AN: To whom it may interest, chapter 1 has gotten an overhaul on 17/04/2021, thanks to Thotha's beta-reading.


Chapter 1: Uninvited Guests

This, of all their throne rooms, was the one littered with the most ostentatious ornamentation.

There was a towering painted window with elegant shapes of red coloration upon a golden backdrop across the back wall. The floorwork held its pattern, two rows of dots that led from the front entrance to the foot of the stairs up to the thrones. Ivory columns, plated in gold at their base, flanked the path to the throne. At the center of the room, atop a platform on a solitary column, there were two thrones; on those thrones, Apokolips' king and queen sat side by side.

On the right, a helmeted man of well-muscled stature garbed in a navy-blue attire that was so form-fitting that it seemed more like a layer of skin than clothing. His skin was grey and rock-like in apparent texture, a dark contrast to his bright, burning red eyes.

On the left, a woman with a similarly muscular build; however, her garments were not as unearthly. A pair of black jeans adorned her legs and a red tube-top that was lined with gold at the top covered her chest. The silver band around her waist was the only article that would be foreign to a human observer. Her eyes were icy blue and piercing, her hair black as coal.

A well-aged woman in armor stood in front of them. A familiar sensation distracted them both from Granny Goodness's report.

"I will attend to this," said Diana, without looking at the king.

Darkseid said nothing, seemingly ignoring his queen's words. He remained stoic on his throne. With a slight but commanding wave of his hand, Granny continued giving her report.

Calmly, Diana stepped off the platform, gliding down to the floor under her own power. Once on the ground, she began to walk.

"I am quite aware that you are watching me, so you may as well dispense with the pretense that you are not," thought Diana aloud, wandering out the gate. The fiery and dreary cityscape of Apokolips welcomed her eyes.

"You are scarcely the first one to employ some psionic trick or magical nonsense to spy on us, so that compels me to wonder why you are. Care to chat? You might have an original reason in mind, and be something that I have yet to hear of. No?"

She smiled. These people, hero or villain, never seemed so inclined.

"Very well, then I will conclude that you are of the second category of intruder and decided to survey this world to learn what drove Diana the noble amazon hero to join the terrible Darkseid." A satisfied smirk broke out on her face, sensing the uneasy mood that seeped into her surroundings.

"It was almost two hundred years ago that Darkseid returned from where he and Luthor had been sent by the Anti-Life Equation. Though he remembered nothing of the experiences inside, he came back with enough power to calm the civil wars that harrowed Apokolips, and finally end the eternal feud between the New God factions."

"Earth was the next world he targeted, and almost destroyed. Over three terrible years, his armies invaded the earth, succeeding in reducing cities to rubble and slaying thousands of innocent people. Even with every hero that the Justice League counted among its members, their battle was a losing one."

"There was not a week where we did not lose a friend to his Parademons and other horrors. Worse, some of the heroes were abducted back to Apokolips, to be empowered and made his minion against us. I scarcely remember what they all became after Desaad was finished with them, just that having to fight and sometimes kill our allies took its toll on our morale."

"I never understood exactly what Darkseid did to them. All I knew for certain was that they had experienced terrible things. Then Darkseid captured me. It was a battle at the start of the war's second year– a battle he attended to personally. Both sides suffered catastrophic losses, and by the end of the carnage, only he and I survived. However, I was in no condition to resist him taking me prisoner to Apokolips."

"I was shown endless visions to erode my beliefs, day in and day out. What good is compassion for others if it opens you to be exploited by them? What value does free will hold, in a society where your place is decided for you from birth until death and is provided everything you need for that, and everything is truly better because of it?"

"I resisted his dogma, for quite a while as I recall, but all strength has its limits… even mine. After a month of endless mental battering, I recognized that he, indeed, understood better than I what it took to bring peace and order to the world, and he returned me to Earth. The eleventh and fourteenth Warhound squads were given to me as my first forces."

Her smirk grew predatory as she recalled what followed.

"My five comrades in the Justice League were the first among the heroes of Earth to fall by my hand. J'onn was the hardest. Bruce was the easiest. Shayera's was the most satisfying. I ripped her wings off, you know. I still remember her screams. Surprised to hear me speak so openly of that? Then you aren't a very good listener, stranger."

Far from Apokolips, in a distant region of space, within a mountain-side cottage, a Thanagarian sorcerer sat down. His mood was one of dismay. He had hoped to glean military information, not her history.

"Does this answer your questions, stranger?" asked Diana, silently. "If so, I suggest that you tell me what backwater planet you're hiding out on. It honestly makes no difference to me. My husband and I have eternity to search the universe for you. I have spies across this galaxy of mine, but most cultures would be quite furious to learn that they suffered for your sake."

Two of the Coluan psychics wondered if she was expecting them to tell her that. The mage leaned back in his chair, looking glumly outside. In a strange land, a stranger turned away.