Themyscira
Twenty-nine years ago
"Look at it, Artemis. What is she thinking?" Diana pondered, staring down at baby Paidagnos, who was swaddled and laid to rest in clothes and a crib that had once been Diana's own.
"The queen seems sure of herself," Diana's friend and fellow Amazon replied. "Perhaps she is right. Perhaps we can mold him into an ideal man."
"I was made from clay, Artemis," said Diana. "Handcrafted by Hippolyta to be the daughter she always dreamed of. You don't get more molded than that. Being ambassador to Man's World was meant to be my future. Now, this… this creature from the sky… she takes one look at him, and suddenly he is her new dream."
"Princess Diana, are you jealous of a man?" Artemis teased. "And an infant one at that."
"Mock if you want," Diana scolded, the look in her eyes changing dramatically, "but mark my words, sister. If my mother commits to this act of defiance, she loses favor with the goddesses. All of Themyscira may one day suffer for her poor judgement."
…
Present day
Kal and Diana stared at each other for a moment, unmoving. A face the Superior Man hadn't seen in person in four years, a face that should have made him happy, instead only made him sad as she looked back at him with seemingly nothing but contempt. Then, with a burning, unrecognizable rage, Kal's adoptive sister suddenly lunged at him, but a bolt of the Living Lightning from Rio knocked her back to the floor.
"Kal, come on! We need to get out of here!" Rio yelled at him.
Kal hesitated some more. He still hadn't fully processed it. He just kept staring at Diana, until he was finally pulled out of his thoughts by the feeling of a hand on his shoulder.
The Superior Man turned to see Project: Platinum looking at him with what appeared to be genuine worry. "Kal, we have to go."
"Forgive me," said Kal, obviously taken aback by this, but too dejected and broken to question it. "You're right."
The team headed up the many stairs and out of the building together, and once they were back in the open air, Mercy tapped on her watch and attempted to contact the jet.
"Victor, Magnus, do you read me?"
"I read you, Mercy," Victor responded. "Update?"
"We have Kal. And we're all together," Mercy briefed Victor. "We're heading back to you."
"What… what happened here?" Kal asked, seeing the carnage outside the dungeon for the first time. "My sisters! Is anyone left?"
"I'm afraid not," said Mercy. "Conquest… she's the last one. And this is clearly her doing."
Kal's face suddenly changed. His jaw set and his shock turned to realization. "I apologize again, team, but… we can't leave yet."
With purpose, the Superior Man floated away toward what seemed like an important destination.
"Son of a bitch. We just got him back!" Slade whined.
"Well, you're in charge," said Barry. "Do we follow him?"
"Go," Slade nodded. "I'll get Mercy and the robot back to the plane."
Barry and Rio nodded, and both took off in Kal's direction.
"Alright, robot…" Slade started.
"Platinum," the android said, startling both remaining humans.
"Yes… of course… sorry. Platinum," Slade corrected himself, "can you… help me walk?"
Nodding, Platinum moved to support the old man, and the three began making their way back to the beach.
Rio and Barry, however, were headed in the opposite direction. They followed Kal up to the highest building on the island, and joined him as he walked inside and began to look around.
Slowly, the superpowered trio walked through what was obviously a very extravagant home. As the two humans admired the décor, they began to realize where they were. Kal moved through each space knowingly, and with direction. This had clearly been his home. Barry and Rio looked at each other, confirming they had both had the same realization, and they kept quiet as they continued following Kal through the many rooms.
Finally, Kal stopped in front of a bed. A single Amazon body lay there, in what seemed like a peaceful, sleeping position. Her clothes matched the finer quality of the rest of the home.
"Who is she?" Barry got up the courage to ask.
"Queen Hippolyta," Kal said, tears beginning to form in his eyes. "My mother."
"Kal…" Rio whispered, stepping forward and taking the somber hero by the hand, "I'm so sorry."
Kal's posture finally dropped as he began to cry. Taking a knee, he moved his free hand to the queen's cold, lifeless one.
"I'm sorry I wasn't here, mother," he sobbed.
Rio continued to watch as Kal stood up and walked across the room, to a balcony that overlooked nearly all of the island. The sun was going down by now, and the jet on the beach in the distance was illuminated a striking red.
From this vantage point, they could also see that Conquest's rampage hadn't just been one of death. It also brought destruction. So many buildings that Kal had spent time in growing up, now either damaged, collapsed, or just gone.
"How could she do this?" Kal wondered aloud. "How did she become so heartless?"
"Are we… talking about Conquest?" asked Barry.
"Diana," said Kal. "Her name is Diana."
Kal began to breath heavily. In a sudden burst of anger, he let out a cry, and a barrage of heat vision came full force from his eyes, shooting off toward the stars and dissipating into the atmosphere. Then, as quickly as his anger found him, it left him, and he collapsed onto his knees.
Feeling empathy for her friend, and also knowing they didn't need to stay here much longer, Rio stepped out onto the balcony with him, and shouted her magic word.
"Shazam!"
One flash of light later, and in Captain Lightning's place now stood regular, fourteen-year-old Rio. Sitting down cross legged next to her teammate, she began to speak.
"I know your story," she told him. "About how you never knew your family from space. And now you've lost a second family. And you're in a lot of pain. You're vulnerable right now, and I wish I knew how to help."
"Believe it or not, you are helping," said Kal. "I'm glad you're both here. I… I don't know what I would have done if I had been alone when I found my home like this."
"For what it's worth," said the Flash, removing his mask and joining his teammates on the balcony, "I lost my mother the same way. I was ten. And I was lost for a long time after that. I didn't have anyone to be there for me. But we're here for you, Kal."
"Thank you," Kal smiled, wiping away tears. "Both of you."
"Touching," the now unaltered voice of their foe rang through the room behind them. The trio quickly stood up and turned around to face her.
"Shazam!" Rio commanded the lightning as it transformed her once again.
Out of the shadows she came. Conquest. Diana of Themyscira. "Kal," she condescended. "All the time we dedicated to you, and you use a name given to you by a man you never even knew. Tell me, Paidagnos, when was the last time you introduced yourself by the name our mother gave you?"
"Our mother deserved better than this, Diana."
"Did she? Did any of them? All our talk of helping the world one day. All the promises Hippolyta made to me. And in the end, she chose you. A man."
"Choosing me was proof she had grown past her outdated hatred of my sex," said Superior Man. "I was to be a symbol of unity. Of good faith from our people."
"Athena be blessed, you certainly do sound like her. How naïve you were to fall for all of her pampering."
"Diana, what happened to you?" Kal appealed. "You were my mentor and my hero. My best friend! How could you fall so far, Princess?"
"You will not address me as Princess any longer, Superior Man. Hippolyta is dead. Long live Queen Diana!" With that, the vengeful Amazon lunged at Kal, pushing him over the edge of the balcony and holding onto him to weigh him down as he attempted to break his fall or fly away.
"Kal!" Rio cried, jumping after them.
"Oh crap, whatdoido, whatdoido…" Barry muttered, pulling his mask back over his face and looking at the plane down on the beach. "Got it."
Rio felt the wind of the Flash rushing past her and heading toward the beach as she caught up to the fighting siblings and attempted to separate them. Summoning all her strength, she managed to pry the two off of each other just before they impacted the ground.
Standing up and shaking it off, Kal made an observation. "Your armor…"
"Yes, there's Kryptonite in it," said Diana, getting to her feet. "And it's enchanted by Circe herself, so you'll find-"
"Lady," said Rio, knocking Diana back with another burst of Living Lightning. "Do you ever shut up?"
Meanwhile, in a matter of seconds, the Flash arrived at the jet just as the others were getting there.
"Hey guys. Quick recap, the crazy woman is back, Supes and Lightning are fighting her, and she's Kal's sister apparently. What a surprise, right? Anyway, we need to get this machine in motion, like now."
"Well we can't take off from here," said Mercy. "In case you didn't notice, she's facing directly at a giant rock."
"Well, we'll just have to turn her around."
"And how do you propose we do that with the two strongest members of our team otherwise occupied?" asked Slade.
"Everybody inside the plane!" Superior Man's voice boomed as he flew in over the hill with Rio right behind him. "We're leaving now!"
"The engines aren't even warmed up," said Will.
"You'll have to do it in the air," said Kal, rushing everyone up the loading ramp.
"In the air? How is that… ah, never mind. I get it," said Will, following the team and taking a seat inside. Once everyone was in, Kal got underneath and began to lift the plane into the air.
"This is so not proper procedure," Mercy muttered, rushing through her checks and activating the various switches. "I'm supposed to be a damn professional."
"You're doing great," said the Flash, taking the usually empty co-pilot's seat beside her. "Can I help?"
"You can," said Mercy. "Press exactly what I tell you, exactly when I tell you."
"Can do," said Barry, speed-reading through the flight manual then tossing it behind him.
"Fools!" came the voice of Diana.
"Man alive, she's persistent," said Slade, aiming his AR-15 at the intruder, who had managed to grab onto the ramp just as the plane left the ground. Every bullet he fired though, she deflected with a free hand, keeping a firm grasp on the plane with the other.
"Christ!" Will cowered as Platinum shielded him from the ricocheting bullets.
"Stand back, Slade," said Victor, activating his arm cannon and aiming at Diana. "And cover your ears.
But right as Victor fired, the jet began to pick up speed, and Victor's balance shifted. His shot went straight past Diana, and hit Kal, who had just flown onto the ramp. Kal began to stagger, but Rio and Platinum reached out and caught him.
Diana began to climb further into the jet as the ramp began to close.
"We're losing altitude. She's ridiculously heavy!" said Mercy, shifting left and right in an attempt to throw the villain off. "Get off of my plane, you bitch!"
And yet, Diana still managed to not only hold on, but also grab on to Rio and Platinum, who were the closest to her.
With Kal still shaken from Victor's sonic blast, and Victor and the others doing the best they could to brace themselves, Slade realized he had to be the one to do something. So, gathering his breath, he drew his pistol, leapt on to the rapidly closing ramp, and reached out for Platinum. Grabbing onto one of the many protrusions on Diana's armor, he shot at one of her joints, causing her to loosen her grip on the android, whom Slade promptly helped climb back into the plane.
But that was all Slade was able to do. The ramp was closed now, and he was in freefall. Rio, unable to break Diana's grip on her, only had one choice.
"Shazam!"
The lightning came down again, this time sending a jolt through Diana and knocking her out.
"Alright, get ready for a hard water landing!" Slade called out to his companion. Then as he looked over at Captain Lightning, he realized she had been replaced by a teenage girl, who was now passed out. "Oh, crap."
Just in time, Slade managed to direct himself over to Rio, wrap himself around her, and shield her from the impact of the water as they splashed down. He, too, then began to lose consciousness as the waves came over him. The last thing he saw before fading out was the Superior Man's symbol approaching them, like a heroic dream.
