Yue

 A short time later

"So…" Dana paces a couple of steps from left to right. "I guess the.. reason you're not talking to me is… You're kinda pissed off about me telling them everything about you?"

I breathe out, then open my eyes. "No, not really. I doubt that you told them anything that they couldn't have found out from either other sources or… Given that Saturn Girl is a telepath, that they couldn't have just read from your mind."

"Oh." She smiles. "Okay. So how come you're just sitting there?"

"There doesn't seem to be any hurry. Brainiac said that they were on a time limit, but I don't actually know where or when we are. Depending on exactly what's going on, my future self might be heading this way right now."

"They told me they were from the thirtieth century."

"Yes?"

"You'd be… A thousand years old?"

"Yes? I don't age any longer. And I'd still only be a quarter the age of Queen Hippolyta."

"But if their time line got all messed up, wouldn't you have gotten erased too?"

"Dep.. ends? I'm here, which to my way of thinking should mean that I'm not there to age to this point in history. Unless I ever manage to go back, in which case I will be. But from the way Brainiac was talking it sounds like some types of time travel bypass normal causality… Somehow, which might mean that I'm not there to go back until after I manage to go back."

She looks at me for a moment. "Whut?"

"I think the fact that there's a 'me' here means that there can't be a 'me' anywhere else until I get away."

"Oh. Okay."

"Though I could very well be wrong." I raise my eyebrows. "So..? What have you been doing with yourself?"

"Writing more articles, doing my coursework… And I had a go at being a superhero." She grimaces. "But it's a lot harder than I thought, just.. finding things worth doing."

"When you say 'superhero', exactly-?"

"Strength, speed, flight,-" She rises a few centimetres from the ground. "-toughness, super acute vision and the ability to-" She holds out her right hand, electricity crackling around her fingers. "-control electricity."

And my eyebrows are raised. "Really? Ho.. w.. strong, exactly?"

"I dunno. I couldn't find a weight I couldn't lift, but I dunno if I'm Superman strong or anything."

"It's worth finding out. Were you born like that, or did they.. just show up one day?"

She looks away a little awkwardly. "I.. kinda… Borrowed..? These magic coins..?"

I bow my head and raise my hands to my forehead with a groan. Deep breath, then look up. "Probably for the best. Mister Truggs-" I glance at the wall to my right. "-has a habit of killing people who acquire powerful artefacts and don't use them. And -no offence intended here- if you could find them he probably could as well."

"So.. me.. borrowing them doesn't bother you?"

"You're not the only thief in this conversation. I try not to be that hypocritical, and if you're putting them to good use it's better that you have them than a random museum thief. Oh, and well done for restraining the impulse to put on a skin-tight leotard."

"I tried it? But.. it.. wasn't really me. When I fly up high the cold air kinda made my… Ah…" She gestures at her bre-. Ah, yes. That can be a problem. "Y'know…"

"Not a problem I've ever had personally, but… Yes." I nod.

"So… Garden of Eden, huh?"

"I don't-."

"You stole a fruit and got visited by an angel. The only other thing I could think of was that you found a fig from the tree Jesus cursed. So, are you immortal, or did you take God-like knowledge?"

"Neither. I took the Pomegranate of Good and Evil and gave it to a couple of quasi-demonic people in order to give them the capacity for morality."

"Huh. And.. you're sure that Zauriel guy was an angel? He could just be a metahuman or something. And I think there was some crazy doctor in Nevada who stuck some swan wings on a woman."

"Yes, I'm afraid not and true, Doctor von Schadel did. I first saw Zauriel in Eden. His physiology is innately magical, he answers to the authorities of the Silver City… He's an angel."

"Yeah, I… Suppose it wasn't all that likely that he'd be able to fake it for you. It's just kind of a shock, finding out that God, like, literally exists. And… He does, right?"

"I'm still not sure how close to popular mythology the truth of Jehovah's existence is, but… Sort of."

"Ohhhh."

"I'm sorry, I usually assume that Americans are practising Christians unless I hear otherwise. I'm a little surprised that you're surprised. Were you not?"

"Ah… I'm gunna be going to the synagogue more often than I have been. And…" Her eyes widen. "Which religion's right?"

"I-. I don't know. I got the impression Zauriel wasn't that fussy. But he seemed to be rather keen that I repent my sins…"

"Ah. Okay. Ah. I.. kinda… Need to tell you something. Ah. The coins? I kinda.. got them right before we met."

"Okay?"

"I… When I thought you got me fired? I was planning on.. fighting you with them."

"That's okay. I'm perfectly happy to forgive you. Though I'm going to suggest that you consider peaceful resolutions first in future."

"Yeah, yeah, I think I will. And I'm gunna stop eating crab cakes, too."

"I don't-. Okay. Whatever you think best." I look away for a moment. What else to talk about? Given that our hosts have the ability to time travel I'm not exactly in a rush here… "The Legion. Did they offer you something, or did you just volunteer?"

"They said they'd bring me to the future, which they have." She looks around. "I think."

"Are you allowed to leave?"

She glances at the door. "Yeah, but they said that wasn't a good idea. Not everyone around here's.. friendly."

I frown. If this is a Legion base, it should be pretty secure. Shouldn't it? Assuming that we're not here during the time of Earth Man's fascist state. "Did they tell you where this is?"

"Yeah, they called it Vanishing Point. You know anything about it?"

"Supposedly, it's a stable structure located at the end of time. How that works, no idea, but it makes sense if they're trying to dodge getting erased." No Linear Men and no Waverider. Not that I've seen so far, anyway. If only I knew enough about them to know if that meant anything. "Though it does make it less likely that I'm going to be recovered by my past-" The door slides open. "-self."

A man in a purple robe walks in-.

"Oh." I stand, ignoring Brainiac as he follows him in. "Hello, sir. I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised to find one of you here."

The figure stops, the folds of his hood obscuring his face. "You know me?"

"Yes? We met on Maltus. Though that may not have happened in your personal timeline. I suppose that if anyone was going to survive the collapse of time it would be the people who beat the Anti-Mon-."

He raises his arms, pointing them at my cell. "Return!"

Space twists as the time tube opens and I plummet away-!