Year Eight Hundred: Odyssey
Author's Note: This is probably the mostly blatantly "crossovery" of the chapters thus far, though as before, the Marvel characters really are peripheral in the grand scheme of things.
See below for additional notes...
Lo, there do I see my Father
Lo, there do I see my Mother and
Lo there do I see my My Brothers and My Sisters
Lo, there do I see the line of my people back to the beginning
Lo, they do call to me
They bid me take my place among them in the halls of Valhalla
Where thine enemies have been vanquished
Where the brave shall live Forever
Nor shall we mourn but rejoice for those that have died the glorious death.
/-\
From the apartments she shared with Kal, Diana headed straight for the Observatory.
Her hair was still wet from the long overdue bath, and the smell of blood and death had not yet faded from memory, but she did not think that Gabriel would mind terribly, not with how long it had been since they'd last spoken. Today was the first day in two hundred and fifty years that the sky was not dark with parademons or war-barges or sky sleds manned by monsters birthed in the darkest pits of Apokalips, and Diana knew it was only temporary. By the looks of things, no one in Asgard thought it would last long, not with how she could not see a single person, not even a child, who was not wearing armor and carrying a weapon of some sort.
Kal was sitting alongside Lyta as Diana passed over them, with a scowling Ullr several yards distant and looking unbelievably childish for one so old as he sulked at being excluded from the father-daughter bonding discussion. Diana sighed. Sif's son was so difficult to fathom at times – he could be recklessly heroic, both willing and eager to charge headlong into a nightmare that rational beings would flee from to rescue a frightened puppy, and then promptly transform into an immature brute who needed his step-father to smite him across the skull with Mjolnir so as to knock some sense into him – but for reasons she did not quite understand, her daughter was thoroughly besotted with the fool. He was pleasant enough to look at, Diana supposed, but honestly seemed to have the personality of an especially dull rock.
"Your disapproval is at least half of why she loves him," Kal had once said, as if he did not share every one of her grievances with Thor's step-son (in addition to a couple of his own), and Diana had felt the Truth in his remark. Had she been so different, she wondered, with her own desire to step out of her mother's shadow? Yes, she'd grown to love Kal independently, away from Themyscira, as she watched him strive to be the greatest he could be, but she had to admit that her mother's open dislike of him had certainly accelerated her interest.
At her passage, Kal glanced up, offering her a tired smile that she returned without hesitation, and then, belatedly, Lyta looked skyward as well, squinting slightly. Her senses were not as keen as her father's and she was not quite as fast as either of them, but there were few in Asgard as mighty or as capable in battle. Based on firsthand observation, Diana knew that, without Stormbreaker's magicks enhancing her own strength as it did, she was far, far weaker than her eldest child. In a few years, Lyta might even surpass Kal's astounding strength and though Diana hated to admit it, the girl was more suited to Asgard than she ever would have been on Earth.
"My time dwindles," Gabriel was saying as Diana drew close to the Observatory. He was facing deep space, with the odd visor of Heimdall's helmet concealing his face. "Please secure the transmission construct in a safe location. It will be necessary for me to relocate you when the time comes for their return." Abruptly, his body language shifted – he was annoyed at something, Diana guessed, or at least frustrated – and he pushed up the visor with a touch more force than was entirely necessary before turning slightly to face her. "Good day, Mother," he said, offering her Kal's smile on a face that was a perfect blend of their features. She did not reply at first, instead drifting closer to him and embracing him tightly.
"How do you fare today?" she asked softly as her strange son resettled himself atop the dais that dominated the Observatory.
"I am quite well," Gabriel replied. "I have finally found what I have sought for centuries." His lips curled up. "Both things, in truth," he added before nodding toward an otherwise unremarkable stretch of space before him. It was not the direction he had been facing only moments before, curiously enough. "Yonder is the means of our victory in this war," his said. Diana looked – she saw nothing but an endless blanket of stars, glittering and dancing in the darkness – and then returned her eyes to him. He smiled as he held out one hand. Instantly, a small device detached itself from a wall and floated toward him. "Commend my respects to the king," he informed the recording drone. "Request an immediate assembly of the war council on the behest of the Watchman."
"State the purpose of this assembly, Watchman," the drone instructed in a toneless voice.
"Victory," Gabriel replied. "Advise the king I have located victory." With a soft whine, the device floated away.
"You enjoy being vague, do you not?" Diana asked with a smile. She laughed at the momentary flash of sheepish acknowledgement that flickered across her son's face. "You remind me of Bruce," she said brightly. "He always delighted in being the cleverest man in the room as well."
"From Father's description of him," Gabriel said, "I shall accept that as a compliment."
In the far distance, bells began ringing and Diana glanced toward the remains of Asgard. Thor's protective barrier now extended to the inner wall and covered the remains of the city proper, but beyond those fortifications, all was ruin. None of Asgard ventured beyond their king's shield save in battle, as the landscape was littered with lurking dangers, whether they might be unexploded but primed ordnance, or killing machines in stand-by mode and waiting for a target, or even simple traps intended to maim but not kill. The soil itself was blackened and charred, stripped of the nutrients that would allow life to flourish, and Diana wondered if it could ever be reclaimed.
"Will you escort me to the council, Mother?" Gabriel asked with a hint of a smile. At a glance, Diana could tell he was up to something – her comparison to Bruce had not been entirely incorrect as her son so often kept his own council, waiting to spring his unexpected wisdom upon those who were least prepared for it. To Kal's continued (but unstated) disgust, Loki adored Gabriel for this very reason, even if he had nothing but scorn for the rest of her family.
"Is Freyja not available?" Diana asked wryly, delighting at her son's momentary frown. Rumor whispered that the widowed goddess of beauty and love was a frequent visitor to the Observatory, though no one was ever able to confirm the veracity of such tales. Diana herself knew more than most – decades earlier, she had cornered Freyja and threatened bloody retribution should harm befall her son, and that did not even take into account Kal's proud and knowing smirk anytime the subject came up – but even she did not know the exact specifics regarding the nature of Gabriel's relationship with the woman. Her ignorance in this matter irritated her more than she wanted to admit, though she suspected a lingering dislike of Freyja might be at least partially responsible for her mood. Why couldn't her children choose better mates, she wondered briefly.
"Your presence is necessary," Gabriel replied cryptically. He flipped the visor of Heimdall's helmet down, cradled his greatsword blade up against his shoulder, and then offered his right arm. Diana could not help but to smile as she took it.
And together, they took to the sky.
/-\
By the time they reached the council chamber, it was already in session and, unsurprisingly, Kal and Thor were arguing again.
It was the usual debate – the king remained convinced that they could hold the line against incursions by Apokalips while Kal wanted to press the attack, to take the war to Darkseid and stop simply defending, no matter that their every attempt to use captured Mother Boxes for that purpose had failed, sometimes in spectacularly lethal and explosive ways – and the court was sharply divided along those lines. The youngsters supported an attack, no matter how useless or unwise, while those much older backed Thor. Even sly Loki, who stood at his brother's side, argued against an aggressive stance. Apokalips was not of this reality, he argued, and somehow, reaching it was currently beyond Asgardian magicks. For once, Diana's truthsense told her that he was not dissembling or outright lying, and the grimace on his face as he revealed these facts betrayed how much discomfort he was in. She wondered if honesty burned his tongue.
"Every time they attack," Kal was saying as Diana and Gabriel entered, "we lose more ground, more soldiers, more lives!" His eyes glinted red as he scowled at Thor and the king returned the angry look with one of his own.
"Let them come!" the Thunderer retorted harshly. "They will break upon us like the surf upon rock! Asgard will endure!" Kal's eyes narrowed and from his body language alone, Diana knew exactly what he was about to say. It was an insult regarding Thor's courage and strategic planning that the king could not let stand, no matter how powerful an ally Kal was.
"Clark, enough!" she whispered quickly, knowing only he and their son could hear her words. Kal's head snapped around to pin her with a fierce look that faded the instant she gave him a fierce, knowing look. It was not as if she disagreed with him – this defensive war was bleeding lives away for no gain and if Apokalips was out of sync with this reality as it was with theirs, they could breed replacements for eternity while the Asgardian numbers remained finite – but letting his anger and rage at what had been done to him an eternity ago cloud his judgment in the now was something she could not allow. Their eyes locked and somehow, someway, she managed to relate her fears and concerns with only her gaze. He inhaled deeply, then released it slowly, visibly making the effort to avoid losing his temper in front of Thor. When Diana drew alongside him and touched his hand, he gave her a quick, thankful nod.
"What news, Watchman?" Loki asked with that sly smile of his. Diana felt Kal bristle – she had to admit that she did as well – but neither of them spoke as Gabriel took his place at the great table. It was not their place to fight his battles, not anymore, and no matter that Loki had once been, according to rumor and innuendo, his brother's most hated foe, Darkseid's invasion had mended that tattered relationship. Only Sif was more stalwart in support of the king and Diana had witnessed firsthand how harshly Loki dealt with traitors to the crown.
"I have located the last of the missing Infinity Gems," Gabriel said in response. Instantly, the Asgardians present tensed and began whispering to one another, but Diana did not know why. She glanced at Kal – he offered a shake of his head in response to her unspoken question about the Gems – before returning her eyes to her son.
"Are you sure?" the king asked, his voice rumbling like thunder. Thor's once golden tresses were now almost entirely white and the strain on his face made him appear even older than Diana suspected he actually was. According to Sif, the king had put off entering something called the Odinsleep for far too long, though no one seemed able to tell Diana exactly what that was or why it was even necessary. It was simply accepted as something the king had to do periodically. "Even Heimdall could not find them."
"In truth, Heimdall knew where one of them was," Gabriel retorted calmly. "But its location made it impossible to retrieve without the other." Another murmur of discussion raced around the chamber.
"But you are certain?" Loki asked. He was frowning. "Absolutely certain that they are Gems?"
"I am." Gabriel crossed his arms. "And in finding this Gem, I have confirmed certain theories: Asgard is besieged because Darkseid desires the Gauntlet."
At this, the chamber erupted. Again, Diana glanced at Kal and again, he shook his head, though now, he was frowning himself. Whatever this item was, it terrified the Asgardians. She looked to Thor and found him staring at Mjolnir, which rested head down upon the golden table. He was scratching the metallic patch that covered his left eye as Loki whispered urgently in his ear. With casual ease, Thor lifted his hammer slightly and then released it to drop back down. The boom that resulted silenced everyone.
"I shall hurl the next person who interrupts into Niflheim myself," he threatened.
"Forgive me, my lord," Diana said into the stillness, "but what is this … Gauntlet you speak of?" Thor frowned.
"A relic of the previous universe," came the immediate if cryptic reply. "A weapon of incalculable power if assembled and used by one with sufficient will."
"And you have part of it here," Kal guessed. He looked vaguely annoyed, though Diana doubted anyone but her (and likely Gabriel) recognized his expression.
"Stored in my father's Vault," Thor replied. "Sealed away so no arrogant fool with more power than sense might be tempted to attempt to assemble it once again." At that, Kal grunted slightly and Diana tried very hard to hide her smile. After all, had he not done much the same with his Fortress? Had he not tried to keep Kryptonian weapons from falling into the hands of other such fools? "Learning why the Enemy seeks to overwhelm us is one thing, boy," Thor said, this time directing his words to Gabriel, "but why would you seek out the missing Gems? No one knew where they were secreted for a reason."
"I had a threefold reason for seeking them, my king," Gabriel replied. "First, the reassembled Gauntlet will allow us to end this war by erecting barriers no weapon of Apokalips can breach. Second, it could allow us to force Darkseid from this reality forever if I understand its capabilities accurately."
"And the third?" Thor leaned forward in his throne-like chair. Gabriel squared his shoulders.
"I seek a means to return my parents to the reality of their births," he declared.
Diana's breath caught.
Her son, with his senses, could not help but to notice her reaction or Kal's, but to his credit, he did not pause in the slightest as he continued speaking. His logic was perfect – if they could not hurl Darkseid's from this reality with this Gauntlet he kept referencing, then a stable portal to the Earth that she and Kal grew up on could augment their offensive capability. It was an impressive notion and, for a moment, Diana let herself envision the whole of the Justice League standing here. With a legion of Lanterns available … the Enemy would be pushed back and Asgard could finally take the offensive.
"Enough." Thor's sharp command instantly stilled the flutter of excitement coursing through the chamber and he nodded once to Gabriel. "The Gem," he said flatly. "Where is it?"
"On a dying world," Gabriel said. "The sun has grown cool, the air is toxic, and the planetary core itself has grown unstable." Kal tensed – Diana did not need to be a mind reader to know what he was thinking – and Gabriel shook his head in his father's direction. "It is not Krypton," he said. "Nor do I think we can spare you from the front for this, Father."
"I'm probably the best suited," Kal began, but again, Gabriel shook his head.
"Not for this." He inhaled. "For this, only Mother will do." And once more, the chamber erupted with noise as various Asgardians argued for or against this. Ullr foolishly bragged that anything Diana could accomplish, so too could he, while grim Fandral insisted that it should not even be tried, his once beautiful face still difficult to behold thanks to the multitudes of scars that crisscrossed it. Loki and Sif were arguing as well, their expressions passionate as they debated their respective points, and Thor listened to them, interjecting only occasionally. Kal barely reacted apart from interlacing the fingers of his left hand with those of her right. She squeezed tightly before glancing toward her son.
He stood, mute, surrounded by loudly bickering men and women who thought his plan foolhardy or reckless, and his face might as well have been carved from granite. To his right stood lovely Freyja, with her white-blonde hair falling to her mid-back in a braid identical to his and her body language defensive but poised, as if she meant to defend the Watchman of Bifrost, and to his left was Lyta who did not bother trying to hide the fact that she was ready to bare steel in defense of her brother.
"Enough," Thor said, lifting and dropping Mjolnir to the table once more when not enough attendees heeded his instruction. Once silence descended, he frowned at Gabriel. "I do not deny Lady Diana's valor or abilities," he said, nodding briefly in her direction, "but why would you send your Mother to such a desolate place?"
"Because she is best equipped for this, my king," Gabriel replied. "Once she gains the Space Gem, she can use its abilities to translocate to where the Reality Gem is secreted." He offered a fleeting smile. "And that place is why she is necessary." He paused, as if for dramatic effect, and beside her, Kal sighed softly.
"Just like Bruce," he muttered. Diana elbowed him.
"And pray tell," Thor instructed, "where is this second Gem?" Gabriel turned his too blue eyes to look at Diana.
"Olympus," he said. "It is in the possession of Lord Zeus himself."
/-\
Traveling via the Bifrost was like falling through a waterfall of light.
Her velocity was incredible as she raced headlong through the cosmos, accelerating to a speed even Kal was incapable of unassisted. Stars and nebulas flashed by, were there and gone in the blink of an eye, and Diana wondered if this was how the Flashes had perceived reality. It was both similar to yet different than the transit to Asgard the first time – there was not the turbulence this time, nor the sensation that she was but a fraction of a moment from utter obliteration. There was only speed.
With an explosion of crimson and violet light, she reached her destination. Smoke and steam curled up from the arrival point, and Diana rose to her feet, glancing only briefly at the elaborate glyph-like pattern that appeared to have been burned into the stone around her. She inhaled slightly, relaxing her taut muscles when she tasted no sign of the tainted atmosphere of this broken world. Automatically, she touched the slender torc wrapped around her throat – according to Eitri, it had fashioned a mostly invisible air pocket that would even allow her to survive in a vacuum.
Overhead, a fiercely angry sun glared down at the hellish landscape that she found herself, flickering and flashing as the ancient red star slowly consumed itself in a paroxysm of deadly storms. The ground here was blackened, scorched, and molten rock bubbled and crawled across the fractured stones. What looked to have once been skyscrapers dominated the horizon, though even at this distance, they looked to be shattered and gutted.
As she gathered her bearings, Diana pushed herself up off the ground so she floated several yards above the surface. Gripping Stormbreaker in her right hand, she opened her left and a tiny spark sprang away from her gloves. It pulsed twice and then darted away to her right. Diana shook her head and glanced skyward.
"I see Heimdall taught you some things when I was not looking," she murmured, knowing that Gabriel could hear her despite the vast distance between them. As if in response, the tiny spark flashed rapidly. Diana smiled and pursued.
The spark led her over the tortured landscape of this world, through a great city reduced to slag and debris by way of brutal violence centuries earlier, over a great plain that had been turned to glass by means she did not comprehend, and through an immense valley torn apart long, long ago. An even larger metropolis than before stretched out on the other side of this vale, and it was in worse shape than the first. Buildings that should have scraped the edge of space had been toppled, some still precariously balanced against one another and waiting for the slightest bit of pressure to fall. Vehicles – starships, airships, groundcars – were everywhere, as if the inhabitants of the city had tried to flee but were struck down by whatever had destroyed this world. And in the very center of the city was an immense crater more than a kilometer wide.
On the edge of this crater, the spark paused, just in front of a strange-looking sculpture seemingly wrought out of pure silver. Diana drew closer, frowning as she took in the bizarre statue. It was of a humanoid male, of a height with Kal though not nearly as muscular, that was kneeling and facing the massive crater, as if in prayer or reflection. Once, this sculpture would have been impressive to behold, but now, it was gouged and pitted, with entire chunks torn free. The spark orbited the statue twice, pulsed brightly, before slowly fading away.
And then, the statue moved.
Diana sprang back a yard, automatically bringing up her shield arm and readying Stormbreaker. The semi-transparent hoplon that snapped into existence was more than familiar to her, though she was still slightly irritated that Eitri had intentionally crafted this latest version to form Kal's family crest rather than a more traditional shape.
"Asgardian," the silver creature rumbled in Thor's native tongue, his voice creaky with disuse. "And bearing a Kryptonian sigil." The being tilted its head. "You are not of this reality, woman."
"I am not," Diana replied calmly. "Nor am I of Asgard, though I fight in its name." She lowered her shield slightly and made a conscious effort to relax her body language. "My name is Diana and I am come on a mission-"
"Thor sent you," the silver being interrupted, a scowl on his face. "What do you want?"
"Asgard is besieged," Diana began. "The Enemy is neither of this reality nor of mine."
"I know." The strange being turned his bizarre eyes upon her. "You seek that which I possess to assemble a power that is not understood to defeat a being who seeks it for much the same reason." Again, he scowled. "This is a power no being should possess. Thor knows this. He fought with us against Thanos so very long ago…" He shook his head.
"We have a plan."
"Then it is worse than I feared. Knowing what the Gauntlet is capable of and continuing to assemble it … that is not a plan. That is arrogance, pride and rank stupidity together." The being narrowed its eyes. "Have you any idea what the Gauntlet can do? A millennium ago, a madman assembled it and half of the universe simply died. Half." He shook his head. "He willed it so and untold centillions simply ceased to exist." He glowered. "I will not allow such a thing to happen again."
Diana was silent for a long moment. Her sense of Truth told her that this being spoke honestly, without guile or deception, and that he truly did fear what could be done with this Gauntlet. And yet, the scheme laid out by Gabriel seemed to be their best option for success and survival. She could try to seize the Space Gem, though there was no guarantee that this being had not simply concealed it far, far away, but the notion of trying to take something by force caused her stomach to turn. Even Stormbreaker felt heavier when her thoughts turned in that direction for the tiniest of moments, and Diana chose to see that as a sign.
"May I tell you my tale?" she asked as she mentally dismissed her shield. It faded away with a slight hiss and, from his body language, the silver being appeared momentarily surprised. Diana smiled as she sat on the warm stone, resting Stormbreaker upon the rocks beside her before folding her hands in her lap. "In my reality," she began, taking the silver creature's silence as a yes, "the Enemy attacked once in force, but we rallied against him." She spoke carefully, only briefly outlining that first conflict with Darkseid before moving onto to the other, more important elements, like Kal's capture and decades of torture and the corruption of the various Lantern Corps. The War of Light needed no exaggeration – she well remembered the dead worlds and extinguished stars wrought by the Black Lanterns – and she faltered only slightly when her tale naturally came to Donna.
"Enough," the silver being said when she began speaking of the New Gods and the dark tales they spoke of the creature known as Darkseid. "I do not deny that your need is great, Diana of Asgard," he said, "but I question the folly of trusting one I do not know." He gestured to the wreckage of the great city. "This world was once called Zenn-La," he stated. "I sold myself into slavery to a power even greater than your Enemy to prevent its destruction yet death found my home nonetheless." He frowned. "Death comes for us all, even gods. Perhaps this … Darkseid is simply the embodiment of that."
"No," Diana replied. "He is not death. He is entropy and destruction. Death is natural. What he brings is not." She exhaled deeply. "I will make no attempt to take the Gem from you by force," she said. He tilted his head, offered a wry, almost challenging smile, and Diana bowed her head slightly in acknowledgment of how difficult (if not impossible) such a task would be. "But I do ask … has not the Enemy already won if you do nothing? If you simply hide or lose yourself in grief, have you not defeated yourself before the Enemy even draws near?"
The stranger was silent. He stared at her for a long time, studying her with eyes that appeared to be nothing more than pools of silver, with no pupils or irises to focus upon. One of his hands glowed ever so slightly and Diana forced herself to remain calm, to not instinctively tense or reach for her weapon. A warm wind washed over her and it tasted of power she could barely comprehend, let alone match. Oh, but to have an ally like this!
"I have been too long without companionship," the silver being mused. "Your words have merit, though still, I have doubts." He shook his head. "You meant to use the Gem to seek out its brother in Olympus, did you not?"
"I did." Even if she were capable of it, there seemed to be no reason to dissemble.
"Then I shall set before you a task. I will send you to Olympus. If you can wrest the Gem from its holder, you will be worthy of my trust and I shall bequeath to you my Charge." The silver being lifted its hand – there, buried in the middle of his palm, was a purple stone, gleaming with an inner light. It pulsed brightly and Diana barely had time to snatch up Stormbreaker before the dying world vanished around her.
/-\
Diana was falling.
She tumbled through clouds of white and gray, buffeted by hurricane-force winds and speared by jagged bolts of lightning that knifed through the sky with lethal intent. Consciousness and comprehension came instantly, and she tightened her grip on Stormbreaker as she reached inside for her gift of flight. It obeyed sluggishly, as if there was an outside force resisting, and Diana grimaced at the effort necessary to arrest her fall even slightly. She struck the ground a heartbeat later, landing with a titanic boom that threw up dirt and rock for a hundred feet all around her. A cacophony of screams and wails slammed into her as she straightened from her crouch. She was in the middle of a battle, it seemed, and in less than a heartbeat, she chose a side. Summoning her shield, she sprang forward, leaping high into the sky and coming down hard.
Upon a parademon.
There were an endless horde of the creatures, augmented by the usual bio-mechanical monstrosities that Darkseid had thrown against Asgard for centuries. Stormbreaker buzzed and crackled as she laid into the beasts, and the weather-sense that came with the weapon warned her of a coming storm. Acting on instinct, she thrust the uru hammer up, demanding that the lightning overhead obey her. It arced down, spilling onto Stormbreaker, and she used the energy to super-charge her muscles. What remained coursed through the hammer and, as she struck, a lethal wave flashed out, exploding across the ranks of parademons and detonating their cybernetics.
A cheer rose up from behind her, from the wall of shields behind which she had recognized humans and minotaurs, Amazons and Spartans, all fighting under banners that were both tantalizing familiar yet completely foreign. She paid it little mind as she took the battle to the Enemy – where was the bloody captain? She had to find him! – but a moment later, reinforcements smashed into the parademons all around her, spears and swords and shields flashing.
"Hippolyta!" someone bellowed and Diana's head automatically snapped around, seeking out the woman who was not her mother. "Flank right!" the man roared, gesturing with an immense club dripping with ichor and blood. He was an immense brute, towering over all of the warriors around him, and wore little armor apart from the bizarre lion head that acted like a helmet. Diana's blood ran cold.
Heracles.
There was no time to react as an armored figure shouted out a battle cry as she led a formation of men and women alike in the direction Heracles pointed. A pair of fierce centaurs galloped alongside them, hurling massive spears that pinned parademons to the ground before magically vanishing, only to reappear inside the thrower's quiver. Boom! The ground erupted around the attacking formation, slinging corpses and body parts into the air. Diana oriented toward the siege machine without hesitation, spinning Stormbreaker by the sling upon its haft before letting it fly. It smashed through an entire platoon of parademons, slammed into the mobile gun, and released the last of the stored electricity from the previous lightning strike. With an eruption of fire and metal, the siege machine violently blew apart, the munitions within detonating with another thunderclap. Stormbreaker arced up and then black, the haft smacking squarely into Diana's hand less than a second later.
She took to the air a moment later and located the battle captain almost at once. Surrounded by augmented parademons deep within the heart of the Enemy formation, he was screaming panicked orders while pointing at her. Diana did not bother smiling as she pulled another lightning bolt from the heavens – this one almost seemed to reflect off of Stormbreaker's head before stabbing downward and reducing the Apokalips captain to ash.
"Press them, you bitches!" a familiar voice roared. Her mother … no, not her mother. This universe's Hippolyta thundered forward, batting aside counter-attacks with casual skill while laying waste with a spear that glowed and belched flame.
"Your assistance was timely, Asgardian," another familiar voice stated. Standing quietly in the air next to her, Hermes cocked his head and frowned, his eyes locked on the twisting Lariat at her side. Without warning, the golden rope coiled tightly around her arm, flooding her awareness with pure Truth. To her sight, a handful of powerful illusions simply fell away – there, just behind this universe's Hippolyta was Ares himself, and he was laughing as he batted away attacks meant to kill the woman he seemed intent on protecting; over there, a helmeted woman who could only be Athena stepped in front of a great engine of war, her Aegis blocking a killing blast of raw energy and thus allowing the squad of men behind her to survive long enough to hurl explosive charges at the mobile gun. Hades was here as well, walking through the charnel field and doing something to the wounded that kept them from bleeding out.
"I am no Asgardian," Diana replied. Her instincts drew her eyes up and she found herself staring into the eyes of a furious Zeus. Lightning danced around him and she abruptly realized the depth of her mistake with her summoning of the storm earlier. The time for making good first appearances was clearly gone.
"Nor are you of this reality," Hermes mused. He offered a very slight if cautious smile. "Father Zeus wishes to address you."
"And I him," Diana replied. She floated higher, shifting her grip on Stormbreaker so her fingers also grazed the golden head. The Lariat did not budge from where it wrapped around her – it had coiled around her torso and then down her arm, somehow still allowing perfect freedom of movement – and Diana glanced once more at the battlefield: Olympus had won the day, it seemed, as the forces of Apokalips were fleeing or dead. Her stomach clenched tightly when she saw Heracles and her mother … and Hippolyta embracing in jubilation. She tore her eyes away.
"By what name are you known?" Zeus demanded as she came to within several yards, his voice cracking like thunder. Diana slowed to a halt.
"I was named Diana, by my mother," she replied.
"Your father I can guess," Lady Hera said sourly as she materialized beside her husband. She looked confused as she spoke. "Though I do not recognize you …"
"That is because I am not of this world, Lady Hera," Diana replied. "I am from a different universe than this one."
"I see you betray me in every world, Husband," Hera growled. Zeus gave her a scowl.
"How did you come to Olympus?" he demanded before holding up his hand to forestall her answer. "A Gem brought you here," he said suddenly, his expression darkening even further. "I can smell it on you." He sent a flicker of lightning toward her, but it merely tickled as it crawled across her body, finally draining away into Stormbreaker. "The Surfer. He sent you."
"The silver creature?" Diana asked. From Zeus' reaction, she took her guess to be accurate. "He did send me here, Lord Zeus, but I came from Asgard." She nodded toward the ravaged battlefield, noting that all of the Olympians had now assembled in a wide circle around her. Apollo studied her with open interest, as did Ares, but Hephaestus was frowning, his eyes locked on her gauntlets as he stroked his beard. Athena's face was still hidden behind her helmet but the way she stood hinted at confusion and concern; her eyes were also on Diana's gauntlets … or more accurately, the one on her left arm. Diana almost frowned at that – she had summoned her shield, hadn't she? Yes, of course she had. It was battle and she did so without conscious thought these days. If Kal's suspicion about their universe's Athena were true, could this reality's version also be Kryptonian? "We too at Asgard face these monsters and have for nine centuries." Her words caused the Olympians to exchange looks. "King Thor believes the walls will hold but-"
"Thor?" Zeus interrupted sharply. "Odin does not rule?"
"He does not, my lord," Diana replied. "Thor was king when I and my husband came to this reality to aid in this war."
"And he sent you to retrieve this." Zeus brushed aside his beard, revealing a brilliant yellow gem embedded in his sternum. As with the purple one that the silver being had possessed, it burned with an inner light and, to Diana's surprise, she realized that they were no longer hovering above the battlefield. Instead, they were in the grand throne room of Olympus, with each of the gods seated in their rightful places, while she stood in their center. To her consternation, this room was identical to the one where foul Ares had kept her so very long ago and her eyes instinctively darted to where she had been chained. It was Athena's seat – that was a change; in Diana's reality, that had been where Aphrodite reclined – and the helmeted woman tensed slightly.
"He did, my lord," Diana said, returning her eyes to Zeus. "We mean to reassemble the Gauntlet and push Darkseid's forces out of this universe forever."
"Darkseid." Hades glowered from where he sat. "So," he said, "our Enemy has a name." He exchanged a look with Poseidon. "We must discuss this, Brother," he added, addressing his remarks once more to Zeus.
"This woman must stay in Olympus," Ares announced. Diana tensed, gripping Stormbreaker tighter, and gave him a cold stare. "You have valuable intelligence on our Enemy," the god of war said. "We need to know how to beat them."
"You can't," Diana said simply. "Asgard has fought them for nine hundred years and they're losing. They attack, we defend, and they come again."
"Then press the attack!" Ares retorted. "I never thought Thor a coward!"
"We've tried," Diana said through clenched teeth. "Their Mother Boxes – the living computers on their arms – cannot be forced to reveal Apokalips' location and anytime we try to use them to get there, they self-destruct or open a boom-tube to a black hole or somewhere equally dire." Ares started to speak again, but Diana continued. "It was not always so – the Mother Boxes were once different, less rigid or intensely dangerous. Queen Sif used one to seek out my universe, but now, it is too dangerous to even try."
"Mother Boxes. Boom-tubes. Apokalips." Hera shook her head. "You use words unfamiliar to us." She frowned at her husband. "Because no one with heads of stone will do so, I will ask you to stay in Olympus for a time. Teach our warriors what you can. Perhaps with your aid, we and Asgard can defeat this Enemy together."
Diana hesitated. She knew that time was short – even now, Asgard could be overrun by Darkseid's forces and her family could be slain – but at the same time, she recognized the amazing opportunity now before her. Perhaps she could convince Zeus to work with Thor instead of the Asgardians and Olympians ignoring one another to their respective dooms. Was this any different – apart from scale – than convincing the fools of her Earth to acknowledge the League as a power in and of itself? Gabriel had been insistent that she was necessary for this task … perhaps this was why.
"I accept, my lady," she said, bowing her head to Hera. "With permission," Diana continued, "I would ask of Lord Hermes to carry a message to Asgard and the Watchman who guards Bifrost."
"It shall be so," Hera said. "Ares," she said sharply, "see to the defenses. The Enemy will come again and we have no time for dawdling."
"Yes, Mother."
"Hephaestus, prepare rooms for our guest." Hera rose from her throne and continued issuing orders, never once glancing toward Zeus. Diana considered that for a moment, then very carefully pretended that she did not notice, even as a theory began worming its way through her thoughts.
"I shall write it out," she said when Hermes approached some time later. On impulse, she chose Kryptonian as the language of her missive and bit back a slight smile at the look on Hermes' face when she presented it to him. Like his sisters, Gabriel had never learned to write using the language of his father, so Kal would have to translate and he would be able to discern what she had not put into words. Over the centuries, they had developed a kind of shorthand between them, a personal language that could relate entire volumes of information with a single word or phrase. He would know that she was here of her own volition, that no ill-conceived rescue expedition was necessary. "Now," she began, turning to face Ares and Athena (who had yet to remove her helmet), "to begin, your formations are too static. You rely too much on infantry weapons and have inadequate air support." Ares' face darkened at her implied slight to his planning, but she ignored it. "The parademons generally utilize one of three types of assault formation…"
/-\
Days turned into weeks, which became many, many months without warning.
Diana's presence and knowledge proved absolutely essential to Olympus' continued survival, and she was never unoccupied. If she was not training with the soldiers and showing them the best (and fastest) ways to kill parademons, she was arguing with the captains who resisted change more intensely than the men and women who did the dying. She worked closely with Hephaestus as well, pointing him in the direction of the weapons that Eitri had developed so very long ago. The god of the forge was fascinated with her armor and, before Diana knew it, was exchanging missives with the dwarves of Niðavellir through Hermes who had become little more than a messenger service.
As far as the Olympians were aware, Hermes was also the only source of contact she had with Asgard, but on her first night here, Diana had been woken by a tiny spark of light that she recognized from Zenn-La. She laughed lightly when it reformed into a semi-transparent image of her son and, from that day on, she would brief Gabriel on her daily activities. He was unable to speak through the spark without immense effort or let Kal communicate through it, but just knowing that her son was watching over her was an immense relief.
Still, as the months dragged into a year, and then two, and then five, and then ten, all the while her negotiations with Zeus and Hera continued meeting dead ends, Diana found herself struggling with intense homesickness. She should not have been surprised – this was, barring recovery time from injuries which did not count, the longest time she'd been away from Kal in over eight centuries. It was astoundingly difficult for her to get to sleep without his presence in her bed and when she did drift off, she quite often snapped awake the moment her subconscious once more recognized that he was not there. The Olympians were distant and aloof – when they weren't trying to get her into bed, as was the case with both Apollo and, disgustingly enough, Ares – and due to her unusual place in their hierarchy, she was unable to make any friends among the war captains or common soldiers. Oh, everyone was quite pleased to see her when Apokalips was attacking as she easily bested their mightiest warriors in sheer numbers of foes slain, but beyond that, they were uncomfortable around her.
Which was how she found herself here, on the edge of the training grounds, watching the Amazons train.
This universe's Hippolyta was startlingly different than the one she'd grown up calling Mother – she was fiercer, angrier, more prone to bloodshed but strangely less reticent around men – but there were enough similarities to cause Diana's heart to ache with loneliness. The laugh was the same, the sense of humor (if admittedly tinged with a bit more malice, a bit more bloodthirstiness), even her leadership style. Hippolyta's warriors were devoted to her, utterly loyal, and in more than few instances, a little bit in love with her.
The biggest difference, however, was this Hippolyta's relationship with Heracles (who inexplicably called himself Hercules here, though the reason for his Romanizing the name escaped Diana's comprehension.) To her surprise, the two were occasional lovers, fiercely competitive, and so frustratingly comfortable with one another that it made her stomach turn. According to what little she'd managed to glean, the Heracles in this universe had not raped and abused Hippolyta, but rather, narrowly escaped a far more predatory Amazon queen intent on keeping him as a brood mare.
"The shield you summon," Athena announced as she drew abreast of Diana, still wearing that helmet. "Why is it shaped thus?" Intensely blue eyes studied her and Diana smiled.
"Eitri thought it amusing," she replied. "This is my husband's crest," she added as she concentrated slightly. The House of El symbol was one she loved seeing, but she still wished this barrier materialized in the form of a simple hoplon. "And since it was Kal's, Eitri thought I should wear it as well."
"Kal." Athena glanced away very briefly. "Kal-El," she murmured under her breath. "Your husband is of Krypton."
"One of the last survivors," Diana said simply. "In our universe, it was destroyed when he was an infant. His biological parents sent him to Earth so he would survive." She paused. "His cousin, Kara, came later, and they are, as far as we can tell, the last of their kind."
"In this reality," Athena said coolly, "the Devourer of Worlds consumed Krypton thousands of years ago." She turned away. "There are no Kryptonians left in this universe."
"Except you," Diana guessed. Athena froze, visibly inhaled, and then shook her helmeted head.
"No," she replied softly. "I am of Olympus." She tilted her head toward the field. "You bear her countenance," Athena declared. Diana followed the line of the goddess' gaze and found Hippolyta, standing alone and watching her warriors drill. "She is your mother?"
"My mother was named Hippolyta, yes," Diana replied. "But she is far different than this universe's Hippolyta." Athena nodded.
"My Father will never give up the Reality Gem," she said suddenly. "You will be forced to take it from him by force." Diana gave the other woman a level look.
"I am no thief," she said sharply. "This is a war we cannot win unless we fight it together." Diana shook her head. One hundred and twenty-seven months here, countless battles, and now this? Better than ruining the lives of mortals, the Olympians were best at scheming against one another and once again, they tried to bring her into their senseless, wasteful game. She was sick of it, both here and on her Earth with her gods who did the same. She wanted to go home. She wanted to feel Kal's body next to hers when she slept.
Diana stood.
"Please relay my apologies to Lord Zeus," she said stiffly. "It has come to my attention that he has no interest in winning this war, so I must retire to Asgard where my family resides." Athena looked at her through that faceless mask, her eyes wide. "I ask only for Lord Hermes to carry me there – my aid in these last months is certainly worth so small a boon."
"You do not understand," Hera murmured as she faded into existence beside Athena. The helmeted goddess bowed her head and backed away, leaving them alone. "The Reality Gem is too potent a weapon to be given to a blunt instrument," the Queen of Olympus declared. "We have met this Thor and my husband would no sooner let the Gem fall into his hands than he would allow that buffoon of a son who calls himself Hercules to pick it up." She looked at Diana. "You are keen-witted enough to recognize that, I think."
"Especially since the Gem that Lord Zeus has in his possession is a fake," Diana said. The edges of Hera's lips curved up very slightly. "Forgive me, Lady," Diana added, "but why the deception?"
"Because if Zeus knew he possessed a fake," Hera replied as she plucked a yellow Gem from her elaborate headdress, "he would have tried to take it from me." She examined the stone in her fingers. "I have considered your arguments and find them worthy. This Darkseid is interested not in Olympus, but in this." Hera frowned. "And if it is elsewhere, then he will seek it there."
And, without warning, she dropped the Gem into Diana's hand.
The universe tilted around her. It was as if she had been blind for all of her life and could suddenly see. A subtle whisper echoed in her ear, telling her of the marvelous wonders she could accomplish with this tiny fragment of power from a previous universe. Diana suddenly understood why so many people feared the Gauntlet – with this single Gem, she could reshape reality around her, bend it to her will and force things that should not be to come into being. What could she do if she possessed all six? Diana shivered.
"You can hear it already," Hera said with a nod. "It grows more difficult to ignore." She touched Diana softly on the cheek and, thanks to Gem, Diana could feel every atom in the queen's body. "Be strong, Child," Hera instructed. "End this war."
She turned and faded into mist as she walked away.
The Gem pulsed in Diana's hand and, on instinct, she called Stormbreaker to hand. Instantly, the Gem fixed itself to the hammer's head, melding into the uru as if it had always been there. Once again, Diana shivered, but she forced her discomfort down. How many lives would be saved when they forced Darkseid from this universe for good?
"You have the look of a woman who means to depart," Hippolyta said when Diana approached. It was so strange, looking at this woman. The face was the same but the eyes were so very, very different.
"I am." She paused for a moment, then gave in to the desire that had been building since she first came to Olympus. Before Hippolyta could react, Diana had stepped closer and wrapped her arms around the other woman. "Goodbye, Mother," she whispered, smiling at how suddenly and completely Hippolyta stiffened at the remark. Releasing the shell-shocked Amazon, Diana began twirling Stormbreaker. Reality instantly began to obey her wishes, twisting and curling around her to form a strange vortex.
Diana stepped through the tear in the universe.
/-\
An explosion of energy greeted her as she appeared on Zenn-La.
Overhead, the silver creature was standing atop what sincerely looked to be a board of the same composition as his skin – Zeus' reference to him as the 'Surfer' suddenly made sense – but he simply blinked out of existence a half second after Diana stepped through the rip in reality. When she appeared, he was being pursued by a group of humanoids wearing the black and red denoting their allegiance to Darkseid. There were four of them, two males and two females, though in one of the latter, it was difficult to tell as her entire body appeared comprised of pure energy. Flickering distortions that Diana took to be forcefields of some sort surrounded one of the males, while the other female raced through the sky, leaving behind a curious trail of light that almost looked like a rainbow. The very instant she appeared, the quartet oriented on her.
Without thinking, Diana hefted Stormbreaker, automatically seeking out the best way to end this potential fight quickly and with the least amount of effort. Her earlier disgust with the manipulations of the Olympians resurfaced suddenly along with her exhaustion and she silently lamented the utter inability to actually negotiate with the forces of Darkseid. If only there was some way to sever their connections to him without killing the hosts…
And suddenly, just like that, she saw that there was.
Dark, angry light burned around the four, though that wasn't an entirely accurate description. It was not light, but rather a complete absence of it, a tiny singularity that absorbed and devoured all forms of light, including the very faint illumination that emanated from within each of the four. Diana did not know if she was seeing their souls or some kind of intrinsic energy that all living creatures possessed, but she knew without understanding how she knew that this singularity was the key.
"Come, Stormbreaker," she murmured. "Let us speak in the tongue of storms." Addressing the hammer as if it was alive was something that came naturally to her, though Diana still did not entirely understand why. Perhaps, as she suspected, it was because Stormbreaker was alive in a very real sense. It manifested its opinion in strange ways – with Kal in the rare moments when he lifted it, the hammer tended to pull and tug at him, like a loving hound eager to be set loose in the forest, or how cold the metal grew when around Loki.
Or perhaps she was simply going mad.
Lightning boomed overhead as black clouds swarmed in over them, plunging the entire city into darkness. The quartet visibly hesitated at the swiftness of the storm and Diana could see the singularities pulse. They were receiving instructions, she realized, but it did not make her hesitate. She pulled lightning from the sky, and great sheets of it stabbed down, each striking with unerring accuracy. The singularities flared, tried to absorb the sudden overload of raw energy, and then exploded soundlessly.
In that instant, the four humanoids screamed.
Diana darted forward, the Lariat obediently flickering out like an immense boa constrictor. It coiled once, twice, three times around each of the screaming figures before going taut. The moment the strands of golden rope touched their bodies, the quartet froze. Two of them twitched before crumpling, while the other pair simply collapsed onto the rough stone. Diana drifted closer, not trusting them enough to dismiss the clouds overhead. She toed one of the bound figures over and frowned.
The girl was human.
Physically, she looked to be only in her twenties, but as someone who also looked that young, Diana knew appearances could be deceiving. The flesh of the girl's skin was dark, but it was an unnatural color, almost gray as if all color had been leeched away, which looked strange on a young woman who bore a Caucasian facial structure. Curiosity overcame her better instincts and she examined each of the four, noting sufficient similarities to wager that they were siblings. How strange…
She waited for nearly a day for the Surfer to return, ignoring her growing thirst and the building urge to just use the Gem to create water. Her four captives she kept bound by the Lariat, but they did not stir even once from their deep coma-like slumber, which left her plenty of time to consider their fate. The safest thing to do would be to simply execute them – they were clearly post-mortal, with undefined superhuman abilities and a link to Darkseid that may or may not have been permanently severed – but her sense of compassion revolted against the thought. If there was a way to save these mortals and perhaps use what was learned to free others from Darkseid's control, could she risk not trying to find it? Could the universe?
"Gabriel," she called out once her decision was made. "I will need you to open the Bifrost and bring me home." She rolled the four prisoners together and then used more of the Lariat to further bind them all together. Once satisfied they were secure, she carefully lifted them up. It was awkward, but manageable for someone who could tear steel in half. "Advise the king that I am returning with one Gem and four prisoners."
A moment later, a torrent of light splashed down around her as her son obeyed, and long minutes later, she was stepping through the gateway into the Observatory. Kal was there in an instant, tugging the prisoners out of her arms and passing them off to someone else before enveloping her in a tight hug. As an Amazon, Diana knew she should have been strong and resolute, but instead, she found herself clinging to him just as tightly and fighting a strange urge to weep. Then, Lyta was there, laughing at her and Kal before they pulled her into the embrace, and then Gabriel who somehow managed to extricate himself first and reclaim his place in the center of his Observatory.
"What news, Princess?" Thor rumbled later, when she and Kal entered the throne room together. The Asgardian king looked even more exhausted than before and, from the worried looks he was receiving from Sif and Loki alike, Diana suspected he'd postponed that Odinsleep thing again.
"Partial success," Diana replied. She lifted Stormbreaker and touched the Reality Gem. It fell into her hand where it shimmered and glowed. "The possessor of the Space Gem departed right after I returned from Olympus."
"Norrin Radd." Thor grimaced. "A strange one he is." He glanced at Sif. "Advise the Watchman to find him."
"He's already looking," Kal said.
"Good." Thor grimaced as he placed Mjolnir head down upon the table. "I fear I have put the Odinsleep off for too long," he said suddenly. "It overtakes me now and I know not if the shield will hold whilst I slumber."
"I can maintain a smaller one for a time," Loki announced. "We will have to relocate the Observatory again – bring it in even closer than before – but I believe I can protect the Palace."
"Which leaves the walls unguarded," Kal said. Thor nodded slowly.
"I leave you a difficult task, Kal-El," he said.
"We'll manage." Both Sif and Loki smiled at Kal's simple statement. "Who rules in your stead?"
"My queen," Thor began, but Sif shook her head.
"You will need me, Husband," she said. "I remember well how your mother had to aid Odin All-Father when he slumbered."
"And the throne suits me ill," Loki offered with a smile that Thor returned. A private joke, then. Diana did not care, nor was she especially interested in who would sit on the throne. All she wanted was some time alone with her husband.
"Ullr is far from ready," Sif remarked sadly. Thor grunted.
"What of you, Kal-El?" he asked suddenly. "Will you and the princess hold my throne whilst I languish in the Odinsleep?"
"Are you out of your damned mind?" Kal asked automatically, his expression aghast.
Diana laughed.
A/N #2:
My primary desire for this chapter was to have Diana kicking all sorts of ass all by herself.
To those unfamiliar with the Marvel-verse (or at least the Hercules part), in the Marvel-616 universe (which, I guess, makes DC-52? Heh. Sometimes, I amuse even myself.), Hippolyta and the Amazons are (mostly) evil, though she (Hippolyta) did fall in love with Herc.
I am also aware that the implication that Krypton existed in the Marvel-616 has issues, which I why I had Galactus eat it.
Regarding Bifrost itself, I obviously borrowed from the wicked cool way they did the rainbow bridge in the Thor movies rather than the literal rainbow bridge we've seen in some of the comics. There's also the reference to the Loki-Thor convo in the Avengers movie ("then the throne would suit you ill," said Thor) but, as with the DC-verse, I'm picking and choosing what I want to use from the comics and movies.
And how many of you recognize the four post-mortals (a term I borrowed from the Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning run of Guardians of the Galaxy) Diana tangled with?