Guided by the Evening and the Morning Star

The Watchtower

Dinah slowly pulled on her jacket. This was made difficult by the ice bag she held to the back of her head. She'd checked out and there was no permanent damage. The bump on the back of her head would take a day or two to disappear, but she was lucky to be on one piece. She didn't feel lucky as she had a splitting headache that no Advil would numb away. On top of everything else, her pride stung at walking into the situation like a rank amateur only to be saved by Mary Marvel of all people. She was more seasoned than that and supposed to be a leader, so both her pride and her head hurt.

The door slid open and a large shadow appeared. Dinah turned to see Clark standing just outside.

"How are you?' He asked, the concern apparent on his face.

"Embarrassed,' she replied with a grimace.

"That's a nasty bump on the back of your head."

"Not as big as the one on my ego,' she grumbled.

"It happens to all of us,' he offered.

"It shouldn't have happened to me this time."

"Why? You didn't know Sapphire was with Harley,' he replied.

"I should have,' Dinah stated. She turned away from him, crossing her arms in front of her.

"I'm just glad you're alright."

She looked over her shoulder into his eyes. He tentatively moved towards her and as much as she wanted him too, Dinah held up her hand to stop him.

"I'm still not ready, Clark. Things are just too complicated right now."

He stepped back and dipped his head.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to try and push you,' he offered.

"No, it's not that, 'she said with a shake of her head. "It's just … I don't know, complicated."

"All right." He nodded. "I'm just glad you're okay. Call me when you want."

He looked into her eyes and then stepped back into the hallway. The door slid closed and he was gone. Dinah took a step towards the door, but then stopped. It was complicated, she reminded herself. Hippolyta and what was going on between them was still something Dinah wasn't comfortable with. The dream she'd had about the Queen being in jeopardy was the reason she'd accepted the mission with Hippolyta, but there hadn't been time to discuss it. Dinah wondered if maybe the problem with the mission was she had been distracted by Hippolyta and Clark and not focused on the task at hand.

She just couldn't move forward until she was sure. Right now,she was anything but sure.

Marionette

Twilight.

The sun was just setting behind the mountains and the color scheme of the sky progressed out from it. White, yellow, a burning orange, blood red, a pale blue and then the deepest blue that was rushing to engulf the others. There was a nip in the air, as the temperature in the desert changed so radically in such a short time. He'd been so busy fighting since they arrived, Wildcat hadn't had a chance to take in his surroundings. It was beautiful, lonely country.

Ted stood on top of the hotel. He was up here keeping watch for the first of the nights attacks, but he couldn't help letting his eyes roam over this country. The small town was just a speck on a map and certainly wouldn't make any of the travel guides. A few hundred resilient souls had tried to carve something out of the wilderness for themselves, but nature seemed not to notice. The way things were going this would soon be just another ghost town. A fading monument to these people's shattered dreams. They weren't the first and probably wouldn't be the last this land saw.

Vigilante, Vampirella and he were holding back the tide, but for how long? In the end would it really make any difference? Sooner or later the constant day and night attacks would take its toll. The enemy could wear them done in shifts, never giving them time to rest or recover. Even Vampirella needed sleep sooner or later. It was a hopeless cause and the smart thing would be to just walk away. It was just a speck on the map after all and would hardly be missed.

Yet Ted found he couldn't walk away. The fundamental questions that had driven him out here in the first place were still there. When do you know your time has passed? Was there still a place for an ordinary man in the world he'd chosen? Can one man still make a difference? Was it time to turn the page on his life and accept that the prime part of it was over? How old is too old to be a hero?

He still didn't know the answers to any of his questions. As he stood watching the sun fade, he couldn't help wondering if he wasn't the first in this situation. The Hopi Indians had lived on this land for thousands of years. They carved a way of life out of this desolate place and probably believe they'd conquered nature. Did they look out at the sunset like he was that first time the white man came over the horizon and wonder? Did they even know that their way of life was over in that moment? Everything they had built would be washed away by the tidal wave that was coming towards them. In the end nature had reclaimed it all. Bits and pieces long buried were all that remained of everything they'd built.

Ted wondered if that was the way it always was. All the battles he'd fought were they for nothing in the end? Would he just be a small footnote in some future historian's study of the Age of Heroes or would he be forgotten like most of those Hopis? Did what happen here really matter in the larger scheme of things or was it just a sad little grain among the endless sands of time?

The last rays of sunlight flickered out and darkness finally claimed everything.

Washington

Hippolyta sat patiently on the table as the assistant used the ray on her injuries. Outwardly she tried to remain calm, as the young woman was already nervous enough around her. Inside, emotions churned and Hippolyta wasn't sure what to do about them. The battle had been lost save for Mary Marvel's last minute heroics. In the moments before though, stark realities had come crashing down on Hippolyta. Life, death, honor, all seemed to mix together with one overwhelming emotions, fear.

She thanked the young assistant and climbed down gingerly from the table. Hippolyta would have liked to talk to someone about all of this, but there was no one at the Embassy. They were young Amazons for the most part and looked at her as something out a myth more than a flesh and blood woman. She had been Queen all their life and they couldn't seem to get passed that title and see who she was underneath. The sense of being alone was almost overwhelming. She was a stranger in a strange land even here among her own people.

As she started down the hallway, Hippolyta couldn't shake the feelings that had been with her since the battle. She stopped in front of the windows and looked out at the night sky.

"May I help you, Madame Ambassador?' One of the young aids asked.

Hippolyta turned to her and wondered what the aid would think if she knew what was on her mind at that exact moment. The young woman looked at Hippolyta with such trusting, open eyes, her expression so ready to help. Hippolyta couldn't bring herself to shatter this young sister's illusions. Somehow she managed a smile.

"No thank you,' Hippolyta said. The young aid nodded and was just about to leave, when Hippolyta spoke again. "I'm going out for awhile."

"Yes, Madame Ambassador."

Tokyo

Bruce and Selina had taken up watch on Kijuro Makuda and his Yakuza inner circle. He was Masumi's main target and Bruce believed he would eventually lead them to Masumi. The thought of protecting someone like Kijuro Makuda didn't sit well with either of them, but if they were going to stop Masumi, Bruce knew it was necessary.

"So tell me again why we're here?" Selina asked.

"He's the head of this family,' Bruce replied. "By following him we learn all of his hideouts and businesses. Masumi will be attacking sooner or later and if we know everything about this man, then we should be able to anticipate where she will strike."

"Why wouldn't she just kill him and be done with it?"

"This isn't just about simple revenge,' Bruce said with a shake of his head. "This is vengeance, a reckoning. She doesn't just want to kill one man; she wants them all to pay. She wants to wipe out all of them for what they did."

"How can you know that?" Selina asked.

Bruce turned away and looked out at the office building across the way.

"Because it's what I'd want to do."

New York

Mordred sat on the single metal-framed bed in his cheap hotel room gazing at the television screen. He'd been relentlessly switching between the channels trying to catch any glimpse of the battle earlier. The brief preview he'd seen before had stirred something deep inside him. The young woman dressed in black seemed to call to him, yet he'd never laid eyes on her before. Somehow she was connected to him and what had caused him to change. The peeling wallpaper, the constant noise from the street and the hallway were forgotten as he obsessively looked for the woman in black.

He finally saw her and then the world fell away.

The din of battle surrounded and deafened Mordred. Huge, monstrous warriors charged past from all sides. As he turned a colossus was rushing straight for him. There was no time to move and Mordred cringed against the expected impact, but none came. When he opened his eyes he realized he wasn't solid or apparently visible to the combatants. It was startling to watch these monsters rush right through him and continue on to the fight.

He glanced down and saw he was still in his own body, yet it was only the faintest of shadows. After a few moments he was finally able to take in his surroundings and his jaw fell open in shock. The sky was littered with shattered planets and the tendrils of exploding stars seemed to be stretching out towards him. Warriors clashed in every direction, an orgy of violence and death on an unimaginable scale.

In the chaos Mordred didn't know which way to turn, yet something seemed strangely familiar about this place. Stumbling blindly, he phased through warrior after warrior until he happened to catch sight of it, the altar. The twin banners waved majestically about the glittering throne as it shown in all its original glory. It was the same dead world he'd seen in his earlier vision, yet now it had come alive. Somehow Mordred knew this was the battle that ended everything. This was the Armageddon of the Second World. This was the last conflagration that snuffed out all these worlds and led to the beginning of the Third World. How he knew this, he had no idea, yet now his eyes sought her out, the Golden Lady, the Goddess of Gods.

Her statue gleamed in all its original brilliance and an impenetrable regiment of the stoutest warriors stood guard around it, repelling all comers. Multitudes died trying to get within reach of the statue, yet somewhere out here in the milieu was the real Goddess. It was no use trying to find her on the ground, Mordred needed to gain some altitude to make sense of the madness that surrounded him. Phasing through combatants, he made his way to the nearest rise. It was a sheer cliff, yet with his insubstantial body it proved easy to climb. Minute after minute went by as he scaled the side, the total warfare overwhelming all of his senses. He had almost reached the peak when he turned to gaze over the valley. It was then he saw her directly in the middle. Her banner, three black circles on a field of blood red stood tall as she annihilated all comers.

She was death personified. A whirling, unstoppable force, a scythe that none could stand against. He had thought he knew what it meant to be a warrior, but watching her now he realized how feeble his imagination had been. Tendrils of white hot energy bled out from her fingertips, shaking the very ground under all their feet. Her powers were beyond those of all the others, yet she chose to fight them hand to hand. It was the battle that matter, not just the victory.

Clinging just below the peak he watched in amazement as she tore through all comers, ripping warriors from the sky with but of flick of her wrist. The others might be Gods as well, but they seemed dull and secondary against her brilliance. It was only after watching her for what seemed like a lifetime that Mordred realized the other banner, the three yellow lines on a field of green was absent. In every other vision or dream, it was always there, always in opposition to her, but he couldn't find it in any direction. It had seemed to pursue her through time, yet here at the end it was deficient. Why?

Bits of rock and clay sprinkled down through Mordred and at first he assumed it was more warriors battling on top of the peak, but he couldn't make out the clash of weapons. How he eventually heard it, he wasn't sure, but even with the all-consuming din of war, he heard the cries. Pulling himself the rest of the way up to the peak, he was stunned to see the Golden Lady. He glanced down again and saw her fighting in the valley, but she was also here on the peak. He managed to pull himself onto the peak and stood, not sure what to make of this. It was only when she turned and looked directly at him that he saw the sorrow in her eyes.

"كل شيء. فقدت."

His heart went out to her, as the tears rolled down her cheeks. He took a tentative first step towards her, reaching his hand out ….

And then the world fell away again.

Tokyo Suburbs

Higashi is a residential district of the Shibuya ward in Tokyo. Kijuro Makuda main residence was here and it was well fortified. Even when he wasn't here, the guards patrolled night and day. Cameras continually scanned the grounds and surrounding neighborhood so it was next to impossible for anyone to launch a sneak attack. Masumi had no such plans. She was going to strike head on and kill everyone she found inside. She had no feeling for any of these people, they were just obstacles in her way. Kijuro had run home for cover, to ground, so that meant she had to leave him no ground to run to. She was herding him towards one particular location, the small Hanamachi or Geisha town that Rie Saga grand dowager of his private geishas came from. It was where this had all started, with Kijuro's refusal to accept no as an answer. That refusal had lead to Masumi's parents being gunned down in broad daylight in front of her. She would make Kijuro remember before he died.

She stepped out in front of the main gate and just waited. Her pale skin was almost translucent against her black robe. Masumi could hear them scrambling inside, yet she didn't move a muscle. The gate opened and the first man came out firing his automatic weapon. A flick of her wrist and he was falling to the ground dead. She moved with alarming speed towards the gate, even as they tried to close it. They didn't succeed and she was inside. Gunfire erupted all through the house and was joined by the screams of those that got in her way. She sparred no one, as in her eyes they were all guilty.

Tokyo

Bruce suddenly sat up and his whole body tensed. Selina noticed this immediately.

"What? What's wrong?" She asked.

"Something's happened,' he said, his voice low and unforgiving. "She's attacked. Damn it! I should have known!"

"Bruce,' Selina started to say.

"Not now, Selina, it's time to move!"

He was rushing towards the door before she could say another word.

Apokolips

War preparations were almost completed and the attack would soon begin. Darkseid stood on his balcony surveying his fleet. Earth, that wretched planet had been nothing but a throne in his side since he'd first heard of it. Now another, potentially even greater threat was growing there. He would not allow it to see its completion. His allies, the Manhunters were already on their way and soon others would join them. Strangely New Genesis had been silent this whole time. Darkseid imagined High Father knew of the Goddess' return just as he did. For all his talk about peace and harmony, High Father wasn't a fool. He knew what she was capable. He wouldn't protest too much no matter what Darkseid did.

If destroying Earth once and for all was the price for stopping her, Darkseid was prepared to pay it.

Metropolis

It was late and the day was nearly over. Clark was just getting ready for bed when the doorbell rang. He slipped his shirt back on and went to open the door. When he did, he found Hippolyta standing there.

"I'm sorry it's so late, but I wasn't sure where else to go,' she immediately said.

"Come in."