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.
September 20th, 7:07 AM, EST
Themyscira
Diana sat at a round table set up in the throne room, looking to her fellow Amazons. It had taken a little while to get everyone up, but she decided this was FAR too important to leave some people out on. Some were looking slightly dis-shelved, having been sleeping or otherwise, but nonetheless sat attentively as Diana, her mother, and Philippus and Artemis sat at the round table. Likewise, Steve Trevor and President Amanda Waller were sitting in via conference call using a computer Steve had left the Amazons in case of emergency.
"So, we've got three days to avert the zombie apocalypse," President Waller said with a sigh. "You know, if I hadn't run Project Cadmus for as long as I did, that would sound VERY insane to me."
"Would someone please remind me why I ever allowed Circe to live?" Hippolyta asked. "Because honest to Zeus, when she pulls stunts like she did now, I tend to forget."
"Circe may have cost me some time, but I'm not out of it yet," Wonder Woman noted. "We're fortunate you sent Artemis and Philippus to retrieve me. We still have time to stop Black Hand. All we need to do is find him before his army is ready for their attack and slay him."
"I thought you didn't kill your enemies anymore, Princess," Artemis pointed out.
"I don't kill mortal humans, no," Diana replied. "I WILL, however, gladly slay monsters, demons, and the undead, and Delirium made it clear that Black Hand is a hybrid of the living and the dead now. As far as I'm concerned, he's made himself VERY killable."
"Sounds like a pretty blatant loophole, but hell if I'm gonna call foul on this one," Steve remarked.
"And we're sure we can trust this Delirium individual?" the President inquired.
"Delirium can be a bit...odd, but she does legitimately wish to help," Wonder Woman answered. "In the meantime, has there been any word from Superman?"
"No word," Steve sighed. "We're on our own for this one."
"The Amazons do not require Superman to help us fight our battles," Philippus exclaimed. "We will find Black Hand and eliminate him and his army."
"Speaking of which, I dug up some info on our darkly cloaked friend," Trevor said. "Took some work, since it details events before the Superhero Registration Act was dropped, and that info got put under lock and key."
"What have you got for us, Colonel?" President Waller asked.
"Well, his real name is William Hand, and as you may have guessed, this guy's a sick bastard," Steve explained. "His folks ran both a coroner's office and a funeral home, which led to him growing up to have a deep fascination with death and the dead. Some of his therapists suggested he may have even been engaged in necrophilic activities."
Some of the Amazons looked ill at this, but Steve went on. "Apparently, he ran into a fellow from WAY out of town. He was a necromancer that believed William was tied to some kinda black energy. He was gonna kill him and take the energy for himself, but he was intercepted by a former Air Force pilot turned superhero named Hal Jordan."
"The Green Lantern," Waller noted. "Continue."
"Apparently, after this event, William Hand basically went off the radar for a couple of years," Steve said. "But here's where it gets weird: He wasn't seen again until about four and a half years ago, following a murder scene at his folks' house. His parents, and both his brothers, all dead. But what was weird is that they recorded a blood sample belonging to William as well, except the sample was SO large, there was no way he could've lived following it. But there was no sign of him. After that, got even weirder. A few months later, his father's casket was broken into, his right arm was surgically removed, and the rest of his body was supposedly left badly mangled and hardly recognizable."
Artemis leaned back in her seat. "So this man kills his family, commits suicide, is raised as something akin to a zombie, then he steals his father's arm, which is likely the one he replaced his own with. And I'm going to assume this is all for whatever dark force that supposedly is the manifestation of death that he's working for?"
"Now that's the part I'm having trouble finding info on," Steve replied. "Meaning there's a player in all of this we know zip about."
"Then our first priority for now is finding Black Hand," Amanda Waller said. "We have to figure out a way to track him to-"
Before the president could finish, a chime started to play on the computer, signalling that someone was trying to join the conference call. Diana looked to the computer, her eyes widening at the name appearing: AlexaThemyscira3309. She quickly allowed the caller through, and sure enough, Alexa appeared on the screen, the halls of the underworld shown behind her.
"Alexa!" Diana cried happily.
"Sister?" Artemis exclaimed. "How?"
"Called in some favours with some inmates, got together some materials that washed down here," Alexa answered. "You'd be surprised how easy it is to get a working computer built in the underworld. Of course, the hard part is getting reception-"
"While I find all of this fascinating, and it's of course great to see you again, we're in the middle of something, Alexa," Artemis cut in. "Preparing to stop the imminent zombie apocalypse?"
"Which is actually why I called, sister," Alexa replied. "Adolf told Hades about Black Hand, and there are things that you need to know about him and the being he's working for."
"All ears," Diana said.
"Black Hand is getting power from a being called Nekron," Alexa explained. "When the universe was first created, he was born from the nothingness that existed before it. Much in the same way as the undead are a perversion of the order of life, he believes that life is a perversion of the natural state of the universe: Darkness, nothingness, and death."
"Wonderful," Waller muttered. "How do we kill him?"
"You can't," Alexa responded, "because he doesn't even exist in the realm of the living. He lives in a place known as the Dead Zone, a realm adjoining the underworld that even Hades can't enter. Likewise, Nekron can't physically leave unless there's a strong enough presence of the dead on Earth. He's only able to cause harm through his servants."
"Black Hand," Wonder Woman stated. "So, we defeat him, and Nekron has no one to act through."
Diana looked to the others, her gaze meeting Philippus, who appeared deep in thought. "...Something the matter?"
"I was just thinking," Philippus replied. "Black Hand knows you're out there and that you're planning to stop him. He also has to be aware that you have an army of Amazons to bring with you to his doorstep once you find it. I find it difficult to believe that, with all of this time he's had to plan this out, that he would simply wait for us to come to him, thus risking an engagement he could possibly lose, BADLY."
"Or he could just skip all of that and come looking for us!" a blonde Amazon shouted, looking through the Silver Mirror.
At this, all of the Amazons looked out to the mirror hanging behind Hippolyta's throne. Sure enough, far off in the ocean, approaching the island, were three massive abominations made from whales, only possessing far larger flippers, and with giant horns on their foreheads. Riding on the beasts were legions of undead, ranging from unarmed zombies, to undead soldiers of various time periods, to smaller abominations. Hippolyta's eyes widened at the horror approaching their lands, knowing the terrible damage they were about to wreak.
"Amazons!" she cried. "I hope you had a late supper, because breakfast is going to be postponed!"
An hour and a half later
Wonder Woman held her position, levitating over the catapults set up in the hills overlooking the beach. They decided against having soldiers on the beach itself, as there was little to no chance of coming out of such an engagement without casualties, and one loss for them was a new soldier for the opposite side. There could be no heroic sacrifices. Every single Amazon had to count in the long run.
"You seem nervous."
Diana looked down at her mother, smiling a little. "This isn't exactly my first battle, Mother."
Hippolyta looked unconvinced, to which her daughter sighed, lowering closer to the ground. "It's just, this is far bigger than the biggest battle I've ever had to face, and on that day, I wasn't the only one of the world's finest to contend with it. And I know my Amazon sisters were bred to fight in war if necessary, but I'm supposed to be the greatest of us...and now, all I wish was that there wasn't just one of me."
"One's more than enough to make those beasts in the ocean turn tail and run, if they were smart enough," Hippolyta remarked. "We can't spend so long worrying about what we don't have. We need to focus on what we do and how to turn it in our favour."
Diana nodded hesitantly. "Of course. Alexa and Steve are honing in on the energies most consistent with Nekron. We just need to hold out until they find him."
"Best get armed!" Artemis suggested as she jogged over. "They'll be hitting the beaches in moments."
Diana looked back to the beaches, seeing that Artemis was most correct. Lowering herself to the ground for a moment, she picked up a bronze helm, placing it over her tiara. This in turn produced red leather armour that stretched out from the ends of her costume to her boots and bracers, thus covering her skin. Bronze shoulder and knee guards materialised over her costume, as well as a red cape flowing from around her neck. All around her, the other Amazons did the same. She floated back into the air, watching as the undead legions of Nekron approached.
"Give them no hesitation or mercy, for they will not reward you with any for yourself!" Hippolyta instructed the Amazons manning the catapults, as well as several nearby archers standing ready.
"Select your targets!" The archers prepped their bows, aiming at just the right angle to hit their individual targets.
"Light the stones!" A group of Amazons with torches set the hay covering the stones ablaze, just as the first zombie set foot in the sand.
"FIRE!" Hippolyta cried, and thus the rounds were launched into the morning sky. The flaming stones crashed into the whales as their passengers were getting off, which was then followed by a volley of arrows that tore through the zombie hordes and their carriers. This seemed to put a halt to the undead's initial advance...until the zombies, still riddled with arrows, simply got up again, roaring out as they raced across the beach.
"Dammit," Artemis cursed. "Black Hand's will is keeping them here!"
Diana let out a sigh, grabbing hold of a broadsword as the archers let loose another volley. "Then our only chance of stopping them is to completely burn away their bodies! Without a vessel, their souls will be sent back to the underworld!"
"Wouldn't Black Hand simply raise them all over again?" one Amazon arming a nearby catapult suggested.
"Yes, but it would cost him more time," Wonder Woman explained. "And anything we can do to get time on our side is a good option."
"We may not have a chance!" Artemis exclaimed. "Look!"
Looking out to sea, Diana's eyes widened at the sight of several large tentacles coming out from behind the abominations. Within moments, the single largest squid that any human or God had ever laid eyes open rose up from the ocean. It let out a loud bellow that made the Amazon Princess cringe slightly.
"My Queen, we can't hope to stop such a beast with stones and arrows!" Artemis yelled.
Wonder Woman tightened her grip on her broadsword. "Leave this one to me! Continue your assault!"
And with that, Diana flung herself through the air, sword at the ready, prepared to do combat with the titanic beast. However, just as she neared it, ready to fight to the death with this monster, it flung its tentacles forward, coiling around and crushing the whale abominations until their undead bodies burst. Wonder Woman stopped herself, looking on in amazement at the sight, suddenly realising this beast from below wasn't undead.
"What in the world?" Diana wondered aloud. "What's going on now?"
"That is what I would like to know!"
Looking down to the beach, Wonder Woman watched as a pair of zombies toppled over, their bodies carved in half. Standing over them was a figure far too familiar to the Princess of the Amazons, but that she was nonetheless not expecting to see on this day. After all, he very rarely ventured to the surface world. He wore an orange and green scale armour, possessed short blond hair, and carried a very large, very deadly looking trident. He looked back up to Diana, seeming amused by her state of surprise at his presence on the battlefield, before getting his business face back.
"Would someone care to tell me just who the hell has been mutilating and reanimating the corpses of the creatures from my kingdom?" Aquaman demanded.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: "Behold the king! The king of kings!" Seriously, someone needs to make an AMV of Aquaman to that song. XD Okay, before anyone panics, Aquaman is not here to take over the fic or detract from Wonder Woman. He's just here to find out what the hell is going on, and offer some aid to the Amazons in the battle to save Themyscira. That's all. Now, that being said, naturally, being Aquaman, he will be a badass as he does so. Still, this is ultimately Wonder Woman's story, so he won't be around for too long.
Wait, what's that? You think Aquaman is a useless superhero? Oh, dear friends, I would link you to the video of Linkara to explain how that viewpoint is stupid, but suffice to say, Aquaman is the Goddamn King of Atlantis...which I'm very tempted to try to turn into a meme of some sort. As Atlantis' dominion encompasses most of the known ocean, Aquaman is therefore the rightful King of roughly 70% of the known planet, albeit likely all below ground level, not that he cares much for control of the surface world anyway. Speaking of which, seeing as how Aquaman operates at the bottom of the sea, his strength, speed, and durability are naturally much higher than that of an ordinary human due to the constant pressure down there, and his sight is also far more advanced to deal with the lack of light. He also wields a trident made of an indestructible magical gold, which can blast foes with water or electrocute them, and yes, has the potential to even kill SUPERMAN. And just as a final note, while he can't control the undead sea creatures being summoned by Black Hand, it's entirely possible that he could call in Cthulhu to devour the souls of anyone that pissed him off if he so chose...I think, anyway, the jury's still out on whether Cthulhu counts as an aquatic lifeform or not. Point is, I don't make fun of Aquaman, and neither should anyone else.
...Man, I've been ranting a lot at the end of chapters. lol Anyway, check in next time as Wonder Woman and Aquaman fight to save Themyscira. Ja né!