Chapter Nineteen - Ragnorok
"For the last time, I don't remember anything past the same ripple you're describing!"
"What do you remember?" Batman asked.
Stood with her arms folded in front of an assembled Justice League council, Kyra Stewart made a picture of frustration and unease. "I was in my kitchen, making coffee. But I … I was also with Shayera. I remember both, clearly, at the same time, and my head is splitting."
The splitting headache was something they were all sharing, but no one else had morphed into their opposite number.
"I don't understand, how could Kyra and John have swapped, without a portal?" Diana asked.
"It's worse than that," Bella dropped in. "There being no portal would be bad enough; the walls are getting thinner."
"But couple this with our psychological states merging," Bruce added, "and this is probably the next step."
"Would you stop being cryptic for one damn second?" Shayera barked. "What has happened to John? Where is he?"
"He's here, still."
"Are you saying your Green Lantern and ours have physically merged?"
"It would explain why Kyra has memories from both of them."
"How do we get them to diverge again?"
"We've dealt with similar things before, we must have," Superman said. "We need to consult the archives."
Flash, usually the first to action, stood still and shook his head. "I don't know there's much point. We know what's caused it, and we know what's causing the different dimensions to collapse. Clearly, time is running out to stop this, and we need to do something. Something direct. We have this stockpile of gorgon-heads, right? So let's go use them!"
"Flash is right," J'onn agreed. "We have weapons, what we lack is a foe."
All eyes turned to Damien and Diana. "Where?"
The two Amazons shared a glance in confirmation, then said simply, "We don't know."
The silence turned sharp with surprise.
"We were to be told when we had enough, where the creature was. If that threshold hasn't been met …"
Shayera swung her mace onto the table, where it made a metallic clang and a sizeable dent. "We need a solution now! Or are we just supposed to sit here while every universe is swallowed by an enemy we can't see, much less try to stop?"
"I've tried to pray," Diana said apologetically. "But there's no answer."
"Fine, then we'll go to the source. We need transport to Themyscira," Batwoman said.
"But there isn't an entrance to Mount Olympus via Themy-"
Both Bats had already left the room.
Alone in the hall, Bella pulled Bruce into the first empty room she found. "What did Prometheus say?" Bruce asked.
Bella pulled out the talismans Prometheus had given her. "We were right. He said these would act as interference devices. Scramblers. It should give us a chance. If we can get within range of the Olympians."
"We'll get in range."
Bruce held up a hand for silence; outside in the corridor, Damien walked quickly past. He was praying. In Bella's palm, the talisman glowed suddenly orange. It was mirrored by a faint glow in her eyes. Once Damien had gone past, it faded. Bella and Bruce shared a wary glance.
"We need to be careful."
"But we don't have a choice. Did Prometheus say anything else?"
"Just that they wouldn't thank us."
Bruce's thoughts touched on the fragile bridge he and Diana had just begun to rebuild. "At least they'll be alive to tell us that."
Bella handed over the other talisman; with them concealed under their armour, they followed Damien down to the hangar bay. Most of the others were already there, and Batman took his seat beside Diana. She looked upset. "The Medusa heads are loaded into the hold."
Batman nodded.
"There's no point in going to Themyscira. We won't find anything new there."
"Queen Hippolyta might know something."
"Don't you think my mother would have said so, if she did?"
Queen Hippolyta, as Diana had said, professed to know nothing more than she had already told them. In fact she looked both surprised and irritated that her domain was once again playing host to a group of uninvited guests. The situation regarding Lantern was swiftly explained to her.
"I understand your urgency – things not dissimilar are happening here too. But the gods have been silent."
"There's a lot of that going around."
"Most of our sisters are gathered at the temple of Hera."
"Is there a temple of Zeus?" Batwoman asked.
"I … There is a shrine of Zeus, in an isolated spot on the other side of the island. We do not worship him principally, as you know, but it seemed imprudent to ignore the king of the gods."
"Can you take us there?"
Hippolyta hadn't been kidding; the Amazons obviously had not been to worship Zeus in some time. The garlands of flowers which hung on the doorway and walls were withered, the pitchers of wine long dried out. The statue of Zeus, which though small, was still imposing, stood in a small alcove set into a rock wall.
"What makes you think you will find anythin-"
A humming noise began suddenly, issuing from Batman and Batwoman. Without speaking, they pulled out the two talismans. Both were glowing with the same amber light they had on the Watchtower. Seeing them, Diana gasped. "That is the symbol of the titans! Where did you get these?"
Her question went unanswered, because the light from the talismans had grown, until it was almost too bright to look at. It was also spreading, until it rimmed both Batwoman and Batman, travelling over their armoured bodies and settling, eerily, into their eyes.
"Bella," Damien whispered, "what have you done?"
She pointed. "There."
Superman approached the statue, and glanced at Hippolyta. "Excuse the desecration, Your Majesty. But this is important." With a gentle tug, the marble came away from the wall. In its place was clearly a doorway.
The Amazons were staring. "Impossible."
The glow in Batman's eyes faded briefly as he looked at Diana. "I'm sorry."
Before she let them go, Hippolyta silently handed Diana her sword.
Olympus was exactly like every fantasy Diana had ever had. The very air shimmered, golden light arching every angle. Waterfalls crashed down every crevice, disappearing into a star-filled abyss in a series of rainbows. Even the marble rock the mountain was made from seemed shot-through with veins of silver. Hewn from it were starkly white temples, intricately carved with reliefs of the gods, triumphant in battle.
The only thing missing were the gods themselves. She caught glimpses of movement in her peripheral vision, but when she turned to look, it was gone. She remembered the stories of Apollo and Daphne, nymphs who could turn themselves into water, or trees, to get away from threats. Was that what they were, she thought with a shock? Threats?
There was a clear path before them, steps winding upwards to the summit, still hidden in clouds. They started up it. Superman and Green Lantern took to the air, apparently distrusting.
"Is it weird that no one's here?" Flash asked, walking beside Diana.
"I … I would have expected Hermes to meet us, perhaps." She glanced at Damien.
"I'm sure they have their reasons," he said, too quickly.
He avoided looking at Diana, though she could feel his unease as well as her own, magnifying and amplifying what she already felt. She did not want to admit the truth, but truth was what it felt like: there was a trick here. This place, in all its classical, idyllic perfection, was fake on some awful level that she didn't yet see. Damien couldn't look her in the face because he felt it too. One thing Diana took courage from – there were answers at the top of this mountain. There was truth. And truth, no matter how harsh, no matter how brutal, was always better than deception. In the course of her long life, Diana had met truths which had given her joy, given her sorrow, made her sick to the stomach sometimes. It always made her stronger, even if it wounded her first. Swallowing down her fear, Diana quickened her pace.
There were no temples at the summit, which was suddenly flat and level. Instead there was a leafy roof hung with jasmine, creating a green, fragrant bower. Inside the bower were Diana's principle deities.
None of the male gods were present, only female. Hera stood in the centre, flanked by Athena and Aphrodite. Then Demeter, Artemis, Persephone and Hestia. Each of them stood erect and shining.
Hera wore a cloak of peacock feathers, a jewelled diadem, and a cold expression. "You were not summoned. How did you come to be here? What is the meaning of this intrusion?"
Diana bowed, then spoke. "My lady, forgive us."
"Why have you brought these others here, Diana? Do you have no care for their safety? You alone, the Amazon champions only, were entrusted with this task! Upon which hangs the fate of all universes!"
"We're here because we're friends and allies," Kyra said, "and frankly, the fate of life in this or any galaxy is our business."
"We've come to ask what we should do next," Damien said. He swallowed, and again Diana felt his disquiet. It was surreal to him, to be speaking with Hera instead of Zeus. "We have evidence that the walls between realities are collapsing faster than anticipated-"
"What evidence?" Athena demanded suddenly.
Kyra cleared her throat loudly. "Am I proof enough for you?"
The goddesses exchanged a look. "Please," Diana implored, "even if it's a vain hope, even if your foresight tells we could fail – doing nothing is no longer an option. Where is It?"
Silence again, though silence as far only as the mortals could tell. The communication was obviously still ongoing. Then Batman stepped forwards. In his hands was the talisman. Clear as bells, the musical voices of the goddesses sounded. To Diana, it seemed like telepathy. And it seemed like an argument.
"- no better!"
"Anything is better than your idea."
"Very well, sister, speak! What convincing plan might you have to keep them occupied?"
Occupied? Diana thought.
"You could try telling the truth," Batwoman announced loudly.
"The goddesses reacted as though a blow had landed, physically recoiling from this impossible mortal. "How did you …"
Batwoman held up her talisman. "A gift from a friend."
"Titans!" Athena hissed. She lunged forwards, a look of pure loathing and ugliness of her previously-beautiful face.
"No!" Damien cried, throwing himself forwards to protect Bella. There was a burst of light and heat, the impact of what felt like a bomb blast. When he cleared, Athena was the one lying, stunned, on the sacred ground. Batwoman loomed over her, floating several inches from the stone.
"H-How?" Athena managed.
"You know the answer to that," Batman said. "In fact, you should all be feeling the effects by now."
"What did you do?" Diana asked, aghast.
"Exposed them for what they really are. Parasites."
Batwoman kept floating. Artemis tried again this time, firing a flaming arrow at Batwoman's chest. Bella caught it, turned it, and hurled it back at Artemis. The arrow pierced her shoulder, and golden ichor spurted from the wound. "Powerful. Telepathic. Immortal. Inter-dismentional, even. But none of it's yours. You're still just parasites."
Demeter lunged next, hurling a thick briar to entangle Batwoman. It was destroyed, disintegrated to ash by an energy blast – from Bruce's hand. "I've seen better from Poison Ivy," he commented.
"Stop!" Damien cried. "Please!"
Diana could see tears in his eyes, and felt them ready to drip down her own cheeks too. "Just tell us! Whatever is happening, just – please! Please. The truth."
"Their power comes from their ability to absorb pyschic energy," Bruce explained. "Specifically, the energy of worship. And for five thousand years, they've been feasting. Using all the Amazons to feed from."
"Like leeches," Batwoman snarled.
"But what," Diana asked shakily, "does that have to do with It?"
Batman turned to look at the goddesses. "Tell them," he ordered simply.
"How dare you command us-"
"Tell them!" Bella's voice lashed out like a whip, and her expression was full of savagery. She looked mad as hell—in fact both she and Bruce were electric with anger, eyes narrowed at the gods.
Diana addressed Hera. "My lady? What-?"
"There is nothing, Diana," the goddess assured. It was a weak thing to say, and the lie rang through it.
"There is no 'It'," Batman said. "They-"
"Hold your tongue, mortal!"
"They are lying to you," he continued. "They're lying to you both, just like they've been lying to all Amazons in every world. There is no 'It'—it was a lie made up to make you and all the other Champions go enthusiastically to your deaths."
"What?" Both Amazons stared at their gods; Athena was the only one who looked back with any composure.
Diana shook her head, expression pleading. "Lady Athena…this cannot be true? Surely."
"It is true."
"But why? Have we disobeyed you in any way? Gone against your teachings, offended you?"
"No."
"Then why?"
Athena remained silent; Bella spoke for her. "Ragnorok."
"What is that?"
"The end of days."
"But Ragnorok is the Norse pantheon," Clark said. "Not the Greek."
"Only because they were able to keep the Chroniclers from finding out about it. Isn't that right? No group of beings—however powerful they are—can rule Olympus forever. And your time's up, or coming."
"I still don't understand," Damien said. "If someone else is going to take Olympus from you, why would you try and kill your most faithful? I cannot imagine any Amazon in any world would turn his back on you."
"No, Prince, you still don't understand," Batwoman said softly. "The Titans were ousted by their offspring. There are no demi-gods now, but there is the next best thing."
Diana and Damien both spun back around to stare in horror at the gods. "You think that we would ever-"
"No," Aphrodite said quickly. "Not you. And not your children. But you have started a trend. Amazons will follow you into Man's World one day, have children of their own."
"So what?" the princess demanded. "I would never raise my daughter in hatred of you! Damien would do exactly the same! How could you think we would ever-"
"They don't," Bella interrupted. "But think about it. Raise a generation of Amazons in the twenty-first century world, with twenty-first century morals and with twenty-first century outlooks. The gods don't come off looking too great then, do they?" she sneered.
"All it would take was for one of them to use the word 'revolution'," Bruce took over, "and your Ragnorok would be on you. So you cut off the head of the snake. An army without a general is no threat at all."
"You're doing it. You're weakening the walls of realities so that it makes sense, so that no one will question you."
"And when no champions ever come back, when no word is ever heard from them again – what are the chances that any Amazon will ever want to put a foot outside of Themyscira? The Amazons stay isolated from the rest of the world–"
"- and you keep your food supply constant, simultaneously keeping the only threat to you under your heel."
Diana stumbled towards the only other person who knew the despair filling her chest, and she and Damien clutched at each other. "A lie … How can it all a lie?" she whispered blindly.
"How didn't we see it?" he sobbed back.
Overhead, thunder began to rumble. Recognising what that meant, the members of the Justice League looked nervously at the sky. Hera, too, looked up, except her expression had gone from angry to triumphant.
"Now you will pay for your insolence!" she hissed at Batman and Batwoman. "Zeus will crush you!"
But while the thunder grew in intensity, and lightning shot through the clouds like veins, no god appeared. Batman smirked. "You sure about that? Seems he's just as scared as you are."
"He doesn't need to be near to smite you!" Athena cried.
At her words, a bolt of lightning forked down and hit Batman directly. He simply re-directed the current so that it flowed into the ground. There was a blackened scorch mark under his feet, but no harm had been done.
"Impressive," Bella remarked. "Now let's see …" She held her hands up and then slowly drew them apart. White electricity began to dance between her fingers, then up and along her arms until it outlined her entire body, static lifting her hair up as she levitated. "Maybe not that impressive after all," she smirked.
"The Green Lantern, the talismans are tied to her!" Hera cried out.
Quick as mercury, Athena hurled herself towards Kyra, spear poised to take her in the heart. Diana got there first. Their blades clashed as she turned aside the blow meant for her friend. "No!"
Athena was aghast. "How dare you? You are our champion!"
"No," Diana replied. The despair she felt was still present, but the indecision was gone. There was treachery here, and cowardice. She stood against it. "I am my people's champion. And you may have given me life, but you do not get to decide what I do with it!"
She swung her sword again, and beat the goddess back. Having expected no resistance from Diana, the worm turning caught Athena by surprise. She thrust the spear forward; Diana dodged to the side and grabbed it, wrenching it from Athena's hands and casting it aside.
"I decide what my life is to be, and what I am to do. I will protect my mother, my sisters, my daughter, and the world from you and your tyranny."
Athena reached out to strike Diana, the blow hitting her left shoulder and sending her stumbling back. But it could not knock her down. She retaliated with her own punch to Athena's stomach, then kicked her in the chest. She fell to the ground, and Diana brought her blade to rest against Athena's throat.
"Be gone," she commanded.
What little wisdom Athena had left was enough to tell her further struggle would be disastrous. She used one last burst of magic – but to transform herself into an owl, and flee. The others were not far behind.
And then, despite everything the gods had done to ensure it would not come to pass, Diana found that she had achieved a coup d'etat accidentally. The Amazons had indeed inherited Mount Olympus.
Apparently deciding that this was as close to a victory as was possible, Batman took the talisman from around his neck and held it out to Superman.
"Sure?"
"I'm sure."
Superman's fist closed around the thing, and there was a burst of orange light from inside his hand. When he opened his fingers, there was nothing but dust.
When she did not hand hers over, Damien turned to his ex-wife. "Bella?"
She wasn't looking at anyone, and she hadn't stopped glowing. "Why didn't you listen to me?" she asked quietly. "I tried, I tried, I ... You wouldn't ask the question. Why wouldn't you ever ask the question?" she yelled.
The ground shook with the force of her voice.
"Bella-"
"Well, maybe now I can control the seas, huh? Maybe now I can raise mountains and level cities, maybe now you'll listen to me!"
Damien took a step forwards. He was only allowed one, before the earth cracked and fell away. Suddenly they were all standing on the edge of a precipice. Except Bella - who was floating. "Bella, you have to take that thing off," Damien pleaded. He lifted into the air and floated towards her. "It's corrupting you-"
"No!" she shouted. She lashed out at him, a simple blow that had enough power behind it to burst a dam. She looked at him, sprawled on the ruins of Olympus, with a terrifying smirk. "No," she said "It's my turn to decide. You listen to me now, like you listened to them."
Kyra squared her shoulders and stepped up. "Bella, do you remember the Thanagarian invasion?"
"I- What?" Bella frowned questioningly. The glow diminished a bit.
"Do you remember afterwards? When I kept saying I was fine, and ignoring everyone's offers of support? What did you do?"
"I ..."
"You came over, unannounced, with warm beer and a terrible pizza, and we got drunk and ate the whole pie, right? We watched awful movies, and ate enough ice cream to make us sick, and we cried over stupid infomercials. Do you remember all that?"
"Yes... Yes I remember that."
"What did I ask you?"
"You ... You asked me what was wrong with you. Why you weren't enough."
"And I'm going to tell you the same thing you told me. You are enough. There is nothing wrong with you." Kyra gestured to the talisman Bella was now only loosely holding. "I know what it's like to have the one person you know inside and out suddenly become someone else. I know that pain, and the way it makes you question everything in your whole life." A breeze blew. The eyes stayed the same, but suddenly the Green Lantern in front of them was John Stewart again. "But you don't get through that heartbreak like this."
"But-"
"No. You don't become someone else. You stay you. That's the only way you win."
Bella broke down. John carefully removed the talisman from around her neck, and then held her while she cried.
