said Hal, wryly. Batman had not felt inclined to share how deeply disconcerting the transformation had truly been, or how often he had thought about it in the years since. And Green Lantern's ring had always disturbed him; science so far beyond anything humanity understood that it might just as well be magic, yet wielded by a man, a fallible human being. Batman respected his JLA colleagues, though interacting with them could sometimes be... difficult. They were all good people, fellow warriors in the war against evil, but at heart he was a loner. In the transport room he climbed into one of the teleport tubes and keyed in the destination code for Gotham. A night spent punching out the criminal scum of his city was just what he needed to clear his head. - 2 - As Batman exited the lounge Diana shook her head again. That man would never change. No sooner had he left than Katar Hol and his wife Shayera - or Carter and Shayera Hall, to give them the Earth names they had adopted - arrived from the lab. They had donned their wings and hawk helmets, clearly ready to leave the satellite. "We're sorry, Hal," said Shayera, but nothing we've tried even touches the virus, and we're out of ideas. Treatments based on male hormones or gene therapy are non-starters because the virus neutralizes both. The only option left is surgery, but with your curves and without accompanying hormone treatments ...." "So that's it, then," sighed Hal. "I'm stuck like this." "Having your body and mind be of different genders is not easy," said Carter. "Some can adapt to it, and some can't. I couldn't." "You?!" said Hal, incredulously. "We were childhood sweethearts, as you know," said Shayera, smiling up at her husband and giving his hand a reassuring squeeze, "but before that, as little girls, we were best friends - Shayera and Katara for ever." "What happened?" asked Diana. "I came to realize that I was actually a boy in a girl's body," said Carter. "On Thanagar, gender dysphoria is a recognized condition that carries no stigma in our society. Shortly before reaching puberty I was made male. It's a simple process for Thanagarian science but, unfortunately, one that doesn't work if Grandin Gender Reversal Disease is present in your body." Hal's shoulders slumped at the news and Diana's heart went out to him. Having grown up in Amazon society she considered the transformation an improvement, that Hal had been given an upgrade, but she knew her friend was unhappy about it so she kept this view to herself. "Now if you'll excuse us," said Katar, "Shayera and I have business to attend to down below." "There's one big advantage to you being a woman," Diana said to Hal after the Hawks had gone, "Carol Ferris." "What about Carol?" "You stand a far better chance with her now." "Huh? What are you talking about." "Carol is a lesbian. That's why you never got anywhere with her." "No, that can't be right," Hal protested. "How can you say that?" "Because we used to date." Hal's jaw dropped at this revelation. "But you live in different cities. How did you ever even meet?" "It's not that mysterious. Remember, as Diana Prince I used to be in the military, and Ferris Air is a defense contractor. We met at an arms fair. Captain Steve Trevor and I were there to assess the weapons systems on offer for our superiors, and Carol was there to sell planes. This was shortly before you became Green Lantern, I think, and we dated in secret for a couple of years. Carol introduced me to single malts, and sharing a cigarette with her after we'd made love was how I first acquired my taste for them. She didn't know I was Wonder Woman at first, though I revealed my identity to her later. We'd long since broken up by the time members of the Justice League decided we should know each other's secret identities. I didn't even know there was any connection between you and her until then." "I was Carol's date at lots of official functions," said Hal, wistfully, "and I never could understand why nothing ever developed from that. Now I know. I was never her date in any romantic sense, just someone for when she needed to be seen on a man's arm. I was a...what do you call them...?" "A 'beard'," replied Diana, "you were Carol's beard just as Steve Trevor was mine. It wasn't fair to either of you, but then Carol and I having to hide who we really are wasn't fair either. You and I were actually briefly introduced at that arms fair, the first time we ever met. You didn't remember Diana Prince, but I remembered you. You can imagine my surprise at eventually discovering Ferris Air's chief test pilot was my teammate." "And now I'm a travelling toy salesman," said Hal. "When it became obvious nothing was ever going to happen between Carol and me, I resigned from Ferris Air. It was just too painful being around the woman I loved, knowing she would never be mine. The only time we've seen each other since is when that damned alien gem possessed her and she became Star Sapphire again, this time alongside my arch-enemy Sinestro. I've known her since we were kids, y'know. My father, Martin Jordan, was Ferris Air's first test pilot. My mother my brothers and I moved away after Dad was killed flying one of their planes, but I came back when I was older and had earned my wings in the Air Force. I've been in love with Carol since we were nine years-old. Now you're saying there's a chance...?" "Yes, I am. I can contact Carol, set up a meeting between you, but first meet me in civilian clothes at the Coast City mall tomorrow afternoon so we can get you looking your best. This is one of those occasions where you really have to make a good first impression." "Yeah, I get that," said Hal, looking thoughtful. "Thanks, Diana. Something good might come out of this after all. Right, I'd better be going. I'm supposed to be meeting Green Arrow in Las Vegas, and Ollie hates it when I'm late. Boy, is he in for a surprise!" "OK, Hal. See you tomorrow." Diana watched as Hal made himself intangible with his wondrous ring and passed through the wall of the satellite and out into space, soaring down to the Earth below in a long, graceful arc. Hal never used the teleport tubes unless he had to. Getting up from the sofa, Diana made her way to the residential section, where each of them had a cabin. When she reached it and rounded the corner leading to her cabin she stopped in her tracks, stunned by what she saw. There were Atom and the Flash, their cowls pushed back over their heads, locked in an embrace and kissing passionately. Diana quietly stepped back the way she had come, unseen by either man. Both Ray and Barry had recently suffered losses so she was happy for them, but still surprised. Where had *that* come from? - 3 - Hal Jordan flew along above the Las Vegas strip, bathed in the neon of famous casinos like the Sands, the Dunes, and Caesar's Palace as he passed them. Alighting in an alley near the Hacienda, he willed his Green Lantern uniform to vanish, stepping out onto the strip in jeans, T-shirt, and leather aviator's jacket. He felt over-dressed. It might be after dark but it was baking hot, the air still and dry. He entered the Hacienda and headed straight for the entertainment. In other hotels artists such as Tom Jones, Elvis, and Sinatra were probably performing, but here a 'Ladyboy Revue' had been booked. Spotting Oliver Queen seated at a table near the stage, Hal dropped into a chair next to him. "Do I know you, sweetcheeks?" asked Oliver, looking puzzled. "It's me, Ollie," said Hal, "Hal Jordan." "Hal? Holy...I can see it now! What the heck happened to you?" "The Guardians sent me to the planet Calor. I contracted a virus there." "It's not contagious, is it?" said Ollie, suddenly alarmed. "Relax, your manhood is safe," chuckled Hal, the first time he had done so since this had happened to him. "I'm not going to infect anyone else." "Good to know. And I'm sorry for your loss, man. That's real heavy, a total bummer. How're you bearing up?" "I've been better, but I'm coping with it. The Guardians try to train us to deal with any eventuality, but this one wasn't in the Green Lantern manual." "Sounds like they need to update it and...ah! The show's starting." The curtains parted, music sprang out of the speakers, and a line of beautiful Thai ladyboys danced high-kicking out of the wings from one side of the stage while a single, equally beautiful dark-haired caucasian woman danced across from the opposite side, taking up position behind the microphone stand in the center at the front of the stage. She started to sing then, her wonderful voice filling the room. "Attagirl, Dana!" said Ollie quietly, beaming with pride. The show lasted forty minutes or so. When it had finished, Hal turned to Ollie. "Mind if I ask you a personal question?" he asked. "Go ahead," replied Ollie. "If I don't like it I won't answer." "Fair enough. Did you fall for Dana just because she's an amazing woman, or have you always had a thing for she-males?" "I like all types of women," he replied, "and I fell for Dana because of who she is. But yeah, I did have an attraction to she-male women before then. It started when I was a kid, and found a book..." "A book?" "Yeah, a book; one I discovered among my father's collection of erotica in the library at the Queen mansion." "Ah yes, the Queen mansion," said Hal. "I keep forgetting the firebrand liberal socialist used to be a rich kid before he lost all the family money." "Says the officer of a quasi-fascist intergalactic police force and one-time servant of the military-industrial complex who found himself out on his conservative ass when that complex had no further use for him and who's now reduced to selling kiddie toys to keep the wolf from the door." "Touche," laughed Hal. By this point these political jabs at each other were more banter than serious barbs. Either man would lay down his life for the other if it ever came to that. Afterwards, the pair went backstage to Dana's dressing room. "I usually bring Dana flowers after a show," said Ollie, "but the last time I did, three days ago, a pair of harpies flew out of the damn box." "Don't remind me," said Hal, "that was the start of the events that led to me facing death for the crime of being male." "Yeah, if they'd only waited a few more days you'd have had no 'crime' to answer for," chuckled Ollie, opening the door to Dana's dressing room. Hal wasn't ready to joke about his transformation yet, but he found it impossible to take offense at his friend's cheerful insensitivity. "Ollie!" she Dana, rising to her feet as they entered and throwing her arms around his neck. "Don't mind me," said Hal, grinning at the passionate kiss that followed. They broke the kiss, and the woman frowned at Hal. "And who might you be, sister?" she asked. "This is Hal, baby," said Ollie, "turned into a chick by some far out alien disease." "Hal?" said Dana, eyes widening in shock. "Omigod, it really is you!" She crossed to Hal and gave him a big hug. "How are you coping?" she asked, sympathetically. "Being like this was my choice, but you were always a hound-dog." "It still hasn't entirely sunk in yet," he replied, "so at the moment I'm doing OK. I think I may have a bigger reaction when it does." "So, you wanna go out and kick some bad guy butt, babe?" asked Ollie. "You know it, lover," said Dana. "I'm always so buzzed after a show, and it's the best way I know of doing something with all that energy. Let me get my costume." She reached into a sports bag under her dressing table and pulled out a leather jacket, fishnets, and a long blonde wig. "I bet your mother was shocked when you said you wanted to be the next Black Canary," said Hal. "Yeah, having a son who was obsessed with the wig and fishnets was not what she or Dad expected, but they were good parents and let me be who I was. They even paid for my breast implants and hormones." Hal watched in fascination as Dana dressed, transforming herself into the costumed crimefighter he and Ollie had so often recently fought alongside. "My bike is parked in the alley out back," she said when she had finished. "You want to come with us, Hal?" "Nah, you kids have fun," he said. "I need to get to Coast City. I've got a big day tomorrow." While Ollie headed out to check her bike, Dana laid a hand on Hal's arm. "What's happened to you is going to take you a while to come to terms with," she said, "but when you have, when you're ready, if you need any help learning about hair and make-up or just want to spend some quality girl time together, I'd be delighted to help in anyway I can. Just give me a call." - 4 - When Hal met up with Diana at the Coast City mall the following afternoon she was dressed in civilian clothes of a tailored skirt suit and heels, her hair tied back in a bun, and was wearing the spectacles that worked as well for her as they did for Clark. "You're late," she said. "Yeah, well, I almost chickened out," said Hal. "What, you happily face alien warlords and galactic armadas but the thought of getting a make-over terrifies you?" "That's about the size of it, yeah." "That may be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" "I don't see what's wrong with what I'm wearing." "There's nothing wrong with the butch look," said Diana, eyeing his denims, plaid shirt, and leather jacket critically, "and there are many women who are turned on by it, but Carol is not one of them. She prefers elegantly feminine." She took Hal's hand and led him into the mall. Their first port of call was the women's clothing department of a major department store chain, then a shoe shop, and finally a beauty salon where Hal was subjected to hairdressing and make-up. He endured all of this in a kind of daze, letting Diana lead him where she would and submitting to whatever was required of him. Several hours later, having emerged from the end of this process, he was staring at his himself in a mirror and fighting the impulse to wolf-whistle his reflection. "Like what you see?" Diana chuckled. Hal grudgingly had to admit that he did. The off-the-shoulder little black dress, dark pantyhose and three inch heels, the tasteful jewelry, the make-up and the way his short brown hair had been fluffed-up and styled, all made for a very attractive image. What was not to like? Then again, wearing a bra for the first time felt really peculiar. Hal had taken off many bras in his time but putting one on was a new and strange experience, as was having the breasts to fill it. "I'm a regular dolly bird," said Hal, "a hot chick, but I'd rather be her boyfriend than be her." "Being her is how you're going to finally get Carol Ferris," said Diana. "You've made yourself pretty for her, now you've got to close the deal." "What did you tell her?" asked Hal as they headed out to Diana's rental car. "That we should get together at our favorite Coast City club and that I was bringing along someone she had to meet." It was by now early evening and already growing dark when they pulled up outside the club. The woman on the door was tall, short-haired, solidly-built, and wearing a mannish suit. She nodded to them as they entered. "Ms Prince," she said, "it's been a while." "Yes it has, Irma," replied Diana. "Is Ms Ferris inside?" "Got here about twenty minutes ago." "Excellent. Thank you." Inside the club was small and dark, with a tiny dance floor surrounded by tables on three sides and a bar on the fourth. Around the walls were booths containing other tables. Women were slow-dancing and making out on the dance floor, while others sat drinking with friends at the tables and in the booths. It might still be early but there were a lot of people in the club, all of them female. "Is this a...." began Hal. "Lesbian bar, yes," said Diana. "It used to have to keep a low profile, but now that things are loosening up they actually advertise in the local alternative press. Ah, there's Carol now." They made their way across to the booth where Carol Ferris was sitting, nursing a bourbon. She was wearing an outfit very similar to Hal's own, though in dark blue and with the addition of a small jacket. He thought she looked gorgeous, and his heart leapt at the sight of her. "Hello, Carol," said Diana. "Long time no see." "Yes, well, I'm sure saving the world takes a lot of time," said Carol. "Is this your new girlfriend?" "No, I'm...." "It's Hal," said Diana. "Hal?" said Carol, looking confused, "I don't...." "Hal Jordan," said Diana. "He's a woman now, and it's permanent." "Hal?" said Carol, eyes widening. "Oh my god, it is you! Did you do this for me?" "How could I do it at all?" he replied, frowning and looking at her suspiciously. "I know you're Green Lantern," she said. "Last time I faced you as Star Sapphire you commanded me to remember I was her, but I also remembered you were him, too. But...look at you. How...?" "An alien virus." "And it's permanent?" "Yes." "Well, I can't say I'm unhappy with the result," smiled Carol. "And I'll take that as my cue to leave," said Diana. "You two have things to talk about. Then you really should make up for lost time." When she had gone, Hal and Carol stared at each other for a few seconds before Carol held out her hand. "Do you want to dance?" she said. "Love to," replied Hal, mouth dry. And then they were on the dance floor, slow dancing together, holding each other. And it was wonderful. "I've loved you since we were children and I always thought we were fated to be together," said Hal, "but despite my best efforts you never showed any real interest in me and I never knew why, not until today. It's funny, I get turned into a woman and then I discover you're gay. Perhaps fate does want us to be together after all." Carol lifted his chin and gently kissed his painted lips. "This is nice," she said, "but how about coming back to the Ferris mansion with me?" "What are you saying?" said Hal, not quite believing what he was hearing, needing reassurance. "I'm saying I'm a talented businesswoman," said Carol, "highly skilled at many things. But the one I enjoy most, the thing I'm best at, is pleasuring other women. I know how to make a female body sing. And I really want to make your body sing." What happened after that was something of a blur, a delirious, wonderful blur in which Hal wondered if he had died and gone to heaven. Afterwards, in her bed at the Ferris mansion, Hal lay with his head on Carol's breast, his own breasts pressed against her side, while she enjoyed a post-coital cigarette. "That was...intense," he sighed, "intense and wonderful." "I imagine it was," said Carol, softly kissing the top of his head, "I imagine it was as intense an experience for you as for any other girl being made love to for the first time. But there's something I need to know. What do I call you now? You're a woman. I can't keep calling you Hal." "Hannah," he replied, after a pause, "call me Hannah." Up until then, even though he knew the change was permanent, Hal had still considered himself a man. Up until then he'd seen himself as a man whose body might be female but who was still male. Up until then. Now he had had sex as a woman, had been pleasured in ways that only a woman might be pleasured, had surrendered himself to the experience totally. And it was the best sex he had ever had. But it was more than that. He knew that a rubicon had been crossed, mentally as well as physically. His time of denial was over. He - no, *she* - accepted she was a woman now, and it was something she decided she was ready to embrace. Hannah Jordan, Green Lantern of Space Sector 2814, fell asleep in her lover's arms that night feeling happier and more content than she had in a very long time. * PART TWO: SAPPHIRE - 1 - Always an early riser, Carol Ferris woke several hours before her lover the following morning. Smiling down at Hannah, she slid out of bed carefully so as not to disturb her and headed for the shower. When she eventually emerged from it she dried herself off, slid her feet into a stylish pair of mules, donned a bathrobe, and went outside to the table next to her swimming pool where she usually took breakfast. As she sat down so her maid arrived with coffee, setting it down on the table. "Thank you, Maria," said Carol, pouring herself a cup. Carol had claimed she knew Green Lantern's secret identity as a side-effect of him commanding her to remember she was Star Sapphire the last time they battled, which was a lie. But then quite a few things about this situation were not as they seemed. It was a gloriously sunny California day with clear blue skies, just as it had been two days earlier when she had received the summons.... "More coffee, Ms Ferris?" Maria had asked. "Hmmm? Oh yes, thank you, I....Maria?" Her maid was frozen to the spot, unmoving and bathed in a violet light. Even before she looked up, Carol knew what this must mean. "The star sapphire," she sighed. It was floating in the air a few feet above them, a familiar purple gemstone. "Carol Ferris," came a voice, emanating from the gem, "you are needed on Zamaron." Before Carol could object, it had transformed her clothing into her Star Sapphire costume and settled into place on her tiara. "I guess Zamaron it is," said Carol, resigned to her fate. She knew that resisting the summons would be futile so, rising to her feet, she launched herself into the air. As soon as she was clear of Earth's atmosphere Carol paused to gaze down at the world below. It was a breathtaking sight. This was the first time Carol had ever been fully in the driving seat as Star Sapphire. She had no idea why the Zamarons were allowing her this degree of autonomy, but she was under no illusion about how quickly control would be wrested from her if she did anything but what had been asked of her. Commanding the gem to open a wormhole to Zamaron, she was soon emerging from the other end, above that planet. Without pause she headed down its major city and flew to the palace where she knew she would be expected. There were three women waiting for her - all the Zamarons were female - dressed in the golden armour and short skirts she was familiar with from her previous visits here. "Hail Carol Ferris of Earth," said the tallest of the three, "and welcome." "Why have I been summoned?" asked Carol. "Because it is time." "Time? Time for what?" "Time for you to learn how things really are." With that the bodies of the three, who could easily have passed for caucasian Earth women, began to shimmer and change. "Behold our true forms." Tall and thin, they now had blue-grey skin and strange eyes. "Why the deception?" asked Carol. "When you first made me Star Sapphire you claimed it was because I was a dead-ringer for your former queen. Obviously that can't have been true." "No, it wasn't," said the tallest woman. "*I* am queen of the Zamarons. My name is Aga'po. As for our deception.... Your star sapphire is a prototype. It uses the same technology as the rings worn by the Green Lantern Corp but is powered by energy drawn from a different part of the emotional spectrum. Where they utilize the green light of will, we have chosen the violet light of love." "But what for? And why me?" "Sometime in the not too distant future there will come a great conflict that will require us to have our own corp, the Star Sapphire Corp. While monitoring the Green Lantern of Sector 2814 we grew intrigued by you, Carol Ferris. You seemed to have many of the qualities we were looking for. But we had not done this before and we were uncertain. So we decided to test you. Rather than give you full power over your sapphire from the outset we set up the fake scenario we did and gave you almost no control, removing your memory of being Star Sapphire every time the gem was taken from you. Thus we were able to assess your aptitude and to see how you fared against a Green Lantern. That training period is now over. If you want it...if you accept our offer to be the first of our Star Sapphire Corp, full control of the sapphire will be yours from this point on." Carol looked at the women thoughtfully. The power they were offering her, the possibilities, were mind-blowing. But she needed to know more. "Why offer this to me now?" she asked. "Because a window of opportunity has opened up," said Queen Aga'po, "one which concerns your planet and which we would like to take advantage of. One of the reasons you were chosen is because, like us, your attraction is to your own gender. This will be true of all those called to the Star Sapphire Corp. However, while such same-sex attraction is a non-issue on every civilized world it is a crime across much of yours. You also enforce a rigidly binary definition of gender. Before Earth can hope to be accepted as part of any greater confederation of planets that will have to change, and we have an opportunity to accelerate the process. On your world the Justice League are heroes and seen as 'role models', yes?" "Yes," agreed Carol, wondering where this was going. "And the recent 'coming out', as I believe you call it, of Superman and Wonder Woman has already started loosening attitudes towards same-sex attraction in your nation, correct?" "Yes, yes it has." "Good. Then if other members of the League were also to be 'lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender' - to use Earthian terminology - that might accelerate the process of acceptance still further?" "It might, yes." "Splendid, because you are going to make them so." "Huh? Come again. I don't understand." Queen Aga'po made a complicated gesture in the air and a star sapphire identical to Carol's own appeared in her hand. "The energies from the different parts of the emotional spectrum have different strengths and weaknesses," she said. "The violet light of love gives you a lot of power to influence someone's heart, their gender identity, sexual orientation, and even their flesh, but it has limited power over time. Fortunately the great cycles and rhythms of the universe are aligned at this moment in a way that affords us glimpses into the past, present and near future of your planet, and lets us use the violet light to visit those times so glimpsed. If we miss this opportunity, if we let the conjunction pass, it will not come again for a very long time." If only for purely selfish reasons, the chance to accelerate the acceptance of same-sex relationships on her world was one Carol found tempting. Plus: time travel. The very idea was incredibly exciting to her. But she was uneasy. "We'll be changing lives," she said, "the lives of a lot of good people. Should we really be doing this without their knowledge or consent? Do we have that right?" "We believe so, yes, but our culture takes a different view on such matters than does yours. If the benefit of an action to the group outweighs any harm to the individual then that action is justified. Not that anyone is being harmed in this instance. They won't even know that they were ever any different." "And all of them will then go public about what they are?" Not all, no," admitted Aga'po, "nor is it clear to us which ones will, but it will be enough to make a difference. So will you do what we ask of you?" "I'm in," said Carol, deciding to accept Aga'po's logic in this instance while knowing that to do so was self-serving. "What do you need me to do?" "Excellent!" said Queen Aga'po, clearly relieved. "First, we have to give you all the information you need on the various members of the Justice League, information you obtained for us the last time you faced your Green Lantern as Star Sapphire alongside the Green Lantern renegade Sinestro." "I did?" said Carol, puzzled. "At the end of that encounter he commanded his ring to make me remember I was Star Sapphire, but...." "It was when you took his memory from him," explained Aga'po. "We had remotely programmed your sapphire so that when you did so everything he knew about his teammates was also copied from his mind and downloaded into the gem. Now I shall download that information into your mind." She touched her sapphire to the one on Carol's tiara and Carol's mind was instantly flooded with information about the JLA. One thing in particular stood out. "Hal?" she said, "Hal Jordan is Green Lantern? How did I never know that?" "Now you do," said Aga'po, "and now you need to look through the time portals at events we have already viewed." Violet light flowed from her star sapphire, light that slowly formed a series of perfectly round disks in the air. At first these appeared full of an opaque smoke, but as this gradually cleared so images began to form. Carol studied these for a long time, the Queen explaining what needed to be accomplished in each case. When she was done she handed Carol two pills, which Carol tucked into a small pocket behind the belt on her costume, surprised to find some twenty dollar bills she must have stashed there for some reason during an earlier outing as Star Sapphire. "We've carefully worked out a route through the various points in time and space you have to visit that makes the best use of the alignment and of your sapphire's energy," explained Aga'po, touching her sapphire to Carol's once more and downloading this program into it. "As you complete each task you'll be able to initiate the jump to the next one. Each has been plotted so every jump takes the coordinates of the previous one as its starting point. Any questions?" "No, I think I know what's required of me." "One thing you will need to bear in mind; given how short your previous periods as Star Sapphire have been this has never before been an issue but, just like the rings worn by Green Lanterns, your sapphire needs to be recharged ever twenty four hours. We calculate that you can accomplish all the things you need to in that time, but it will be tight. The time elapsing will be fed directly into your mind as a countdown so that you need only think about it to know how much you have left. The remaining charge in your sapphire currently stands at 22 hours and 37 minutes." "Then I'd better get started," said Carol. "Initiate jump...." ...and she found herself in an alley in one of the seedier parts of what appeared to be a North American city. From the clothing of the people passing by on the street at the mouth of the alley - and from the cars - it also looked like this was sometime in the early 1950s. She recognized one of those cars as a brand new Studebaker Commander, and since Carol knew her cars that told her what year this must be: 1953. With the star sapphire thought was action, so it was but the work of a moment to have it transform her costume into period-appropriate street clothes. Stepping out of the alley, Carol crossed over to a newsstand to check out the newspaper being sold: THE STAR CITY COURIER. "Star City." she murmured, "where Oliver Queen was raised." Knowing what she needed to do here, and being in the right part of town to do so, Carol sought out the nearest large porn shop. The owner looked up in surprise as she entered - women were never seen in such places in the 1950s. "Can I help you, lady?" he asked, eyeing her suspiciously. "I hope so," said Carol. "I'm looking for a birthday present for a friend who has, ah, very particular tastes." "As long as it doesn't involve animals, children, or corpses, I probably have what you want." He had clearly decided that someone like her couldn't be a cop and so must be what she appeared to be, a high-class lady slumming it in search of what only he or someone like him could supply. "Good," said Carol. "I believe one unfortunate name for what he likes is 'chicks with dicks'...." The shop owner not only had the type of material she needed but a nicely bound collection of same. He was also able to tell her how to get to the Queen mansion. "Thank you," she said. "Any time, lady, but if I were you I'd keep that volume under wraps until you get it to your friend. The law don't look kindly on that type of material." By the time Carol reached the mansion night had fallen, but it was well enough lit for her to appreciate its beauty. It was bigger and grander than the Ferris mansion, but then the Queen family was 'old money' whereas the Ferris fortune had come from aviation. It was a simple task to have the sapphire render her intangible to fly over the wall around the mansion and to float through it, unseen at high level, until she found the library. It was a large room maybe thirty feet tall, a beautiful space, lined floor-to-ceiling with books and smelling wonderfully of wood and old leather. This was where an inquisitive young Oliver Queen would discover a volume of ladyboy erotica in his father's library at just the right impressionable age to be as fascinated as he was appalled by such forbidden fruit. In the years to come he would often think back on his discovery and thus be receptive to the person who was to be the love of his life when they first met. Without its influence he would not have been. That book was the book Carol had brought with her, so she glided over to the bookshelves and slid it into place where it was sure to catch young Oliver's eye. That had been easy. With luck her other tasks would be, too. Time remaining was 22:03. "Initiate jump," she said.... ...and she was in a storeroom. She was surrounded by shelves, and those shelves were laden with medicinal drugs, which meant she was in some sort of pharmacy. Cracking open the door, she peered outside. The reception desk, rows of chairs with people sitting on them, and the doctors and nurse rushing by confirmed it: this was a hospital. With her keen eye for fashion, Carol knew this must be the late 1940s, so she had travelled a few years further back in time on this jump. Once again willing the sapphire to alter her garb, she emerged from the medicine storage room dressed in a doctor's white coat, her name badge identifying her as 'Dr Ferris'. She picked up a magazine from the stack in the waiting area. It was an issue of LIFE devoted to the world's premier team of super-heroes: the Justice Society of America. "Earth-2," she thought to herself, "I'm in a parallel universe and I'm on Earth-2!" Her target on this jump must be Dinah Drake Lance, the original Black Canary. Twenty years from now, in the wake of her husband's death, their child would move to Earth-1 and fall in love with Green Arrow. Following the signs to ob-gyn, Carol marched up to the nurse at the desk. "I need to know what room Mrs Lance is in," she said. The nurse frowned, clearly not recognizing Carol, but taking in the white coat, stethoscope and name badge. "Examination room four," she replied after hesitating for a second or two. "Thank you, nurse," said Carol, turning on her heel and heading down the hall. "Who are you," asked Dinah when Carol swept into the examination room, "and where's Doctor Kaminski?" "Doctor Kaminski was called away to perform an emergency C-section," said Carol, briskly, "he asked me to stand in for him with you. I'm Doctor Ferris but feel free to call me Carol. Right, if you'd climb into the stirrups please we can get started." Dinah frowned as the nurse had, looked Carol up and down, then - having clearly decided she must be legit - climbed into the stirrups. It was amazing really, the power of looking the part, thought Carol; here was a woman, a member of this world's version of the JLA, who you would expect to be more cautious and street smart yet even she had taken Carol at face value. As the other woman settled into the stirrups, Carol checked the medical file on the table next to them; three months pregnant - perfect. Carol pulled up a chair between Dinah's legs and began her 'examination'. "Have you and your husband decided on a name yet?" she asked, sapphire in hand. "If it's a girl my husband wants it to be Dinah, like me, but if it's a boy I want him to be Dana." "Why Dana?" asked Carol, sending a beam from the gem to the unborn child, changing its gender from female to male, "that's an unusual name for a boy." "The actor Dana Andrews is a favorite of mine," replied Dinah, who hadn't felt a thing, "and I always liked the name." It was also suitably androgynous, thought Carol, perfect for a son who would go on to be a daughter. "All done," said Carol rising from her chair. "Everything looks fine, Mrs Lance. We'll see you again at your next regular appointment. In the meantime your physician...?" "Dr Charles McNider." "Yes, Doctor McNider - can monitor you as required." "Thank you, Doctor Ferris." "You're welcome." Carol headed out just in time to see the nurse at the desk directing a large, middle-aged doctor to examination room four. He came towards her, red-faced and angry. "Who the hell are you," he demanded, "and what gives you the right to examine a patient of mine." Ah, so this was Doctor Kaminski. "Pleased to meet you," said Carol, holding out her hand while simultaneously commanding the sapphire to hypnotize him. Slack-jawed, he shook her hand, a charade for the benefit of the watching nurse. "My name is Doctor Carol Ferris and I covered for you when you were called away, remember?" "Yes, of course," he replied, his face clearing, "thank you, Doctor Ferris, thank you very much." "My pleasure, Doctor Kaminski," she replied. "I'm always happy to help out a colleague." Leaving the doctor, Carol headed down various corridors at random until she found herself in a section where she was alone and unobserved, and restored her costume. Time remaining was 20:47, and it was time to go. "Initiate jump," she said.... - 2 - Mera was gazing downwards as if mesmerized by the cleavage the cut of her costume always displayed to such impressive effect, hands gliding wonderingly along the curve of her hip and down over her ample ass. "Mera?" said Aquaman. "What? Oh sorry, my mind was elsewhere." "Understandable," said Aquaman, gripping his wife's shoulders. "That you have your mind back at all is miraculous. We owe the sea-witch a great debt of thanks." "Yes, thank you...I'm a new woman," she said, nodding to the witch before turning back to her husband and smiling up at him a little uncertainly. "For restoring my wife to me, sea witch," said Aquaman, "you have the eternal thanks of the King of Atlantis." Watching the body-swapped couple swim away Carol reflected wistfully on what she had done to them. What she had shown Aquaman had been the truth, but not the whole truth. Yes, Mera would inevitably have ended up in that coffin, but though everyone would assume her dead she was not. Due to her alien physiology she would have eventually healed and risen from the coffin. Time remaining was 16:17. She had had to wait longer than she would have liked to get an audience with the king. Removing the sapphire from its place atop her staff, Carol willed it to simultaneously undo her sea-witch transformation, to replace gills with lungs, and to initiate her next jump.... ...and then she was in some sort of park, standing in the shade of a purple tree, strange scents hanging heavy on the air. Overhead aircars flew through the skies beneath the triple moons that were clearly visible despite it being mid-afternoon. Carol knew where this must be. "Thanagar," she said to herself, "in the Polaris system. I'm in one of their sky-cities." The people looked happy and prosperous, with no inkling that just a few years after this, following assaults by the Manhawks, Paran Katar would create the paramilitary Hawkmen in response at the command of the Ruling Council and so begin Thanagar's descent into militarism. Still, none of this was Carol's concern. She had a specific mission to accomplish. From under the shade of the tree she looked about her, seeking her quarry. She was searching for two young girls - Katara and Shayera - and since the sapphire had brought her to the park at this time they had to be here somewhere. She scanned the field for a black-haired girl playing with a redhead, but it was they who found her when a ball landed at her heel. Carol turned around to see a girl with dark, curly hair staring up at her. She looked to be around seven or eight in Earth years. "Come away, Katara," said her red-haired companion, who had hung back by some fifteen feet or so and was eyeing Carol nervously, "you know we're not supposed to talk to strangers." "Why are you dressed like that?" asked Katara, ignoring her friend. The A.I. in her star sapphire automatically translated English to Thanagarian for the girl and Thanagarian to English for her, enabling them to communicate without even noticing the language difference. "I've just come from a costume party," said Carol, leaning down to tousle the child's hair, "that's why I'm wearing a mask." "OK," said Katara, picking up her ball. "'Bye." She turned and ran off with her friend. And just like that it was done. When she tousled her hair she had commanded the sapphire to flip that part of the girl's brain that determined gender identity. Over the coming months Katara would become more and more of a tomboy leading eventually to her gender reassignment. So far, so straightforward. With another of these tasks under her belt Carol could now move onto the next. Time remaining was 15:43. "Initiate jump," she said.... ...and she appeared in the skies over a large ocean. It was hot and dry, the sky blue and cloudless. A quick survey revealed she was about a mile from a coastline and a couple of hundred feet above the water. As a native Californian, Carol was pretty sure this was the coast of California and that she was floating in the air over the Pacific. There were three figures racing across the water towards a floating platform about a mile from her position. Even at this distance their brightly colored costumes marked them out: Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and the Flash. Or at least that's who they appeared to be. If she was where and when she thought she was they were actually Batman, Superman, and Green Arrow. They hadn't spotted her yet and that was how Carol wanted things to stay, so she willed the sapphire to make her invisible. She watched in admiration as they battled the demon Rath, his spells rendered ineffective by being aimed at people who weren't who they appeared to be. He was finally brought down by Batman in the guise of Wonder Woman, her magic lasso actually being his batrope treated with chemicals from his utility belt to make it glow. Soon the trio were heading back to where they had come from, with Rath trussed up before them. Though this was a case from early in the JLA's history, Carol had no idea what year it might be since, according to the files downloaded into her brain, it occurred when they were time-travelling. Still invisible, she followed the group to an ancient structure, arriving at the same time as the rest of the League did with their own demon prisoners. Inside, while the others were securing the demons, Batman went into an ante-room where a large mirror hung in an ornate frame. He stood before this, gazing into it. While he studied his currently female form as reflected in the mirror, Carol admired it from the side, taking in that beautiful profile and wistfully remembering what it had felt like to run her fingers over those magnificent curves. Batman stood there motionless for several minutes, just staring. Carol could not guess what was going through his mind. He had always been the most difficult member of the JLA to understand. Green Lantern came into the room. "It's time for Green Lantern to restore us to our proper forms," he said. Of course, this wasn't the real Green Lantern but the League member impersonating him, and that would be...oh no! "We are not alone," he said, casting his gaze around the room. "I detect the thoughts of another." 'Green Lantern' was the Martian Manhunter, the member of the JLA she had been most wary of encountering because of his telepathic powers. Swiftly having the sapphire render her intangible as well as invisible she tried to pass through the wall of the structure but suddenly found herself held by the sheer mental force of the Martian's telepathy. Panicking, she did the only thing she could. "Initiate jump," she said.... Carol could only make a jump when her task in a given time and place had been completed - and her task here had been no more than to observe Batman and report what she had seen, and as yet she had seen nothing - yet to her surprise and relief it worked, and Carol found herself hanging in space, in the dark void between planets, her head still ringing from J'onn's telepathic assault. Ah, so she was about to encounter *him*. After her near-miss she needed something simple and risk-free to do. Time remaining was 13:51. "This one should be a piece of cake," she thought, smiling to herself. She could not have been more wrong. - 3 - Three billion miles out from the Sun, the light and heat that made it as far as Neptune and Pluto were pale and feeble things. Life as we know it could not exist on those icy worlds. Yet in the cold, dark space between our star's most distant children, Carol Ferris watched as the small blue and red rocket capsule carrying the survivor of a now dead world swept into the solar system from deep space on a long, parabolic arc. Thanks to her star sapphire thought was action and within moments Carol had flown in alongside the rocket and matched velocities with it. She gazed in through the transparent panel at the infant slumbering within. This was Kal-El, son of Jor-El and Lara, who had escaped the destruction of his homeworld Krypton and was closing in on his soon to be new home, where he would grow up to become Superman, the world's most celebrated superhero. Though not before Carol had made certain...adjustments. Probing the infant's brain she found the area she was looking for, the area controlling sexual preference, and 'flipped' it. Without her intervention Kal-El would have been heterosexual; now he would grow up to be gay. She felt a twinge of guilt, but it was only momentary. What she had done to him had been done for the greater good, and the world would be a better place because of it. What was really strange was that she had already seen Superman come out as gay on national TV, so to later discover she would be responsible for making him so was bizarre. That was the thing about time-travel it was hard to get your head around: in her own time period she had already done the things she was doing only now. Shaking her head Carol moved on to her second task here: placing a post-hypnotic command in Kal El's mind, one that would activate when he was an adult but be meaningless to the pre-verbal infant he currently was. "There will come a time when you will be a member of a mighty grouping of heroes known as the Justice League of America. One day they will face a trio of demons whose cast spells against them which invoke their names. Someone will realize the League can get around this by having each of you masquerade as another so their spells invoke the wrong names and are neutralized. When everyone is discussing who should masquerade as whom, you will suggest that whoever takes Wonder Woman's place will need to be someone who can convincingly fake her magic lasso." Carol smiled at this. If needing Wonder Woman's strength or ability to ride air currents was the criteria then one of the League's powerhouses would get to play her, but Batman was the only other League member with the necessary rope skills. By getting in first with his suggestion about the magic lasso, Superman would ensure that Batman assumed her role. Her task here complete, Carol readied herself for her next jump. That was when it happene