Time to face the Chimera now...
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The Zambesian men took their firearms and shot at the Chimera. They formed one front, which held her back. The monster surprised the line with a trail of fire. The men on the left were blocked off by the fire while the men on the left were not able to come closer because the viper protecting that flank.
The men stopped shooting – they ran out of bullets already. Wally circled around the Chimera at a moderate speed, making it impossible for either the lioness or the viper to hit him. The goat head breathed fire and Wally ran straight into the flames, noticing it too late. He ran away from the Chimera and tripped. He stayed on the ground and groaned. He had not caught on fire, but he was probably badly burnt and he needed to recover.
The Zambesians scattered and formed small groups, preparing for close-quarter combat with the Chimera. Sara and Zari, along with three of the men, lead the attack on the creature. They only managed to keep her occupied and they did not land a solid blow. The goat head kept everyone at a safe distance from the main body. If someone did come close, the lion and viper heads were just as dangerous.
Zari tried to push the fire out of the way with the wind so that Sara could come closer – yet to stop the fire, Zari almost had to conjure up a storm. Sara did make it to the viper, who swiftly attacked a couple of times. The assassin could only defend her position at the back of the Chimera for as long as Zari could keep the goat head under control.
Nate, Ray, Nora, and Thys stood aside, out of the monster's reach, watching the others surround the Chimera. Yet this large group was not enough to kill it. Mick's fire did not hurt or even burn its fur; Wally was still recovering from his being thrown around; Amaya, having called on the spirit of the lion, could not connect with the Chimera and instead fought hard. The four had participated in the battle before, but now they watched one another with pained and desperate looks.
"How the hell did you keep this at a safe distance?" Nate asked, hands on his knees and bending over. This was not going as planned.
"We draw it away from the village," Thys responded, "We keep it at that distance and do not allow it to come closer. We usually hold our ground until we chase it away." He was tired of this fight, and yet he did think of giving up. Nate's respect for him and his fellow countrymen grew every passing minute and with every act of bravery.
"Hey, Nate?" Ray then asked, keeping his eyes mainly on Nora – who hadn't done anything so far – and the Chimera. "Do you know any way to take it down?"
"I know about the Manticore, not the Chimera." They were two very similar creatures; the Manticore was the Chimera's brother and its appearance was possibly even more gruesome, with the body of a lion, an enlarged tail of a scorpion and the androgynous head of a human. Nate wasn't the first who had mixed them up and he would not be the last. There had to be a way to kill it –some Greek hero had probably already done it, providing a playbook that Nate could not read. "I just know they are probably just as dangerous and equally hard to kill."
"Watch out!" The group of four turned their heads. The Chimera stormed away from the main group and towards them, all three heads glaring at them with a murderous look in their eyes. The four had barely time to prepare for battle – Nate transformed into Steel in a reflex and stepped protectively in front of Thys while Ray fired shots at the monster. It only made her angrier and made her want to attack them more.
A stream of constant fire hit her from her left side. Mick made a second attempt to burn the creature like he had the Minotaur – this time, he aimed for the goat head. Mick did not care about personal safety, only about sending this monster to the hellhole her Giantess friend had pulled her from (as Mick assumed).
The Chimera diverted her attention to the unwanted attacker. The four were no longer interesting and she ran towards Mick, who received help from Sara and Zari. Nate, Ray, Nora, and Thys let out a relieved breath – they may have not made it to the morning unharmed or at all.
"Where's John when you need him?" Nate asked out loud. If John Constantine were here, he would only have to cast a spell and the Chimera would be condemned to go back to Hell. They would not have had to fight as hard tonight, or risk the local population being hurt as they helped out.
"Well, he's not here," Ray responded. He glanced around the group and he let his eyes rest on Nora, an idea crossing his mind. "But Nora is."
Nora's eyes widened. "What?" She had no idea what he was getting at, but she knew she was not going to like it.
"She can stop him," Ray said confidently, looking at Thys. He immediately turned to Nora. "You can stop him, right?"
"I don't think I can," Nora told him. She was still horrified and now, doubt got a grip of her as well. Would she be able to do this without reverting back to her old ways?
Ray looked at her with the utmost respect and shrugged. "You can try if you want to." But if you don't want to, I won't push you. Nora appreciated the sentiment, but she knew she couldn't just stay with the Legends and, as a champion, do absolutely nothing. She would have to do something sooner or later, and it better be sooner rather than later.
"You should try something," Nate added.
"Haircut!" Nate and Ray turned their heads – Mick was glaring at them. "Less talking, more fighting!" And Mick ran off again, towards the Chimera, aiming his gun and countering the monster's flames.
The group of four charged as well. Nate turned into Steel and ran towards the Chimera's head while Ray rose to the sky to attack the creature from above. Nora stayed with Thys, who had taken his spear and hoped to keep the creature away from the village. Nate briefly wrestled with the lion's head, but the Chimera threw him away. She did not appreciate the air attacks either – Ray's blasts only enraged her further. The goat head spotted Ray in the air and managed to take him down with flames. Ray stood up with sore bones and joined Nora and Thys again.
"Can you get us any closer?" Ray asked. Thys shook his head in response.
"I'm afraid that's impossible," he said. It was near impossible to reach the body without getting hurt; Nate only succeeded in it by pure chance, and because Ray had occupied the Chimera's head.
"There's gotta be something that can stop it," Ray pondered out loud. How do you beat something that won't allow you to come close?
Let's think logically. Why can they barely reach the Chimera? Because of the goat head that regularly spewed fire and kept everyone at a distance. The Chimera was furthermore protected by its tail, the viper head. So, they had to take out the goat head. It could not be stunned by Ray's blasts and Mick could not burn it either. They were going to have to do this another way.
Then Ray noticed a pile of dirt that lay about two yards away. A crazy idea popped into his head. He could not think of anything else… he might as well try it out.
"You can let things float, right?" he asked Nora, who nodded.
"Yes, I can move some things around," she responded. "What are you thinking?"
"Something crazy that hopefully works." Hopefully. "Float some dirt to the goat's head."
"That is crazy," Nora agreed with him. and he had yet to tell her the craziest part.
"If you can," he said, "push it down his throat."
Nora's expression shifted, looking at him as if he was crazy. "What?"
"We have to try something!" Ray defended his plan. "If this works, it won't breathe fire anymore."
Nora glared at Ray but there was no animosity between them. They had no idea whether this crazy plan would work. If it failed, they would become targets. If it worked, there would be no more fire.
"This better work," Nora said and she focused her attention on the pile of dirt. / From the safe distance, she picked up enough dirt with her powers to block the goat head's throat, but left enough to try again, should she have to.
Everyone else was occupying the Chimera, and Nora waited for the perfect opportunity. The goat's head breathed fire in direction of the largest group, which was close to Nora. When the flames stopped, Nora stretched her arms and aimed for the head. The goat head turned and opened its mouth at the right time – lumps of dirt disappeared down its throat.
The Chimera as a whole was surprised. The goat head tried to cough up the dirt, but there was too much to remove. Some chunks obscured its airway, other chunks blocked its fire breath. Most of the dirt had disappeared in the Chimera's stomach – this affected the viper and the lioness as well. They acted as if they'd eaten something bad and tried to throw it up, but neither could help the goat head while it suffocated.
"The fire's out!" Amaya's voice carried over the field, and everyone heard this joyful message.
The Zambesians did not waste any time. They attacked the lion as one strong front with the Legends, fueled by this small victory. Neither the viper nor the lioness could keep up, but they still did not give up. While she was fireproof and energy blasts made her furious, she was not indestructible – she could still bleed, a fact the Zambesians used to their advantage. The Chimera roared one last time before she succumbed to his wounds, twenty minutes to half an hour after she lost her goat head.
The people of Zambesi celebrated their victory. Some ran back to share the good news immediately while others cut parts of its fur, so as to later commemorate this battle with something tangible. These pieces of fur were their trophies, and they left the remains for the vultures and insects.
The Legends were invited to stay in the village, which they accepted. They were more than willing to celebrate with the Zambesians. Mick quickly ran back to the ship to get himself some beer, and then the party truly started.
Thys was telling the children how they had defeated the Chimera, and the children were both terrified and in awe. Amaya sat at the campfire on her own, and Nate joined her there. For a moment, they sat in silence and just enjoyed each other.
"So… the Chimera," Nate said. "That was impossible."
"But we did it," Amaya said and she nodded to herself.
"Yes, we did." A smile crept up on his face. He still couldn't wrap his head around it – he fought a Chimera! He was going to remember that for the rest of his life.
And then guilt came crashing in. He was not supposed to tell Amaya about the Greek monsters so that history would stay on track. Yet, at this moment, he felt the need to tell her. She was still a Legend, after all, even if she was no longer an active member. She should know about the Giantess.
"There's something you need to know," Nate then said. Amaya turned her head to him.
"What is it?"
"There's a reason why we've been facing Greek monsters," he began, "The Greek gods came down from the sky and told us to fight them. They are probably controlled or sent places by a Giantess. She is very dangerous and escaped Tartarus. We think she either broke out those creatures or found them through time and uses them. In the meantime, she's planning the end of the world, which we have to stop as well." Nate paused. "I just hope she didn't know about you."
Amaya took a deep breath. "Wow." She nodded slowly, trying to register all the new information. "That's… something."
"I know," Nate said and he watched the stars. The gods were probably residing on a mountaintop in Greece, but he believed they were watching through the stars. At that moment, he realized they'd been lucky so far. The Minotaur burned in the maze, the boar was easily overcome. The Chimera was stronger than both and the road ahead may be even more difficult. The Legends needed to become better, or they may lose one of their own, just as the Zambesians had lost some of their own.
"The sooner this is over, the quicker we can return to the regular schedule," Nate said. Saving the world did become tedious after a while.
He yawned – it was late and one could only stay up for so long. "But first, sleep will do wonders."
After the Chimera, Amaya had thought things would settle again. She'd hoped peace would return and that her men would heal. This would happen and while it had been refreshing to see and hear the Legends again – they had agreed to stay in Zambesi for the night – in hindsight, she would rather not have learned about the context in which the Chimera appeared.
Tomorrow, they would be gone again. They would fight the good fight, while Amaya stayed behind. She would wait for disaster to strike, whether that be the destruction of her village in 1992 or something else showing up. Either way, unless the Legends contacted her, she would not know whether the world ended in early 2019. She would not know what they would fight. And yet, she wished them the best of luck with the Giantess and whatever would follow.
Amaya returned to her home. But she wasn't alone; someone else was waiting for her. The woman was darker-skinned than Amaya, beautiful even in old age. She welcomed Amaya with a warm smile on her face and dark curls rested on her shoulders. Her clothes were sober and styled the Zambesian way – she could have easily been an elder in Amaya's village if it weren't for the fact that she did not live there.
"Who are you?" Amaya held her totem, waiting for a good reason to use it against the woman who broke into her home. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm not here to fight." The woman even spoke with a light Zambesian accent. This made Amaya trust the woman a little more. She lowered her hand, though she was still wary and she did not let the woman out of her sight.
"My name is Demeter," the woman said. "I am a Greek goddess. And I have a job for you, should you want it."
The Legends returned to the Waverider when the sun rose. Some of these heroes had wanted to stay a little longer, but they ultimately decided against it. They did not know how long the gods would allow them to stay in one place if they weren't hunting the Giantess and her monsters.
Nate was one of the last. He turned around to take one last look at Zambesi. Amaya was walking towards him; she wasn't going to make leaving her any easier than the first time. So he stayed in his position and allowed Amaya to approach him again.
"I guess this is goodbye again," Nate said. Amaya shook her head.
"It's not, Nathaniel," she said. Nate frowned in confusion.
"What do you mean?" he asked. What was she alluding to, and could it be important to them? He was glad that she seemed to think they wouldn't have to say goodbye for a while, but until he had a better context, he would not know why she thought this.
"I'm coming with you," she said in a determined way. Nate was baffled and couldn't help but stare at her.
"You're…" He pointed at her, unable to finish his sentence. You're a champion? No, that would be too much of a coincidence. But Amaya nodded in response, recognizing that this was indeed the case.
"But Thys and the village—"
"—will not be destroyed while I am away." They stared at one another. For a moment, nothing but silence was between them, silence Nate needed to process this information. Amaya's a champion.
"Nathaniel, one of the Greek goddesses visited me," Amaya eventually said. "Her name is Demeter and I am her champion."
Okay. So an Olympian had chosen her.
"Demeter," he repeated slowly, trying to remember what this goddess stood for.
Amaya tilted her head. "Is that strange?"
"No, not at all!" Nate shook his head. "I just… she's the goddess of fertility and agriculture. And grain. She's not exactly the goddess of animals." If there were a specific god within the group of Olympians, Nate would believe that god or goddess would choose Amaya. But no Olympian is the patron god of all animals, though they often do have a patron animal, such as peacocks are to Hera or horses to Poseidon. The only god Nate thought could have chosen Amaya based on this aspect was Pan, an age-old god who was not an Olympian, nor did he come close. if he'd pick an Olympian for Amaya, he'd say Artemis based on her liking to wild animals and the wilderness, but she has already chosen Zari.
"I don't think that's important," Amaya said. "She came to me. I will represent her in this fight."
"And you're allowed to do that," Nate answered. Why was he finding it so hard to accept Amaya was going to be a part of the Waverider crew again? He'd love to have her at his side again, if only as colleagues, and still…
"Are you sure about this?" He then asked. "I mean, it'll be dangerous, with more monsters like the Chimera."
"When won't it be dangerous?" Amaya then asked him, and Nate could not find a proper answer. He would not be able to convince her to stay at home and protect her family and her village to the best of her abilities – she possibly thought she could still return to an hour after the Waverider would have left with her.
"Good point," he said. If Fate dictated Amaya was joining them on this crazy Greek journey, Nate wasn't going to tell her to stay in Zambesi. "Welcome back, then."
And Nate and Amaya walked aboard the Waverider together. Not a minute later, the Waverider disappeared and left for its next exotic location.