A/N: Well here's the next chapter, some quality Diana and Julia time.
Aegle is a Greek goddess of healing, and Artemis is an Olympian goddess of the hunt.
Diana entered the bookstore wearing a pair of loose jeans and a t-shirt for the weekly training session with Julia. It had become a routine of sorts and as usual, Julia had switched the sign on the door to Out to Lunch and was ready to go the moment Diana entered the store.
"So, what's the plan for today?" Julia asked.
"How does a run through the park sound?" replied Diana with a smile.
"Sounds good to me!" Julia answered as she opened the door for her mentor.
They walked together along the sidewalk to the park, talking all the way there. It didn't take the conversation long to turn to Julia's future.
"Do you have any ideas yet?" Diana inquired.
"Yeah," Julia half smiled, "I've got a name picked out. I just need to come up with a costume idea that Athena approves of."
"Hard to please?" Diana grimaced.
"Athena and I are having some…disagreements. She insists that I get some sort of super-suit that deflects bullets and all of the like, but that sort of thing is really expensive and even easier to track down," Julia explained.
"And what do you want?" Diana asked.
"Something simple and awe inspiring," Julia stated.
"I know you will find something right for you," Diana nodded.
"I think so too, I just really wanna get to work, you know."
"I completely understand," Diana smiled.
It was then that they arrived at the park gate. They turned to each other; their eyes met and they were off. Julia ran as fast as she could. Diana held back and tried to refrain from flying. They ran through the gardens and past the chess players. They ran by a street vendor and a group of dancers with a boom box. They passed a playground full of parents and children, and a basketball court where men played a game of pickup basketball. At some point, they left the path and headed towards the grassy picnic area of the park. Diana heard Julia's heavy breathing and turned to her.
"Having trouble?" She asked.
"Not at all," huffed Julia in reply.
When Julia broke eye contact with Diana she saw that she was running directly at an empty picnic table. And as if to prove her point Julia swiftly placed one hand on the bench and flipped over the entire picnic table. She landed on the balls of her feet and used just one hand to steady herself before she stood. Diana had stopped and stared at Julia. A smirk arose on both of their lips as they took off across the field. They soon entered the wooded area of the park. They weaved in and out of the trees until they both arrived at a small isolated clearing. In the middle of the clearing two staffs stood in the ground crossing each other.
"Really subtle, Athena." Julia shook her head.
"Are you up to a match?" Diana asked, pulling one of the staffs out of the ground.
"Always." Julia grabbed onto the remaining staff.
"I hope you know that I'm not going to be pulling punches," Diana warned as she walked to one side of the circle.
"I would never ask you to," Julia stood opposing Diana.
Then all of a sudden the playful banter ended. They were, at least for the duration of this match, adversaries. They charged at each other simultaneously, their staffs meeting with a loud clack. Diana pulled back her staff first and then attempting to use her height advantage, swung the staff in an overhead attack. But Julia held up her staff and blocked the attack. She then jumped back and watched as Diana's staff it the ground with a loud thud. Diana charged again; it was her Amazon nature to take the lead in a fight, a fact that Julia planned to use to her full advantage. Diana waged a full frontal attack this time, swinging and stabbing the staff at Julia's torso. Julia was able to deflect a number of the thrusts but received more than a few good blows to her sides. Their weapons clacked as their centers met again. Then, Julia switched to offense. She tightened her grip on the staff and shoved against Diana's force. She'd pushed Diana back a few steps when Diana suddenly moved. Diana crouched, then swung her staff down towards Julia's feet. Julia jumped up above Diana's head, then carefully dove behind her. As she tumbled to the ground, she was careful to stick her staff out.
As Diana stood, she turned, and Julia's staff got caught behind her knee. Diana fell to the ground, releasing her staff in the process. Julia had barely taken a step before Diana got up. Julia picked up Diana's discarded staff and Diana claimed possession of the staff that had tripped her. They circled around each other once before Diana charged again. Their staffs clacked several times before either of them made any progress. When Diana appeared to be making another overhead attack, Julia responded by making her staff parallel to the ground and holding it up to block the attack. But Diana pulled the staff down into herself and then quickly shoved it up behind Julia's staff. Diana held the staff in place, its blunt end hovering at Julia's neck. Julia took in a deep breath and then threw her staff off to the side.
"You win," Julia sighed.
"You did great!" Diana exclaimed as she dropped her staff.
"Thanks…" Julia looked down.
"I mean it, you put up quite a fight. It wasn't too long ago that you would have been down in three minutes after the run like we just had," Diana placed her hand on Julia's shoulder, "You're getting better."
This made Julia smile.
When Diana dropped her off at her shop, Julia went directly up to her apartment and collapsed on the couch. Immediately Athena appeared sitting beside her. Athena held Julia's head on her lap and brushed her hair out of her face.
"I'm fine," Julia sighed.
"You are lying," Athena said gently.
Julia sat up slowly and then pulled up her shirt to show Athena the bruises beginning to form on her ribs. Athena grimaced but nodded. She pulled out a small vial from a pouch hidden in her robes.
"Drink this," Athena handed the vial to Julia.
"How many of these did Aegle give you?" Julia asked before chugging down the contents of the vial.
"More than I expected, actually," Athena smiled, "You have quite a few admirers among the gods."
"Really?" Julia asked as the liquid burned going down her throat.
"Yes really," Athena smiled, "Asides from myself there is Artemis. She took quite a liking to you during those archery lessons. They like your strength, and your heart. And they are thrilled by your dedication to us."
Julia smiled and stood very slowly. She started down the stairs when Athena stopped her.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"Right down to the shop," Julia answered.
"But what is that, that look in your eyes?"
"I'm ready," Julia stated as she met Athena's eyes.
Athena's lips slowly parted as she understood. Her first instinct was to object, but she simply nodded. She allowed Julia to go down to the book shop, and just as Julia knew what she must do, so did Athena.
Julia stood on the edge of a Metropolis warehouse roof. She heard people moving around inside and talking.
"Come on we gotta get this stuff on the truck," One of the voices reached Julia's ears.
Julia took several deep breaths as she thought. Things would never be the same after this; this was the moment that she had been training for-she couldn't mess this up. Of all of the thoughts that ran through her mind, never once did she wonder why she was doing this or want to turn away and run. She took one last breath as she jumped from the roof. She landed on the truck and as the sound echoed into the warehouse she flipped the switch on her belt.
Wonder Woman exited the locker room on the Watchtower and was surprised to see Batman standing adjacent from the door.
"I've been looking for you," He said.
"Really," Wonder Woman smiled as she walked towards him.
"I have something to show you," Batman said grimly then walked away.
Wonder Woman glared at the back of his head as she crossed her arms over her chest. She wasn't happy but followed him regardless. He led her into the main conference room. He went directly to the computer station and started typing.
"Bruce, my shift just started what do you want?" Wonder Woman asked.
"I wanted to show you this," Batman said as he pulled up a news report onto the main screen.
Wonder Woman was unimpressed until she heard the male news reporter say that they had footage of a new superhero. She watched as footage from what looked like a security camera displayed a bright female shaped blur take down four thugs. Batman cut off the video after the security footage ended.
"You wouldn't know anything about this would you?" Batman asked.
"Why would you think that I know anything about that?" Wonder Woman retorted.
"You didn't answer the question," Batman stated flatly.
"Fine!" Wonder Woman was infuriated by this interrogation. "The answer is that it could be her, I don't know."
"You don't know?" Batman questioned.
"No, I don't. She never mentioned an actual plan and in that video it's impossible to tell."
"I suggest that you find out," Batman took the video off of the screen and stalked out of the room.
She watched from the rooftop in darkness. Below her a woman clutched onto her purse as she walked along the sidewalk. Behind her a small group of men were gathering, following every move she made. She watched as the woman turned a corner and was startled by two men waiting for her. The group of five men converged on her and pulled out weapons of pipes and crowbars. That was it. She jumped from the roof top to a fire escape and from there to the ground. The second her feet touched the cement she flipped the switch on her belt. Suddenly her costume lit up like a light bulb. The group of men turned to view the blinding light. The men looked intimidated by her image, but then again she had planed it that way. Her costume covered her head to toe and emitted the white light that the men now saw. To protect herself from the light her eyes were covered by black lenses. She held a spear in one hand and kept the other on her hip right above her sword.
"Let her go," she declared as she stepped towards the men.
"Mind your own business." One of the men stepped out of the group.
"Let her go or suffer the consequences," she stated.
"Consequences?" The man turned to the rest of the group and laughed then when he turned back he held a knife in his hand, "What are you gonna do?"
She charged at the man and he jabbed his knife at her. She thrust out her spear and twisted his arm around it into an unnatural position. He dropped the knife and screamed.
"I AM PANDORA!" She shouted as the men rushed at her.
She whipped her spear around and threw the first man to the ground.
"You have opened my box and now shall experience-" she yelled at the group of men.
She deflected the initial rush of men. She knocked one down with a swift blow from her spear and knocked another one to the ground with a kick to the chest.
"Suffering!" she stated as she caught a fist and bent it back until a snap echoed down the street.
A man then rushed at her with a pipe. She grabbed onto it as he swung it at her and rolled backwards, then kicked him off of her.
"Pain!" she swung her spear around over her head, hitting the five men around her in the head.
That left just one man, the one who had first spoken to her. He kept his right arm by his side and watched her nervously. She glared daggers at him as she approached.
"And finally," she flipped the switch on her belt and the light went out.
She had disappeared. The lone attacker could not see her in the darkness. His eyes slowly started to adjust and just when he could scarcely make out a dark figure in front of him he was blinded by a bright light.
"Despair…!" she said before she delivered an uppercut to his jaw.
Pandora looked around at the men lying on the ground. They would all be waking up within a few minutes, just enough time for her to flee and the police to arrive. She flipped the switch on her belt and then walked away into the darkness of the night
So Pandora is born, review if you like it, and even if you don't you can review to tell me why.