Yes, It Can

The old man didn't apologize as he slipped the cold plastic length of the ultrasound probe into the reporter's vagina. He had explained everything very carefully, and had even offered to clear the operating room to give her some privacy. Lois squeezed Superman's hand as the hard wand slipped uncomfortably deep within, glad that he was here. That he had responded to her hasty, **** call.

On screen, an image shifted, black and white. A dark void with something in it, round and strange.

"You're pregnant," Doctor Midnite said. "Or, perhaps it would be more accurate to say, host to some parasite. I've never seen an embryo that size. At this stage of conception, you'd normally need a microscope."

"Can you remove it?" Lois asked.

The doctor pursed his lips in silent consideration. Dark shades covered his eyes, so Lois couldn't really judge his emotions, but he seemed calm, professional, and collected...as if this wasn't the first or even the fiftieth unusual pregnancy he'd run across, and she was desperately glad of that.

"The size would appear to rule out chemical abortion, despite the time of conception. Surgical options are certainly possible, although again, the size is such that we're looking at a substantial risk of secondary trauma." He paused. "The surgery could render you infertile. I'm honestly surprised your cervix isn't showing more signs of damage than it is. Still my dear, you are only human. I don't think you can survive letting this entity...gestate...much less emerge 'naturally.'"

Lois sucked in her breath. On screen, a line was dividing the embryo in two. It was splitting into two cells. Her belly already felt painfully full. If they grew...

"What about the Justice League teleporter?" Superman suggested. "Would that be less traumatic?"

"It might," Doctor Midnite conceded. "If we can get a lock on it. Still tricky. I can't even rightly tell you what this is."

"A kind of dybbuk," a British voice came from the doorway. The three people in the room turned to see an unshaven man in a suit and tie underneath a wartorn and stained trenchcoat, blond hair swept back from his head. He was smoking a cigarette, and he looked like all kinds of trouble. "Made from the souls of the unborn."

"Mr. Constantine," the old man said with a tone of exasperation. "I have told you before that there will be no smoking on these premises."

"Your problem, Doc," John Constantine said, ignoring the comment on the cigarette. "Is that this isn't about science. This is magic. The occult. Demonology. My patch."

"And who asked you to consult?" The doctor said icily, pointedly turning away from the occultist to slowly and carefully remove the ultrasound probe as painlessly as possible.

"I did," Zatanna popped in from around the corner. The witch had her tophat in her hands, and glanced an apology at Lois Lane. "He has experience in these matters, and I think we're going to need all of us to sort this problem out. In case it isn't plain, Lois Lane's life is in danger."

There was a grinding sound like tectonic plates that set the room to vibrating. At first Lois wondered if it was an earthquake...and then remembered that they weren't on Earth at all, but floating above it in the Justice League satellite. She saw a muscle twitching in Superman's jaw and squeezed his hand. When Superman realized he was doing it, he stopped.

"So what do we do?" He said.