answers to reveiwers questions or statements:
Guest: Yes.
chimera629: If your refering to En Sabah Nur's energy blasts not being absorbed, she didn't want to risk being possibly compromised by the strange energy running through his system, same with Grail, and end up being under the artifact's thrall too.
superpierce: She's a New God/Kree hybrid from Hala. Her origins, and that of Betsy will be explored soon.
laurenrulez1: Uh how did you go from several to seven? Plus there actually is a seventh stone, but that won't be appearing in this story.
CRUDEN: Yeah, I'm reading it, still unsure about it but I liked the second issue when it introduced the SP/DR armor/suit.
Guest: She'll start warming up to Peter after their first trip back to Earth. No, Hyperion won't be one of Peter's siblings, but he will make an appearnce later. No, Betsy is the only X-woman appearing in this story that'll be a Fury.
Shinobi scribe of the kage: Yes Peter will be keeping the Stone, it'll give him a hell of an edge over most of his siblings. Peter's actually one of the more powerful 'lesser' children of Darkseid.
darthwolf: Yeah, we'll be seeing how things back on Earth are going for the League after the wedding.
colbyburningham: Of sorts, yeah he'll be going through a transformation as the styory goes on.
Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or DC characters seen, mentioned or used.
In the weeks since coming to Apokolips, Diana has leaned that not all is what it seems on the dreaded planet. She used to believe that only cruel heartless monsters ruled this world with an iron fist and no amount of innocence or purity could exist. She also used to believe that Darkseid's rule was total and absolute and he did little to ensure his rule was maintained other than being all powerful and intimidating.
Safe to say, she was being proven wrong on both fronts right now.
"W-We thank you my liege..." a small humanoid dressed in rags and bandages said as he kneeled before Darkseid as he was flanked by Diana herself and Warbird, deep within Darkseid's palace.
"Think nothing of it" Darkseid said with a nod towards the skinny half starved creature "Granny Goodness should no better than to take the children of my smiths for her orphanage in such large numbers and in such frequency. I shall have thim released back into your care and your rations increased... marginally"
The slave, to Diana's sadness looked as if he was told he was granted his freedom "T-Thank you my lord!"
Darkseid grunted at this before he waved the small humanoid being away "Begone before my patience leaves me"
The slave nodded eagerly as he crawled away from Darkseid, being mindful to keep his eyes firmly on the ground as he lowly chanted 'Darkseid Is' over and over again until he was at the throne room doors and quickly ran out. Warbird frowned at the being before she turned towards Darkseid.
"My lord, why would you have Granny return all of them?"
Darkseid's grin was dark and cold as he settled in his throne "Granny took the children because she saw that many of them won't survive on the food rations his people currently have. She believed that I'd get more out of them being Furies or foot soldiers rather than corpses to feed the hounds"
"Will the food you've given them be able to provide for them?" Diana asked hopefully.
Darkseid was silent for a moment before he chuckled "No... it won't be"
Diana's eyes widened at this "But you said-"
"I will be increasing their food rations from what they are currently only by a little, which still won't be enough to feed all of the children Granny took" Darkseid said with a dark laugh "And now, he and others will have to watch their children slowly starve to death... assuming their children don't grow to loath their parents for taking them from somewhere where they were given more food then they ever seen"
Diana stared at Darkseid in shock before it quickly gave way to anger "Is this some sort of sick gam-"
"MIND YOUR TONE!" Darkseid said as he suddenly stood and stared at Diana with glowing red eyes.
Warbird flinched back in fear while Diana held her ground, a look of defiance on her face as the lord of Apokolips leaned down towards her with a glare "If you find my mercy such a terrible thing, perhaps I'll retract my offer and have Granny keep the children... while I completely cut off their people's food rations and watch as they tear themselves apart for what scraps remain..."
Diana remained silent as she glared into Darkseid's eyes with her cold icy blue ones before Darkseid pulled back and smirked at the Amazon "However, if you wish to help them, then by all means..."
Darkseid then turned and began to descend his thrones small stair case, leaving Diana to glare at his back before she noticed Carol was looking at her with a dark look in her eye. Before Diana could say anything, her head snapped to the side as a loud 'crack' echoed through the throne room followed by a stinging sensation on the side of her face. Diana blinked in surprise as she realized Carol had slapped her before she turned a smoldering glare towards the blonde Fury.
"If you ever speak that way to Lord Darkseid again... I'll rip your head off" Carol hissed in anger.
"Forgive me if I see his actions are cruel and unjust" Diana growled as she struggled to maintain her composure.
"What you saw was a rare form of mercy from our lord! Under normal circumstances, he'd have that man and his entire family, hell his entire street butchered and put on display for even daring to come to him for such a trivial thing!" Carol snapped, her eyes glowing with photon energy.
"So forcing that man to watch his children starve or turn on him is supposed to be better?!" Diana yelled in anger "Would you prefer he let Granny Goodness kept them to torture and abuse and warp them into monsters!?"
Carol smirked at this "Least everyone would still be alive... but because that man had to get all sappy and short sighted, well... his people wont have to worry about food shortages for too long..."
Diana gritted her teeth in anger as she watched Carol follow Darkseid out of the throne room. After several seconds, Diana took a deep breath and reached for her communicator and activated it. Several seconds passed before the voice of Vision could be heard.
"Yes Lady Diana?" the polite android answered.
"Vision, I need your help with something" Diana said as she made her way out of the throne room.
"Of course my lady, what sort of assistance do you require?"
Diana hesitated on what she was about to ask, having no idea if Peter will even give her the time of day to hear her request, let alone help her with what she had planned.
'Better to try then never having tried at all' Diana thought before she spoke "I need to speak with Peter, can you let him know that I'll be coming by his lab in a few minutes?"
"Of course my Lady"
...
Meanwhile, on the other end of the palace, Peter was busy exmaining the stone he brought back with him, now dressed in his normal dark red and blue amror, his more recent techno-organic black suit currently undergoing extensive diagnostics in light of the events on the Agooma.
"It's really amazing when you think about it" Peter said as he stared at the yellow stone from the artifact floating within a antigravity field with several holographic screens circiling it with terabytes of information scrolling across the screens "Unlike anything I ever encountered before!"
Bekka giggled at Peter's proclimation "Yes, so you've told me for the last ten minutes since I questioned you about it"
Peter blinked at this before he turned to the screen that displayed the beauty that was Bekka "I did?"
"Yes" she said with a small smile "At least, that' when I stopped coutning".
"Oh..." Peter said before he shurgged "But it is!"
"Is that so?" Bekka questioned with a laugh.
"Yeah" Peter said with a nod as he tapped on a few of the hologrpahic screens "This stone, it's eminating more raw psionic energy then my entire family combined!"
"Really?" Bekka said with wide eyes.
Darkseid, and to a lesser extent his children were some of the most powerful telepaths in the known multiverse, En Sanah Nur and Grayven being amonsgt the most powerful of his brood. For this stone to trump all of them combined... the idea of something surpassing the dread lord was almost unbelieveable.
"How are they unable to sense it?" Bekka inquired with a frown "There's no way that this stone has slipped past Darkseid's notice. Not if that stone is as powerful as you say it is"
"But that's the thing Bekka, it has" Peter said as he gestured towards the stone "I even went as far as to store it in my suit when I met with him and he never once noticed it"
"You did what!?" Beekka exclamied with horror on her face, to dangle something so powerful in front of the 'God of Evil' as an expriement... he's inflicted unspeakable horrors for less.
"Yeah, now that I think about it, probably not a smart move, but it just goes to show you just how powerful this thing really is!" Peter said with a wide grin as he turned towards the stone "I even ran some tests to see how it is that this stone could cause people to transform. As it turns out, this stone emits a powerful telekentic and telepathic signal that shuts down the higher brain functions of an organism, usually relying on mental projections and the manipulation of the senses to acheive this and then begins to 'order' the brain to have the body begin mass producing new tissue and uses a telekentic field to shape and contort the new rapidly grown tissue into the grotesque things I saw on the Agooma"
"Why?" Bekka said with a frown "What purpose does this serve?"
Peter shrugged at this "Not sure, I mean I have a few theroies but no real concrete evidence to help verify it... yet"
Bekka nodded at this as she watched Peter examine the stone with excitement. While she had the look of bemusement on her face as Peter began to list off the theroies he's come up with to explain the mysterious stone's behavior, she was internally disturbed by the seemingly casual indiffernce to the horror he witnessed and even looked fastinated by the ordeal.
'I pray he dosent try to replicate and expreiment with the horrors he saw on that ship' Bekka thought worridly as Petter listed off a few more things before he said something directly to her.
Bekka shook her head as she refocused on Peter "I'm sorry?"
"You spaced out there for a second" Peter said with a frown "Am I... boring you?"
"What- no, no" Bekka said with a shake of her head "My mind was... elsewhere"
Peter hummed at that "Anywhere good?"
"To some extent..." Bekka said before she casted a look of disaidan at her regal quaters "Better than this place at least"
Peter snorted at that "Not enchanted by the majiestry that is New Genesis?"
"The majisety lost it's luster and appeal decades ago" Bekka scoffed as she folded her arms under her generous bust "Do not let the beauty here fool you Peter, it is everybit as dark and sinister as your home is"
"Gotta give us credit for being upfront about it" Peter snickered.
Bekka grinned at this before her smile fell "So how is Diana of Themyscria?"
"Fine" Peter said with a indifferent tone before he scolwed "Still not preforming her wifly duites if that matters"
"Oh your poor creature" Bekka giggled at Peter's scowl "To have such sensual beauty displayed before you and unable to partake in it's pleasures"
Peter grunted at that as he typed in a few more commands on a monitor with information regarding the suit he wore to the Agooma before closing it and returning his attention to Bekka "It's not funny!"
"I concur" Bekka teased before she catsed a quick glance towards her quaters doorway before she smiled coyly at Peter as she began to reach up to the clasp of her pink dress.
"What are you doing?" Peter said with wide eyes as he watched Bekka unclasp her dress and allowed it to fall to her waist, displaying her breasts.
"I'm merely making myself comfotable Peter, is that a problem?" Bekka asked with a grin as she ran a hand across the top of her breasts "It can get so hot here, sometimes I feel the need to... unburden myself"
Peter grinned darkly at this "I bet your beloved husband just loves that"
"I normally wait for him to leave before I do such things" Bekka said with a giggle.
Before Peter could respond, mainly to tell Bekka to do more than simply display her assest to him, Vision suddenly entered the labatory.
"Sir?"
Peter sighed at this as he turned towards his assistant while Bekka quickly covered herself, thinking it was someone else that had entered the room at the time "Yes Vision?"
The red skinned android approached Peter with a small datacube in his hand and offered it to the New God "I've gathered all the relevant inormation from the archives on anything that resembls the stone you've discovered, including several records from the paralell universes that Apokolips has encountered in the past"
Peter nodded at this as he took the cube and tossed it on a nearby work bench "Thank you Vision, your excused-"
"Is he one of yours Peter?" Bekka said as she examined Vision's form.
Vision turned towards Bekka and gave her a small bow "Good evening Princess Bekka"
Bekka quikred a brow at this before she turned towards Peter "You've told him about me?"
Peter was about to respond before Vision beat him to it with a shake of his head "Not at all ma'am, I've taken the liberty of studying all currently living siblings of master Peter's spouses and or lovers in the event he has need of such information"
"Oh..." Bekka said with a frown.
"Thank you Vision" Peter said with a sigh "You can leave now"
Vision looked puzzled by this "But sir, I wish to inform you of-"
"You can inform me later, now beat it" Peter growled in annoyance, causing Vision to nod and slowly back away.
"You shouldn't be so hard on him Peter" Bekka said with a frown "He was just doing what you programmed him to do"
Peter grunted at this "Well I won't have to deal with him much longer once I finish up constructing his successor's AI matrix, this time I'll add in 'common sense' or the ability to take a hint"
Bekka chuckled at this "Perhaps your creations aren't the only ones that require such an addition to them"
"What's that supposed to mean" Peter said with a grin.
"Your smart, I'm sure you'll figure it out soon enough my love" Bekka said with a coy grin before it fell and was replaced with a frown as she turned to something off screen.
"What is it?" Peter questioned.
"Orion is back..." Bekka said with a sigh "And I'm assuming he'll wish to hear of Diana's state as of now"
"Something tells me he'll want something else from you first" Peter growled in anger.
At this, Bekka smiled grimly "Of course... he always does"
"Times like this I wish we just left when we had the chance... to Hell with Apokolips and New Genesis" Peter said with a sigh.
"As do I..." Bekka said with a saddened expression before she placed her hand on the screen "I'll try to get back in touch with you soon..."
Peter nodded at this as she switched the monitor on her end off just as Orion entered the room, leaving Peter standing there in silence before he slammed his fist on to the table, cracking the metal as his body shook with silent anger. Vision watched as creator for several seconds before speaking.
"Sir-"
"WHAT?" Peter snapped as he turned towards the android, arcs of his Venom blasts dancing across his body "What's so fucking important?!"
Before Vision could answer, Diana suddenly entered the lab with a troubled look on her face. Peter blinked in surprise at her before he scowled "What do you want?"
Diana frowned at this "Did vision not tell you I needed to speak with you?"
Peter stared at the Amazon for a moment before he took a deep breath and let it out in a long frustrated sigh "I was busy with something"
"Oh..." Diana said as she noticed the yellow stone hovering in some sort of anti-gravity field before Peter pushed a few buttons on a nearby console and suddenly it was encased in some sort of opaque energy field "Should I come back?"
"No, I'm done" Peter said as he turned his attention back to Diana "What is it?"
Diana's eyes narrowed as she took note of Peter's behavior. He was angry, aggravated, she'd have to proceed carefully "I wish for your help"
"With?" Peter asked with a quirked brow under his mask.
Diana stared at Peter for a second before she began to explain what happened this morning in Darkseid's throne room. From the slave coming to the dread lord to plead his case, to Darkseid's response and the possible outcomes from his decision. Peter listened silently, nodding every once in a while until Diana ended her story with her request that was said with a look that was almost pleading.
"Will you help me?" she asked.
Peter stated at Diana for a second before he answered "No"
"What?" Diana said with wide eyes "Why?"
"Because I'm busy" Peter said as he turned away from the Amazon "Plus, the man should have realized that Granny goodness was helping him and his people anyhow. If any of the children survived her orphanage and became a Fury, their status would have been raised... a little. Which hey, is a lot to them"
"But Peter, they wanted their children back-" Diana began before she was cut off by Peter.
"Who will now slowly starve to death because there wasn't enough food to go around in the first place" Peter said with an eye roll "Not my problem"
"How can you be so cruel!" she snapped with narrowed eyes.
"How am I cruel for not wanting to get involved?" Peter asked with a scowl "Whatever happens to them won't affect me in any shape or form"
Diana gritted her teeth at the man before she willed herself to calm down, an argument wouldn't get her anywhere and it might cause Peter to completely refuse his aid. After a few deep breaths she spoke "But by helping them, you'd earn their gratitude, perhaps even their loyalty"
Peter paused at this before he turned towards Diana with a be,used expression under his mask "You really think they'll offer their fidelity if I give them a little extra food? Seriously?"
Diana remained silent as Peter continued as he paced around his lab all the while Vision watched the two of them with a blank yet oddly curious expression on his face.
"What do I have to gain from a bunch of lowly smiths?" Peter said with a scoff "If anything, I'd just get a couple of extra slaves that then I'd have to take care of because if I don't, they'll seek out one of my siblings and then I'll look like I can't manage my affairs!"
"You'd gain my gratitude" Diana said in a low voice.
Peter paused at this before he slowly turned towards Diana with his mask's lenses narrowing "What else would I get?"
Diana made a face at this "It won't be that"
Peter growled at this before he sighed and leaned against one of his work tables and studied the Amazon beauty before him with a calculating expression under his mask "Your really serious about this... aren't you?"
"Yes" Diana said with a nod "I understand that my actions won't mean much to them in the long run... but if I can give them some sort of peace, some form of happiness... that'll be enough for me"
"I figured... still going to try and be a hero" Peter said as he sighed "Fine, I'll help"
And with that, he began to make his way towards the entrance to his lab "Come on, we gotta go now before he falls asleep or I listen to my common sense and say to hell with this whole thing"
"Who are we going to?" Diana said with confusion as she followed after the man.
"My brother Fidilen, he handles the distribution of food to the slaves on Apokolips and the various other worlds we've conquered. If you want to give these slaves your so anal about more food, we gotta go to him to make it official or you'll risk them getting punished even more severely for 'contraband'" Peter said before a thought occurred to him and he glanced at Diana "He's also Zunn's younger brother, just as a heads up"
Diana's eyes narrowed at this "Does he share more in common with Zunn aside from blood"
"Sort of" Peter said with a shrug as they exited his lab and proceeded to the nearby lift to take them to the lower levels of the palace "But where Zunn revels in slaughter, Fidilen revels in... well, you'll see"
"I can't wait" Diana said dryly.
Peter chuckled at this as the rest of the trip was made in silence. Diana for the most part was hoping that Peter would be able to convince his half brother to help while Peter was to busy going over the final specifications of Vision's soon to be successor... Ultron.
'I'm sure I can still find a use for Vision' Peter thought before he glanced at Diana 'Maybe I'll give him to her... after a data purge or two'
After almost half an hour of walking down long dark corridors, spiraling stair cases and several more gravity lifts, the dup finally arrived at Fidilen's place of residence... and Diana almost gaged at the stench emanating from the large double doors before her and Peter.
"What... what is that?" Diana said with a look of disgust on her face, she's never smelled something this horrible since that time she was swallowed by a Hydra and she had to cut her way out of it's stomach.
"That's my brother..." Peter said, happy his suit's filters were keeping the smell out.
With little effort, Peter pushed the doors open, why Filiden didn't get automatic ones Peter will never know, and stepped inside. Diana followed, doing her best to ignore the putrid smell in the air before she caught sight of what she assumed was Peter's brother in the middle of the room, surrounded by several large monitors.
"By Gaia..." Diana said with a look of disgust as she took in Peter's sibling.
He was large, large as Darkseid even, but where's the ruler of Apokolips was pure power, muscle and every bit as solid and as imposing as a mountain, Filiden was the exact opposite, being a mass glob of fat and pale white flesh. Diana felt bile rise in her throat as she saw that with every movement, some sort of liquid leaked out from the fat folds on Filiden's arms, legs and torso and dripped down to the large floating throne under him.
It also didn't help that he wasn't wearing any clothes, thankfully his fat covered any areas that would be considered indecent to be shown in public.
"Peter...?" Filiden said in a wheezy tone as his large glowing yellow eyes focused on Peter and Diana's approaching forms "Is that you big brother?"
"Hello Filiden" Peter nodded towards his obese brother "Decided to stop wearing clothes again I see?"
"They constrict me Peter" Filiden whined "They're also too small!"
"Well maybe if you skipped a few dozen meals..." Peter muttered before he cleared his throat and gestured towards Diana "My wife wishes to speak with you"
"Really?" Filiden said with wide eyes before he moved his head towards Diana and studied her. After a few seconds he frowned "Heeeey, she's not-"
"I've noticed" Peter interrupted the large being with a scowl.
Filiden hummed at this as he studied Diana's form before he licked his chapped lips "She looks yummy..."
"Thank you...?" Diana said, unsure how to take the comment.
He could have been crudely complimenting her beauty, though something tells her his mind was somewhere else. Filiden grinned, allowing Diana to see that he only had a few yellow and black stained teeth in his scarred gums that seemed to be leaking either blood, puss or both. Diana had to advert her eyes to a point just above Filiden's head as she spoke, doing her best to keep her voice even.
"Filiden, I was told that if I wanted to increase the amount of food rations to a particular group of... workers, I'd have to speak with you"
Filiden nodded, more of the liquid seeping out from his neck folds and on to his chest "Yes... you would"
Diana nodded at this "Would you be willing to do so?"
"I... suppose" Filiden hummed as he raised a meaty arm and tapped his chin in thought "But the question I have to ask is, what do I get out of it?"
Diana almost said that he'd be gifted with the knowledge of doing the right thing before she reminded herself who, what and where he was. An act of kindness like this would likely be lost on him or worse, he might deny her request simply because he doesn't want to do such a thing. Diana struggled to think of an adequate answer before Peter beat her to it.
"I can... I can send one of my Furies to feed you, if you wish" Peter said before his lenses narrowed "I by that, I mean you have them feed you something that's not them!"
"It was only the one time, and she was soooooo tasty" Filiden cried with wide eyes "How could I resist?"
Peter scowled at his brother "Filiden!"
"Fiiiine" the large obese being sighed as he brought up a screen "What group is it?"
Peter glanced at Diana and nodded towards her and watched as Diana began to describe the group she wished for Filiden to help. The food ration master nodded as he typed in a few commands before he moved to another screen and typed a few more before he frowned. Diana noticed this and her concern grew.
"Is there a problem?" she asked, hoping that there wasn't.
"I'm trying to figure out which camp I'm going to cut short this quarter to meet your ridiculous demands" Filiden said off handily.
"What?" Diana said with wide eyes, casuing Peter and Filiden to look at her as if she grew a second head.
"What?" Filiden said with a snort that caused the liquid his body secreted to squirt out around his neck and arms "You thought that I could just give these slaves your so worried about more food without having to pull it from somewhere else?"
"You do know that Apokolips has a shortage on food for it's slaves right?" Peter said with a hidden grin "Why else do you think we ration it like we do?"
Diana turned her gaze towards Peter and darkened "I don't know, perhaps because you and your family revels in the suffering of others?"
"Well she's not wrong" Filiden giggled before he made a loud belch that caused Diana to gag at the smell and for Peter to shiver as he could see the fumes expel from his brother's mouth.
"By the Source Filiden, how is it your related to me?" Peter said with a shake of his head while Diana covered her nose and mouth with her hand to try and dampen the smell.
Filiden giggled at this, casuing his body to shake and more even more liquid to begin pouring off his body and start to form a small puddle under his mobile throne. After a few seconds, Filiden quieted down as he glanced back at the screens with bemusement "Now, who should I cut? Hmm, perhaps the Buuden's food supply? They can go months before being fed again. Or maybe the Shantytown dwelling dregs that are currently living by the statue of Grandfather by the burning lakes? So many choices..."
"Can't you pull the food from somewhere else? Maybe the private stores of your family?" Diana said, ignoring Peter's nonverbal warnings to stop.
Filiden paused in his typing and slowly turned towards Diana with narrowed eyes "What?"
"Can't you pull food from your stores?" Diana said with a frown, I'm sure as a son of Darkseid, you have an more than adequate supply to not only sustain yourself, but a few hundred half starved individuals"
"Diana, you should stop now" Peter whispered towards his wife.
"What do you mean?" Diana said with confusion before she and Peter both heard a very loud 'crack' and looked to see that Filiden had slammed his hands into his throne's arm rest, cracking the metal.
"Are you saying that I'm too fat?!" Filiden hissed, his yellow eyes suddenly a dark red and his pale skin slowly reddening.
Peter immediately spoke up as he got between Diana nd Filiden "No, no, no, no, she meant that-"
"You come asking me to take the time and resources to divert food from other, more profitable camps and installations, to a bunch of wrothless dogs that wouldn't even know what to do with it and have it go bad and spoiled, and you have the nerve to insinuate that I'm fat?!" Filiden roared, his body rippiling with rage.
Diana's eyes widened at this as she took a step forward "No, I did not mean to-"
"GET OUT!" Filiden roared in rage as he pointed a meaty finger to his door "Brother take your whore and leave me be!"
Diana's eyes widened at the insult before they narrowed in rage, causing Peter to sigh as he quickly grabbed her and began to pull her towards the door before she could say anything that could piss Filiden off even more.
"Let me go Peter!" Diana growled as she glared at Peter with rage filled eyes.
"No, if you piss him off anymore, he won't do what you wanted and you and I would have just suffered being in his disgusting presence for nothing" Peter hissed back.
Diana frowned at this as she and Peter left the room, Filiden's yells and curses now muffled by the closed doors "But he-"
"He'll still do it, it's just this time he's going to make sure whoever he pulls the food from will suffer for it" Peter said as he released his wife "Just to spite you"
Diana felt her temper flare at this as she turned back towards Filiden's room "I won't let him punish others because I offended him"
"You go back in there, you'll make it worse, guaranteed" Peter said.
Diana stopped at Filiden's doors, her hand on the metal as she made to push it open "So your saying I should do nothing?"
At this, Peter smirked "Isn't that all you and your 'League' did back on Earth? Nothing?"
"We saved our world!" Diana said as she turned back towards Peter with a glare "From monsters, gods, demons, alien invasions, and would be tyrants and the universe at large on a number of occasions, sometimes from your own twisted father!"
"And what did you do the rest of the time?" Peter asked with narrowed lens "Did you cure every disease that torments your home? Solve famine and poverty? End war?"
"Well, no but-"
"Like I said, nothing" Peter said with a snort as he turned to leave "funny, you and your Justice League will fight to stop a rampaging inter galactic murderer but you wont lift a finger to stop thee wholesale slaughter of people caught in the middle of two warring nations because, let me guess, you don't get involved in worldly affairs?"
Diana didn't respond as she returned to staring back at the door, her fingers slowly digging into the metal frame as Peter left her there, standing before Filiden's room.
"Funny, you and your teammates fight so hard to stop my father from bringing order to your world... but you wont even lift a finger to stop it's people from dying of hunger or disease because, apparently, such things are beneath you..." Peter said with a laugh "Talk about irresponsible-"
Peter was cut off by Diana grabbing him and pinning him to the wall, her hand on his throat and a snarl on her face "Shut. Up"
Peter briefly struggled in her grip before he looked at her with narrowed eyes "...Or what?"
Diana gritted her teeth in rage as she briefly tightened her grip on Peter before she released him and let him slump to the floor, clutching his throat before he glared back up at her "Oh what, don't tell me you've never been called out on your League's hypocrisy?"
Diana glared down at Peter before she turned on her heel and walked away, leaving him sitting there, watching her as she turned a corner. After several seconds, Peter sighed as he stood up "You can come out now..."
Suddenly the air beside Peter shimmered and rippled before Betsy appeared with a dark look on her face as she glared at the direction Diana went "I should remove her head from her body for touching you so..."
"I'd rather you didn't" Peter said as he rubbed his throat and frowned as he felt the armor of his suit was partially dented 'Really need to improve this thing... Maybe add some Nth metal to it'
Betsy glanced at Peter for a moment before her eyes drifted to Filiden's room "Do you think he'll do it? Give those worthless slaves your wife is so concerned about more food?"
"Oh he will, question is who is he going to screw over to do it..." Peter said as he followed his Fury's gaze "And what Filiden will say to them in regards to them getting short changed while a bunch of worthless dregs get their food"
"She will likely be watching over them, to make sure they are safe and to dissuade anyone from harming them" Betsy said with a look of disgust.
At this, Peter smirked as he began to make his way back to the lab "Probably..."
"Is what you said about her Justice League true?" Betsy said as she followed Peter.
"I'm just going off reports our spies send in" Peter said with a shrug "But based on her reaction, I'm starting to think that's not even half of it"
"Odd..." Betsy said with a frown "The more I hear of this Justice League, the more I wonder if they really are 'heroes', to allow the world they claim to protect to regularly harm itself in such manners and do nothing to change it"
"I guess they are of the 'lead by example, not actually lead' variety" Peter snorted in grim amusement "But it's kind of smart when you think about it"
"what do you mean?" Betsy questioned with a frown.
"Well, if they fixed all the war, poverty, disease, famine and the like on their world, they'd cease to have meaning and purpose. The 'villains' they so love to fight would cease to appear or continue their ways and they'd find themselves without a purpose" Peter said with a thoughtful look on his face.
"So they allow the things that create their enemies to continue, so they can continue to exist and have a purpose?" Betsy said with confusion.
"Probably" Peter said with a shrug "I have yet to see anything say differently"
Betsy was silent at this before she grinned "I think I'm beginning to see why your father has such an interest in this world"
Peter grinned at this "So am I my dear... so am I"
...
And done.
Next chapter, Diana discovers Darkseid's greatest weapon...
