Chapter 31

The blade was being held against Diana's neck so tightly she had to keep her head held up and back. It made it difficult for her to see her daughter, but she did her best to keep her eyes down and on Helena. Diana was amazed the girl showed no fear. There was a determination on her face as she appeared to be thinking through a solution.

Diana knew her daughter would never simply give in, no matter how much they threatened her life. Diana knew that like her father, Helena believed there was no situation she couldn't think and fight her way out of. It was a double-edged trait that often got them in trouble even though they were mostly successful with their plans. Diana just prayed that whatever Helena did, she would survive. She didn't want her failure to be the cause of the death of her daughter.

Diana saw Helena reach into her belt and immediately knew something was about to happen. She was surprised the Furies around her didn't react, but they didn't know Helena well enough to recognize she was carrying out a plan. They continued to do nothing as Helena fired a Batarang towards the rubble. The Batarang hit the crossbow's trigger and launched an arrow in their direction. It exploded above them and released a blinding light.

Diana knew the light was to serve as a distraction for Helena's attack. She kept her eyes closed and moved back to make sure the Fury holding the blade didn't accidentally slice her neck. Diana felt warm blood splash across her. She no longer felt the blade against her neck. She heard the sound of Helena's boots hit the ground as her daughter landed behind her.

Helena kicked her mother to the ground to keep her safe and out of the way. She had done it too hard, though, and Diana gritted her teeth in pain as the spot on her back where her daughter planted her boot burned with pain. Unable to use her arms to break her fall, she also hit the ground hard. The side of her face stung where it hit the dirt.

Diana could hear her daughter yell as she kicked the Fury who had been holding onto her lasso. The woman still held it as she fell back. She tugged at Diana a bit, but the force of the kick ultimately made her let go of it. Holding on to the rope had helped her retain her balance, though. It proved to be an advantage for Helena as it gave her a nice standing target to attack. Helena made a powerful swing with the blade and decapitated the fury. The blood that sprayed out from the Fury's neck splashed over Helena.

The last fury standing saw what had happened to her compatriots and tried to flee. Helena wouldn't let her go and ran after her. She caught up to the Fury quickly and kicked her in the back to knock her down. Helena stood over the warrior and brought up her blade.

Diana wanted to tell her daughter to stop. She wanted to tell her that was not the way they operated. She tried to yell to Helena but no sound came out of her mouth.

Diana flinched as Helena forced her blade down into the back of the Fury. Her body went motionless as Helena stabbed her in the heart. After confirming the girl was dead, Helena yanked the blade out of her body. She looked down at the vanquished warrior as she held the blade by her side. The blood on the blade slowly dripped off and onto the ground.

The ground shook slightly from something that happened in the battle and it broke Helena out of her temporary daze. She looked back at her mother lying helplessly on the ground. She ran over to her and dropped the blade on the ground in front of her mother. Diana took a close look at the blade that had done so much damage.

"Hang on," her daughter said to her as she knelt behind her. She started undoing the knot of the lasso. "No one else is paying any attention to us luckily. We're safe for now."

As Helena worked at her bonds Diana looked around at the carnage. She suddenly remembered there had been a fourth Fury and she looked around for it. Her eyes quickly came across the woman's body lying in a pool of blood. Helena had apparently sliced her throat open as the first move in her attack.

Helena worked her hands free and Diana could immediately fell her power returning to her. As she pushed herself up she winced slightly as her back still hurt her.

"Sorry Mom, I guess I really kicked you too hard there." Helena was trying to hide it, but Diana could tell she was scanning her body to make sure she was all right.

"I'm okay, honey," she said to try and reassure her. Diana copied her daughter and inspected her body to make sure she was okay. She had blood splattered on her from the attacks she made, but no wounds. Diana was surprised how well her daughter was holding up after killing four women.

As Diana continued scanning her daughter she noticed things going dark suddenly. She looked up to see the sky completely filled with warships. It was so full Helena could hardly see a speck of sky. It appeared that Lash's reinforcements had come in for the battle.

"We're hovering above the camp, Your Highness," the admiral said to Maril.

Maril should have admonished the admiral for only addressing her and not Rex as well. They had much larger worries then such formalities, however. "What do the scanners show?"

The officer at the station revealed what he saw. "The area over the camp is filled with ships. It's impossible to see through them and to the camp itself. I have no idea what is happening on the ground."

"It doesn't matter, if we have to go down and wing it, we will do just that. Is there any indication we have been spotted."

"They are starting to turn in our direction."

Maril thought for a moment about what they needed to do. She wanted to get the troops on the ground as soon as possible. With all those airships over the camp it was going to be hard to get the transports to the ground. Maril smiled as she remembered all the Tamaranian and Thanagarian troops could fly.

"What are you smiling about?" Rex asked her.

"Do you trust me to make a decision here myself?" she asked her husband as she didn't want to leave him out of any decision making.

"I will back you up on any decision you make," he replied.

"Send the order to the transports to release their troops now. They are going to have to fly to the ground themselves. Have the warships cover us on the way down." She took a look over at Rex and broadened her smile. "Do you want to be my wingman for the attack?" she asked him.

"I will follow you anywhere," he replied.

Helena took a deep breath as she looked up and saw the airships that filled the sky. This was the big counterattack they had been expecting. She hoped the League was ready for it.

Helena's thoughts turned to her mother and whether or not she was okay. If she wasn't, Helena was going to have to find a way to get her to safety and away from the fighting. She looked down at her mother and extended a hand to her. "Need help getting up?" she asked.

Her mother took her hand and Helena pulled her up. She watched her mother's motions carefully to look for any sign of injury. She appeared to move fine.

"I'm fine," Diana said as she knew exactly what Helena was doing. She wiped some dirt off herself as she returned to sizing up the attack force that had come after them.

"You've dealt with Apokolips before," Helena began. "What do you think they're going to do?"

"Just launch a chaotic all-out assault," Diana answered.

As the two of them looked up at the sky they saw the lower airships beginning to fire indiscriminately at the ground. The airships at all levels opened their bay doors. Battle robots and parademons began falling out and descending to the ground.

Helena's mother flew up to meet them and her daughter shouted after her. "Mom," she shouted. Her mother ignored her. Helena seethed with anger as she braced herself for the forces to land. She took another look at the fleet above them and saw some of the ships in the upper level were turning away from the ground and up to the sky. She immediately started thinking that they might be turning to face the Tamaraneans. She tried to put that thought out of her mind as she didn't want to get her hopes up.

She turned her attention back to her mother and watched her as she flew straight up and was met by a falling robot. The robot grabbed onto Diana and she tried to fight her off. She was unable to do so as a second and a third robot grabbed onto her. The weight of the three and the stress of fighting them caused her to slowly start falling back to the ground.

Helena was worried about her mother, but couldn't do anything. She couldn't afford to watch what happened to her mother either as the robots and parademons were starting to land on the ground. She ran to the nearest robot and jumped on its back. It flailed around as it tried to reach back and grab her.

Helena tore one of its arms off and threw it at a nearby parademon, knocking it to the ground. She looked back up at the sky to try and find what was happening to her mother when she saw several of the airships being rocked by explosions. Someone was firing at them from above. Helena's heart leapt up into her chest. She now knew that Maril and Rex were up there. She let out a yell of joy.

Helena turned her attention back to the robot she had grabbed onto. She ripped off its other arm and fired it at another parademon. She looked back up into the sky and saw Tamaranean and Thanagarian troops falling around the airships and firing at the parademons and robots coming out of them.

Helena tore the head off the battle robot and it fell to the ground, unable to do anything. She started attacking the parademons around her as the Tamaranean and Thanagarian troops flew overhead. With the arrival of Maril's forces, Helena figured the skies would be safe enough for the Batwing to make it out to Kansas. She activated the homing beacon on her belt. She hoped that Barbara remembered what to do.

The robots and parademons were greatly confused by having to watch for both troops in the air and superheroes on the ground. If they went after a superhero on the ground they found themselves taken out by the blaster of a flying troop. If they fired at the troops firing around they found themselves torn to pieces by a superhero.

With the aid of the Tamaraneans and Thanagarians, Helena quickly took out most of the parademons and robots around her. She saw several parademons running for the safety of the command tower and followed them in through the hole that had been blown in the wall. She carefully stepped around the dead bodies of the Furies she had killed moments earlier, grabbing her crossbow as she went inside. She followed them room to room, knocking them out one at a time. Just as she took out the last one she felt the tower shake as she heard one of the outer walls take a major hit. She wondered if it was her mother or Superman, and headed for where she had heard the destruction.