DISCLAIMER: Wonder Woman was created by William Molten Marston. I do not own any of the main characters involved in this story. This story exists in my own fan-made continuity and should not be considered to be part of any already defined by the comics, television series, or movies, though it takes cues from other established continuities created for Wonder Woman and other characters of the DC Universe.
4 hours later
The Gates of the River Styx
Diana wanted so badly right now to have some sort of gag for her 'companion' as they approached the location of one of the few known gates to the underworld. It was hidden in the hills outside of Washington, cloaked by magic against anyone with the vision to see through it, or the knowledge of its presence. Naturally, it was quite the hike, as Diana had decided she trusted Adolf better on the ground than in the air. Suffice to say, he had not shut up the entire trip there, and while Wonder Woman had been blessed upon birth by Aphrodite with a near-endless amount of compassion, the former leader of the Nazi regime was testing it. A LOT.
"Peh, 'warrior women'," Hitler spat. "You are inferior beings created by pagan 'Gods'. If you had been at war with my regime, we would have left you a bloody smear on your little island hideaway, which is the ONLY reason you still exist today, in the wake of our righteousness."
"Yes, the Nazis were VERY righteous," Wonder Woman replied sarcastically. "Which is why you've been rotting away in the deepest, darkest corner of Tartarus for the past 70 years or so."
"Make no mistake, small Amazon," Adolf growled, "I WILL have revenge for the indignities I've suffered in both my life and my afterlife, including on you."
"First of all, I'm nearly twice your size," Diana countered. "Second, revenge isn't exactly befitting the supposedly righteous. Third, SHUT UP!"
"Or what?" Hitler mocked. "You'll knock my head off my shoulders? I'm dead, what do I care? I'll bite your feet clean off, and let you die from the infection!"
Diana scowled as the gate came into view. Normally, this gate would require a blood sacrifice in the light of the full moon to pass through. However, due to Wonder Woman's status with the Gods, she was allowed free passage whenever she wanted. It wasn't a problem with any of them for her to be allowed free entry, since the underworld wasn't exactly a place she liked to traverse to regularly.
As she came within a few feet of the gate, however, the ground began to shake. It caused the ground to crack slightly, and Diana knew in her gut that this was NOT a tremor. She looked around for the cause as Hitler stumbled about clumsily. Picking the undead Nazi up, she found a stone slab and tied him to it with the Lasso of Truth.
"Hey!" Hitler yelled. "What do you think you're doing?! I'm completely helpless here!"
Diana shrugged with a smirk. "You're dead, what do you care, remember?"
Adolf was about to snap back, but soon found himself shrieking like a child as a giant monster burst out from the ground. It looked like a gigantic black spider with its eight legs replaced with at least a dozen massive, slime-covered tentacles, huge red butterfly wings attached to its back. It let out a loud, shaky shriek that sent chills all across Diana's bones.
"Oh, it WOULD have tentacles," Diana observed as the beast hovered off the ground. "And somewhere right now, Supergirl is giggling at me, I'm sure."
The crudely stitched-together abomination sent its tentacles out at Wonder Woman, who flew up to avoid them. Without her lasso, she was without any sort of weapon, meaning she would have to fight this thing bare handed. She cringed at such a thought as she flew as fast as she could to avoid the tentacles. Not that she was particularly afraid to fight it bare handed, just that she knew it would wind up being VERY disgusting.
Deciding on the best course of action, Diana weaved around the tentacles, flying toward the undead monster's wings. Unfortunately, the beast was clearly aware of what she was planning to take out, and so it beat its wings hard, sending a flurry of spores into Wonder Woman's face. The paralyzing agent in the spores took effect right away, giving the monster a chance to slam her to the ground in a mass of tentacles.
"Mein Gott!" Hitler shrieked, watching as the fight went on.
The stitched-up monstrosity growled as it gripped its tentacles harder around Diana, trying to crush her bones into dust. However, its eight eyes widened in amazement as the tentacles were slowly pushed apart. Glaring downward, it watched as Wonder Woman pried them apart with her knees and elbows, exerting as much force as she could. Finally, she pulled her tiara off, slashing the nose-guard across three of the tentacles, shortening them rather effectively. This sent a howl of pain out of the beast, giving Diana enough time to launch herself up like a torpedo, punching the abomination's underbelly hard. As it recoiled, she grabbed what was left of the tentacles and quickly went to work tying them around its wings, dropping it to the ground where it lay helpless.
Groaning, Diana dropped back down to the ground, wiping the slime from the monster's tentacles from her costume. She then walked over to the stone slab where she'd left Hitler tied up, whose face resembled a man who looked like he'd just wet himself at least a couple of times.
"Not bad for an 'inferior being', huh?" Wonder Woman asked smugly, freeing the Nazi from the slab.
"Unglaublich!" Adolf exclaimed. "That monster should have killed you!"
"It made the mistake of slamming me to the ground," Diana explained, hauling Hitler up. "I was able to send out the paralysing effect of its spores through the earth. One of the many abilities my 'pagan Gods' gifted me with."
"How can such a horror even exist?" Hitler inquired, looking over the entangled monster as they approached it cautiously.
"That's what I plan to find out," Wonder Woman replied. "Come along, Hitler. We're going to speak to the Lord of the Dead."
Meanwhile
Themyscira
Hippolyta fell back in her throne, panting hard. She felt like she'd been rocked by a hurricane, her head throbbing from the ordeal of having...she wasn't sure what it was, really. Random images of death, mixed with a jumble of words she couldn't understand. It was as if someone was trying to send a letter to her mind, but the ink ran while it was being sent.
"Queen Hippolyta!" she heard a voice cry.
Hippolyta looked up, seeing the red-headed Amazon warrior running toward her, looking deathly concerned for her Queen. "It's alright, Artemis. I'm fine."
"What happened?" Artemis of Bana-Mighdall asked, still worried.
"A vision, I think," Hippolyta replied. "But it was horribly distorted, impossible to understand."
"Can you remember any of it?" the Captain of the Guard inquired.
"Small fragments," Hippolyta answered. "Images of death across the world. Men, women, animals...all that live upon this world."
"Even we here on Themyscira?" another concerned voice asked, Hippolyta looking past Artemis to the red-haired Amazon's partner in combat and in life, Philippus of Themyscira.
The Queen of the Amazons nodded. "So it would seem."
"We should make contact with Princess Diana right away, my Queen," Artemis suggested.
"There is no need," Hippolyta responded. "For some strange reason, I can sense that my daughter is already aware of the threat. I could sense a part of her reverberating through the vision as it was being sent. Perhaps the same message was sent to her?"
"Then we are to do nothing?" Philippus asked, Hippolyta quickly shaking her head.
"No, Philippus," Hippolyta said, rising from her throne. "We shall keep close eye on Man's World through the Silver Mirror. And make sure our finest warriors are prepared for battle at a moment's notice, just in case the worst should occur."
Artemis and Philippus nodded, leaving their Queen to herself. Once they were gone, though, Hippolyta sat back on her throne, and could not help but say a small prayer to Hera that the worst would not occur. For, while there were many that she had seen laying dead in the burning ruins of the world, there was one she saw standing far away from the flames with a look so broken-hearted, it pained her to see it. After all, no parent should be forced to watch their child lose all hope and appear dead inside.
A few minutes later
The River Styx
Deep within the halls of the underworld, a single man looked over the souls passing through the River Styx. He wore a dark garb akin to an undertaker of the Victorian era, an attire he found himself becoming rather fond of. He gently tapped his cane against the stone floor, waiting until he received an update on the number of new souls entering the realm often-times named after himself, when his attention instead fell upon a woman turning a corner in the dark halls, facing him with purpose.
"Ah, Princess Diana," Hades said with a smile. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your-"
"Save the pleasantries, Hades," Wonder Woman declared, nudging a man forward. "I'm not here to shoot the breeze. I assume you know him?"
Hades' eyes narrowed as he looked to the short Nazi. "Adolf Hitler. Free from your prison in Tartarus, and with a new zombie body. This will NOT go unpunished."
"It wasn't my fault!" Hitler insisted. "I was risen without my consent!"
Diana rolled her eyes. "I want to know what you know about a recent emergence of zombies, Hades."
Hades smirked. "I assure you, Diana, that I know nothing about this, and it's not as if one single prisoner being-"
Hades was once again cut off as Diana reached around the stone corner and yanked hard, revealing the massive undead creature she'd beaten, still tied with its own tentacles. The Lord of the Dead's smirk faded as Wonder Woman gave it a small punt, sending it crashing before him. He looked back to Diana, seemingly irritated.
"Want to try again?" Wonder Woman asked. "Or would you prefer I spoke with Zeus and had HIM come down here?"
Hades scowled in anger for a moment, but sighed, deciding to drop the pretence of innocence. "Follow me. Guards, escort the German and this...THING, to holding cells."
Diana quickly followed after Hades as he walked along the stone corridors, a quartet of dark armoured guards coming to do their master's bidding. As they walked, Wonder Woman watched as the souls passed through the river, though for some reason, there seemed to be less than could usually be seen in the underworld, a fact that should have sat well with her, but it didn't. Instead, it left an ominous feeling in her stomach.
"I suppose it was only a matter of time before you or someone else came down here," Hades admitted. "The truth is, several souls, both human and otherwise, have recently...been relocated, for a lack of a better term. As you know, I'm forbidden from leaving the underworld unless otherwise granted by higher authority. However, I sent one of my guards under the guise of a traveller to ascertain the fate of the disappearing souls."
"Let me guess," Wonder Woman cut in. "They were all turned into the undead."
Hades simply nodded. "With this knowledge, I convinced Zeus to allow me a small group to dispatch of the zombies that had been located and return them to the Underworld. That should have been the end of it, but-"
"But you never found the one who was actually making them into zombies," Diana concluded. "And now more are being raised, and you can't seem to find them all."
"At first, it was only one every other day," Hades went on. "As such, they were barely noticed. After all, there are many, MANY souls to be looked after. Soon enough, though, the numbers increased. By the time I was allowed my party to deal with the problem, over a hundred were gone. However, now they're being raised a dozen a day, and no matter what enchantments are placed upon this realm, there's seemingly nothing that can stop them."
"You seem almost concerned," Diana noted, sounding insincere.
Hades scowled. "Understand, Diana of Themyscira, that ruling over this place is as much a burden as anything else, and it is my duty to oversee the natural order of death. The undead pervert that order, and those they consume also become undead, meaning their souls cannot be transferred here, instead left in their rotting corpse and blackened by the horrors they become and perpetuate. On top of that, if the undead spread too far, there will be no need for an underworld, or my services."
Wonder Woman sighed, looking to the river. "It may be worse than you think. Just before encountering Hitler, I had seen a vision of Washington, D.C., overrun by the undead."
"I wasn't aware visions of the future were among the gifts my fellow Gods granted you," the Lord of the Dead said, his voice dripping with curiosity.
"Neither was I," Diana replied. "But someone wanted me to see what was going to happen."
"Do you have any idea when?" Hades asked.
Wonder Woman shook her head. "Only that it was some time in autumn, which begins in two weeks."
Hades' eye twitched, tapping his cane nervously. "...There may be a thread we can follow: The beast you brought me. It was made up of several that had gone missing, and was rather crudely stitched together. There is one soul that vanished recently that may have been responsible for such acts."
"Who?" Diana inquired.
"One of Hitler's former allies, although I use that term very loosely," Hades answered. "His name is Josef Mengele, and he is one of the most evil human beings to have ever existed."
Diana frowned. "I think I've heard of him. He carried out crude experimentation and torture on prisoners during World War II, correct?"
"Rest assured, the things he did, supposedly in the name of science, are enough to make even my own skin crawl," Hades confirmed. "However, while he was serving time in Tartarus, he learned of the many beasts that exist in the dark depths of the world. I believe he is experimenting on their undead corpses to try to improve them somehow."
"Where can I find him?" Wonder Woman asked.
"That's where my help on the situation falters, I'm afraid," Hades responded. "I'm sorry, Diana, but you're going to have to track him on your own. And track him down you'll have to, as he may be the only lead we have to the cause of all of this."
Diana sighed, and with that, she turned to leave, not wanting to stay another minute in such a dreadful place. Still, she had at least gotten what information she could out of Hades. Unfortunately, she realised, as she approached the exit back to the world above, it still wasn't enough, and she had no idea where to find this Mengele, or who to speak to about tracking him down.
Well, I guess there is ONE person I could call, Wonder Woman realised as she stepped out into the sun. But, knowing him, I'm going to need to be wearing something LESS appropriate...
AUTHOR'S NOTES: So first off, lemme address the fact that I'm using date/time stamps at the beginning of chapters and after breaks. This is to address the ticking clock counting down to the zombie apocalypse. Reason I didn't have it in the first chapter is because it would've given away the fake out.
Second, Artemis and Philippus. Long story short, since Gail Simone was planning to have the two get married when she was writing Wonder Woman, a move that was actually supported by Dan Didio (Yeah, I know, Mr. No-Marriages was gonna let that happen), they are now a married couple in this story.
Third, if I haven't made this point clear already, let me just state it here: Wonder Woman will not kill people. She will slay the hell outta monsters, demons, the undead, and possibly one or two aliens, but she will not kill human beings. She's more understanding of the necessity of it than Superman or Batman, especially in war, but if there is ANY other option, not matter how implausible or how much more difficult it makes her job, she will not kill people. So, just in case there was anybody wondering where my version of Wonder Woman stands on killing her bad guys, there's your answer.
Fourth, regarding the visions. There IS an individual responsible for feeding the visions to Diana and Hippolyta, and if you have knowledge of a lot of the various characters in the DC Universe and paid really keen attention to how it played out for Hippolyta, you might be able to guess who it is.
Finally, in regards to Hades, I picked that appearance for him because it's my favourite of his various looks over the years in DC. I just like the idea of him dressed like an undertaker, and actually having a certain air of style and sophistication to him. As for his character, he's very much neutral in terms of alignment. Watching over the underworld is his job. He really doesn't give a rat's ass for the troubles of humanity and if people die, but for the sake of his duties, he can't sit back and do nothing while this is going on. He's obviously been doing this for a long time, and has seen a lot of horrific atrocities, but there are still the odd occurrences where someone does something that will even disturb him.
Anyway, check back in as Diana goes to meet with a VERY familiar face to see if they can dig up any info for her. Ja né!