This one is a bit late, I wanted it out by Sunday, and now it's Tuesday. The last little bit just wouldn't come together. Hopefully I'll be able to finish the next chapter by next week.
Diana sat with Zola and Hermes outside of a cafe on the River Thames. It was the day after her meeting with her brother and today she was discussing with her new compatriots about what their next course of action might be.
"No Hermes. Given the shape you're in, and Zola's condition-" Diana said. She was out of her superhero attire for the morning, instead choosing a long dark blue coat with a burgundy scarf wrapped around her neck and black boots.
"What?" Zola interrupted. "I'm not even showing yet!"
The young mother hadn't changed her clothes much to reflect the cloudier weather. She wore a white shirt, with a a blue-black flannel button up over it.
"-If I confront Hera, it leaves you two-" Diana continued, undeterred by the interruption.
"Three." Zola corrected.
"Unprotected. I can't allow that." Diana finished.
"That's one way of looking at it." Hermes grumbled. The god had to wear the most to cover up his unique appearance. Nothing could hide the blue tint to his skin, but a beanie cap, sunglasses and a large camo patterned poncho covered his ancient clothes and his clawed bird feet.
"You have another?" Diana asked smirking slightly. The waitress had come over and was handing out their orders.
"'Ere you go miss." She said politely, placing Zola's food in front of her before handing out the meals for Diana and Hermes.
"Hera knows you're Zeus' daughter. Keeping Zola close may actually make her more vulnerable." He told her, leaning forwards. "I suspect that the only reason she hasn't made a move yet is because doing so would bring your brother's ire upon her."
Diana narrowed her eyes at Hermes.
"You have something else to say Hermes." She growled. "Don't let propriety stop you, spit it out."
"All I mean to say." Hermes tried to placate the amazon. "Is that Nathaniel's protection covers Zola only by extension. Nathaniel himself has said he has no interest in Zola nor the child. While it soothes me to know the god-killer has no interest in her or I, I fear that the moment he tires of us or the danger we put you in, he might cast us out regardless of your feelings."
"My brother is many things." Diana glared at the messenger god. "But he is not heartless. Zola and her child are innocent, and Nathaniel, with or without my input, would not subject a child to unjust punishment and death. He knows better than most what that can do to a child."
"I don't mean to insult either of you amazon, I only mean to state that once Nathaniel's attention is drawn away from us, whatever protection his name and reputation might bestow may become moot."
"Should that happen Hermes." Diana said. "I promise you that my protection shall be sufficient."
"Do either of you want to include me in this?" Zola asked, looking up from her breakfast. "I mean, I am the one you guys are talking about."
"Apologies Zola." Diana nodded to the woman. "That was rude of us."
"Thanks." Zola smiled. "This whole thing feels way out there, but I guess, if we could stick together that would be cool. I mean, I don't know a lot about this whole god stuff, but can't we just talk to this Hera chick? Sort it out? Can't she just kick this Zeus guy in the dick and kick him out."
"One does not simply banish the king of gods to the couch Zola." Hermes said.
"I guess. Still though, seems like the guys gets away with being a real dick a lot of the time."
"You have no idea." Diana said, smirking.
Zola smiled back before she looked down at her food.
"Tomatoes for breakfast?" She stared at Diana.
"It's proper." She said, matter of factly.
"Not where I'm from." Zola deadpanned.
"Nor I." Hermes added, picking up his plate and picking at his food.
"Colour's a bit off, in'nit?" A voice piped up from the street. "Not sanguine enough for you messenger?"
The three turned to see a large, broad-chested British man with buzzcut hair and a bandage on the bridge of his nose. He was wearing a long brown overcoat with a white shirt underneath and yellow faded pants.
"I imagine yer used to wine, breakfast, lunch, an' supper. It explains yer kind's moods.
He gestured to the waitress with a smile.
"Bring us a pint luv."
The waitress smiled at the man and retreated into the cafe.
He approached the table, bringing with him a chair.
"Mind if I sit?" He asked, sliding the chair between Diana and Hermes.
"Who are you?" Diana asked.
"Me?" He asked, taking a seat. "A man with the advantage. See, I know who you are."
The waitress came out with his beer in hand, placing it in front of the man.
"Well, two a' you anyway." He said, turning to Diana.
"We were having a private conversation." She told him, raising an eyebrow.
"Private?" He scoffed slightly. "'Fraid that's been blown off the table."
The man pulled out a cigarette and lighter, preparing to take a smoke.
"The wind, noise to most, sure. 'Cause every word that's spoken, she carries. But words can be sussed out, if one cares to give a listen."
He lit the cigarette.
"Daughter of Zeus."
Diana's hand snapped out, grabbing the burning smoke out of the man's mouth and crushing it in her hand, effectively putting out the burning tobacco.
"She's pregnant." Was all Diana said as she placed the burnt out cig on the foam of the man's beer.
"Right. Gotta look out for the little ones, aye? It must be something to learn yea has a dad the same say yea learn he's scarpered off the..." He glanced at Hermes. "Call it the Immortal coil?"
The messenger god glared at the man, baring his teeth slightly.
"What do I call you?" He growled.
"Lennox works." Lennox said, picking up a sausage from Hermes' plate.
"Lennox. There are more than messages that I deliver."
"I don' think so. With you some jus' don' get the message, eh?"
"You're clever." Hermes said.
"Is nice to hear. Be that as it may, the wind tells me now that Zeus is gone, his brothers may be looking to carve up what he's left behind. An' the gods, they can be downright evil about things. Eh, messenger?"
Hermes turned to Diana.
"Diana, if what Lennox says is true-"
"I've dealt with evil before." She reassured the messenger god before turning to Lennox. "Am I dealing with it now?"
"Well you'll excuse me bein' cagey, but that's what I'm here to find out. Let me level. I've mixed it up with bad men in my time. But they was just men. Today, I'm settin' inta somethin' I've avoided for more than eighty years."
Diana's eyes widened.
"Eighty... but you don't look."
"Or you don't see the family resemblance..." He smirked.
"Little sister!?" Zola exclaimed as she walked through a light drizzle with Diana. "I can't believe you fell for that creep's line."
"Understood, Zola. But what if he is family?" She asked. Her mind kept wandering back to Nathaniel. Like Lennox he was her half-brother, but unlike Lennox, she and Nathaniel had been raised together. They had years, decades, centuries, millenium together, running rabid through the halls of the palace, dodging guards and their mother as they went.
"From what I've seen? You can do without your new family." She said
"Hmm. I have to live without most of my old family." She muttered, almost unheard.
"Oh, jeez... I'm-" Zola tried to apologise.
"-Part of my new family." Diana finished and turned back to Zola, a teasing smile on her face.
"I mean, you're my... aunt?" She asked, smirking.
"Not 'til the baby's born!" She exclaimed. "It's so weird. You being older than me, and I'm gonna give birth... to your..."
She stopped for a moment, looking both amused and bemused.
"I think it's a boy." She said.
The two women began to cross a bridge, Zola in a blue hoodie in order to protect her from the rain while Diana simply walked through it, uncaring for her wet clothing.
"My brother, then. And it's no weirder than what Lennox claims. I believe what he said may be true. That he learned who he was... what did he call it...? Baptism by blitzkreig?"
"Something like that." Zola agreed.
"And that to me is something. Coming to and understanding of who you are, in the midst of discovering who you aren't. And then going to war for them with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Good against evil. Winner take all. That's something I believe in. Or at least, I want to."
The two looked out over the River Thames.
"It's kinda cool." Diana said.
"Um, Wonder Woman, I think you're missing some of the other tings Lennox said."
"Like what?"
"Like that all the winner took was the day."
Lennox and Hermes stood at one of the entrances to London's sewers together.
"I'm not going in there." Hermes said. "I can't. Look at me, I can barely walk."
"'Ow'd that happen anyway? I mean, you being what you are an' all."
"You mean a god?"
"I didn' call ye that. Never would, but sure."
"We're immortal, not invulnerable."
"Hmm. Thought that was jus' fer us little people. So's you can be wounded?" He asked.
"Wounded? That's the point of family dinners on Olympus." Hermes smirked. "You should join us sometime. If you need clarification on the difference, you can ask him? He's died before."
"About that." Lennox asked. "How're we gonna stop this guy from killin' us on sight?"
"Nathaniel may have killed him, but the underworld cannot be without a ruler. Hades' essence simply reformed from the base of hell, changing it, and him. Hopefully he's more agreeable this time around."
"Well, 'ere's to hope then." Lennox dipped his head before starting towards the dark tunnel. "An' about that dinner. If the knives are sharp, that's an invite I'll take you up on if I make it out of this hole with me stomach intact. Be ready for what I deliver, messenger."
"Look, you're perfect." Zola leaned on the railings.
"Me? I'm not even close." Diana leaned back against the bridge's side. "There are things I've done in my life that, give then chance, I'd take back."
"Me too." Zola sighed. "What are your's about."
"My brother." Diana said. "And you?"
"Don't know? Everything?" Zola said. "My mom maybe."
"Then we're not so different."
"It's almost six. You worried?" Zola asked.
"Why? Because the "creep" said if I wasn't standing on this bridge at six bells I'd regret it?"
Big Ben's hands clicked into place, and the massive bells rang out across the city.
"Well, here I am, after spending the afternoon hanging around with you. So even if there's no season for me to be here? No regrets."
Diana smiled at Zola, but the younger woman wasn't looking at her friend.
"Uh... Wonder Woman? I think your reason showed up."
Out of the waters under the bridge, Hippocampi surged up, churning the waters and turning the river to foam.
"Dammit." Diana placed her tiara on her head, restraining her hair. "I was hoping Lennox was wrong."
She pulled off her coat, revealing her costume.
"Stay here Zola."
"Wha-no!" Zola exclaimed. "You said I had to stay close!"
"I did?" Diana asked. "Well... I'm not always right."
Diana jumped off of the edge of the bridge, landing and floating so that she was standing just on top of the water. The hippocampi surged all around her as the bells continued to ring.
The water rose in front of her, and the beginnings of a massive creature could be seen.
"My name is Diana. My mother is Hippolyta. I request and audience... Lord Poseidon."
The massive sea creature loomed over Diana, looking like a kraken with a crown made of starfish and sea coral.
"Hmmmm" Poseidon groaned. "You are an amazon? There's more to you..."
"Yes. There is your blood."
Poseidon inhaled deeply.
"Zeus, well his blood no longer hold... water. So you would do well to get out of my way. I have no quarrel with you."
Lennox wandered in the dark sewer tunnels, looking for something specific. Finally he reached it, an opening where water poured in an unending torrent.
"Mongrel." A voice rose out of the darkness and the water. "My brother Zeus was a monster who cared about nothing other than himself."
Three pairs of red eyes stared out from the wall of water, and a demonic canine growl bounced around the chamber.
"Ergo, I'm not interested in anything you have to say, and now that the heavens are without a lord. I mean to claim them as mine, to rectify the mistake it was ceding them to him."
A massive, three headed dog erupted out of the water, howling and barking at Lennox. The beast pounced on him, ripping and tearing at his clothes with their teeth as they pinned him down with their paws.
"And no one will stand in my way."
Out from the water, another figure emerged. Unlike his previous, towering form. This new incarnation of hades was diminutive, childlike. The only real similarity was the red and black armour he wore, but even that had been changed to suit the god of the dead's new form. The top of his head had no hair, but was instead a crown of burning candles, the wax of which covered his entire head until his nose, which it all but surrounded. Only his mouth and some of his jaw was left free from the melting wax.
"Down boy." He called out to Cerberus
"I understand your concerns, Poseidon." Diana addressed the god of the seas. "But I am afraid Hera claims the heavens as hers."
"What?!" Poseidon roared, lunging forward until he was right in front of the woman. "She dares."
Poseidon grabbed at Diana with his tentacle-like arms. Zola watched from the bridge with a large group of people, most of whom had probably come to witness the Wonder woman defeat the massive sea monster. However, Zola was not free from danger on the bridge. At either end of the crowd of people, the two centaurs that had attacked her back at her home stalked, trying to find the woman who bore Zeus' latest bastard child.
High above, Up upon Olympus, Hera watched as Diana wrestled with Poseidon, waving dismissively as the amazon cried.
"She does."
"So Hera seeks to claim what belonged to Zeus?"
"It's her right, much as yours!" Diana exclaimed.
"Oh is it? Is that what Hera believes?"
"What I believe is Hera won't stand for you-"
"THen I'll have her kneel, just as Zeus did." Poseidon cut off the Wonder Woman.
Zola watched from the bridge as Diana tried to wrestle her way out of Poseidon's grip. Turning suddenly at the sounds of panic that echoed around her, she turned to find that the crowd that kept her anonymous was gone, leaving her in the path other Hera's two centaur assassins.
"This world was divided among three brothers. The heavens, the seas, and the underworld. The scraps we left to others. I can understand how the scraps may be lacking because the seas certainly are, but..." Hades said
"The seas now hold power." Lennox argued.
"I can destroy the scraps, or the others can be happy with them. It's their choice to oppose me." Hades said with finality.
Diana finally freed herself from the hands of Poseidon.
"What if the queen sees things differently?" She asked.
"Without a king, the queen has nothing."
"Nothing? As in nothing to lose. I would think you might find a woman in that position..."
"Formidable." Lennox said to Hades, getting to his knees as Cerberus let him up.
"Yes. I find a woman in any position to be such." He said.
"Spoken like a man who understands them." Lennox joked.
"Really?" Hades rested his hand on Cerberus, standing in front of the man. "And here I was saying that they're nothing but a mystery."
"Takes a smart man to admit what 'e don' know. An admirable trait."
"You interest me, mister Lennox." Hades appeared further down the hallway, making Lennox whip around to find him.
"Jus' Lennox, Lord Hades." He said, running slightly to catch up. "Leave the mistah for me sistah."
"Well then, call me Hell. That's easier for you to grasp, no?"
"Hell, it is."
"So he'll back down, you're that sure." Hades asked.
"I am." Lennox assured.
"What do you want from me then?"
"What do I want? Jus' a light."
"I think... there's a bargain that can be struck." Diana called out to the sea god.
"Do you? A bargain with Hades? I'm in no such mood."
One of Poseidon's tentacles thrashed, striking Diana and sending her flying. As she flipped through the air, she saw the two centaurs closing in on Zola. She landed on a small wooden gate house, pulling on the flagpole and snapping it to create a crude spear. She charged towards the two monsters, searching under cars to find Zola who had hidden under a nearby truck.
In a flurry of quick movements she dispatched the male centaur while the female reached the truck Zola was hiding under. The young mother watched a massive hand grip the edges of the truck in fear before a splash of blood and gore replaced the offending appendage.
Looking shocked at the other side of the truck, blood splattered across the right side of her face, she watched as Diana lifted the vehicle over her head.
"Zola, didn't I tell you." Diana flung the car at the recovering male centaur, who dodged. Diana then grabbed Zola, and flung the two of them over the edge.
"To stay close."
"Screw you!" Zola yelled as they got to water level. "This is no position for a woman in my condition to be in."
"No, it isn't."
"So this ain't going according to Lennox's plan."
"Not on this end, yet. Let's hope Lennox is faring better."
"I find this fascinating." Hades said
"Wha'? This?
"This playing with gods. It never ends well for you, because it actually is only a game to us. Yet you insist... Is that Hermes?"
"It is. I'm runnin' with the messenger."
"Heh. HAHA!"
"I make a joke." Lennox asked, smirking.
"No, yes. I'm sorry. You said you're running with someone you can't possible keep up with."
As they exited the tunnel. The wind picked up as a hulking form moved in front of it.
"Well, was jus' a turn of phrase."
Hades' face stretched into a massive grin.
"Heh. Perhaps your words were."
"God a'mightly..." Lennox said as he and Hades exited the tunnel.
"Yes?" Hades and Hermes answered simultaniously.
"Yes." Poseidon answered only a moment later.
Standing atop the sea god, Diana jumped down with Zola in her arms.
"Good. We're all here.
"One too many, no? What's she-"
"Couldn't be helped. Can I trust you, when I'm gone?"
"While 'ere too."
Lennox looked up at Poseidon.
"'E's a bit larger than I imagined."
"You're still a puppy. You'll find, in time, that imagination is just what others use to get things they can't understand into their head..." The messenger god walked off. "Rarely, if ever, do they actually fit there."
"Now sea..." Hell began. "What do you think of heaven's bastard's proposal?"
"They what?" Sea asked, looking down at Diana.
"You never let me finish." Diana informed the god. "Because I am finished with you. I don't... I came here for one thing."
"As did I." Hell agreed. "But what they propose... it's delicious."
"Which is?" Sea asked.
"What if heaven were ruled by day by the sea, and by night by shadow... sharing a queen."
"Haa." Sea guffawed before letting out a round of rancorous laughter. "BWAAHAHAA... so Hera retains her position, but under two kings? That is priceless."
"Hehe, isn't it?" Hades agreed with a chuckle.
"Mind if I 'ave me light now?" Lennox asked the shorter god.
"Of course this is-" Hades was interrupted before he could finish. Lightning crackled in the sky and thunder roared as the queen laid out her indignation.
"Not coming to pass!" She yelled. Pointing between the two kings of the sea and hell, she advanced.
"Your laughter is like the squealing of pigs. Disrespectful to both me and your brother. Why if Zeus were here to hear, he would break your bones."
"He's not though, is he?" Hades pointed out.
"No, he isn't." Hera agreed. "Gone into the ether is seems. Heaven has left his throne wanting an ass to warm it, and though both of you certainly qualify in that regard, neither of you measure up to mine."
"Really?" Poseidon asked, raising a fishy eyebrow. "Yours is quite frigid, no?"
"This is not a game!"
Lennox meanwhile was leaning in, using the candles on Hades' head to light a smoke.
"The lady, she's right."
Quick as a flash, Lennox snapped off one of Hades' candles, much to the god's shock. he threw the candle to Diana, who caught the burning stick of wax. At the same time, Hermes threw her his caduceus, which she caught with her other hand. In a flash, she was gone.
"What do you think you're doing, messenger?" Hera asked Hermes.
"Sending a message." He replied, as if it was obvious.
"To whom?"
"To you, Hera"
As the two spoke, Diana appeared in Hera's chambers on Olympus, chucking the candle towards the pool that allowed Hera to spy on them as she wished.
Down on Earth, the queen realised what was happening. Recoiling in anger she glared at the assembled group.
"No..."
"Yes." Lennox smirked.
"NOOO!" Hera screamed, disappearing back to Olympus.
Lennox shielded Zola as the wall behind them cracked in the wake of Hera's power. The queen of gods was too late however, as she reappeared back in her chambers, all she saw was Hades' candle burning away at her pool, turning the water into a black sludge.
"You arrogant- coming to my house." She marched across the water towards Diana. "I will destroy you."
Diana simply stood, waiting.
"Your actions already have goddess, and I will spend my days-" She began to fade away in a burst of blue light as Hera lashed out at her.
"-Making you regret them."
Diana reappeared on the beachhead and moved towards Hermes, who was helping Lennox and Zola where the cracked walls had crumbled on them. Lennox was shielding Zola from the rubble, taking the brunt for himself.
"You... You're made of stone?" Zola asked, shocked.
"Somethin' like that. Is me dee en aye."
"Does it hurt?"
"Jus' to look at."
"BWAHA!" Poseidon laughed at the turn of events. "Seems we've been played for fools, brother."
"Yes, and deservedly." Hades growled.
"Oh lighten up." Poseidon turned back towards the ocean.
"I'm afraid I can't." Hades countered, retreating back into the tunnel.
"So this was all about blinding Hera for you?" Poseidon asked Diana.
"No." She denied. "Protecting a mother and her child."
Behind her, another figure began to emerge from the darkness Hades had retreated into.
"Ah, so you have conceit, my amazon niece." Poseidon dove back into the sea. "You'll fit right in."
Diana, Hermes and Lennox watched the sea god return to the ocean, but Zola's attention was grabbed by something else.
"All in all, I'd say-" Lennox began.
"We got lucky." Diana finished. "Hera took the bait, Poseidon was amused, and Hades stormed off."
"And he didn't try to kill you for killing him." Lennox pointed out. "That's some Irish luck right there."
"I didn't." Diana corrected. "My brother did."
"From wha' I 'eard, gods don' too much care 'bout who it was who did the killin'. You were there after all."
"Sometimes luck is enough, eh." Hermes turned to look at Zola, who had wandered closer to the tunnel. "Zola?"
"Mom?" Zola asked, seeing the familiar looking woman.
"Baby." the figure replied.
"Zola don't!" Hermes yelled.
The figure changed, sprouting tentacles of darkness that wrapped around Zola and pulled her into the tunnel.
"Zola!" Diana cried, racing after her.
"DIANA!" Zola screamed. "DIANA!"
She disappeared into the dark, and when Diana found the water from which Hades had come, she was greeted with an illusion of his face.
"Both you and my former child have made fools of me." It said. "I won't allow for such impudence, not without consequence. We struck a bargain, Wonder Woman. Fulfil your end, or Zeus' bloodline, ends with you."
With his piece said, the illusion disappeared, leaving Diana in the dark.
The anti-matter universe was a strange one. It was the opposite of the positive matter universe that rested on its other side, like two sides of a coin. However, it was at the same time different than the dark energies that made up his own universe. Briefly he wondered if there was an anti-matter universe to his own dark universe.
'What would that be?' He wondered. 'A 'dark' anti-matter universe? could there be such a thing?"
"What are you thinking about?" Grail asked, sticking close together so that they were not touched by the swirling molecules of anti-matter.
"Nothing." Nathaniel assured her, making sure to keep a lookout for their goal. "Just wondering where he is."
"He's close." Grail said, showing him her mother box. "Mother box says he's just ahead."
"Who are you?" A voice rang out through the barren wasteland that was Qward. Together Nathaniel and Grail fell into ready stances, expecting the worst.
"That depends." Nathaniel called back.
"Who are you?" Grail finished, raising her weapon.
"You dare question me?" The voice began again. "This is my world, my universe. All that exists here does so on my mercy, by my sufferance.. You two do not belong here."
"We've come to talk." Grail called out. "We know you, Anti-Monitor, brother to the Monitor and the World Forger. We are here with a proposition."
Out of the gloom, a massive form emerged.
"You say you know me. You know of my brothers, and that knowledge alone intrigues me."
The being that emerged was hulking and titanic, covered on metal armour with a face plate to hide it's face and a long cape that flowed from it's back.
"Anti-Monitor. We have come here to make a request of you." Nathaniel stepped forwards, bowing slightly to the massive being.
"A request. This is new. I haven't had a request made of me in millenium."
"We seek your aid anti-god." Grail said. "We need your aid, to kill Darkseid."
"Kill Darkseid?" The Anti-Monitor asked looming over them. "I can see you girl. You wish to kill your own father?"
Nathaniel gripped Grail's hand, squeezing it in a show of support.
"I do." Grail said. "And in exchange, I will help you be free of your terrible prison."
That seemed to get the massive being's attention.
"Nothing can free me from this." He gestured at his twisted form.
"I can." Grail said before she pulled Nathaniel forwards. "We can."
"How?" The Anti-Monitor asked. "Do it, free me."
The massive being moved forwards, gathering energy in his hands in a threatening show of force. It was clear it was trying to intimidate them into freeing him by threatening their lives. However, neither of the two were strangers to the arts of negotiation.
"As we said. Help us defeat Darkseid, and we will remove the Anti-Life Equation from you."
"Power like this cannot simply be removed girl. A host is necessary... a willing host, and one who is connected to the source."
"We are willing." Nathaniel said. "We are connected to the source. Help us, and we will help you."
"You say you are willing?" He said. "Then remove it now, take this power and use it yourself."
"This power alone is not enough to kill Darkseid." Grail said. "We need more, and to get it we cannot hold the Anti-Life. Aid us, and when the battle is over we will take Anti-Life and free you."
The Anti-Monitor glared down at the two demigods, assessing them, evaluating them. Time seemed to stretch on forever as the winds of Qward blew.
"Very well." The Anti-Monitor said. "Your deal is acceptable. I will help you to kill Darkseid, but first I will need to feed."
Nathaniel and Grail looked at each other, smiling.
"We know just the place."
The meeting was done. The Anti-Monitor was off, sent to feed and grow his power wherever the two sent him. Together Nathaniel and Grail stared down at the destruction of the world. People ran and screamed, they panicked and cried and begged the Anti-god for mercy.
The Anti-Monitor showed none.
Heroes tried to fight, but the Earth that Nathaniel and Grail had directed their new ally to was lacking in those who fought for good. They fell quickly, and while some part of Nathaniel knew their deaths were a tragedy, he consoled himself with the knowledge that this world's destruction would pave the way for Darkseid's death, freeing countless more from his terror and cruelty.
"The rulers are coming." Grail said, watching as that world's mightiest warriors came to fight the Anti-God.
Together their powers were formidable, but they were disjointed. They worked as a group of individuals as opposed to a unit. Nathaniel knew that even together, they wouldn't be able to win, but watching it was almost painful in how wasteful the battle was.
"I expected more." Grail observed the group. The martian had been injured heavily, along with the rest of them, however the Crime Syndicate knew enough to retreat as their martian finally died.
The Anti-Monitor made no real attempt to pursue, instead turning his attention to the world he had arrived in and began to devour it.
As the two demigods ascended from the doomed Earth-3, they watched as slowly reality itself began to fade with the destruction of their Earth by the Anti-Monitor.
"Once he's finished with this one, he should be powerful enough to rival Darkseid." Grail smiled. "Then we can move forwards with the plan."
"Do you think he's wondering why we haven't used his power ourselves, since we can remove it from him?" Nathaniel asked.
"I wouldn't worry about that." Grail told him. "So long as he believes we'll honor the bargain, he can wonder whatever he wants. Besides, If this fails, and the Anti-Monitor isn't powerful enough to kill him, we can always finish him off once he's weakened."
Nathaniel looked down at Earth-3.
"How long do you think this will take?"
"A few months, maybe half a year?"
"So we have that long to prepare."
"Nathan, we've been preparing for years. This will work, I know it."
Nathaniel looked over at his love.
"I know. I'm just worried."
Grail kissed the tip of his nose before tweaking it.
"You're always worried about something. Just enjoy the view."
Together, Nathaniel and Grail watched the Anti-Monitor begin his destruction of Earth-3. The destruction was almost picturesque, watching from so high up that all the world seemed small. However, just as before, the little moments of peace between the two were not allowed to last too long before both of their lives called them back into the thick of it.
For Grail it was her mother, summoning her to speak about their plan, their great mission for which the amazons had been born.
For Nathaniel, it was his world, his sister, and perhaps most pressingly, his business.
"You're sure you can't come with me?" Nathaniel asked. "I couldn't ask for a better woman on my arm, and it might make this Wayne charity dinner more bearable to sit through."
"You're actually going to that thing?" Grail asked. "I thought you hated public events, and the bat mortal might recognize you, even under an illusion."
"Oh but that'll be half the fun." He chucked. "What's the point of being able to do what we do if we can't occasionally fuck with people."
Grail laughed, kissing him softly before she pulled back, arms still wrapped around his neck and his around her waist.
"I'll make you a deal." She said. "After he finishes with this Earth, and after we find Asura, there's a wonderful little beach-house on Earth-27. Before we kill Darkseid, we spend a few days there. How does that sound? Crystal clear waters, white sand, blue skies, absolute privacy."
Nathaniel smiled.
"All alone?"
Grail grinned menacingly.
"No one around for miles."
She leaned in close after that, whispering in Nathaniel's ear. The Amazonian prince's face turned blank, before his eyes widened and his body stiffened.
"Done deal."
Grail backed away with a sultry look, before pulling out her Mother box and with a 'Boom' she was gone.
Nathaniel turned back to Earth-3... and began to do a little happy dance.
"Yes! Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes."
He stopped however, when he saw that even with Grail gone, he was not alone.
"What are you doing here?"
The massive being didn't respond, just looking between him and the dying Earth.
"Right, I got it." Nathaniel waved the being away. "Chronicling the death of worlds, appearing across space and time. I got it. Just don't interfere."
"He won't" Another voice said.
Nathaniel turned. The oracle didn't speak directly, if it ever spoke at all. It was the reason it mostly used heralds to enforce his will and speak for him. This herald however, was a new one.
His skin, it was clearly a 'he', was blue, a more vibrant and darker shade than the Oracle's and he was entirely humanoid. On his back was an upside-down horse-shoe shaped object, while in the place of hair or anything like it, he had a piece that resemble the top of a roman centurion helmet.
"And who are you? I don't recognize you." Nathaniel said.
"I'm the big man's herald."
"I got that, but what I mean is I haven't seen you before, and I've met a few heralds."
"I'm just a man, I've just become more than what I was made to be."
"Made?" Nathaniel asked.
"Sorry, can't give away too much, it could cause some damage if I let too much information slip."
"So you haven't been born yet, or something of the sort." Nathaniel observed. "I know the Oracle travels through time, past, present and future, it makes sense that eventually he'd go back to a time before any of his heralds were born."
"What do you care?" Asked the Herald, moving forwards and gathering some of his gifted power.
"Oh it's really nothing to me." Nathaniel said, waving off the herald's aggression. "I'm just curious you see. I've been all over, and yet there's so much left to discover, to understand, to explore. I'm really quite happy for you to leave your origins a mystery. Makes it so much more fun for me to figure it out on my own."
"You're a weird guy." The herald said, backing down slightly.
"I know." Nathaniel said. "I just don't like to get too involved with stuff that doesn't interest me."
The Herald started to say something, but a pulse of energy spread from the Oracle, and so the Herald backed off.
Turning away from the two cosmic beings, Nathaniel watched as the Anti-Monitor swept through the world, destroying everything in its path. The warriors; This Earth's Crime Syndicate, fled in terror and hid, sending all of their legions to distract the massive creature as they made plans.
"Now this." Nathaniel observed as the group began to build their hope. "This might be interesting, and a bit of a problem."
The Herald scowled, glaring down from space at the speedster and the size-changer.
"No kidding... damn pricks."
Nathaniel looked at the Herald, filling away the personal animosity between him and the two members of the Crime Syndicate.
And so the three watched as Earth-3 was slowly destroyed and recostructed by the Anti-Monitor, who only grew stronger as he fed on the universe that he was destroying.
Now for those of you who don't know the Oracle or his Herald. The Oracle is kind of like the watchers in Marvel. He attends significant events in the multiverse and chronicles them. Whenever a world is meant to die, like Krypton did or Earth does on a monthly basis, a herald shows up to inform and direct the Oracle to it. Kind of like a reverse Galactus and Silver Surfer. He's shown up a few times in the New 52. You also won't really get the fan-service unless you read the H'el on Earth, Krypton Returns and Convergence storylines so check those out. For those of you who do. I have plans for that.