PROLOGUE

EARTH - 9

Gateway City, California

Thirty miles away from San Francisco lies the harbor area of Gateway City, a developing industrialized region, booming with new tech businesses, developing economic progress, and innovative advances into the modern age. Renowned for its gentle climate and cooling breezes from the coastal ocean nearby, the landscape is also home to one of its ivy-leagued institutions, Holliday University, a competitive prestigious college that rivals California institutions like Stanford and Berkley.

Fifteen-year-old Cassandra Drusilla Sandsmark, "Cassie", to her friends sat behind her desk working furiously to finish the final details of her diorama for her California missions project for American History. Dark, frizzy strands of brown curls covered her face, to which she'd grab a scrunchy and pull her long hair back into a ponytail, so she could continue to work. But it was her eyeglasses that would prove to be a problem. Her horned-rimmed glasses would slip down her nose every so often, forcing her finger to push them back up.

So ingrained was she in her schoolwork that she almost forgot the sweet aroma of food filling her bedroom, causing her stomach to growl.

A rapping at the door distracted her but she ignored the knock from the well-dressed woman in a dark suit coming into her room uninvited.

"Dinner is almost ready," said the beautiful African woman in an exotic accent.

"Just give me five more minutes, Nubia." Cassie answered. She didn't want to offend her nanny, but she wanted to finish her project. "I'm almost done here."

Her governess clucked her tongue. "Cassandra! You can complete your project after dinner!"

Whenever her nanny gave stern instructions, it meant that she needed to obey.

Nubia Phillipus came to work for the Sandsmark household when Cassandra was three. Cassie's mother, the top antiquities dealer in the country, Helena Sandsmark, secured multi-million-dollar business agreements internationally. Having a toddler jet setting around the world proved to be a complication, so Helena hired Nubia to stay home to take care of her offspring.

Already, in her late twenties, Nubia instantly built a rapport with Cassie. Experienced, knowledgeable, and worldly, Cassie took to her nanny like a fish to water. The pair became inseparable ever since. Nubia was statuesque, gorgeous, smart, maternal and loving; Helena Sandsmark placed all her faith on the right person to raise her only child. And she was right, Cassie accepted Nubia as her second mother.

"Yes, mam." Cassie nodded. Her nanny taught the importance of manners. She left her project temporarily, got up from her desk to straighten her ratty sweatshirt and jeans and followed Nubia downstairs to the kitchen.

The Sandsmarks lived in a six-bedroom, five-bathroom mansion in the affluent inland valley area of Gateway City. The 5700 square foot estate was housed in a gated community and attributed to the success of Helena Sandsmark's profitable commissions off the rare art and antique dealerships she made with her wealthy clientele. Due to her reputation, Cassie's mother was often photographed at high society events and galas and was frequently sought out by most celebrities and the upper elite.

Unfortunately, living in such luxury came at price. With her mother gone on business trips, this left Cassie alone a good majority of the time. However, she never felt lonely as her nanny, Nubia, and the house chef, Ferdinand, made up for Helena's absence by providing a stable home for her. In short, the trio were her family.

"By the Gods, Cassie," Nubia noted as they reached the bottom of the stairs. She always loved her nanny's strange colloquialisms. "You're like your mother. A workaholic. Your grades are wonderful. Your project will be fine."

Cassie shrugged. "I guess, I worry too much. I'm too much like her."

Nubia lifted her charge's chin. "Trust in your strength, child. There is true power there!"

She never understood her nanny's bizarre statements, but she appreciated the attempts at offering her wise words of wisdom. Cassie simply nodded again and followed Nubia to the kitchen, Ferdinand was busy making the finishing touches on the dinner menu.

"Mediterranean!" The Sandsmark chef declared. As usual he made a feast for ten when it usually meant a meal for three. At least, there would be leftovers for the next few days. "Should we eat in the kitchen or the dining room?"

"Why not the dining room?" Nubia suggested. "It's rarely used."

"Dining room it is!" Ferdinand smiled.

The trio retired to the dining area. The table was rather opulent, long and seated twenty people, but with only three people living in the house, it was often pointless to utilize such a wasted space. Yet, the three managed.

Chef Ferdinand set down plates of food as the other two took their places at the table. Cassie noticed Nubia observing Ferdinand strangely, almost admiring the man and his appearance. She recalled Nubia being hired the same time as Ferdinand and noted how the pair never aged, even though both were now in their forties. It is as if the two were magically ageless. Inwardly, Cassie giggled at the thought.

Ferdinand flexed a bicep as he poured water into the two women's glasses, to which Cassie took note of her nanny stealing a glance at the chef's physique. Obviously, he worked out from the muscular tone of his bronze body and the chiseled features of his face and wavy, black hair, but she did not want to think of Nubia and her cook hooking up and dating under the same roof. The idea grossed her out!

She forced the concept out of her mind as she turned on the flat screen in the living room nearby to listen to the news.

"Must we listen to all the doom and gloom while we eat?" Her nanny frowned.

"It's always good to stay informed." Ferdinand defended, as he took a seat near the two women.

Nubia dug into her salad as a reporter came on the television.

"This is Myndi Mayer for Global Net News. LAPD has arrested Corporate CEO Veronica Cale of Cale Pharmaceuticals for manufacturing and distributing illegal, dangerous performance enhancing drugs that have proven fatal to its victims. So far, Cale has been linked to ten deaths to which she has plead not guilty to these allegations. Her operation would have gone unnoticed, if not for Diana Themyscira, owner and CEO of Themyscira Industries, but better known to the world as the superheroine, Wonder Woman.

Now Wonder Woman has been widely criticized for her extreme vigilante tactics, including killing a security guard in the melee, but a rep for the Justice Department has argued that it was self-defense and that her actions were justified. At this time, no criminal actions are being taken against her.

Cale is being detained by the LAPD and awaiting a court date…

"Murdering a security guard," Cassie scowled, while munching on her pita bread. "That's a new low. I thought superheroes were not supposed to kill."

"Not in cold blood." Nubia responded directly. She played with her salad. "I'm sure she had a reason. Sometimes, warriors must use defensive tactics to protect themselves. It's kill or be killed."

Ferdinand nodded. "The world is a violent place, Cassie." He said, cutting into his lambchop. "Never let your guard down. Don't expect the battle to be fair."

Cassie rolled her eyes. "You make it sound like we're at war. We're not warriors. We're regular people. Not like those freaks in costumes, who think they can save everyone. It's better to let the police and the military handle it and let them do their jobs."

Nubia dropped her fork and crossed her arms. "You make it sound so simple, Cassie. Even the world's guardians are mortal. There are otherworldly things out there that you can't even fathom. For those times, the world needs those specialized warriors to defend us during those instances."

"Sounds to me like you're drinking the Kool-Aid," Cassie snorted. "Look, as far as I'm concerned, this Wonder Woman person is one psycho b…"

Ferdinand interrupted her and pointed to the screen. "Listen."

"Sad news today. Tragedy has struck an amusement park in San Francisco. The young superheroine known as Wonder Girl died from electrocution after trying to stop a falling metal pillar from crashing on to a group of innocent bystanders. Witnesses say that the high voltage from the falling debris killed the superhero, causing her death.

Wonder Girl was former member of the rising supergroup known as the Titans and a female soldier of the Amazon nation of Themyscira. In true Themysciran fashion, her body is flown back to her people.

Her fellow sister, Wonder Woman, has yet to make a statement."

Nubia's face turned pale. She stopped eating.

Even Cassie noticed it as she watched her nanny get up from her chair.

"Please excuse me, everyone." She said, throwing her napkin on the table. "I'm sorry but I need to take care of something for a few hours."

"Of course," Ferdinand cryptically agreed. His face lowered.

"Where are you going?" Cassie wondered, watching Nubia grab her coat and purse from the living room.

"Out." Her nanny said bluntly. She went over and kissed Cassie's forehead. "Eat your dinner and finish your project."

Cassie slowly nodded.

"Good girl." Nubia smiled.

She fumbled with the keys inside her coat and rushed out the front door, leaving a bewildered Cassie worried and confused.

"What was all that about?" She asked Ferdinand.

"Nothing." He grumbled. "Finish your food."

The pair spent the dinner, eating in silence.

"Finally done." Cassie noted, putting the finishing touches on her diorama project. She placed her report paper next to her model and changed into her comfortable long tee and cute kitten pajama bottoms as she twisted her dark curls into ponytails to get ready for bed.

Already three hours had gone by and Nubia had not returned. She wondered about her nanny's whereabout and the reason for her abrupt departure, but she was confident that Nubia would provide her an explanation tomorrow. Instead, she focused on her project's presentation as she cleared her mind and concentrated on her school assignment.

With her brain still on overtime, she wanted to text her best friend, Vanessa Kapetelis, but seeing how late it was, she changed her mind. Reluctantly, she walked over to her desk to pull out the top drawer. She located the small box inside, took it out and placed it on top of her desk. Lifting the lid up from the container, Cassie grabbed the small contents from the box and spread them across the surface. They were photographs.

She examined them all. Photographs of her mother: young, carefree and happy. Cassie compared herself from the same dark brown hair, blue eyes, and the inherited trait of nearsightedness, which accounted for them to both wear corrective eyewear.

She flipped through several more, only to notice the difference. Helena Sandsmark, getting older and wiser, but more serious, steely, and driven. Gone was the free-spirited girl, but, in her place, a woman of ambition and determined.

Cassie felt a twinge of sadness for her. She shifted through the photographs to find the one that she cherished the most. Pulling it up to the light, she stared at it. It was her father.

Henry Sandsmark was twenty-six, strikingly handsome, athletic, and, surprisingly, blond. Like her mother, Cassie inherited her father's deep blue eyes and she often wondered what he was like if he were alive today. Both her parents met on an archeological dig in the Sahara Desert and began a whirlwind romance. Soon, they were married, and expecting a baby (Cassie), before tragedy struck. During an expedition to the underground caverns near Gilf Kebir plateau, Henry became trapped and, subsequently, killed in a cave-in. Her mother, Helena, became devastated.

It was said that Helena Sandsmark closed her heart that day. Whatever the reason, she moved on. With her late husband's life insurance policy, she inherited, she established her company Sandsmark Antiquities. Furthermore, she had a large corporation to invest in her venture, which helped to build her business and her reputation as a specialized arts and antiques dealer.

After Cassie's birth, her business grew even more, and over the last decade became one of most reputable and profitable companies dealing in the antique's market today. To think, it was a chance meeting with her father that made this all happen.

However, Cassie always wondered if her mother was ever truly happy or lonely.

She sighed, collected all the photographs, and returned them to the box. Once inside her desk, she shut off the lights and headed for bed.

Detroit Historical Museum

Chicago

Located near 5401 Woodward Avenue, in the city's Cultural Center Historic District in downtown Detroit lies the prominent Detroit Historical Museum. Developed in 1914 by attorney and historian Clarence M. Burton, the collection boasts an archive of cobblestone streets, 19th century businesses, auto assembly line, toy trains, fur trading from the 18th century, and other items of historical preservation.

Yet, it was the touring exhibit from the Herodotus period that appears to be the most significant of interest.

Darkness surrounds the building with only a few elements of light from both the structure's own interior and the natural glow of moonlight. Several figures stand nearby as one nears the fence and faces the entrance's front.

The person kneels with a shoulder bag carefully slipping off the shoulder, allowing it to touch the pavement. The item is unzipped, releasing a flat object contained inside, and is placed on to the ground.

It is a device of some sort.

Within a few seconds, the individual releases a latch to allow a monitor and keyboard to be revealed. Then, the fun really began.

"What is taking so long, LeToyna?"

"Shut the fuck up!" LeTonya Charles snapped through the micro-communicator. The African American woman refused to be berated. "I'm still working on it."

"Hurry it up!" The voice ordered in response.

With a few keystrokes, her screen confirmed her commands.

"Bitch! There you go!" She snorted. "Alarm system off!"

"Stop right there!"

A flashlight blinded her face.

LeTonya put her hand at the level of her eye to distinguish the origin. It was a museum security guard.

"Don't move!" The guard threated, holding a tiny bottle of mace. His hand was shaking. He reached down for the handcuffs on his belt.

He did not make it, as blood gurgled from his mouth. LeTonya grinned wickedly to see the top of a crimson, sharp blade rammed through his chest, while a tall woman with red hair smirked behind him. The guard collapsed to the ground dead.

The woman withdrew her sword from the corpse, wiped the blood with the folds of her leather and metal skirt, and returned her blade back into its sheath.

"You're stalling."

"And you're getting on my last nerve, Alkyone!" LeTonya twisted her mouth. "I turned off the security system, didn't I?'

The warrior woman named Alkyone ignored her. She addressed the other female figure beside her.

"Zara," Alkyone ordered. "There are two more guards inside! Take care of them!"

Clad also in metal and leather, the other red-headed soldier named Zara agreed. Balling both hands into fists, her fingers lit up into balls of fire. She raced toward the front entrance, kicked the doors with superhuman strength and sprinted from the lobby and down the corridor.

Sure enough, two guards came racing at her with mace and batons. Zara did not hesitate. She stood her ground and released a sphere of fire and shot it toward the first guard.

Screams of agony wailed through the building as his body incinerated right in front her. Fearing the worst, the other guard ran, but with no luck, as Zara's second shot of flame caught up to him and conflagrated his flesh, leaving nothing but a charred body.

Zara laughed.

With no other obstacles, Alkyone and LeTonya entered the building.

Zara gestured toward the Herodotus exhibit near the end of the museum, to which the trio marched toward.

A series of statues, sculpted busts, broken weapons, and fossilized insects surrounded the women. Alkyone instructed the group to search for anything important.

LeTonya folded her arms in defiance. "What are we looking for?" She pouted. "It's a bunch of old stuff."

"This old stuff, as you say," Alkyone began. "Are valuable and priceless. They are worth a fortune on the black market."

"Then why are we wasting our time looking for some shitty rock thing." LeTonya griped. "Let's take one of these art thingies, sell it and get our money!" The computer hacker rolled her eyes. "This is a waste of my time!"

Alkyone glared. "You'll get your money and more, I assure you." The warrior woman smirked. "Just do the job were paid to do!"

LeTonya shut her mouth and continued to search the museum.

"I think this is it!" Zara signaled to her cohorts. She lifted a heavy bust of a regal scholar titled Deceneus. Rubbing her fingers across the ancient Greek language in stone, she read the inscription. "King Burebista of Thrace called forth his advisor Deceneus to reform his people by consenting to celebrate the wines of the god, Dionysius!"

Puzzled, Alkyone scratched her head. "That is false! Deceneus didn't celebrate the God. He abhorred him and he ordered the destruction of all of Dionysius's wines!"

"Precisely," smirked Zara. She lifted the heavy bust and smashed it against the marble pillar. The sculpture split into two as Zara dug through the broken rock to find the object they were looking for.

A broken, triangular piece that appeared to be from a full circle appeared among the debris. Strange writing and symbols etched within the stone made it impossible to decipher, but that was not their objective. Their goal was to secure the artifact.

"Is that the thing we were supposed to get?" LeTonya asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Alkyone lifted it up her hand. "The very one."

Suddenly, an exploding crash vibrated through the room. A tall, hulking figure cloaked in a shroud, rammed through one of the nearby windows and landed a few feet from the three women.

Shocked by the stranger's entrance, Zara prepared her fiery fists to attack, but the hooded figure grabbed a heavy vase nearby and shot the object toward her. Unable to defend herself, Zara slammed into the historical artifact, sending her flying to the other side of the room and into a heavy display of taxidermized animals.

Refusing to be bested, Alkyone grabbed their prized object and tossed it to LeTonya. "Go! Run!" LeTonya did exactly as she was told and raced for the entrance. The hooded figure set chase but Alkyone pulled out her sword to block her opponent.

"I don't know who you are, stranger!" She grimaced at her foe. "But you've picked the wrong time for your thievery!"

She darted toward the hooded figure, taking a first position stance with clenched hands around the hilt, and aimed up toward her enemy's throat, but her foe proved to be much quicker. Spinning fully around to avoid Alkyone's blade, the stranger tossed the fabric of the cloak, allowing her sharp edge to slice through the material but not the flesh. This left Alkyone frustrated and gave the hooded figure enough time to draw upon a sword of their own.

Furious, Alkyone directed her blade down, directing her target forward to slash the torso. She struck but the stranger parried, clanging the metal and disorienting her grip on her weapon. With rapid rotation, the figure disarmed the warrior woman, tossing her only arsenal out of the way. Then with perfect precision, a heavy kick to her chest sent her flying across a row of glass display tables, destroying numerous historical items and priceless artifacts. Covered in shards of glass that pierced her skin, Alkyone moaned in humiliation at being bested by an opponent.

The hooded figure pointed a sword to her.

"Yield." A masculine voice said.

Enraged that a man defeated her, the female soldier clutched her chest as she wrestled with the wind that was knocked out of her.

"NEVER!" She hissed in a breathy voice.

The hooded man refused to back down. "Tell me, who is trying to steal the shards of Zalmoxis?"

"GO TO HADES!" His foe screeched.

The stranger refused to back down. "Who is ordering the theft of the shards? Tell me!"

"I am!"

The entrance doors blew open. Dust and debris flew everywhere, as a decrepit, gray-haired woman dressed in a dark cloak marched through. Wind surrounded her and wrinkled hands pointed at the hooded man.

"You're a fool, hero!" She cackled. Arms now fully raised toward the sky as the old crone mumbled an incomprehensible incantation. A flash of lightning appeared out of nowhere and crashed through the ceiling of the museum.

Instantly, the shrouded figure jumped out of the path of the electrical current as wood, glass, and concrete exploded everywhere. The strange man thought he was out of harm's way for a minute, but the old witch wiggled her fingers at the huge train car exhibit nearby.

It took only a few seconds for the huge railroad car to levitate and hurl at full speed toward the stranger; miraculously, the enigmatic man caught it with his superhuman strength and prevented it from crushing him. Still, it had been too late. Once again, the crone murmured a spell, causing the entire ceiling and the structural pillars of the museum to collapse.

Within a few minutes, the strange hero was buried underneath the rubble.

Another ten minutes had passed.

Rumbling could be heard from beneath the pile of destruction that once had been the history museum.

Little by little. Stone by stone. The dirt and debris clear.

The male stranger pushes himself out of the rubble, only to covered in a cloud of dust and white ash. He searches around to see his enemies vanished, and the object that he was ordered to protect, stolen. He pulls down his hood to reveal a tuff of blond hair, piercing blue eyes, and strong, masculine features, among all the gray soot that covers his face and body. Quickly, he rubs his face and reaches inside his pocket for his cellphone. Surprisingly, it has not been damaged from his encounter.

He dials.

"Zatanna," he says to the person on the other line. "I'm too late. It was Derinoe and her goons. And she has the Zalmoxis shard!"