Chapter Ten: Wrath of the Gods Part One
Kara walked deep into the museum to get a closer look at the exhibit now Clark was off with Diana. She waited patiently for Helena Sandsmark to finish off a call. The few snatches of conversation Kara caught out of the side of her ear showed how important it was.
'Guess I better wait, I wouldn't want to disturb her.'
She could wait, she had the patience to wait. Kara took a half of a step off to the side and leaned against the wall. She acted casual when looking around. A quick glance delivered to the right side of her and a quick glance delivered to the left side of her. The moment Kara turned all the way around, she saw no guards were on their way around.
Daring thoughts entered Kara's mind. It wouldn't hurt to take more quick peak before Doctor Sandsmark was ready to meet with her.
Kara took a casual step over the velvet rope. She prepared to move the moment anyone approached. Curiosity damned her and got the better of her. Every single moment she walked closer to the exhibit, Kara experienced an amazing pull towards it.
She lifted one hand and lightly brushed her fingers against the edge of the tablet. A spark of energy caused her skin to light on fire. Kara reached into her bag and pulled out a scanner developed of spare parts in the Fortress. She flickered the device on and ran it over the tablet a few times. The frown deepened the more as she took in the tablet. The scanner didn't hit any match and this thought confused Kara to a new degree.
'Right here, it looks like there's no trace of any technology, 'Kara thought. 'That's extremely odd.'
Kara double checked to make sure the settings had been calibrated properly. She scanned the tablet. No signs of energy again, after the second scan.
'Someone carved these symbols in here, a long time ago,' Kara thought. She took a chance and touched the symbols. She didn't notice any super-secret hidden technology buried within the carvings. 'There's nothing out of the ordinary, although the writing is curious.'
All Kara scanned the symbols writing. There were no literal translation, but with the Fortress database she should be able to piece together a more concise scan of them.
Kara stepped back and took a step back over the ropes. Despite the scans coming up as negative and everything else coming up as very empty, Kara couldn't help, but see something was wrong, and very out of the ordinary. She just couldn't put her hand on what might have been wrong. She did have a feeling something was going on.
'Extremely odd,' Kara thought.
The phone conversation continued in the next room. Kara listened for Doctor Sandsmark to wrap up the call. She figured an interview with her would unearth some answers to this item.
Only, a chill went down Kara's spine.
'I'm not alone.'
A flash of light caught Kara's attention's further. The actual lights in the museum began to flicker and cause a slight disturbance. Kara stepped closer towards the edge of the room and frowned at the lights flickering at a very interesting and crude pattern.
'I knew there was something up.'
Kara stepped in the general direction in front of the disturbance. Nothing here other than some very ancient Earth armor. It looked like she could damage it with a strong burst of her super breath. Hell, it looked like she could tap on it and ding it pretty good.
The only recourse was to pick up her scanner and take a closer look. Kara waved her hand in the air with the scanner. The scanner blipped and showed some foreign residue entered the air. The residue circled around the statues and showed something was amiss.
The light grew even more blinding and three shadowed figures appeared out of the portal. Kara stepped closer towards them. The trio of guards stepped out of the portal. Their attired consisted of a rather bulky armor which didn't seem too convenient for skilled battle. They looked more apt for brute force and to bull over armies without any strategy.
Kara stepped closer towards them and for the longest moment, none of them really reacted. The nearest of the soldiers extended his arm and caught Kara in the face. The huge punch caused her to launch up into the air and slam hard onto the ground.
The wind knocked out of Kara. It surprised her how strong they were. Something augmented their abilities, and Kara realized what it was.
'Magic, of course it is.'
The three soldiers walked closer towards her. Kara took a closer look, with them having ignored her now she exited her direct path. They weren't based on technology, rather they were based off of some mystic abilities. The enchantment swam around the soldiers when they approached.
"War will be at hand!" one of them bellowed. A sword had been withdrawn. "Come forth with my brothers! Our master's prize awaits us!"
Kara jumped in front of the soldiers when they continued their march. One of them looked at her like she was a mere annoyance. The arm extended and Kara dodged a gust of wind before it took her out. She ping-ponged off of the wall and flew at him back at them.
A long clang caused a surprising amount of pain to spread up Kara's body. She never expected anything to hit her like the solider did.
A shield extended around the body of the soldier. A rubber band effect shot Kara up into the air and sent her flying all the way down to the ground. Kara clutched onto the ground and struggled to get to her feet. Her knees almost slid out underneath one side of her. A small drop of blood spilled from her mouth.
'These soldiers are going to wreck the museum if I don't put a stop to them.'
One of the soldiers withdrew a spear and charged towards her. Kara caught it before the spear impaled her. Two of the guards stepped over and helped their guns towards the soldier. The soldier lifted his hand and the guards slammed off against the wall with solid thuds.
Kara jumped on the back of one of the guards. She tried to aim her fist at the fleshy part of the guard's neck. The guard turned around, yanking her by the hair off of him. The guard whipped around and hurled Kara back out of her path.
She noticed, perhaps a bit too late for it to do any good, these guards only fought her when they attacked. The moment they pitched her off to the side, the guards returned to their business as of nothing outs of the ordinary happened.
Kara brushed herself off with a harsh frown. She stepped outside. The guards had made their way outside and would be storming the city in a matter of moments.
She dropped down onto the ground and looked up at a bright light engulfing her. The soldiers disappeared into a flash of light, leaving a mild amount of carnage.
'So, I'm not the target,' Kara thought. 'If I'm not the target, then who is?'
Kara had been visited with more questions than she had answers, and nothing added up, at least in her mind.
'It's very odd.'
Clark settled in for a nice cup of coffee and a rather refreshing helping of stew. He had to admit it was pretty tasty, even though nothing could beat his mother's cooking. His own biased opinion might have been at work there.
Diana sat across with him for a smile. It was nice to have a rare night out with someone and not have to worry about any responsibilities.
Sadly, there wasn't any doubt in Diana's mind she would pay for this lack of responsibilities later.
"It's different than what I'm used to back home," Diana said. "But, variety is the spice of life, isn't it?"
"Where are you from anyway?" Clark asked.
Diana smiled and took a drink of coffee. Clark sensed the eyes of someone who was gauging how much she could tell Clark this soon.
"I'm from the Mediterranean," Diana said. Granted, it would take a little bit of explanation to tell Clark where she was from, and Diana wanted to have a nice relaxing meal. "The autumns are quite jarring, though, but it's quaint in a way. Much like Smallville is, and….it's a change of pace."
Diana figured she would take this nice and slowly before she ended up dropping the princess bomb on him. She figured being the princess to a nation of strong warrior women might be off-putting for most men and thus not really a good topic for conversation on the first date.
"The tornados and bitter winters are a change of pace from the sun of where you're from," Clark said. "Granted, I only know it from reputation…"
Diana smiled and took another long drink of her coffee.
"Well, there's a lot to love, although when you live some place for a long time, the magnificent can turn mundane."
She laughed and finished downing her coffee.
"The beaches are relaxing, and there's an interesting culture if one is willing to learn about it," Diana said. "It's just….some aren't as interested in learning all of the lessons of the past. They want to interpret the teachings of the goddesses in ways they were never meant to be interpreted."
Clark raised an eyebrow.
"Goddesses?"
"You've…you've heard of the Greek Goddesses, right?" Diana asked.
"You mean like Aphrodite, Athena, Hera?" Clark asked.
Diana smiled, granted she read the few of the myths about them. Hera did not come across as very favorable in many of hers. Diana suspected it was because of the many bastard sons of Zeus spreading misinformation about her.
"Yes, among a few others," Diana said. "Some of them left home when they had a conflict with how it was being run…they thought….well it really doesn't matter."
Diana really was about where she wanted to be in life and to her. These facts were the only thing which mattered right about now. She looked up in time to see Clark's hand extend over the table.
"So, was that the real reason you came over here?" Clark asked. "To get away from the politics at home?"
Loaded question, despite so, Diana felt he deserved a clear and concise answer.
"No," Diana said. "There were other reasons. My mother encouraged me to get out and have a chance to see the wider world before I had a chance. I managed to look out Doctor Sandsmark and she had a job opening for me when her old assistant went on an extended sabbatical."
Diana later found out the old assistant had gone mad and ended up in Arkham Asylum in Gotham City. Diana found out a little bit about the place and knew from her experiences it was a place with some of the sickest people in the world. She prayed to Hera ever night they would gain the peace and the solace they needed.
'Mother was right, I needed to get out and enjoy the rest of the world for what it's worth, unwind a little bit,' Diana thought. She flipped a lock of the dark hair away from her face. 'It's not the easiest thing to do, but at least I found something interesting. And something I want to find out more about.'
Diana enjoyed the coffee she shared with him.
"So, your cousin mentioned….."
Just a second before Diana could properly ask a question, a scream cut in through the night from outside. Clark almost bolted up in a hurry, but Diana didn't notice it. She turned her attention from the window outside and back to Clark who sat at the table.
Who was not at the table, but another scream coming outside distracted Diana. She pulled herself up and dropped the money down on the table to pay for the rest of the meal. The dark haired princess stepped out of the back door.
'Time for drastic action.'
The moment she walked out of the back, Diana walked further into the back of the alleyway. She spun around three times in the alleyway. A flash of light flickered through the alleyway.
Diana stood dressed in a red, white, and blue one piece suit which showed off her long legs. Red boots had been pulled up. She dressed in a tiara and a pair of bracelets. The ancient Amazonian armor gave her enhanced power.
A woman trembled on the ground, and her two children were yelling at her, but those words had gone on deaf ears. Several ancient soldiers charged towards her and were about ready to flatten her.
"Mommy, please wake up!" one of the children shrieked in terror.
A blur shot out off from the side and scooped up the two children and yanked them out of the way in the blink of an eye. The mother followed, being slid out of the way.
Clark dropped down to the ground and came face to face with the lead warrior. The warrior raised a huge iron mace and swung it towards Clark. Clark caught the mace in his hand and jumped high in the air with his hand wrapped around it.
The soldier gave a grunt from his weapon being parted from his hand.
The mace ripped out of the hand of the soldier. Clark spun it around and the mace connected with the stone skin of the soldier and knocked him onto his back. Several stone fragments shot up into the air.
The second of the soldiers charged Clark with a sword from behind. The sword came precious inches from hitting Clark.
'No.'
Diana rushed on in and blocked the sword from slamming into the back of Clark's head. She clung the sword back into the place where the shoulder and chest of the stone warrior connected. The stone warrior's eyes shifted in anger when he pulled back his arm and lunged at the Amazon Princess.
"You!"
The growling coming from the warrior showed Diana someone very dangerous pulled the strings. The wondrous woman's experience told her exactly who was behind this latest round of trouble.
"Yes, it's me."
Diana jumped behind him, and she turned towards Clark.
"I'll handle them, see if there are any more civilians who are in need of care!" Diana yelled.
No time to ask any questions, both of them would have plenty of time to hash this out later. Clark sped off in a search for the civilians. The sounds of battle occurred over his shoulder and intensified.
'Guess there is much more to her than meets the eye.'
The sound of a second of the third soldiers falling brought some new found hope to Clark. He finished the search for civilians, but with a sense, there was someone else watching him.
'What more can happen tonight?'
A large statue loomed in front of the red skies which flashed with lightning. A figure made his way forward, his footsteps approaching. Some people considered his domain to be absolutely useless. Fools didn't know the necessity of war, a necessity of the work that he did.
The natural state of humanity was chaos. To consider anything less, would be foolish. They were all bloodthirsty. This state of bloodthirstiness didn't extend simply to humans. No, it extended through a variety of realms and all over the universe.
The figure took a half of a step forward and walked even more. He made his way into the temple. Several weapons hung from hooks on the walls. The man walked past the weapons and took them all in. He stopped in one particular spot which looked very vacant. The lack of item in front of him caused fire to burn through the eyes of this particular monster.
'It should be here.'
This particular thought flashed through his mind. No matter all of the spoils of war which had been gained or lost, this particular item missing dug underneath the skin of Ares. He placed a hand on the side of the bare spot on the wall.
Hatred burned through his walls. The Amazons, with Athena's questionable wisdom, took his most prized possession away from him.
He must take it back by any means necessary. His entire life had been incomplete. It was made for him.
The figure in battle armor turned to the army of warriors he assembled. They ran into a snag which caused the god's teeth to curl into a furious snarl.
"So, they've run into the son of Jor-El."
Ares shared several things in common with many gods. They traveled to other planets beyond their area of worship to see what it was like on the other side. Ares found many individuals who were of like mind to himself. One of those people who impressed him beyond all else was General Zod. Zod's ruthlessness proved to match Ares, and he respected the man.
It was a pity Ares could only observe, and not guide, because of the rules that bound him to only Earthly matters. Zod had some kind of spark in him which was beyond greatness.
Sadly, in the end, Zod failed, thanks to Jor-El. The only solace which kept Ares mostly calm was the fact the destruction of war had ended up destroying Krypton at the very end. The end result of a very long and rather stubborn planet who refused to learn the lessons.
They saw the dangers of trying to avoid war at any costs. They could not prepare themselves for true conflict, for true bloodshed. When it happened, they could not survive.
The son of Jor-El was someone who did survive all of the conflict and all of the war. Ares crushed his fingers together, teeth gritting together in an obvious growl.
'I will crush the son of Jor-El, he is nothing, he's very much like his father. He impedes the progression of war, and for that, he will must be sacrificed.'
Ares turned to the army before him. If only Jor-El's son had been the only problem, then Ares could rest easily. However, there were other difficulties. He noticed her show up instantly.
'Hippolyta's daughter,' Ares managed to get out with a rather prominent growl. He clutched his fist together until it had gotten blue in the face.
It was only appropriate in some twisted way the daughter of Hippolyta joined the battle. Hippolyta had been one of the ones who had attempted to keep Ares and his precious armor away. The thought of it resulted in a sickening feeling to enter the pit of the stomach of the God of War. He needed to make her pay, he needed to make her suffer.
She took down two of his warriors. The Princess never understood the first battle was always the easiest. It was always a mission to find the weaknesses in his opponents and exploit them to his best abilities.
Ares focused his complete attention on the third person, the one who met his warriors at the museum when they had been activated.
'Yes, she's rather interesting given her bloodline,' Ares thought. 'She has a thirst for bloodshed and for war she's struggling to keep at bay. Well, we just got to find a way to get that out of her. It's always a delight to see the warrior spirit forced out of anyone.'
Ares was pretty sure he located the armor. It was only appropriate it had been located inside a quaint little farm town. The armor was so close, he could taste it.
"Come forth my children, and claim for me what is rightfully, and truthfully mine!" Ares yelled.
It had been a while since he had led a campaign of decimation. It was only fortunate enough the goddesses had been preoccupied for reasons which had unknown.
"Your target is a town called Smallville, in Kansas," Ares said. "I want you to destroy everyone who stands inside….you two…go back up your brothers against the Daughter of Hippolyta and the Son of Jor-El."
The two soldiers dropped down to their knees before the god of war. Ares only just barely kept himself from breaking out into one of the wider smiles possible.
'They fail to understand humanity's natural state is war. But, they will learn.'
Diana dropped down hard onto the ground and just barely avoided one of the soldiers taking her head off with a very violent punch. She pivoted off to the side. The two she had taken out rejoined the battle. One of them charged towards her.
Clark popped up right next to her and blocked the sword before it sliced through the top of Diana's head. Clark and the soldier struggled to fight each other. A punch caught the soldier and knocked him up off of the ground.
"So, it appears there's more to you than meets the eye," Clark said.
"Yes," Diana said. She caught the ax from one of the soldiers. The Amazon's knees buckled in an attempt to force the ax back. She summoned all of her strength against the attacker, pushing him back against the ground. "Do you really think this is the time or the place where we should be having this particular discussion?"
Clark shook his head in negative.
"Not really," Clark said.
Most certainly not given the enemies coming at him from all sides. Clark had to dodge the swing of the sword blade before it cut into his chest. A flash of light emitted from it.
Diana was glad for the challenge. She noticed a portal opening up on the side and two more of these soldiers came out. The soldiers threw daggers at Diana.
Before Diana could take any actions in blocking the daggers, a blast of heat vision popped up and nailed the daggers. The daggers dropped to the ground, a smoldering bit of ash when they connected to the ground.
Diana opened her mouth. She had been impressed. Kara hovered over them in the air. The soldiers turned their attention towards her.
"Okay, now they want to give me the time of day," Kara said. Kara jumped down on the ground and drove her elbow down on the side of the soldier's neck. "At the museum, these soldiers never wanted to give me the time of day."
"They attacked you at the museum?" Diana asked. "Is everyone okay?"
Kara spent the second smashing the heads of the soldiers against the wall. They both landed with a thud.
"Yes, everything's fine, some people are a bit shaken up," Kara said. "And there were just three of these things when I saw them. Now, there are five?"
Diana caught one of the soldiers and hooked him before slamming him down onto the ground. The blow only rocked the soldier ever so slightly. It did little other than to take the wind out of him, at least for the moment.
"There's going to be a lot more than them unless we stopped them soon," Diana said.
The soldiers crowded around in a line. They all raised their hands and created a mild shockwave .The shockwave caught Clark, Diana, and Kara. They tried to push through but it caused them to slide back a couple of inches.
Kara noticed a portal opening out of the corner of her eye. She raised her hand and threw a disc on the shoulder of one of the soldiers which they passed through the portal.
"They stopped attacking us," Clark said.
Diana answered with a shake of her head. Ares really stopped an attack until his hand had been forced by the goddesses. Unless of course, there was something better at stake elsewhere which he needed all of his forces.
"They're heading to Smallville," Kara said.
Clark tensed a little bit. No more than Diana did. Something snapped in the back of her mind as if she had forgotten it until now.
"We need to beat them there, now," Diana said.
Diana knew it would be hope behind all hope. Regardless, if her hunch was right, that's where the Amazons hid it. One of the last places on Earth where anyone, Ares would expect to find it, but obviously the notion had not been foolproof.
'Oh, Hera, help me,' Diana thought.
Diana didn't voice the thought, but her tensing up raised a red flag in Clark's mind.
"What's wrong?" Clark asked.
"I'll explain when we're there."
To Be Continued on October 9th, 2016.