To all my reviewers – I love you all! You alone make me want to keep writing this story and I appreciate it! )
Summary for "A Better World" in Chapter 4. This chapter takes a little to get into (Longest chapter so far!) – I started rambling on as Wonder Woman in my head and it came out on the page! But I do get to the action, just bear with me!
Chapter 7, Right Kind of Wrong, by LeAnn Rimes
Diana's perspective…
Stumbling out the other side of the portal, we found ourselves surrounded by darkness, the night sky lit only by a scattering of stars over the city of Metropolis. Silence reigned in the stillness of the night, but it still felt odd, as if something was wrong with the very fabric of the city, and the world itself. I took a moment and simply breathed deeply, allowing myself to focus and to channel my anxiety over my new homeland into strength, into anything that would get me through the battle that I knew was soon to come.
We were up against ourselves, an almost impossible task. But luckily, we knew it from the start. We knew exactly what slim odds we held and we simply had to find a remedy for them, a solution that would allow us to reinstate our positions in on Earth and depose the Justice Lords from our reality. This was not going to be an exactly task and I took another cleansing breath, praying to the gods for wisdom and strength as I prepared for the encounter looming up ahead.
This fight was somewhat different – this fight was for democracy itself, and although I was a newcomer to democracy, I was not a newcomer to choice. Themyscira had been bound to remain isolated because of our choices as Amazons and I myself had chosen to leave Themyscira in order to help the rest of Earth, to eventually join the Justice League and to save the planet from the alien invaders. In making this choice, I had truly found a new piece of myself – I had found friends, enjoyed the company of men, used my talents to fight evil, and most recently, I had stumbled upon love in the oddest and most sensible of places – with a teammate who ruled in the darkness and the shadows. I looked up to the night sky and smiled – the paleness of the moon cast shadows along the pavement and the stars provided only faint light in companion – Batman did his best work at night.
And perhaps I could be a light for him, a star, a beacon of hope to help cast out some of the shadows and the night that had almost overtaken his life. I knew that Bruce had faced tragedy with his parents, but I was unaware of the entire story and I wanted it firsthand. I wanted Bruce to be able, to be strong enough to tell me himself. I also knew that today had cost him something, that taking on the other Batman had cost him a piece of himself and I was determined, after we defeated the Justice Lords, to resurrect that piece, or to reconstruct it if need be. He wasn't alone in this world anymore and I was intent on proving that fact to him in whatever manner seemed most appropriate and most easily accepted. I had never been one to back down from a challenge and Bruce certainly seemed that.
Only yesterday we had been simply enjoying the pleasure of each other's company and today, our lives, our entire world was at risk due to alternate version of ourselves. And the question was certainly brought to my mind about why, what had turned us into them, what had been the final straw that had set them off on this course of destruction and despotism. It was certainly something to consider. I had found myself frustrated at how criminals circumvented the justice system and thwarted us at every opportunity possible, just yesterday with Luthor in fact. But I was unsure of what I would have to face, what I would have to feel, in order for me to take someone's soul away from them, to take their life without actually taking a life – just as the Justice Lords had been doing in their own world. The lobotomized victims were scarcely recognizable – and scarcely human for that matter, little more than skeletons and skin, unable to truly think for themselves. To try and reform a criminal and place him back on the moral and proper path was one thing, but to force someone to lose their ability to think, to take away their freedom of choice, the one thing that truly made them human, was a step that I was not sure I could ever take. And the realization made me…well, proud, and a little more confident in myself.
And I knew that I would have to help Bruce to get his confidence, and his arrogance, back firmly in hand. For a moment, outside Arkham, I had believed that Bruce had overpowered his counterpart and donned his costume. But I had quickly realized that this Batman was not the Batman who caused my heart to pound and my blood to race. I hadn't even had time to worry before I understood that this Batman was here to help us, to rescue us and return us to our right world. All tension had left my shoulders and I had simply wondered what price Bruce had paid in order to exact our rescue, what tactic he had used to turn this Batman against his team. It took a great deal of reasoning and logic in order to alter the course once Batman had decided on it, whether as a team strategy or in his head, his stubborn, stubborn head. As Flash would say, if you looked up stubborn in the dictionary, there would be a certain cowled figure pictured next to the definition.
Coming out of my thoughts, I realized that unknowingly, I had started walking and that Bruce was speaking –
"They're as strong as we are and just as smart, but they're willing to kill." I continued forward, recognizing that Bruce was simply talking out loud, explaining some concept to the rest of us merely smart, not intelligent heroes, and that he already had a plan formulated in his mind. To stop would mean that I questioned his ability to provide us with a solution that we could live with and that was patently untrue. I knew that come what may, Bruce would find a way for us to defeat the Justice Lords. If he could change the strong-willed mind of his counterpart, he could certainly answer for us how we were not only going to win this fight, but survive it as well.
"What are you saying?" Superman stopped, turning to face Bruce as he began to question him, obviously not realizing that the formidable Batman would already have a strategy in mind and firmly in hand. "That we have to be willing to kill too? I won't cross that line."
"How else can we stop them?" came the deep voice of the Batman, clearly leading Superman towards some reasoning that he, the smart one, had already come up with. The rest of us would ultimately be easier to convince and I had a feeling that Superman would be the least likely to adapt easily to Bruce's plan.
"You're the smart one," Superman stated with a smirk in Batman's direction, "You figure it out."
"We can't do it," Batman said, stopping to stare at Superman out the corners of his eyes. "Not unless we're willing to cross some kind of line." And the red-caped superhero stopped, eyebrows scrunched in thought, ready to hear that plan that Bruce had organized in his head.
The plan involved numerous points of intelligence and tactics coming together in order to save our world and to stop the Justice Lords. The easiest part was an understanding of their arrogance – their strategies and their brutality – and we set up the plan according, first drawing the attention of the Lords with an escaped criminal – one that they would feel forced to impede the escape of and from what we had learned from our time on their Earth, the first criminal mastermind they had felt necessary to stop, to kill, and one that Superman would take quite personally – Lex Luthor.
From inside the walls of the prison, just outside Luthor's cell, we waited. Hearing the crashing of bricks and mortar, we knew that the time to set our plan in motion had begun – here we would cross a line, but we would stand and fight another day to save democracy and to save lives.
As J'onn, returning to his normal Justice League form, so easily shedding the outer skin of Luthor, phased through the walls of the cells, we returned the favor that the Justice Lords had given us and electrified the room, sending volts of power shooting around the room and weakening them. The muffled screams and moans were clearly audible where we were positioned, but we stood firm and continued the torture until history again repeated itself – the metal clang of mace on the door of the prison cell echoed through the prison, blasting the door off its hinges and halfway across the corridor.
An enraged Hawkgirl stood, staring at us with pure menace in her eyes and obviously intent on revenge for her capture and subsequent voltage torment. John Stewart, our Green Lantern, stood just outside the cell door, but on the floor below, and he seemed utterly unable to move, obviously remembering what the Justice Lords Green Lantern had done to our Hawkgirl, hurting her so badly that she was still unconscious.
"Do it!" Batman yelled, but the moment had already passed and Hawkgirl took off into the air, hurling her electrified mace at Batman and the voltage machine, imploding it with a fiery blast. Stepping back, I watched as Batman shielded himself from the shrapnel with his cape while Green Lantern became intent on stopping the Justice Lords' Hawkgirl's flight. He sent out short bursts of green at her, finally catching her in the lower leg and, with a resounding crash and a cry of pain, she careened into the far wall, slumping to the floor. Our J'onn stopped where she lay, hoping to stop her before she could do more damage and allow her teammates to escape.
From the doorway of the prison cell emerged the other J'onn, who quickly morphed into a four armed reptilian creature, increasing in girth and size as he made his way through the air to his green skinned counterpart. And suddenly, there were two monsters filling the skin with limbs and tails, fists flailing, the figures almost identical but for two missing limbs on our J'onn. They smashed through the ceiling, sending rubble and debris crashing down to the floor below, forcing Batman to run, rolling free of the falling wreckage.
Green Lantern had made his way outside the door of the cell, standing silently with his back pressed to the doorjamb of the cell, his ring prepared to stop anyone intent on escaping. He took one swift step, planting himself in front of the open door and was immediately thrown backwards by an enormous blast of green light, pinning him to the far wall and through the dust from the ceiling debris materialized the Justice Lords Green Lantern, green light shaped into the form of a deadly axe aimed directly for John's throat. Teeth clenched, John held the light between the flat of his palms, millimeters from his collar and the end of his life. Straining, he twisted the axe in his hands and let loose with his fists, punching his counterpart square in the face.
I, however, had other things on my mind while this battle ensued – namely the Justice Lords Wonder Woman, this creature who had spurned the mantle of Athena and instead taken on a costume with no meaning, no Amazonian pride behind it. I looped my lasso, pulling it tight around the other woman's waist, surprising her into the trap and hauling her in. She was determined to change the victor of this skirmish though, and, although pinned at the elbows, managed to get her hands around the rope and yank it, sending me straight into the heel of her foot, obviously where she thought I belonged. Falling backwards, I could see her following my path and when she yanked on my hair, I turned on her, fists flailing, each of us unleashing a fury of punches. As the fight continued, I prayed to the gods to help us and reward us with victory this day.
The last to emerge from the prison cell was the Justice Lords' Superman, immediately assaulted by a barrage of whatever debris was handy by the Flash. Moving so fast there was barely a red blur, Flash continued to throw until suddenly, he realized there was nothing left to use as a projectile. Moving quickly, he ducked Superman's initial assault and ducked each of his punches and I could hear him taunting Superman as he continued to elude the fists flying at him before whipping Superman into him and creating a whirlwind of scarlet, throwing the Justice Lord through the ceiling with the force and out of my line of sight and Flash in hot pursuit.
Again, I felt a fist ram my face and I went down hard, falling into the floor and I lay there in agony, struggling to move, even to breath. I could see Bruce running towards me, intent on stopping this Wonder Woman, but she gave no mercy, no quarter, plucking him up off his feet by his neck and staring him in the face, ready to mercilessly pummel him with no further provocation. Instead, as if he were weightless, she tossed him to the ground, knocking him off his feet and onto his back. Before he could regroup and rise, she grabbed a large chunk of the debris and hauled it over her head, her objective obviously to destroy the cowled man in front of her and I knew that I could fight to stop that with my last breath. She could be beaten and I was the woman for the job. Gathering my remaining strength, I yanked my tiara off of my head and sent it soaring across the room, straight for my counterpart's head. She turned in surprise and the metallic thunk echoed across the room and I burst with satisfaction. I had just found the man, for Hera's sake! I wanted him in one piece and of course, my double would realize the significance behind the demise of the Batman, at least, the significance to me in particular. Before I could move, she was up again and this time, heading straight for me, and again, the punches flew, each of us absorbed in the battle between us for dominance.
Around me, the other Justice Leaguers were doing the same – although I could only see J'onn and Green Lantern from my position as Batman had left the room and I soared through the ceiling myself, knowing that I needed to get the other Wonder Woman in an open area. Continuing our combat, a new arrival appeared on the rooftop, just above the room where the Flash and Superman were currently locked in a struggle, with Flash being pinned by Superman and a worried expression on the scarlet speedster's face.
And a shaft of pulsing light hit the air, aimed directly for the Justice Lords' Superman, the first of them to turn rogue and the first that it would be necessary to conquer. The new arrival was our Superman, accompanied by none other than Lex Luthor, his archenemy. In Lex's hands was a device crafted into the shape of a large ray gun, the source of the pulsing light enveloping the alternate reality's Superman. The man in the white cape stumbled in the blast, ultimately falling to the ground, unable to stand or fly, stopped in his tracks and lying weakened on the floor. Luthor then turned the weapon on the other members of the Justice Lords – Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, J'onn J'onnz, and finally, the other Wonder Woman. Each, in turn, fell to the ground, completely ineffectual and rendered totally helpless. I sighed in relief, glad that we had indeed emerged victorious from this battle, even if it had meant crossing a line, albeit a line we had to cross in order to secure both democracy and freedom. Breathing heavily, I listened to the conversation between the two Supermen.
"It's a power disrupter. And yours are now gone," said the tall figure, red cape floating in the breeze. The villains strained on the ground, but they were still unable to exert their powers, too weak to even stand. From behind him surfaced Lex Luthor, still holding the power disrupter, but its barrel was now pointed at Superman, our Superman.
"This would be so sweet," he stated with excitement lighting his voice, "But a deal's a deal." He handed the weapon to Superman and turned, leaving the premises.
"He received a full pardon in exchange for his help," said our Superman.
"Everything he does from now on is your fault!" yelled his counterpart.
"It's a high price, but it's better than the alternative," he declared, and each of us took a prisoner firmly in hand, prepared to lead them back to the portal from whence they came.
That's all for this chapter, folks!
It's a little thing of mine that if I like someone enough to add them to my author or story alerts, I always make sure to let them know what I love about their story, or even just that I like what they're writing. And I would love it if you all would let me know what you're thinking! Even if you're just reading it because it makes you laugh it's so awful, I just want to know. Sorry for the rant, but thanks for reading it!
Next Chapter is either:
More than Words, a conversation with a certain telepath…
Tell Her About It, a visit with Shayera in the med-bay where things are revealed
Or
Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees) where a Princess and a Dark Knight have an enlightening conversation…
Any chapter in particular you'd like to see?
