answers to reviewers questions or statements:
Tom2011: Uh, what?
COMICGUY007: after this arc things will progress significantly for the two.
REX5678: Well he's already with a Kryptonian, and a half Kree woman, so we got the alien part covered. Unless you mean the Skrull Queen sorta alien woman.
Spider-Menace76: Yes.
Batros940: It could, or it could worsen since Diana may be a bit too protective of Vanessa.
matthorserider40: Peter's sort of a anti-villain or anti-hero in this and the main protagonist with Diana. Darkseid believe it or not is actually the tertiary antagonist, the real antagonists will be showing up soon, or at least the secondary will while the main one is still a bit ways off, though hints have been dropped about him. Diana and Peter's relationship will improve drastically in the coming arc and will be more... affectionate, to one another.
Laser Crusader: Vanessa is helping Peter for three reasons, the first being that he's been kind to her, unaware that he's looking to make her a Fury, the second is because it'll give her a chance to one up her mother since Peter told her that he believes she'd be a better choice for what he has in mind for gaining access to Oscorp. The third is she's unaware of just how truly dangerous this could be for her, she has an idea yeah, but that's still nowhere close to the reality of what will happen if she missteps. Your also implying that Peter will give Vanessa a choice in the matter of her becoming a Fury. Obviously he's not gonna hold her at gunpoint and demand she become a Fury, but that's not to say he won't make sure it'll be the only option she'll have by that point.
Harbinger of Kaos: No that's dumb and too obvious. I have someone else in mind.
Arrow1021: The soul and Mind stone have similar energy signatures given that they both are the source of a major aspect of life in the universe, the Cube/ Space Stone, and others, will have differing energy signatures though Peter will notice it soon. We'll be seeing soon why it is that Peter is unable to utilize the Soul Stone currently.
Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or DC characters seen, mentioned or used.
"I'm bored"
"I'm aware, Peter"
"Are you?"
"Considering that's the eighth time you've explained that your bored in the past half hour, yes... I'm fully aware" Diana said as she turned a page in her book "I told you that these things will take time"
Peter, who was sitting across from Diana in their living room with his mask half disassembled on the coffee table before him, frowned at the amazon beauty "It's been over a month Diana, how hard is it to find Cale's little hole in Oscorp's security system?"
In the past month since Peter more or less recruited Vanessa to spy on Cale and discover her backdoor into Oscorp's database, the New God had been stretching the limits of his patience far beyond their absolute limits. He expected things to take a few days, after all Vanessa had to be discreet and tactful in approaching the Oscorp and Cale venture and not appear overly eager doing so. But after two weeks and receiving nothing more than a simple message from Vanessa explaining that she was negotiating her way into the project, the Son of Darkseid began to have his doubts about Vanessa's capabilities. Diana took things in stride and aside from discreetly follow Vanessa home every other night to ensure that nothing happened to her, began to slowly resume her duties as Wonder Woman and a member of the Justice League for as long as she and Peter were on Earth.
Peter didn't much care, it allowed him some peace and quiet while Diana was away with her idiotic friends, though the Amazon made it a point to be gone for at most a few hours. Apparently she seemed convinced that if she left Peter alone any longer than that, he'd end up burning down the entire neighborhood.
'Please, if anything it's going to be that couple on the corner's kid and his little gang of idiots that ends up burning this place to the ground' Peter thought with an eye roll as he carefully extracted his mask's lenses from their slots and gave them a brief once over before setting them aside.
And if it wasn't going to be that budding arsonist and his cult, it'll be the stay at home wife across the street that's sleeping with several different men and women while her husband was at work at some hospital. Or the maybe the middle aged man that seemed to be making odd recordings of sexual intercourse with his sixteen year old step daughter and her friends from her local education center.
Or that suspicious little girl that sells what Diana called 'lemonade' down the street.
"I hate this place..." Peter said after a few moments as he held up his armored mask and stared into the holes that his lenses covered with a frown.
"Because of the lack of firepits or the lack of agony emanating from the surrounding populace?" Diana asked as she turned another page in her book.
"Honestly both" Peter admitted with a shrug as he placed his mask back on the table and leaned back in his seat and stared at his wife.
She was clad in only a pair of these odd shorts that were apparently called 'compression shorts' on this world's 'internet' and a simple white tank top that looked a bit strained around the chest while her hair was one up in a messy ponytail. Peter was dressed much more conservatively than his spouse, opting for the odd thin nano metal undersuit he wore when clad in his armored suit. It helped regulate Peter's core temperature so he never felt cold or hot, offered limited protection from fire arms and stabbing weapons and even a small localized pyrokinetic detonation.
Diana hummed at this before she glanced up from her book and stared at Peter's disassembled suit with a curious look on her face "What are you doing with that anyway? I thought you said it's been repaired"
"Just making some modifications is all" Peter said with a shrug as he reached up and grabbed one of his suit's lenses and stared at it for a moment "Their limited since I don't have access to my lab at the moment, or any sufficient materials or technology on this backwater ball of rock"
"I apologize for my world's lack of appropriate resources" Diana said with a blank gaze before she brought her legs up on to the sofa she was reclining on and resumed her reading.
Peter's gaze had flickered towards Diana's legs as they moved and found himself staring at the mostly bare limbs with an unblinking gaze. Diana seemed aware of Peter's gaze on her legs but did nothing to dissuade him from looking, having slowly grown used to her husband's attention to her body.
"How are the Parademons today?" Diana said after a few moments of silence between the two "I noticed they weren't being very loud last night"
"Their fine" Peter said with a dismissive tone.
"Are you certain?" Diana said as she glanced up at Peter and stared at him with a frown.
"Their not the rabid legions that we normally use for large scale conflicts" Peter said with a scoff "They've been bred to be a lot more tactful and docile when not in combat"
"I still stand by my desire to send them back to Apokolips" Diana said with a sigh as she glanced out the window and watched the sun slowly set outside "If nothing else, so I don't have to once again apologize to our neighbors because they lost another dog or cat because one of the Parademons got bored and decided to wander around"
If Diana thought trying to fight Giganta was difficult, trying to console a young boy who found the remains of his dog in his backyard because one of her and Peter's Parademons killed it the night previous was a nightmare.
Peter hummed at this before he went back to tinkering with his suit, even though Diana was sure he was just doing it to pass the time by this point. She couldn't blame him, it was a bit dull waiting for Vanessa to give them, or more accurately Peter, something tangible to use. And while she has taken part in a few missions with the League as Wonder Woman again, the missions were normally relief efforts, search and rescue, or simply monitor duty.
The pacifist in Diana was pleased with the lack of super villain activity, but the warrior in her was crying out for something to hit.
'Perhaps I can convince Peter to spar with me, see how his fighting has improved since I last saw him train with Kalibak' Diana thought with a small nod as she continued to read her book before she smelled something burning.
Diana looked up to see Peter holding his suit's mask, the metal glowing a cherry red while his eyes glowed scarlet. Diana frowned as she slowly closed her book and set it aside as she watched her husband's glowing eyes seemingly burn the metal of his helmet for a few moments before he finally blinked. The glow of the metal faded as Peter's eyes opened to reveal their normal color.
"What was that?" Diana asked after a few moments of silence between the two.
"Just... testing something is all" Peter said as he reached up to rub his eyes, blood was already leaking from his tear ducts and dripping down his cheek like scarlet tears.
"I wasn't aware you had heat vision" Diana remarked.
"It's not heat vision, it's..." Peter trailed off as he wiped the blood dripping from his eyes, causing it to smear across his face a little "It's something else"
"Does it have to do with your extra limbs?" Diana nodded to Peter's back "The ones that look like a spider's?"
"Probably" Peter said with a shrug as he continued to clean his face of the blood.
"What is it?" Diana questioned.
"I have my theories, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Could be just... growing pains is all" Peter said as he finished cleaning his face and looked down at his still glowing helmet.
He also noticed that the skin of his palms were burned and had faint impressions of the mask's designed burned into his skin.
"Growing pains?" Diana said with confusion "I thought you've already reached maturity... physically speaking at least"
Peter snorted at the remark "It's nothing, just something that's been bothering me for a while. It'll pass eventually"
"When did this start?" Diana inquired as she sat up from her reclined position and gave Peter her full attention, her mind beginning to race at certain implications of Peter's 'growing pains' "Before or after our marriage?"
"What's it matter to you?" Peter asked with confusion.
"Have you ever wondered why your father paired me with you rather than with someone like Kalibak, En Sabah Nur or even Grayven?" Diana said with a furrowed brow "None of them are married, not that it'd likely matter to him, but why would Darkseid pass over his 'True Sons' and marry me off to you? Your far from the most powerful of his children"
The Amazonian warrior could see the gears turning in Peter's eyes as he thought on her words. She doubted it was the first time someone or himself had questioned Darkseid's choice in Diana's spouse.
"I'm sure he has his reasons" Peter said after a few minutes of thinking over what Diana said before he went back to tinkering with his suit.
Diana frowned at the answer before she sighed and returned to reading her book as the sun outside finally set and the moon began to rise.
"Is this what you used to do when you were with the Kryptonian?" Peter said after a while as he looked up at Diana with a frown "Just sit here and wait for something to happen so you can go and... do that League thing?"
"No" Diana said as she paused in her reading to look up at Peter "I used to do many things. Most of which related to being an ambassador for my people. But since I am no longer that, I possess much more free time"
Peter hummed at this before he glanced at the digital clock on the wall and stared at the time. It wasn't very late, just past nine and the weather outside was rather agreeable in Diana's opinion.
"Would you like to go out and get some ice cream?"
Peter blinked at the question and glanced at Diana with a raised brow "What?"
"Would you like to go get some ice cream?" Diana said as she set her book to the side and crossed her legs as she stared at Peter with an unreadable expression.
"What in the name of the Source is Ice Cream?" Peter asked.
"I'll show you" Diana said as she stood up and stretched her arms over her head while she cocked her hip out a little.
She could feel Peter's gaze practically burning the image she was presenting him into his very mind. Before the New God could say anything, Diana turned and headed for the bedroom to change into something a little more practical for going out. By the time she returned to the living room dressed in black jeans, black boots, a red shirt under a equally black jacket, Peter was already clad in his armored suit, fully re-assembled and functioning.
"Your not going out like that Peter" Diana said with a shake of her head "There's plenty of Scott's clothes for you to pick from"
"What if I want to go out like this?" Peter asked with a shrug as he stood up, the spider emblem on his chest glowing brightly for a moment.
"You'll attract a lot of attention" Diana remarked as she folded her arms across her chest "Do you really wish to be harassed by everyone we pass?"
Peter's lenses narrowed in thought and Diana could practically see his response about to emerge from his mouth before he caught himself and simply stared at the immortal woman. After a few seconds, Peter made a grumbling sound and made his way past Diana and towards the bedroom. A few minutes later Peter emerged in a dark blue shirt, jeans and a red hoodie that looked a little too big on him and a pair of white shoes.
"That's better..." Diana said as she took in Peter's attire.
It was always odd seeing him in such bright colors, though he looked better for it. His skin didn't seem as pale and his expression didn't look as harsh as it could be. If Diana didn't know any better, she'd swear that Peter was just another average human and not the son of the greatest monster the League has ever faced.
"It we get attacked and I'm injured, I'm blaming you" Peter grumbled as he folded his arms across his chest and gave Diana a pout.
"Of course you will" Diana said with a laugh as she and Peter headed for the door.
...
"What did you say the name of this city was again?" Peter said as he followed Diana down a somewhat crowded sidewalk.
All around the two, people were idly going to and from either their homes, workplace or just out and about. The constant car horns, engines, the smell of exhaust and the various other sounds of the city bothered Peter's senses, causing him to nearly gag on occasion. He was half tempted to put his mask on in an effort to stem the flow of nauseating smells and sounds but Diana's words about people harassing him because of it stayed his hand every time.
"It's called Opal City" Diana said as she and Peter crossed a crosswalk with several other people "A dear friend and her husband live here"
"Well they have horrible tastes in habitation" Peter remarked as a cab roared past the two.
"If you think this place is horrible, you should venture over to Hub City... or Basin City" Diana said as her grin faltered at the mentioning of the two horrid cities.
If people thought that Gotham was bad with crime and corruption, they've clearly never been to either Hub or Basin.
"I'd rather not" Peter said as he saw that he and Diana were approaching some sort of food stand.
The sign read 'Gateway's Frozen Treasure' and was manned by a rather portly looking man. Diana's demeanor shifted into one of joy as she quickened her pace to the stand, causing Peter to frown as he followed at a more reserved pace.
"What's so special about this?" Peter asked as he came to a stop next to Diana as she stated at a menu with a number of odd names on them along with small pictures of what the item was.
"It's an ice cream stand... one of the best in the world" Diana said as her eyes darted across the menu eagerly "It was some of the first treats I experienced after leaving Themyscira. There's a number of these stands in Gateway City and Metropolis"
Peter scanned the menu himself and saw a number of odd names that caused him to question not only the maturity of whoever wrote it, but the intelligence. He had no idea what a 'Supreme Pecan Chocolate Sunday' was but it sounded terrible. Diana scanned the menu for another moment before she spoke to the stand's vendor and selected to different items from the menu. The man nodded and quickly wandered over to a large freezer like container that had a glass top over it and over a dozen holes in it that seemed filled with some sort of frozen substance of varying colors.
"Is that this ice cream you keep going on about?" Peter asked as he watched the vendor scoop one of the frozen substances, a odd pink-ish color with bits of red in it, on to a cone shaped... thing, before he handed it to Diana and than went about retrieving another cone to place a similar substance on it and handed it to Peter.
"Yes, it is" Diana beamed as she payed the man with a few bills of human currency, which one it was Peter had no idea.
He swore that humans had more forms of currency than they did civilizations on this backwater planet.
"What's it made from?" Peter asked as he examined his ice cream as he followed after Diana to a small bench not far from the stand and sat down next to the Amazon.
"Frozen milk from a animal called a cow, a variety of sugars and flour, wheats, soy, and in your case, chocolate" Diana said with a grin as she held up her cone and gave it a small shake "Mine is strawberries, my favorite"
"So you bought me frozen milk from something called a cow, mixed with sugar and... chocolate?" Peter said with a frown as he stared at the cone in his hands "That sounds exceedingly unpleasant"
"It's good, just try it" Diana said as she took a small lick of her strawberry swirl.
Peter gave Diana a doubtful glance before he took a small experimental lick of his ice cream. It wasn't... terrible, he'll admit, but it wasn't great either. In fact, the chilling temperature of it was a bit of a turnoff for him and seemed to ruin the treat, and the cone was a bit too dry, not saturated enough with the chocolate and the cream seemed a bit too sugary. and that was before he got into-
"I guess you liked it" Diana said with a amused grin as she stared at Peter.
"What makes you say that?" Peter said as he glanced at Diana with confusion.
"You practically devoured that thing in three bites" Diana giggled as she reached up and wiped away some of the chocolate ice cream and sugar cone crumbs on Peter's cheek.
Peter blinked at this before he looked down at his hands and saw that only a small bit of his cone remained... huh, he didn't remember eating it all in just a few bites. Though now that he thought about it, he did feel a few chilling sports in his mouth and the sudden urge for more.
"I want another... same flavors" Peter said as he pointed at the ice cream stand with an expectant look on his face.
Diana rolled her eyes at this and politely ordered Peter TWO more ice cream cones before the two departed the stand and slowly made their way down the street.
"And I thought I liked ice cream" Diana smirked a she watched Peter devour his two new cons in a minute, leaving a mess on his lips and cheeks that he wiped away with the sleeve of his hoodie.
She'd never say it to Peter, mainly because he'd do everything in his power to deny it and likely go out of his way to prove her wrong out of spite, but right now he seemed... happy.
Like genuinely happy, not amused, or pleased with something, but actually enjoying himself.
'I wonder when the last time it was he did have any sort of actual fun...' Diana thought as the two made their way down the sidewalk, their destination being Scott and Barda's home.
Suddenly Peter came to a complete stop, his body tense and rigid. Diana stopped as well, confused by Peter's sudden shift in behavior before she saw the look on his face and felt her own guard rise up and began to scan her surroundings.
"What is it?" she asked in a guarded tone, mentally reaching out for Jarnbjorn and feeling the ancient god forged ax flying out of her and Peter's room and across the night time sky towards her location.
Peter didn't respond, he simply nodded towards the street where Diana saw the air begin to... ripple, before an odd purple light appeared followed by the sudden appearance of a man dressed in a black and gold armored suit of sorts. But what really caused Diana's eyes to widen in shock was the identity of the man as he turned his face towards Peter and Diana.
Lex Luthor.
"Hmm, guess my calculations were a little off..." Luthor said with surprise as he took in his surroundings "Opal City?"
Before the man could say or do anything else, Jarnbjorn raced pass him, causing the man to flinch as mystical lightning danced off the ax's blade. Diana reached out and grabbed Jarnbjorn by the handle and rushed towards Luthor in a blur, leaving Peter behind with a confused expression on his face. Luthor saw Diana coming and raised his hands towards her and was just beginning to say something when Diana lunged at him with her ax, forcing the man to jump back, using thrusters in his boots to put some extra distance between them.
"Hold on a second, I'm-" Luthor began before Diana aimed Jarnbjorn at him and fired off a single arc of lightning.
Luthor's eyes widened at this "Shit-"
ZZZZZKKTTT!
"AHHHHH!" Luthor yelled as he was sent flying across the street and slammed into the side of a parked car, completely crushing it and causing the windows to explode into a shower of glass.
"I'm guessing that he's not her friend..." Peter said as he slowly had his suit materialize from underneath his clothes and began to scan the area the man emerged from while Diana approached him with a glare carved on to her face.
"Ow... that one hurt" Luthor groaned as he tried to climb out of the wreckage his body made when it hit the car before a foot slammed into his chest so hard, the black heeled boot it was in shattered, leaving a partially exposed foot to dig into the metal of his armored chest.
"Luthor" Diana growled as she stared at the bald headed man with narrowed eyes, Jarnbjorn's blade glowing and crackling with electricity "How did you escape Strykers?"
Luthor reached up to try and pry Diana's foot off his chest but the amazon simply pressed down harder, causing the man to let out a pained gasp as she held the tip of Jarnbjorn's blade under his chin "I won't ask again Luthor, how did you escape Strykers? What are you up to this time?"
"You know this man?" Peter said as he appeared at Diana's side, his lenses staring down into Luthor's confused and slightly terrified eyes.
"His name is Lex Luthor, he's a criminal" Diana stated as she glared down at the arch nemesis of Superman "He's tried to destroy the League on multiple occasions in his sick conquest for power and dominion over others"
Peter nodded as he continued to scan the man before he noticed something off about him...
"Is Luthor human?" Peter asked with some doubt in his tone as he had his suit continue to scan the man.
"Yes, why?" Diana asked with confusion as she tire her gaze away from Luthor and glanced at Peter.
"Well, if I'm reading this right, and I am, his internal biology is... well it's the complete opposite of every human I've met. His blood pumps in the opposite direction, his heart beat is coming from the other side of his chest" Peter said as he continued to study the information his suit was gathering from this Lex Luthor fellow.
Diana's brow furrowed at this before she glanced back down at Luthor and removed her foot, only to grab him by the collar of his suit and hoist him into the air and bring him face to face with her "Who are you?"
"Lex Luthor..." the man said with a pained groan "I'm... from another... universe"
Diana's eyes narrowed slightly at this while Peter poked at the man's head with his finger.
"You have a very shiny head. Is that common where your from?" Peter said as he stared at the barren expanse that was Lex Luthor's scalp.
"Why are you here Luthor?" Diana asked as she released Luthor and allowed the man to drop to the ground.
Luthor made a grunting sound as he hot the ground before he slowly climbed back to his feet "I'm here... because I need your help"
"My help, with what?" Diana asked with a frown.
"Well, not just your help. This world's Justice League" Luthor said as he straightened himself back up "My world is under threat from a foe unlike anything you've likely faced before and it's on the verge of total control of my Earth and eventually, my entire universe"
Diana stated at Luthor for a moment before she glanced at Peter with a searching gaze "Is Apokolips leading any incursions into other universes?"
"Not that I'm aware of" Peter said with a shake of his head "In fact, my father has all but ceased any more expansion for the time being"
"why?" Diana asked with curiosity.
"You do realize that just because I'm his son, that doesn't mean I'm his favorite or take part in his councils, right?" Peter said in a dry tone.
"It's not someone from Apokolips" Luthor revealed.
"Oh we've had dealings?" Peter said as he stared at the man with a quirked head.
"You know a being by the name of Zunn?" Lex said with obvious distaste.
"Unfortunately I do/He's my half-brother" Diana and Peter said at the same time before the former Themysciran princess sighed "What is this threat that's forced you to travel to my universe and seek my universe's Justice League's aide?"
"My universe's Justice League was wiped out by a band of super criminals..." Luthor said with a expression that looked both haunted and angry at the same time before he stared right into Diana's eyes "By my universe's version of you"
"Duh-duh-duuuuuuuh!" Peter suddenly said, causing Diana and Luthor to look at him with varying degrees of annoyance.
The New God looked back and forth between the two before he gave them a helpless shrug.
"What?"
...
Tens of millions of lightyears away from Earth, on a medium sized world orbiting a white star, laid what was once one of Darkseid's largest Parademon producing factory worlds in that quadrant of the universe.
But it has long since laid dead... it's 'New Gods' butchered... the billions that dwelled on the planet's surface, slaves, warriors, all wiped out... and yet it still wasn't enough.
"Never enough..." a raspy, cold voice whispered from a dark hooded figure as it stared at it's pale, clawed hands.
All around the hooded figure lied hundreds of thousands of what the figure has come to learn were called 'Parademons', some lying in piles over a hundred feet high. Scattered around the literal hills of corpses were various machines of war, burning and wrecked, their occupants killed and rotting. Above the bloodied field was a dark sky, filled with the burning wreckages of various warships and battle stations that laid in orbit with tens of thousands of their crews floating aimlessly around them, some of which began to re-enter the dead world's atmosphere and burn up.
"Never enough... never enough... for you..." The hooded figure sighed as they closed their hands into fists, the claws digging into their palms and drawing blood.
A hundred worlds, a hundred pantheons killed and still it wasn't enough for it... the hooded figure had hoped that the Mind Stone would make it easier. Easier to ignore it's voice, easier to find more Gods to kill, more worlds to butcher, but that worthless assassin, Gamora, had failed him.
Need... more... need... more...
"Be silent" the hooded figure hissed as they gazed up at the burning sky with bloodshot eyes.
He could sense more Gods, even though they were far away, millions of lightyears, but he could sense them all the same.
He could always sense them...
With a yell the hooded figure raised a arm into the air and a black tar like substance violently emerged from his sleeves and encased the arm before it took shape and formed a blade of some sort. The hooded figure took the sword and stabbed it into the ground, creating a multitude of cracks around himself as the sword tore deep into the planet's crust, spreading it's decaying influence.
More...
More...
More...
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" the hooded figure hissed as he felt the blade tear deep into the planet before reaching it's core and stabbing right through it and shattering it in two.
A massive tremor shook the planet and large tears began to appear across the world's surface before the world slowly began to break apart before a black shadow shot away from the planet and vanished into the dark void of space just as several large Boom Tubes opened up outside of the destroyed world's orbit and a fleet of warships emerged...
...
And done.
Next chapter, Earth-3...