"At War With Gods"
By: Angelic Temptress
Disclaimer: Keep 'em WB. You always seem to mess it up anyway…
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: To Another Shore
Thank you, Ms. Merlin Missy. You are the greatest.
xXx
(4/4)
Diana stared at Shayera in pure horror. Flash fell to the marble floor and didn't get back up. Before she could react, Diana and Superman had each received a fireball to the gut. Hers sent her through the large doors he had ruined moments earlier. She hit the wall and narrowed her eyes in anger.
"I'm growing tired of this." She jumped to her feet and flew into the air, heading toward Ares. To her surprise, it wasn't Ares she crashed into.
It was an electric mace.
Diana skidded on the floor and stared up at her own teammate. Shayera looked as if she were Greek royalty, no less beautiful than Helen of Troy. She raised her mace again to strike, but the princess caught its base. She swirled around, with Shayera still clutching her weapon, and sent Shayera crashing into the nearest wall.
Instead of continuing her fight with Shayera, Diana headed for Ares.
xXx
Superman's torso burned from the godly fireball he had received. He cringed when Ares tossed Shayera her mace.
He winced when she hit the wall.
Though he wanted to beat the hell out of the god who had captured and brainwashed his friend, he left it for Diana to take care of. He wanted to make sure Shayera was all right. Superman raced into her direction and took hold of her arms, pinning her to the very wall she had struck. She squirmed beneath his grip and tried to rip free, but Superman wouldn't allow it.
Instead, he knocked her head against the wall.
"Shayera! You need to listen to me. You are not Ares' servant, and you are not in love with him. You're my friend, and I'm here to take you home."
"Let me go!" she screamed as her mace crashed to the floor.
Athena suddenly appeared at his side and showed him a vial. "It's a serum made from a root that will reverse the charm."
With one arm pressed against Shayera, he took the vial from Athena and pulled the cork from it with his teeth. He poured it into Shayera's mouth. Just seconds after she swallowed the liquid remedy, Shayera stopped resisting his hold.
"Shayera?"
She exhaled loudly and nodded. "Now kindly let me go so I can beat that asshole to a bloody pulp."
Superman lowered his arms. "I think Diana's handling that."
Her eyes averted to the goddess beside him. "And who are you?"
xXx
Diana's fist smashed into Ares' face, and his head hit the wall hard. He pulled his sword from its holster and brought it down on Diana. It collided with her bracelets, and she knocked it away. With his left hand, Ares grabbed her arm and threw her into the wall where he gripped her throat with his right. She was pinned.
"You'll stop right there."
His fist didn't loosen its hold on Diana when they both looked at the goddess armed with a silver bow and arrow. She had it pointed at Ares. Part of Diana's body was relieved, the part that wasn't striving for oxygen.
"Artemis?"
"Release Diana. I have permission to kill you here and now if you do not comply."
"You wouldn't –"
"My orders came from Zeus himself."
Diana knew Artemis would not lie. If a thunder bolt would not suffice, Zeus would send Artemis or her twin, Apollo, to carry out punishments.
"I won't miss, Ares."
He released Diana and took a step back. "As you wish, Artemis. Did Athena put you up to this?"
"Diana is an Amazon. When she is involved, I am involved." The Goddess of the Hunt lowered her aim. "Diana, you are free to leave. Take your friends and return to Metropolis. Zeus wishes to see Ares, Athena, and Aphrodite immediately."
She walked past Ares without glancing at him, knowing it would cause his insides to crawl. Diana saw that Superman was helping Flash from the floor, and Shayera was calm.
xXx
"You look really pretty."
Shayera slightly chuckled as she took down her hair. "Thanks, Wally."
He stepped into her room and waited for the door to close behind him, trying to be as "big brother" as he possibly could. "Still coming to the movie? We got Uma and Lucy going at it with samurai swords, plenty of homage to Bruce Lee."
"You can handle it on your own, can't you?"
He frowned. "I just thought it would cheer you up. There are motorcycles and plenty of violence. A woman taking her vengeance on the people who took her child..."
"Wally?" She looked at him with sadness in her eyes.
"Yeah, Shayera?"
"I'm sorry I punched you."
He forced a laugh. "It's cool. I'm just glad no chicks were around to see it."
"Because two Greek goddesses, Diana, and I don't count as chicks."
"Wait. There were two goddesses?"
She stood and wrapped her arms around him. "Thanks for coming for me."
He held onto her, tighter than he had expected. "What are friends for?" She closed his eyes and tried not to think how close he had come to losing one of his best friends. He handled his feelings pretty well, he thought. His voice barely squeaked when he said goodnight.
xXx
"I'm going to have to cancel tonight, Lois."
He heard her sigh.
"We almost lost Shayera."
"I'm usually not the understanding type, but since her interview got a lot of good attention… I'll let you slide, Smallville."
"Thanks."
"Pop on by later, though. No need for the entire night to be boring."
"I love you."
"Yeah, yeah. I love you too."
Superman closed his cell phone and walked into the movie room. The protagonist was trying to wiggle her big toe when Flash tapped him on the shoulder.
"Diana and Shayera are both in their rooms."
Superman nodded.
"We got a message from the Bat. He was in Rome. Something about a cat burglar."
"Got it." Superman left the room and started for the elevator to reach the veterans' floor. Diana's room was the second on the right, next to his. He knocked on the door and waited for her to answer.
It slid open with a "swoosh." Diana stood on the other side.
"Here to lecture me?"
"Because you didn't follow protocol? No. I came to see if you're all right. I'm sure that family reunion was just as much fun for you as it was for Shayera."
"I'm fine." Diana thought for a moment before adding, "And I apologize. I put Shayera in danger today."
"You couldn't have known. We're just lucky Ares is pompous."
She nodded.
Superman motioned down the hall. "I'm going to go check on her. Anything you'd like me to tell her?"
Diana shook her head. "Goodnight." The door closed.
He continued on his journey, reaching the final door on the left. After lightly knocking, he waited for an answer. The door opened. Shayera was seated at the same small vanity Diana had in her room. She was still wearing the black and gold toga.
Superman took a moment to stare at her. She was rather striking. Almost like a queen in her own right.
"Come on in." She stood and started rummaging through her drawers, pulling out sweats.
"I wanted to check up on you."
She gave him a strange look. "Don't you have a date tonight?"
"I called and said I'd be a little late. I thought you could use a friend right about now." He almost winced at the sentence. He was sure he'd heard it somewhere before… Big Bird goes to Japan.
"I'm okay. You can go."
"No you're not, Shayera. I know exactly how you feel. Violated and –"
She raised her hand to silence him. "Spare me the pep-talk, Clark. I knew exactly what I was doing. I just couldn't stop… all of it."
"What?"
"Up until I swallowed that toxin, I was in control. I didn't leave when I could have. I stayed because what Ares said made so much sense. What if I'm not supposed to be happy? What if I am meant to be a killer?" She took a seat on the edge of her bed, and her shoulders slumped.
"You don't really believe that."
"He said a lot of true things about Hro, John, and Carter. He also made a pretty good assumption about my feelings."
Superman nodded. "You're ashamed of yourself?"
"I'm not going to say I don't deserve the hand I've been dealt, but I'm afraid I'm still hoping my ship hasn't sunk just yet."
He sat down beside her. "Want to talk about it?"
She gave him a look he couldn't read.
"What?"
Shayera raised an eyebrow. "How many girlfriends have you had? One?"
"That's not funny… I had two, actually."
She chuckled. "I think I'll keep my personal life to myself. I don't want to pull you into it too." Her smile grew. "You know how many women would be jealous of me right about now? And to think, I could take advantage of you, and no one would ever know."
"Now you are off the deep end." He stood and gave his best "friend" smile. "If you need me, you'd better call me tomorrow. I'm planning on being a little busy tonight."
"Goodnight, Clark."
"Goodnight."
END