Disclaimer: First things first: I have seen Wonder Woman… and it was GLORIOUS! It was SPECTACULAR. It was INSPIRING. It was… what's the word I'm looking for? Oh yeah… it was WONDERFUL! I know, I'm going all full throttle crazy here. Give me a break! Also, the soundtrack from Rupert Gregson-Williams was AWESOME!
Anyway, here's the next big chapter and, be prepared for a shocking twist. Like always, I own nothing.
Chapter XXII
Doctor Doom rarely felt anything close to anger and he usually maintained a stoic, calculated demeanor. On those few and far between moments where he was angered, his worst enemies would've wished for a quick death. This was one of those moments and it was sheer luck that no one was around as Doctor Doom stalked toward his misplaced metal mask. It flew from his face following his hard impact after Superman sent him a long distance from the citadel. It was good fortune that there was no one to see his face, and he didn't need the Avengers to see his visage.
Placing the mask onto his face and pulling the hood over his head, Doctor Doom looked back toward the citadel and the massive storm cloud that had formed overhead. Instantly, Doom knew it was Thor and that Darkseid had set the brainwashed Asgardian loose against the Avengers and the Justice League. Doctor Doom didn't wish to miss the battle to come. As luck would've had it, a small group of soldiers were racing straight at Doom on high-speeding platforms. Two of them zipped right passed him without stopping, but Doom immediately latched onto the three one as it raced by. The occupant failed to notice his unwanted passenger until Doom spun him around and drew him dangerously close to his mask.
"Get off!" Doom demanded. Without waiting for a reply or a protest, Doom threw the occupant from the platform and sped onward toward the citadel.
Thor was coming straight down toward the ground with his hammer directing his approach. The Avengers and Justice League instantly moved out of the way as he slammed into the ground and kicked up a wall of dirt and dust. Green Lantern quickly shielded the heroes who were closest to the impact with a wall construct, while Cyborg desperately listed the hover tank to the right. Captain America and Wonder Woman managed to bring up their shields to deflect any debris while Iron Man, Vision and Captain Marvel shot some of the projectiles out of the sky. Raven erected a force field around herself, Batman and Aquaman and the Flash. The Hulk stood and took the debris like it was all nothing.
Captain America brought his shield down slightly to see Thor standing in front of the heroic teams, but he knew something was very wrong. "Thor?"
Thor glared at Captain America with rage in his eyes and his grip tightening on the hilt of Mjolnir. "I don't think he can hear you, Captain." Wonder Woman said.
"Darkseid has him completely under his control, Rogers. There may be no reaching him." Batman claimed.
"No, I can still sense Thor's consciousness. He's trapped in his own mind, fighting to break free and I'm in telepathic communication with him." Raven stated. Raven was right; Thor was struggling and he showed the physical torment he was enduring.
Captain America raised his shield up to chest height and started inching toward Thor. "Thor? Can you hear me? We came to get you out of this place."
It appeared as though Cap was reaching Thor, evident by the mannerisms and expressions on his face. "Captain… you mustn't come closer. I can feel Darkseid's influence clawing inside my mind."
"We're not giving up on you, buddy." Cap replied as he inched close and closer to Thor.
Cap looked back at the Justice League, specifically Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Batman. Aquaman was gripping the handle of his trident, Wonder Woman twisted her sword in one hand and readied her shield in the other, and Batman prepared a set of Baterangs. Conversely, the Avengers all appeared to drop their guard ever so slightly with the noticeable exception of the Hulk and Captain Marvel. Captain America turned back to Thor and noticed the grip on Mjolnir tightening. Then without warning, Thor jumped into the air and brought the hammer down.
Captain America instinctively brought his shield up over his head to deflect the blow, which sent a shockwave across the field and forced several of the heroes onto the backs. Thor pushed Captain America to the ground before he attempted to hammer him again, but a black field appeared around Captain America. Raven appeared within the field, grabbed hold of Cap and they both vanished just as Thor hit the ground. A crater was left in the place where Cap was before. Thor regrouped in time to see Captain America and Raven reappear amongst the rest of the heroes.
Before Thor could make a move on them, they all heard a sonic boom from the distance. A super fast, red and blue object bolted in from afar and collided with Thor, carrying him up into the air. Traveling at high speed, Superman carried Thor high before Thor managed to break free and hit him with the hammer, but Superman instantly recovered and landed a hard punch. The punch sent Thor higher into the sky with Superman giving chase, during which he landed another hard punch. Superman flew ahead of Thor and stopped in his path before clobbering him with an axe handle strike.
Thor fell in the opposite direction at near terminal velocity, while Superman caught up to him and pummeled him with more heavy punches. A blast of heat vision came after the hits, striking Thor in the chest. Thor still managed to recover and used his hammer to deflect the heat vision, all while waiting for Superman to get closer. Superman took the bait and bolted straight down. Thor took a strong swing and nailed Superman, sending the Man of Steel barreling back up into the sky. Superman recovered fired another blast of heat vision, while Thor struck back with a lightning bolt. The two powers collided, but Superman was still approaching hard and fast.
The two gods collided with Superman getting the advantage and pushing back toward the ground. Just as before, the Avengers and the Justice League moved or shielded themselves from the ensuing impact. A cloud of dust and debris kicked up and then after a few moments of tense silence, Superman came spiraling out of the impact crater. The Man of Steel crashed in front of the Hulk, who simply huffed at the sight before he turned toward Thor as he emerged from the crater. The Hulk attempted to take a giant step forward to confront Thor, but Captain Marvel dropped down between them and focused on the Asgardian herself.
"Thor, stop it. This isn't you." she pleaded, but Thor simply stalked toward her with a tightening grip on Mjolnir.
Then Iron Man hovered into the conflicted along with Vision, while Captain America approached as well. Iron Man said, "We don't know what Darkseid did to you but you've got to snap out if it, buddy."
Thor stopped and noticeably struggled against himself as Captain America said to him, "You're stronger than this, Thor. You can't let Darkseid win."
Thor dropped to his knee and grasped his head, and Captain Marvel hastily rushed to his side. It was within an instant that Thor reacted when he swung his hammer wide and struck Captain Marvel hard. Captain Marvel fell to the ground with a hard thud as Thor jumped into the air, intending to bring Mjolnir back down. A green canopy suddenly appeared to engulf Captain Marvel, and Thor looked up at Green Lantern as he was focusing. Thor spun Mjolnir to prepare to take flight, but the Hulk suddenly punched him and sent him hurtling backwards.
Thor landed hard on his back and skidded across the ground before he caught himself. He caught sight of the Hulk charging straight at him. The Hulk landed a gigantic right hook that sent Thor flying back into the base of the citadel, but Thor instantly came right back and struck the Hulk in the jaw with Mjolnir. The Hulk was staggered but recovered before attempting to land another heavy punch, but Thor was the more nimble of the two and repeated bashed the Hulk in the face. The Hulk grabbed Thor by the head and planted him into the ground face first. But Thor recovered once again and delivered a huge uppercut that sent the Hulk crashing into the ground.
Before Thor could press on, he was suddenly hit by a single small but powerful rocket from Iron Man. "Don't make me do this, Thor." Iron Man said.
Thor spun his hammer and forced Iron Man's hand, driving the Armored Avenger to deploy an arsenal of rockets. The rockets shot out from Iron Man's armor and were targeted at Thor, and he managed to take them all. Thor retaliated with a lightning strike that connected with Iron Man, but Iron Man's armor absorbed the strike and returned fire with a blast of his uni-beam. The beam struck Mjolnir, and Thor used the moment to leap into the sky and grab Iron Man by the leg. Iron Man was brought down and slammed into the ground and Thor attempted to hammer him.
Captain America immediately tossed his shield to stun Thor before he charged forward and jumped over the Asgardian. Cap grabbed hold of Thor from behind to try to subdue him, but Thor managed to flip Cap over his shoulder and drop him on top of Iron Man. After that, Captain Marvel and Vision each took shots at Thor. Marvel blasted Thor with an assault of energy blast while Vision struck with a sustained beam to keep Thor from attacking. But it wasn't enough to keep Thor back, and he was able to strike back at Vision and Marvel with a lightning bolt.
Vision managed to alter his density to protect himself and Captain Marvel, giving Captain America time to recover his shield. Captain America slammed the shield into Thor's face and then into his chest, pushing Thor back. Thor came right back and hammered Cap's shield, but his assault was suddenly halted by the arrival of a lone hover tank that had its turrets trained on him.
Inside the tank, a stunned Hawkeye said, "Thor's gone and lost his damn mind. He's fighting his own friends."
"Superman did say Darkseid could screw with someone's head." Cyborg replied.
"Um, guys. He's looking right at us." Black Widow said.
Thor leapt into the air and then started coming right down toward the tank. He landed on the hull and started bashing his hammer into the steel. Inside, Cyborg, Hawkeye and Black Widow could see a series of breaches forming before the hull was pulled from the outside. Thor stood over them with malice in his eyes, but as he pulled back on his hammer, he faltered. Cyborg saw an opening and took a shot with his arm cannon, blasting Thor off the tank even as it eventually dropped to the ground in a pile of metal.
Black Widow was the first to get out of the wreckage and she quickly drew her gun, even though it would've done nothing against Thor. Hawkeye was the next one out and he readied his bow and arrow while Cyborg followed. Across from them, Thor was already on his feet and full of fury. He faltered against as he still desperately tried to fight against Darkseid's influence. The influence took him again and he rushed straight at the trio, but a black orb formed around them and they disappeared. Thor looked back to see that Raven had taken them out of harm's way, and he made a move. Something hit his armor, something blinking a red light and shaped like a bat. Another Baterang embedded into his armor, and Thor looked up to see Batman with a detonator in his right hand. Batman pressed down hard on the trigger, and the Baterangs exploded. The smoke clear and Thor was revealed to be unharmed, but then he was quickly assaulted by the Flash.
The Flash made a series of passing strikes, managing to land punch after punch and kick after kick to stagger Thor long enough for Batman to ready three more Baterangs. Batman made a charge toward Thor while tossing the Baterangs toward the ground and then detonating them. As the smoke engulfed Thor, Batman cam through the smoke and landed a hard kick before dropping to the ground and attempting to sweep Thor off his feet. Thor didn't budge and merely looked down at Batman while planting his boot down onto the Dark Knight's chest. Just as Thor was about to bring the hammer down, Green Lantern swooped in from afar slammed Thor with a green cylinder construct.
Thor was down but he quickly got back up, and the Flash rushed into the fray once again. The Scarlet Speedster ran around Thor and landed a few solid shots before tossing a lightning bolt. Thor somehow absorbed the bolt into the hammer and shot it right back at the Flash, sending him tumbling to the ground. Green Lantern came back and forged a hammer of his own. He struck Thor in the face several times before forging a folding chair and smashing it over Thor's head. Thor still recovered and swung at Green Lantern, but he managed to erect a force field in time. Thor repeated bashed the field, each time slightly breaking Green Lantern's focus.
"I could use a little help here, guys." Green Lantern pleaded.
As if on queue, Raven suddenly appeared behind Thor and placed her hands on each side of his head. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos." she uttered, and Thor tensed up.
Raven held on to Thor as she peered into his mind, where she briefly spotted Thor's conscious beating against nigh unbreakable glass. Within less than a split second, Raven encountered the Omega symbol that represented Darkseid… and it came straight at her. The sheer force hit Raven, or at least her consciousness, hard, while her physical body struggled to maintain a grip on Thor. Then the one thing Raven didn't want to happen, happen. The influence that trapped Thor in his own psyche seemed to tap into Raven's, and Raven briefly felt the presence of, not Darkseid, but that her father. Her physical form became rigid and her eyes shot open, except there was four of them and glowing red.
Raven had to release her grip, and Thor cracked her in the chest with Mjolnir and sent her flying into the waiting arms of Hawkeye. "Raven? Rachel, are you okay?"
Instead of Raven, Hawkeye was briefly confronted by… something else. "I AM TRIGON!"
Hawkeye was taken aback and shouted, "Sweet Jesus..."
It took a moment, but Raven regained control of herself and said to Hawkeye, "Clint?"
"What the hell..." Hawkeye said before Black Widow drew his attention.
"Clint, look out!" Black Widow shouted, and Hawkeye looked up to see Thor leaping towards him and Raven.
It was Aquaman who managed to stop Thor, using his trident to block what would've been a fatal blow. Pushing Thor back, Aquaman stood between the Thunder God and Hawkeye as the latter took Raven to safety. Thor made a move but this time, Wonder Woman stepped in to slow him down. Aquaman joined the fray, and the two Justice Leaguers squared off against Thor. Wonder Woman attacked relentlessly with her sword and deflected Thor's numerous counterattacks with her shield, while Aquaman performed a series of strikes and thrusts with his trident. It appeared that the duo was making some headway, even managed to drive Thor back. Thor was able to fight back and knocked Wonder Woman down with a lightning strike, but Aquaman was able to knock Thor back.
Aquaman stood tall against Thor with his trident set upright. "So, you can also command the lightning. Let's see who's is stronger."
Aquaman raised his trident up and bolt of lightning crackled down upon the three-pronged edge. Thor raised Mjolnir up into the air and summoned a similar bolt of lightning. They each unleashed their respective attacks, both of which collided in a spectacular display of power. They traded power plays; Thor appeared to have an early edge but Aquaman was able to push back. Thor regained some ground and started pushing Aquaman back, but then Iron Man, Superman, Vision, Captain Marvel and Cyborg provided a much needed advantage. The six heroes managed to overpower Thor, allowing Aquaman to win the exchange. If only for a moment…
Thor dropped to a knee and collected himself, while Iron Man and Superman approached him. In an instant, Thor raised his hammer above his head, summoned a lightning strike and cracked the hammer into the ground. The ground shook first before it suddenly burst forth, sending debris flying everywhere and taking down the heroes. Thor recovered to see what he had done. His face screamed of outrage, but his psyche was utterly horrified.
"THOR," a voice called out, and Thor looked to see Wonder Woman as the only one left among the heroes. "I don't want to fight you, but I will if you force my hand."
Thor huffed but then hunched over holding his head in pain, still desperately trying to fight Darkseid's influence over him. "Then… consider your hand force."
Wonder Woman took a defensive stance and said, "So be it. Single combat: you and I with NO ONE interfering."
Having heard the declaration, Captain America said to Superman, "One on one? Your Amazon must be out of her mind."
"That's how she was brought up on Themyscira. It's up to Diana now, and we have to respect her wishes."
"For what? In the name of honor?" Black Widow asked.
Batman simply replied, "Yes!"
Thor spun Mjolnir before he launched directly at Wonder Woman, who charged cracked her own sword against her shield and charged forward. Their weapons instantly collided and sent a blinding light out that nearly engulfed the Avengers and the Justice League. The collision pushed Thor and Wonder Woman away from each other before both charged forward again, this time with Thor immediately jumping into the air to bring Mjolnir down. Wonder Woman quickly dropped to one knee and raised her shield up to block the blow. As the two teams watched, Captain Marvel appeared to have every intension to intervene. But Batman stopped her from getting involved.
"What're you doing? We have to stop Thor before he kills her." Captain Marvel claimed.
"No. Diana said no interference." Batman said. Captain Marvel reluctantly complied.
Thor repeated bashed Mjolnir down onto Wonder Woman's shield. Each blow pushed Wonder Woman down further to the point where she needed her sword hand to steady herself. She felt every blow from the hammer as it struck her shield, and she also waited for the right moment to strike back. Thor continued his relentless assault. He beat and beat and beat on the shield, expecting it to shatter at some point. Conversely, Wonder Woman was thankful that her shield was nearly indestructible. Thor halted his pounding after the last hit and simply pushed down on the shield, while Wonder Woman held fast against his might even as the ground was cracking beneath her.
Then Wonder Woman began to push back, and Thor produced a started look on his face. Wonder Woman then shouted, "HERA… GIVE ME STRENGTH!"
Finally, Wonder Woman pushed up to her feet and engaged Thor in a test of strength. She stomped step by step to push the brainwashed Asgardian back, which was shocking to Thor. Thor managed to gain his own balance and started pushing back. The test of strength ended with both opponents breaking away from each other, and then Wonder Woman rushed forward. She leapt up into the air with her sword off to her right side. She quickly brought it down onto Thor, who blocked the incoming strike with Mjolnir.
Wonder Woman quickly pressed her assault with an onslaught of sword strikes and thrusts then instantly had Thor playing defense. Thor tried to land a few hard swings but Wonder Woman proved far too nimble. She easily avoided most of the hammer swings while blocking others with her shield. Then she found a new opening in Thor's defense and struck back with more sword strikes, mixing in a few kicks for added offense. Thor managed to catch one of Wonder Woman's legs and tried to hit Wonder Woman in the head with Mjolnir, but she blocked the blow with her shield. In response, Thor spun Wonder Woman around and tossed across the field. Wonder Woman slammed into the ground and dropped her sword and shield on impact.
As the Avengers and Justice League watched the fight unfold, a blast of fire caught their attention. More of Darkseid's armies were on approach, and the Hulk roared his disapproval before leaping into the horde. Superman took flight with Iron Man, Vision, Green Lantern, Captain Marvel and Raven following his lead. At the same time, Captain America led a ground charge with Batman, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Cyborg, Aquaman and the Flash. The Hulk landed in the center of the armies and started ripping into anything that moved. Superman cut loose with his heat vision while Iron Man fired every weapon in his arsenal. Captain Marvel and Vision attacked with their energy blasts, Green Lantern constructed a mini gun and Raven conjured a black bird into existence.
Captain America led the charge and beat back any encroaching eneming with his shield, while Batman and Hawkeye unleashed an array of Baterangs and arrows. Black Widow stayed close to Cyborg and fired off several rounds from her guns and a series of stingers, while Cyborg blasted the far off enemies and beat down the near by enemies. Aquaman slashed and stabbed several foes with his trident and took out other with his bare hands while the Flash provided a parameter to protect them while taking out incoming enemies.
Captain America and Batman went back to back, and Cap said, "We can't keep this up forever, Batman. We need an escape plan."
"One of these soldiers will likely have a Mother Box. We just need to secure one." Batman replied while he took down a soldier with a Baterang,
The Flash stopped and took out a soldier before he told Cap and Batman, "Leave it to me." Then he bolted away.
Wonder Woman was up to a knee and reaching for her sword before Thor was grabbing her neck. She quickly broke free and started taking the fight to Thor with an assault of hard punches and kicks, landing a number of solid hits to Thor's jaw and chest. Thor was staggered back a few steps but recovered to swing his hammer, which Wonder Woman managed to avoid. Wonder Woman landed a hard uppercut that rocked Thor again and then she quickly followed with a wild but accurate roundhouse kick. Thor managed to block and punch and drove his head into Wonder Woman's head before tossing her down to the ground.
After being thrown to the ground, Wonder Woman looked back at Thor as he was coming for her… and she smiled as if she was enjoying the fight. Then she spotted her sword on the ground and moved to retrieve it, just as Thor was right on top of her. Thor brought Mjolnir down, but Wonder Woman blocked the blow and pushed back. She retaliated with a series of slashes and thrusts and more kicks and managed to land several of said kicks. Thor still was able to block the sword strikes while landing a few hard punches of his own.
Thor managed to knock Wonder Woman's sword out of her hand before striking her with Mjolnir and sending her tumbling into the ground, but Wonder Woman managed to recover and come back with a hard punch to Thor's jaw. She landed another hard punch followed by a knee strike before Thor backhanded her to the ground again. Wonder Woman was slower to recover this time, and Thor was about land the supposedly critical blow. At the last second, Wonder Woman brought her bracers up to block the hammer strike. Thor never stopped and put the full force of the strike into the bracers.
A massive shockwave burst forth, pushing Wonder Woman and Thor far from each other as well as knocking the Avengers, the Justice League and Darkseid's forces to the ground. Wonder Woman tried to recover from the impact and looked across the battlefield at Thor as he was starting to recover as well. Then she saw Mjolnir on the ground. Seeing that Thor was now and a knee, Wonder Woman had no choice but to make a mad dash for the hammer. Thor saw this and reached his hand out to summon his weapon. The hammer trembled in its place and inched little by little and sent tiny pebbles to the ground. It was then out of its place and flew toward Thor, but Wonder Woman made a desperate, last minute grab for it.
The moment that Wonder Woman grabbed the hilt, she immediately planted her feet to the ground. She came to a sudden stop, and Thor, the Avengers and the Justice League couldn't believe their eyes. There was Wonder Woman standing up tall and proud as the Princess of the Amazons… and gripped in her right hand was Mjolnir. Wonder Woman was worthy.
Author's Note: Stop the presses! Wonder Woman is worthy to hold mighty Mjolnir.
Before you all go wacko and claim that the Wonder Woman movie pushed me to this pivotal moment, please understand that I actually had this planned from the beginning LONG before the movie dropped.
I also teased a little reveal of Doctor Doom's face.
I want to send a shout out to artist Arkenstellar for the inspiration.
So, let me know what ya'll think about this entry and I'll be back soon with more. Peace out!