Legendary

"Khnum-Khufu?" Bruce said skeptically. He looked around at our blank faces and elaborated. "Pharaoh who ruled during the Fourth Dynasty in the first half of the Old Kingdom period? Khufu was the second ruler of the Fourth dynasty; he followed his probable father, Sneferu, to the throne and is accepted as having commissioned the Great Pyramid at Giza." Our heads swiveled as one to look at Hawkman. This would go a long way in explaining his hauteur.

"No, I was not the king," he said quietly. "I was but a prince, one of scores, son of Ramesses II, now known as Ramesses the Great, third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty. My mother was Maathorneferure, a Hittite princess who died not long after my birth. I was my father's twenty-seventh son."

My mouth actually hung open as I listened to this. If he was right, this was an exceptional opportunity to learn about ancient Egypt firsthand but somehow I doubted that he'd indulge my curiosity. That didn't stop the others from bombarding him with questions. "What about Hawkwoman?" Green Arrow finally broke through the babble. "And where did you get the Nth metal? I thought you were aliens."

"I was his consort, Chay-Ara," Hawkwoman said in her cool voice. "The prince was engaged in a feud with a priest of Set, who killed us both. We continually reincarnate, sometimes remembering our past lives, sometimes not, sometimes continuing our relationship, sometimes not. This is one of the lives where we remember our past selves and it is a mark of the noble nature of the prince that he remembers his responsibilities to the people. Noblesse oblige, you would call it. The metal that negates the effect of gravity was a gift from the gods, meant to help us through our endless reincarnations." I almost gagged at that. My impression from history was that the pharaohs excelled in their building projects/vanity projects and war, were practically deified, and had a taste for incest as a way to keep the bloodline pure and minimize the possibility of outsiders claiming the throne. Not that that really stopped it; there were thirty-one separate dynasties beginning with the unification of upper and lower Egypt to the last independent pharaoh before Egypt was conquered by Alexander the Great and thereafter under Roman rule. And the metal? Unless it was handed off directly from a god, I'd bet it was from a meteorite, like vibranium. But the source probably didn't matter much; the fact that the pair believed it to be from the gods was likely a great comfort to them. And it might have been a direct gift; didn't I receive the symbols of the valkyrie directly from Odin?

It was as if Hawkman could read my mind. His eyes flashed as he looked at me. "The pharaoh performed many functions vital to the safekeeping of the upper and lower kingdoms and wellbeing of his people, and the power of the gods was palpable in that time, strong and vital from thousands of years of rightful worship. In certain sacred sites, their power charged the air, thick as honey."

"I didn't say a word," I protested, holding up my hands. Who am I to rain on somebody else's pantheon?

"I'd like to know more," Diana remarked, leaning forward. "I am familiar with the kingdom after the conquest by Alexander and the installment of the Ptolemies, but not before that time."

"Interlopers!" Hawkman hissed, and Hawkwoman placed her hand on his arm to calm him. Not that it had a lot of effect. "The principal responsibility of the king was to maintain balance, ma'at, in all things. Balance is the first goal of the gods and therefore the king, leading to prosperity for all. He was the heir of Horus, ruler of the world, and the son of mighty Re, Lord of the Sun. He had to keep his people safe, dispense justice, ensure the adequate rising of the Nile, care for the continued existence of those in the beyond by bringing them offerings to feed on. He had to uphold the divine order, truth, and justice-- ma'at--and fight isfret--chaos, evil, injustice. His ka, his lifeforce, was not regarded as equal with the gods, but as a representative on earth of the divine. Mediators between the people and the gods."

"They sure had a nice life," Flash said cynically. "All the gold, all those wives, all that power, the best of everything, those tombs and all the monuments."

"The king was the embodiment of all aspects of the kingdom," Hawkman shot back. "He was the chief arbiter over all his subjects, protecting the weak from the powerful, the head of what is now known as church and state, the representative of the kingdom to foreign powers, and the commander-in-chief of the army, often leading his armies in person, taking part in the fighting. And the temples often caused intrigue. As the representative of the gods, leader of the people, he was entitled to splendors to balance out his duties, which were a heavy responsibilities. What are the wives and concubines, the fine trappings of life in comparison to the wellbeing of all under his rule and the cosmic burdens of ma'at? He was a great personage, and my father the greatest of all. Why should the people not abase themselves before him, in return for all the good he did, and revere him as the favored of the gods? Why should he not, having fought through the afterlife to his reward, repose in comfort in paradise with others to do his work? Is that not the purpose of the shabtis?"

Tony's gaze flickered across mine and I saw him fight to keep a straight face. Likewise, I had to hold myself back, but this was how the guy was raised. It made sense that he'd toe the company line. And it did make sense, from a certain point of view.

"What was Ramesses really like?" Damian asked, leaning forward. Like all of us in the family, he always wanted to add to his knowledge.

Hawkman softened. "My father, Userma'atre'setepenre, which means 'Keeper of Harmony and Balance, Strong in Right, Elect of Ra'. The Greeks called him Ozymandias. He lived to be 96 years of age." He paused for a reverential moment to consider this. "Understand, life expectancy for was in general 19 years for death from accidents and disease was common. However, women could live to an average of 30 years at that time, those who did not die in childbirth, and scarcely more for men, 34 years. Generations of the people knew no other but their king Ramesses the Great and there was widespread panic that when he would at last die that the world would end with him. His name and accomplishments were known from one end of Egypt to the other and there is scarcely a monument in the country that does not mention his might. He was accompanying his father, Seti I, into battle at the age of 14 and going into battle in Nubia with his sons at 22, co-regent with his father. By the time Seti died, he had begun massive restoration projects, had set about restoring our borders, ensure our trade routes, and was engaged in reclaiming what had been taken from us by the Hittites. He defeated the Sea People and his crowning military achievement was the victory at Kadesh, where he outwitted the larger Hittite forces. The victory was possible because of his courage, calm, cleverness, and favor of the gods as he fought to retain the balance, a dazzling victory. He constructed the magnificent city Per-Ramesses that rivaled the ancient city of Thebes in its greatness. He improved the country's infrastructure and commissioned monuments of his accomplishments that all might know of them. He loved his wife Nefertari above all others, but treated his second great wife, Isetnefret, and his secondary wives and consorts with regard and respect. His reign was very stable and prosperous. He was one of the few rulers to live and rule long enough to take part in two Heb Sed festivals which were held every thirty years to rejuvenate the pharaoh. He secured the country's borders, increased its wealth, and widened its scope of trade and, if he boasted of his accomplishments in his inscriptions and monuments, it is because he had good reason to be proud.

"He was over six feet tall, had more than 200 wives and concubines, 96 sons, and 60 daughters. His appearance was nothing in comparison to his greatness, but he had a strong face. And red hair, as does the god Set, but I have always considered my father to be a perfect balance to the chaos and destruction of that god. A keeper of the balance in deed and truth."

"Formidable," Damian acknowledged. But I'd Googled it under the table and found a less biased account that took some of the puffery away and noted that other pharaohs had actually been better kings, like Ramesses III, but none were as well-known. "Were you buried in KV 5? Have you visited the tomb?"

"Yes, many of us, sons as well as daughters, were laid to rest there. As expected, at least the closer burial chambers were robbed in antiquity, including mine, and have been heavily damaged by the flash floods, the idiotic practice of parking tour buses too close to the necropolis, and from a leaky sewer line from a rest stop. It is blasphemous that money is made from allowing goggle-eyed and ignorant tourists to tramp through sacred spaces! Their breath and their sweat raises the humidity in the tombs too much, further endangering the delicate art on the walls, creating opportunities for bacteria to grow and destroy the images as well. And the art isn't decorative, it is necessary to help the ka of those within through the underworld. It is blasphemous to open the tombs to any who wish to gawk and do not display the proper reverence--"

"So please explain why it's so bad that Typhon is setting up camp in Egypt, if you will," Steve requested, getting us back on track by cutting off Hawkman's rant. "I thought that the Egyptian gods hadn't shown up, even though some of the dead have returned." He frowned. "Although now that I think about it, there wasn't a great population who were Returned, and none of the pharoahs--or at least none have come forward."

Both Hawkpeople looked smug. "Because the way to paradise is long and difficult to fight through to, the gods allowed those within to make their choice to return or not; the balance would be disturbed if they had Returned. Some did, and they will have to account for their choices eventually. But most, accustomed to their roles and, like my father, intimately aware of the need to retain the balance, did not. The gods are not dead," Hawkman warned passionately. "They are present and observe the land closely. They choose not to interfere, as most people in the country have abandoned their traditional worship and ways to follow Mohammad or Jesus. Without a populace interested in keeping the balance, there is little they can do," he admitted.

"There are small bands of believers," Hawkwoman said. "They have restored a few temples, although the government will not permit them to work on the major temples in sites like Luxor or Thebes. Or even Tel el-Armarna," she sniffed. "Or even worship there." Her voice was condemning and contemptuous. "And they warn that the gods will act if the balance is shifted too much. The presence of Typhon threatens much."

Tony sat back, a look of calculation on his face. "So what's the problem? It sounds like if Typhon gets too busy, the gods of the land will beat them back."

"They may not have the strength," Hawkman said after a pregnant pause. "Or they may act in a way that will be detrimental to those currently living there. The people may fail to worship properly, but they do not deserve to be slaughtered. Typhon will not care about the damage they incur, and the gods may not count the lives of blasphemers as dearly as those who do follow the traditional ways, who are few in number. They may use the opportunity to restore their worship. Currently they watch from the shadows and they wait."

"So it is imperative that we keep Typhon contained," Hawkwoman said urgently. "The gods are not merciful in their pursuit of the balance."

"What do you propose we do?" Superman asked.

"Root out Typhon as quickly as possible," Hawkman responded instantly. In his agitation, he stood again, and this time I noticed that he had a khopesh by his side. Tony noticed it too.

"That wouldn't happen to be from the Met's collection, would it?" he asked, pointing to it, his voice rising.

"The swords were created to be used," Hawkman said sternly.

Tony looked like he was going to blow a gasket. "Those are archaeological treasures now," he said. "Ask somebody to make you a new one, of modern, stronger materials, rather than divert antiquities that you have no right to! How did you get your hands on it?" he demanded. Tony sat on the board of directors for the museum and was passionate about its holdings.

"If the great colonial powers and tomb robbers had left our caches in peace, I would have no need of using the collection at work," Hawkman retorted, then immediately looked like he wished he hadn't said anything. In the shouting that followed, it turned out that Hawkman was a curator of Egyptology at the museum in his modern identity as Carter Hall, although his position was not secure now. Tony threatened to have him arrested. I quickly Googled the archaeologist and found that he was considered the pre-eminent scholar for his specific knowledge of the reign of Ramesses II and personal opinions were that he was aloof but passionate about his work. I guess he was more personable at the museum.

The upshot was that Emma agreed to make the Hawkpeople weapons in the Egyptian style they preferred and that Hall would refrain from stealing from the collection of the museum.

"Reclaiming," Hawkman said mulishly.

"Borrowing," Hawkwoman said hastily.

"Whatever," Tony snapped. "No more, or I'll turn you in and you can ponder the balance from the inside of a prison cell." Hawkman sulked, but it was agreed to turn our intelligence gathering operation to focus on Egypt.