The Return of My Sister
Rated: K
Summary: The Return of Donna Troy, sans the horrible Trinity break-up. Chapter 5: the battle against the Titans of Myth. Takes place after 'The Black Snow'. BM-WW, Donna-Roy, Donna-Coeus.
Disclaimer: Believe me, all characters are not mine. They belong to DC Comics. And I made no profit at all. Instead, this comic and fan fiction frenzy has cost me lots of money! Thanks to Jennifer Larissa for the great beta and for all readers for their precious feedbacks.
Chapter 5. The BattleFor millions of years, Coeus had been the Titan of Intelligence and the Moon God, the manifestation of the Moon itself. His brothers and sisters feared his moon burst; his words were even heavily considered by the Titans leader Cronus and the arrogant Hyperion. His soothing compassion had won the heart of Phoebe, the Titan of Brilliance and the Moon, who then became his eternal wife.
Almost eternal, at least. A few years back, a wounded Phoebe had traveled to Earth to ask for the help of Wonder Girl and the New Titans of Earth to save the Titan Gods from the wrath of Sparta of Synriannaq. Phoebe's attempt to conduct such a mission had cost her own life. The Titan Moon Goddess had died before explaining why the youngsters had been asked to save the Titan Gods. To retrieve more information, Jericho of the New Titans had possessed Phoebe's body and managed to reveal Donna's true past life from the late Goddess. Years ago, Donna Troy, the original Wonder Girl, had been saved by Rhea, the sister-wife of Cronus, in her attempt to establish a new line of Titan Seeds. Ironically, the mad Sparta whom the Titan Gods needed protection from had actually been one of the Titan seeds as well.
Later on, the Titans of Earth had traveled to New Cronus to save the Titan Gods and retrieve Sparta from her madness. As a result, the Titan Gods had bestowed additional powers upon Donna, including a sort of electrical shield. Donna had later returned to Earth and changed her identity from Wonder Girl to Troia.
The aftermath of the affair left Coeus in sorrow. Coeus' only consolation had been Donna Troy. In many ways, Donna resembled Phoebe in her compassion and charm. Upon Donna's return to Earth, Coeus had always felt the pang of regret of having been separated from his second 'Phoebe'.
Hence, when a robotic creature had finished off Donna with its heat vision, Coeus could not help but rejoice. True, he had not orchestrated Donna's death. He had not even thought that Donna could be killed by such a monstrous machine. Yet, he had still considered it as a blessing, for then he had been justified to call upon Donna's soul and revive her with a new life, giving her a new body that was the exact match to her old one.
He had often replayed in his mind the moment he had held her again for the first time after her resurrection. She had been resurrected in the midst of a war in Tyrroean, a small stubborn planet in Cygnus system. Without hesitance, she had instinctively joined the war and helped the Titans overthrow the militants of Tyrroean and made the planet their own. Yet, after the war, she slowly reverted back to a state of confusion. Her sapphire orbs had searched around for any explanation of her involvement in the battle. Sensing Donna's discomfort, Coeus had approached her, taken her hand, and looked her in the eye. In a split second, the disoriented woman had become relaxed. Her trust in him had returned, as her ancient memory told her who he had been, and why she had been defending the Titans in the Tyrroean battle.
Donna Troy had trusted him. He had loved her for so long, and she had seemed to start loving him. Soon, they had conducted their wedding ceremony, blessed by their brothers and sisters. Lord Coeus and Lady Troia: the God and Goddess of Moon. The waiters, waitresses, and slaves of the Titans could not help liking their new mistress, the raven-haired beauty who used to be Lord Coeus'God-daughter. They had whispered in awe as the dark sky surrounding New Cronus suddenly glowed in delight as their Lord made love with his new wife. The celestial couple just seemed to fit.
And now… flying into the atmosphere of Mynosyss, Coeus closed his eyes, desperately trying to manage his need to be together with Troia. Patience is virtue, even for a God. Soon, I will hold her in my arms again, and we shall be one once more. Once and for all.
Yet, the God of Intelligence could not fool himself. He had sensed changes in Troia's psychology as of late and, though he dared not admit it, his subconscious had warned him of the changes in his wife he might have to face. He looked at the crimson horizon of Mynosyss and saw a slender figure in black approaching. His heart jolted in excitement to see his beloved wife soaring high in the sky towards them.
"Troia! Praise Gaea! Beloved wife, I am so pleased to see you!"
He wanted to fly towards her, to welcome her. Yet, something in Troia's demeanor stopped him right in the air. The God of Intelligence frowned. He could sense her disgust even before he laid his eyes on Troia's. He could not believe that the flying figure that darted towards them was Donna, his beloved wife. He could not detect any trace of love in her. No love at all. Just aversion and anger.
Suddenly, Coeus felt an urge of dismay and denial. He had always loved Troia. Ever since she had been captured by Athyns of Karrakan, he had missed her so. He had thought that she would have felt the same for him. But now, he realized it wasn't the case.
To the furious Troia, the God of Intelligence was a mere liar.
xxx
He had been her God-parent. He had been her lover and husband. He had been her companion for the past few years. Yet, thanks to his own mistakes, he was reduced to a mere coward in front of her.
Troia had recognized the split-second shock in Coeus' face once he realized that she did not come to join the Titans of Myth. Not anymore, you liar! I'm taking my own way now!
"Troia…" It seemed that Coeus still wanted to win her heart once again. "Thank the Fates you're unharmed. Quickly Wife, join me as we take leave of this universe!"
She frowned. Not really a quick learner, is he? The so-called 'God of Intelligence'!
"Coeus, you're not going anywhere," she shouted at her God-husband. She cast her disgusted look on the rest of the Titans Gods. "None of you."
Her statement had made Hyperion mad. His golden eyes flared furious fire as he barked at the Goddess of the Moon. "Remember your place, little Goddess! Remember why we chose you!"
Thia, Hyperion's wife spoke up as well. "Beg our forgiveness, Cur, and you may yet reclaim your rank among us as the Goddess of the Moon!"
Well, that's does it! "I've got the memories you denied me back, Thia. And my freedom!" Troia riposted. "The only thing I want now is to make sure none of you hurt anyone ever again!"
"Coeus has a weak heart, after poor Phoebe's death…And Hyperion's lust might have blinded him to your true nature –" A golden flare emanated from Thia's hands as she responded to Troia's discourse, "– but NOT me!"
A miniature of the sun seemed to blast away in front of Troia, engulfing her lithe body. Coeus gasped in horror.
"No! Wife! No!"
Yet, to his immediate relief, a perfectly unharmed figure of Troia emerged from Thia's sunblast. What she said afterwards did nothing to alleviate his weary, though.
"Coeus – " the angry Troia turned to face her husband. "When this is all over, I want a divorce!"
xxx
Despite my enhanced hearing, I did not hear what they said. I was even too far from my sister when Thia, the Titan Sun Goddess, attacked her with the sunburst. Admittedly, I was horrified to see her body totally lost in the furious fire. In a split second, my fear turned to anger, and I readied myself to leave the middle defense line and to charge directly towards the Titan Gods with the speed of Hermes. Yet, to my relief, the fire dissipated at once to reveal the uninjured Donna. Apparently, her silver bracelets still worked perfectly, giving her full protection.
'Wonder Woman! Cavalries need you here!'
Batman's instruction over the comm. link made me divert my attention to the shore. Despite my first impression that Mynosyss had had no forms of ocean, this small planet actually has bluish liquid oceans here and there, though the percentage did not add up to Earth's ocean cover. Yet now, I watched in horror as the sea waves surrounded our main village had tripled up in height and mass. By Gaea! Oceanus and Tethys, the Titan God and Goddess of the Ocean, are about to drown the continent! Civilians are in danger!
Immediately, I changed my tactic. "Starfire! Jade! I'm heading back to shore! Cover up here!"
"Will do, Diana!" Jade answered without waver her attention from a battalion of Titan armies as she formed a gigantic emerald shield to block their way. Starfire might not even hear me; she was already busy with a squadron of Tamaran warriors who had joined the Titans as slave armies.
For a short moment, I turned to watch Donna continue her fight against her God-parents. I clenched my fists. I would have to deal with the Ocean Gods first and fast, then return to my sister for aid. In the meantime, I truly hoped that she would hold on.
xxx
Observing the front line with his binoculars, Nightwing frowned. "Troia went too far ahead – I can't even see her! Outsider fliers! Cut of the left flank!"
A brisk voice in his comm. link indicated that Batman joined the line. "Nightwing! Living tsunamis! Shorelines are in danger! Diana and I will face the Ocean Gods. I need Shift and Kid Flash down here too!"
"Damned Titan Gods!" Nightwing's curse was audible through his link. "Shift, Kid Flash, follow Batman! Wonder Girl, close off the right flank! Cyborg, lead your troops up the center! Break through their ranks! Raven! Use your empathic powers to scan for Donna!"
"Uh… Dick!" Cyborg muttered out of character. "My sensors indicate that their center ranks are two miles deep!"
"Blast your white sound while charging them!" The former Boy Wonder would not accept defeat so early. "Pronto! Arsenal, cover up for Kid Flash!"
"No can do! I'm scouting ahead to find Donna!" Always Green Arrow's son, always rebellious.
Stubborn archer! "No! Do not break ranks!" Nightwing warned the Arsenal. "Stick together! Raven –" Navigating his binoculars to Raven's position, the Protector of Bludhaven suddenly stiffened. "No! Raven!"
A few troops away from them, the empath shook her body visibly. Crius, the God of Memory, had invaded her mind, filling it with the emotions of every single person on the planet. Being attacked by fearful outsiders like the Titan Gods, the minds of the Mynosyssians were not pleasant places to be visiting at that moment. Alas, that was what Raven experienced at the very moment.
"The God Crius…" she whispered desperately, " – he's invaded my mind!"
With no other empaths around her, Raven's only channel of the emotional flood was herself. When she found out that the invasion extended way beyond her capacity, she collapsed.
xxx
She roared up in the sky, welcoming the intruders. Ironically, according to her screwed up family tree, the intruders were her own god-uncles and god-aunts. She flew towards a bunch of alien soldiers and with no difficulties knocked them out of the arena. Then, she saw them: her own celestial relatives. Hyperion and Thia – the Titan Deities of the Sun, Iapetus and Themis – the Titan Deities of Planets, and Crius and Mnemosyne – the Titan Deities of Memories. She saw the dark clouds created by the mighty gods, and suddenly, she experienced an inexplicable fear. For the first time in her life, Cassandra Sandsmark considered retreating from the battle.
Yet, she suddenly heard painful cries from the shore as the Titan troops opened fire at the Mynosyssians. Wonder Girl blinked and regained her courage. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists.
"Gods or no gods, uncles or no uncles, I'm not letting you get away with this! You're getting out of this planet! All of you!"
A moment later, Zeus' Earthling daughter took down a number of Titan troops in a flash of red and gold.
xxx
He disliked off-planet adventures, usually choosing to stay on Earth whenever the League had interplanetary or intergalactic assignments. The several instances where he had grudgingly joined the League for interstellar missions had been because his tactical ability had been required in the field and his involvement might prevent possible alien attacks on Earth. Thus, he had signed up – albeit reluctantly. But the rule of thumb was: he hated interstellar battles. He always felt misplaced and awkward being in the middle of those flying human and non-human entities, who often wielded more sophisticated weapons than his own. Nope. He preferred the dark alleys of Gotham City. That included her crooks.
However, he had voluntarily joined the Mynosyss mission, to a small deserted planet in another galaxy. He did not even care if he was in Vegan system or Alpha Centauri system, Oa, or even Apokolips. The most important thing now was that he was with her to help save the innocents.
Well, not exactly side by side with her. While he was guarding and giving commands to the infantries and cavalries on the shore, she was on the other side of the battlefield. He had not thought that he would need her help soon; the shoreline Mynosyss men power should be strong enough to withstand the Titan troops for a few minutes of combat.
Yet, as his well-trained body moved swiftly aboard a state-of-the-art semi-transparent platform and his battleaxe and sword clanked against the Tamaran blast-lances and riffles for the nth time, his well-tuned human ears caught another unfamiliar sound. He looked over and realized that was the sound of the Titan Ocean Deities creating living tsunamis. In a split second, he understood that he needed her assistance.
That had been why he had launched the distress signal. He could not wait for the help, though. He continued his fight by knocking some Tamaran soldiers out of their flying motorbikes and saving several Mynosyss warriors from imminent death. He turned around as his ears caught the panic cries of some civilians on the shore, as the tsunami water engulfed them alive.
His jaw clenched as he realized the hard choice he had to make. Saving the civilians from the tsunami, or saving the Mynosyss troops from massacre. He might need to split himself into two. Alas, being a mere human, he did not have such ability.
He was about to leave his current post and choose the weaker civilians over the ready-to-die warriors when he saw a flash of red-blue-gold dive down the drowning shore, scoop four or five people out of the water and fly them towards the hills. The red-blue-gold flash repeated the same movement for several times, until another flash of red and gold blurred much faster and took over her job.
"Batman, Kid Flash and I have got them! But we have to move fast!"
The Dark Knight smirked as the soaked Wonder Woman flew towards him. He always felt better when she was near him. Especially during wartimes like this.
xxx
Ever since her second stay in New Cronus, Troia had never felt being welcomed by her fellow goddesses. True, Lady Tethys with her whale songs had been quite nice to her; she usually made time to chat with her. The moon and the ocean have always been good company for one another. Perhaps that was why it seemed she could fit in with Tethys.
But she had never been able to form sisterhood bindings with Thia and Themis. Both goddesses had never seemed to be truly pleased at her presence. Thia had always displayed an open dislike, while Themis had pretty much ignored her. Once in a while, Mnemosyne had approached her for a short discourse. But in retrospect, Troia realized that the Lady of Memories had just wanted to make sure that she had only remembered the version of life Mnemosyne had chosen for her. In short: none of them were enjoyable companions, let alone true sister-goddesses.
Thus, she was not particularly surprised when Thia, instead of Hyperion or Iapetus, had opened the first attack. The Sun Goddess had always hated her anyway; her sunburst had been anticipated, while Troia's silver bracelets had once again saved her life. Yet, as Themis, the Titan Goddess of Planets, started a vortex of stones that covered up her body and made her loose her bearing, Donna Troy began to debate the likelihood of her winning the battle.
At first, she tried to fly out of the vortex and knock the Goddess of Planets out of orbit. But, she soon found out that it was nearly impossible to fight the gravity of the whirling stones, not to mention the increased temperature inside the vortex (Boy, Thia surely hates me so!) She changed her tactic by blocking and dodging the various sized stones that attacked her. This was to no avail, as it did not need a long time for a considerable sized stone knock her out of consciousness.
I wish I had accepted Diana's help here…was her thought as she went into the darkness.
xxx
His loyal long distanced binoculars told him the bad news.
"Donna's down!" Nightwing shouted as he saw Troia's body fell helplessly from inside a vortex of stone, to be scooped lightly by Hyperion. Trying to wipe out the smug smile of the Sun God from his mind, Richard Grayson frantically searched for any comrades near Donna's position.
"Jade – the Gods have Donna!"
Jade seemed to have totally gotten rid of her previous dislike of Donna, as the female Emerald Warrior moved forward swiftly. "Not for long, Dick! I'm on it!"
Nightwing's distress call also reached Starfire, the last Princess of Tamaran. She had just returned to her original post after rescuing Raven and left the empath safe, though still unconscious, next to Nightwing. Kory's pupilless green eyes glowed in anger as she watched her best friend Donna attacked by two goddesses at once.
"Pick on someone your own size!" she screamed furiously, sped up her flight, and blasted her golden starbolts at the Sun Goddess.
"Stay away, you fool!" creating her own field of fire to block Kory's attack, Thia barked at her. "Or better, be wise and join us like the rest of your foul Tamaran people! Or die!"
A brilliant gold fire swallowed the body of Koriand'r of Tamaran. The Titan Goddess of Sun surely did not waste her time getting rid of another 'foul' Tamaran.
"Unlikely, Goddess!" a completely unharmed Starfire emerged from Thia's fire field. "Not when I can absorb solar energy."
For a while, blasts of sunburst and starbolts blinded those who gazed upon that particular section of the Mynosyss sky as Thia and Starfire channeled their hatred towards each other. They ceased fire when Thia spotted how intimate Hyperion, her own husband, was as he carried Troia's fainted body away from the battlefield. Dirty old God! She gritted her teeth, fired a high intensity sun flare towards the Princess of Tamaran, and while Starfire was busy absorbing the solar energy, the Sun Goddess flew away towards Hyperion's golden chariot. When Koriand'r managed to control the mega-magnitude solar flare, Thia was already out of sight.
Starfire clenched her jaws. She was about to speed up and retrieve Donna from the Titan Gods when from the corner of her eyes she saw Beast Boy (as a green elephant) one on one with Iapetus. And it seemed her green happy-go-lucky friend was not a match for the God of Planets. She squinted her green eyes. Why do we always have hard choices in battles! She closed her eyes and exhaled. They won't kill Donna; she's a Titan Seed after all. But that big guy over there would no doubt kill Gar without even blinking.
Koriand'r of Tamaran opened her eyes again with determination and left to charge Iapetus instead. Donna will have to survive alone this time. I'll return once Beast Boy is safe.
xxx
Although the lower land was still covered with seawater, it seemed that the flood had subsided. I stopped for a while to catch my breath. Amazons need to breathe as well, though we are apparently expected not to breathe in battles. With a few seconds of scanning, I saw the golden scarlet blurs of Kid Flash who was still busy rescuing more people, the various shapes of Shift in his attempts to save more civilians from the flood, and Bruce on top of his semi-transparent platform, busy with either saving the drowned ones or putting down more of the enemy's troops. So far, we managed to save the Mynosyssians from the flooded sea. However, another scan of the open sea made me realize that Oceanus and Tethys were not yet done with their business here.
"Batman! The next tsunami is coming!"
The Caped Crusader hovered his platform next to me. His dark cape twirled in the harsh blowing wind as he turned his body to observe the raging sea. "Fifty feet high," he grimaced. "We can't win this unless we take down the Gods."
"And we can't do that without impeding the waves," I tried to think calmly, though the stormy weather started to take toll on my nerves. Ah! "Batman! I know what to do, but I still need some part of my plane here!"
He looked at me intently as I briefly told him what my plan was. Then I extended my hand to call for a part of my malleable Lansinarian substances from his platform. My actions did not reduce the size or capacity of his platform, thanks to the advanced Lansinarian biomorphic technology. As he left to give me more space, I concentrated to create another form out of the semi-transparent substances. Soon, a giant semi-transparent disk was formed in front of me – a gigantic parabola to amplify the intensity of sound.
From the corner of my eye, I saw the Batman and Shift evacuate more people from the vicinity. I nodded in approval. The sound blast that I was going to create would cause considerable damage to ears if not anticipated.
And here we go. The giant wave created by the Titan Ocean Deities was about two hundred feet from me. I had no clue whether my idea would prevail, but we had no other choice in this emergency. I stood in front of the gigantic disk, separated my hands, and with the speed of Hermes and the momentum of Herakles, I joined my hands in front of me in the traditional Amazon salute. I shouted as loud as I could, but really the effect that came later on was not from my cry. Instead, the momentum of both of my vambraces joint together created a very loud sound. This sound was later amplified by my Lansinarian disk, creating an array of sound loud enough to counter the tsunami wave's oscillation.
And it worked! By Gaea, the trick worked! Once again, the Wonder Dome had done the wonder. I saw how the sound wave had forced back the tsunami waves away from the shoreline, towards their point of origin: Oceanus and Tethys. Myself? I was pushed down towards the seabed by the sound created by my own vambraces and Lansinarian disk. Hundreds of gallons of water attempted to drown me as my body crashed at the seabed. Still, I was glad that I managed to order Dome to leave the water column before I sank. Batman and the others would need Dome right now. I could take care of myself.
That is, provided you do not have to face a couple of angry Ocean Deities under water. Yet, as I struggled to control my body and swim towards the surface against the churning water, I saw two blurry figures in front of me. Through the water column, I tried to focus my sight. I blinked as I realized that it was truly them swimming – or rather, standing – in front of me. Tethys, the Ocean Goddess, scrutinized me in anger with her turquoise eyes. Her husband, Oceanus, stood right in front of me. He extended his large left hand to choke my neck; his right hand pointed his trident at my head.
I gasped. It seemed that I needed my Wonder Dome back.
xxx
Author's Note:
Sorry for the long delay. Real World business. Still, I was very relieved to finish this chapter. Of course I have to acknowledge Phil Jimenez, as many of the dialogs here (mostly Titans-Outsiders, and not Batman-Wonder Woman – of course!) were taken from the 'Return of Donna Troy'. With the exception of the planet Tyrroean, which was my imagination, really.
Also a salute to Greg Rucka, as I stole his idea of Wonder Dome as the giant sound amplifier to counter the tsunami waves. Hey, he did pretty much damage in the Bitter Rivals arc by destroying the floating world of Paradise Island (don't interpret this as the one in 'Memoirs of a Geisha'…), not to mention crippling the Dome into 'just' an invisible plane. Heh. Thanks anyway, Greg!