Uncanny Wonder Woman

Chapter 11: Mark of the Gorgon- Part 1

By

The Uncanny R-Man

Disclaimer- All familiar characters belong to DC.

&&&&&

Boston-

It was approaching early evening in the city of Boston. It was Hippolyta's first night out fighting crime on her own. So far she had foiled two muggings and one jewel robbery. She never knew that Patriarch's World was so violent. There wasn't any crime on Themyscira. The Amazons had everything that they wanted, so there was no need to resort to robbery and the like.

Hippolyta landed on the roof of a nearby building and watched the warehouse opposite. Diana had told her of something called the 'drug trade'. Gangsters smuggling narcotics all around the world. Even though such things were highly illegal, it still went on. The men even sold drugs to children. That made Hippolyta very angry. Men peddling filth to the young. That was precisely why the Amazons had retired to Themyscira, to get away from men and their various wicked ways.

Hippolyta watched as a plain black van pulled up and several figures started to unload sacks from the back.

Hippolyta didn't need x-ray vision to guess that those sacks contained drugs.

The Queen of the Amazons had seen enough, she flew down towards the drug smugglers, clobbering one of them on the side of the head.

'Crap! It's Wonder Woman!' The guy in charge yelled. 'Kill her!'

'Wait a minute! Since when was Wonder Woman blonde?' One thug noticed.

'Yeah, there was a redhead one a while back, too!' Another thug remembered.

'How many Wonder Women are there, anyway?' The first thug wondered out loud.

'Who cares?' Another thug shrugged. 'Kill her anyway!'

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

The thugs all opened fire at Hippolyta, but the Queen of the Amazons easily deflected the bullets with her unbreakable bracelets.

'You men have no right to be here.' Hippolyta stated as she grabbed one thug by the wrist. 'You should be tossed into the pits of Tartarus for peddling your filth to children.'

Hippolyta snapped the thug's wrist with one quick twist, eliciting a yell of pain from him, and also making him drop his fun.

'Ahh! Bitch!' The thug hissed through gritted teeth. 'I'll carve ya up like a Thanksgiving turkey!'

The thug reached into his jacket and pulled out a knife. he charged at Hippolyta with a fierce yell. The Queen of the Amazons just stood her ground. Once the thug was within range, she dealt him a nasty punch to the face, sending him crashing into two of his fellows.

'Now, I am not without mercy...' Hippolyta told the thugs. 'So I will give you one last chance to surrender and turn yourselves in to the authorities.'

The sound of cocking handguns was the thugs' only response.

'Very well.' Hippolyta nodded in understanding. 'You leave me no other choice...'

&&&&&

Justice League Watchtower-

Hippolyta had shown the drug-dealing thugs the meaning of Amazon justice and had given them all a sound pounding. She was presently strolling through the Justice League Watchtower. Protecting the city of Boston wasn't Hippolyta's only duty now that she had taken over from Diana as Wonder Woman, it was also her duty to protect the whole Planet Earth with the Justice League. Sure, standing in a structure many miles above the planet was still a little disconcerting for the Queen of the Amazons, but she was getting used to it. She had to admit, Earth looked so beautiful when it was viewed from space.

Hippolyta raised her hand in greeting to some of her fellow Leaguers. Their names were Atom Smasher, Vigilante, and Hawkman if her memory served her correctly.

Hippolyta entered the cafeteria and marvelled at the sheer volume of people there. Even though so many people were gathered in the cafeteria, you could always bet that there were even more down on the Earth fighting evil.

Hippolyta stood in line behind Stargirl and started to peruse the selection of food available. Hippolyta had never seen such a huge amount of food, and the feasts on Themyscira weren't exactly small either. Hippolyta selected some kind of pasta dish. Diana had recommended the pasta in the cafeteria. Something to do with the cheese, apparently.

Once Hippolyta had selected her food, she helped herself to a coffee and looked for a place to sit. Unfortunately, most of the seats were taken by various other Leaguers gathered in their respective cliques.

Hippolyta headed for a table where a man dressed in a dark blue cat-like costume was sitting. His companions were a young blond man who was wearing what seemed to be some kind of green military uniform and a black guy with what seemed to be a black T-shaped symbol stuck to his face.

'I do not mean to disturb you...' Hippolyta said as she approached the table. 'But may I sit here?'

The man dressed in the dark blue feline suit stood up and offered Hippolyta his seat.

'Sure, go ahead.' The man smiled kindly.

Hippolyta thanked the man with a slight smile and took a seat.

'I'm Wildcat, by the way.' The guy introduced himself. 'The blond kid is Sand, and the fella with the T stuck to his face is Mr Terrific.'

'Pleasure to meet you.' Sand nodded.

'Welcome to the League.' Mr Terrific smiled. 'Are you enjoying your time here so far?'

'It is certainly... different.' Hippolyta explained. 'This Watchtower is like nothing I have ever seen before.'

'Yeah, we all kinda felt the same way when we joined up.' Wildcat chuckled. 'But I bet it wuz much different fer you. yer the Queen of the Amazons, right? You ain't never been in space before, have ya?'

'I have not.' Hippolyta shook her head. 'It takes a little time to adjust.'

'Is it true what the other Leaguers are saying about Diana?' sand asked. 'Y'know, why she's stepped down as Wonder Woman?'

'Sand, you are such a gossip.' Mr Terrific tutted. 'Hippolyta doesn't want to spread any gossip. All she wants to do is have a nice peaceful meal.'

'Sorry.' Sand smiled apologetically. 'It's just that Supergirl has a habit of spreading rumours about the other members of the League. Do you guys remember that rumour that was going around about Green Arrow having a son by a different woman?'

'Canary wasn't happy about that.' Wildcat shook his head in sympathy. 'But anyway, we ain't gonna discuss whether GA's got a secret lovechild to another woman. That's old news.'

Hippolyta just listened to her fellow Leaguers talk. It almost seemed that it was impossible to keep a secret around here. Especially when the main gossip-monger had super-hearing...

&&&&&

Gotham City-

Batman was doing his rounds in Gotham City. He had been riding through the streets in his Batmobile listening out for any trouble on his Bat-Police Scanner. Some security guards in the Gotham City Natural History Museum had reported an intruder on the premises, so Batman headed in that direction.

The Dark Knight was stalking through the museum's exhibits being careful to avoid any of the security guards. He had to be careful not to surprise the guys and end up getting shot.

Batman stopped in his tracks when he felt himself tread in something. He looked down and saw a dark puddle of liquid on the ground. Batman knelt down to examine the dark liquid. He could tell by the sticky texture and metallic smell that the liquid was blood. Human blood. The Dark Knight then notice the half-concealed figure of one of the security guards lying facedown on the ground.

Batman turned the dead security guard over. The poor man's throat had been torn out. Parts of his body had been eaten as well. Batman's first thought was that Killer Croc was the perpetrator of this mess, but there was something with the body that didn't match to Croc's usual MO.

Batman stood upright as he heard something move above his head. He took out a batarang just in case.

'Hola, Batman.' A Spanish-accented voice growled from the shadows above the Dark Knight's head. 'It is such a pleasure to meet you again.'

Then Batman realised who had killed the guard. It was the male Cheetah that he and Wonder Woman had encountered during a charity ball several weeks ago.

'There's no use throwing that thing at me.' Sebastian growled as he stalked Batman. 'I am far quicker and stronger than you. Besides, I'm not the one you have to worry about.'

'Silver Swan.' Batman surmised. The male Cheetah had been accompanied by a woman with razor-sharp wings and claws.

'Wrong.' Sebastian chuckled. 'I do believe that you two have met before though.'

Batman realised his mistake when he heard the sound of many snakes hissing from behind him.

'Medusa...'

TBC...

&&&&&

Next: Mark of the Gorgon- Part 2

Will Wonder Woman be able to rescue Batman from the clutches of Medusa? Tune in next time to find out...