The Onslaught War: New Tales of the Amazons #11

Disclaimer: all character are property of their respective owners.

Spoilers: general spoilers for the Amalgam Comics line

Author Note: This was originally written in 2003, and as such based on the DC and Marvel universes as they existed at the time. Also, it's written as if it was a crossover event, with every chapter being a different issue from some time wildly different comics.

A.N. 2: revised by JediKnight, from TtH.

A.N. 3: for those unfamiliar with Amalgam Comics, this page, this one or this other two provide the most general information about the setting. Also at the end of each chapter I'll do a little glossary of the new characters introduced in the chapter.

New Tales of the Amazons #11

Meetings and travels

.

Crossover with The Onslaught War

Story written by Antonio Cabanas

Somewhere

Ororo found herself standing before a brazier, clad in her armor instead of the everyday clothes she had been wearing a moment before. As her eyes got used to the light, she saw that she was in a room where the floor, walls and ceiling were made of white marble; other than a small hole in the ceiling where the smoke of the brazier dissipated.

"Where am I?" Wonder Woman asked, more to herself than to anybody who could be listening. She had gone with Kurt to the airport to meet Ray and Maddie after their honeymoon, and suddenly she had been transported here, wherever it was.

"You are in Olympia, my child." a voice said, one that she immediately recognized as belonging to Hera, Queen of the Eternal Olympics and one of her people patron goddesses. Ororo immediately knelt upon hearing her voice.

"Excuse my shamelessness, Mistress Hera, but why have you brought me here?."

"You are excused, my child. But my stepson Herakles..." Ororo could swear that she had seen Hera sneer after mentioning Herakles, "...can explain you better what has happened." she said before leaving the room.

As if he had been waiting outside, which wouldn't be very surprising, Herakles entered the room.

"Greetings, Amazon! My father had been expecting you." he said, "Follow me to his palace."

"Of course, milord Herakles." Ororo said, following him.

"A simply Herakles would suffice, Amazon. I'm not given to formalities." he said, and his face grew serious when he asked, "How is your mother? Apollo told me about her illness."

"She is in bad shape, Herakles. Hecate's curse is advancing faster than we thought." Ororo said.

"Hecate? That triple faced bitch!" Herakles said, anger evident in his voice, and then he breathed deep, making an effort to calm himself, before he said to Ororo in a more conversational tone, "My apologies, Amazon. I was under the impression her illness was natural, it seems that I was wrong. Circe is here, if you want to talk to her about what can be done..."

"My thanks, Herakles." she said as they reached the steps of the Palace of Zeus, leader of the Eternal Olympics, "Where is she?"

"Probably in counsel with my father. She was the one who suggested bringing you to us, Princess." Herakles took a deep breath "We are gearing for a war, after a sneak attack by the New Asgods."

"The Asgods? But I thought..." Ororo said.

"We also thought that we were friends, but the attack was commanded by the Lightbringer himself, and he said that they counted with the support of Odin Highfather." Herakles explained with a troubled face. He had counted the Lightbringer as a friend, had all been for naught?

"Could all of this be a terrible error, Herakles?" Ororo said, "After all, Thanoseid has tried before to start a war between the New Asgods and the Eternal Olympics."

"That's the reason Zeus is trying to speak with Odin, to defuse this situation before it escalates into a full-blown war." Herakles said.

Themyscira.

Diana Prince was walking through the roads of Paradise Island thinking. The best healers of the Amazons were taking care of her husband, Trevor Castle, but even they weren't more able to awaken him from the coma that the Man's world doctors had been. After helping the Speed Demon against Night Spectre, Trevor had fallen into a deep coma without a definite cause.

'This, on top of my mother illness.' Diana though, 'Why now, just as we seemed to be reaching a semblance of happiness?"

She looked toward the horizon, toward a storm which had been forming just outside of the "bubble" of moderate weather that surrounded the island, and then saw a plane going to crash. There was a nearby harbor, and she ordered the Amazons there to set a ship.

They sailed to the place where the plane had crashed in the sea. The aircraft, of a design that Diana found familiar but she could not place it, was still floating, but it had several fissures in the fuselage. As they approached one of the doors of the craft, it blew off, and on the now open door appeared Runaway of the JLX.

"Diana! Ah'm glad to see ya!" she said, a relieved expression on her face.

"Do you need help?" Diana asked.

"Yeah, X an' Maddie are unconscious, an' Ah'm the only wun who can fly." she said,

"Well, those who can get out without help..."

Nightcreeper, Iceberg and Chaos were on the sailing vessel before Diana could finish speaking. Almost immediately Blue Beast jumped out with Cyforge and Mr. X, and Runaway brought Maddie and Mr. X hoverchair. The aircraft was beginning to sink when the amazon vessel began to sail to harbor.

Olympia

"So the Asgods really want war." Herakles stated.

"I fear so, my son. Odin was overly offensive and not only repeated what the Lightbringer said on your confrontation, he added that he was seeking assistance from Thanoseid." he shook his head, "Even Athena cannot find the logic of this."

He turned his gaze to the Amazon, who was standing between Herakles and Circe with a pensive expression.

"Amazon, as you probably knows better than me, the Asgods has friends between the superhuman paladins of the mortal realm, and if all of this... charade is for real, they may try to recruit some of them for this conflict. I want you to talk with your friends to avoid this, and if it's possible to ascertain what is really going on New Asgard." he took a sip of nectar before continuing, "Circe, I want you to go with them. Since Hecate's fall, you have shown your loyalty, and you are smart, and do understand the mortal realm better than most of us. After all, you have been there and interacted with mortals more recently than any of us."

"As you wish, milord." Circe said, with an expressionless face.

Themyscira

"The healers had said that they will be awake in a few hours." Diana said to Blue Beast.

"Thanks God! When that thunderbolt hit the Wavecruiser I thought that we were doomed." Ted said, "Better leave that for the X-Patrol."

"Unfortunately, time waits for nobody." Dr. StrangeFate said, sitting over the low wall.

"What are you doing here, sorcerer?" Diana demanded.

"A great evil had been created. Even with my usual... collaborators, it is too strong for me to handle." he said, "And what it's worse, it wants a Universal Armageddon."

"Has somebody made another Infinity Loop?" McCoy asked, he had been retired when Thanoseid unleashed the Secret Crisis, but had heard about what happened back then from Wonder Gold.

"No, thank the Vishanti for small favors." StrangeFate answered, and then got down from the wall and started to explain, "That evil is manipulating events to start a conflict that in time will expand to encompass the entire universe. It will feed in the energies freed in the conflict, growing even stronger. And when its power has grown strong enough, it will destroy the universe to start a new one, made to conform to its whims." He leaned on the wall, and let out a sigh, "It's a great manipulator, even now I'm not aware of the full extent of its machinations."

"So, we could be doing exactly what this unseen enemy wants us to do." Ted said.

"Exactly, its true objectives have proved to be pretty elusive so far. I don't like to plan without knowing what I'm going to find."

"Welcome to how the rest of us feel dealing with you." McCoy snarked, and then said with a sigh "Ok, Doc, do you want the help of the JLX?"

"Yes. There is a part of its plan that I have managed to discern and, more importantly, we can thwart."

"And why not go to the JLA?" Diana asked.

"If what I have gleaned is correct, the JLA is going to have their hands full for a few hours." StrangeFate said cryptically, "Besides, I am in a hurry, a significant part of the JLX is here, and the JLA would need an hour to gather a significant enough force to help me."

"And I am an added bonus." Diana said.

"Exactly, princess." StrangeFate acknowledged.

"With Wondy and Apollo missing, I'm the field leader of the team." McCoy said, "We are going with you, StrangeFate."

"Me too. Since Trevor fell in a coma, and my mother fell ill, I have been inactive, and it's eating on me." Diana said, "I need something to do."

Greece, close to Mount Olympus

The JLA quinjet landed in Greece, near where the two women stood. Ororo saw Canary and Marvel at the door, and she could see Goliath in the cockpit.

"Ororo." Canary said, with an unreadable expression.

"Dinah, Captain." Wonder Woman answered, not sure of how they were going to answer.

"How do you dare go back after you left for that pack of outlaws?" Captain Marvel said hotly.

"I did what I had to do." Ororo answered, "You both knew, as well as me, that the Armageddon Agenda was immoral. Besides, I'm also a metamutant."

"But still, associating with a Skrull..." Captain Marvel said.

"You know better than me that neither race's hands were clean in that conflict." Ororo said.

Captain Marvel didn't answer, turning instead back inside.

"So, you want to come back?" Dinah said.

"Technically, I'm still a reserve member of the JLA." Ororo answered.

"Yes, but why did you reactive your commission so suddenly?"

"There are problems ahead, and the JLA is going to be involved, either way." Ororo said, with a sidelong glance to Circe.

Themyscira

Diana leaned over her husband, and kissed his cheek.

"See you later, Trevor." she said to him, and then she asked to the healer, "How is my mother?"

"In a bad shape, Your Highness." the healer said, "Hecate's curse is robbing her of her vitality bit a bit. We have her asleep as much as possible to help to preserve her strength, but even that it's only delaying the inevitable."

"I know, I know." Diana said, having heard the same many times since Hyppolita illness was diagnosed. "There is no hope for her, then?"

"Now everything is in the hands of the Gods, Your Highness." the healer answered, shaking her head.

She nodded and left the room. She was wearing now the same costume that she had worn when she arrived with Trevor to the island, her current battle uniform, so to speak, a black top, a black leather jacket with gold trim and skull decorations, leather pants held by a golden belt, and black leather boots, and a satchel with her weapons. The members of the JLX that were awaken and StrangeFate were waiting for her in the courtyard.

"Are you ready?" StrangeFate asked impatiently.

"Yes, I am." she said looking directly at him.

"Good." he said, as he waved his hands and they disappeared from Earth.

When they rematerialized in a desolated wasteland, Diana glimpsed in the place that StrangeFate had occupied, a being clad in a dark red armor crowned with a black version of StrangeFate's helmet, before the being disappeared.

"Where are we? Where is StrangeFate?" Chaos asked, bewildered.

"We have been taken for fools, as I doubt that he was StrangeFate." Diana answered, "And to answer your first question, we are on the worst planet of the Universe. Apokolips."

Some mysteries begin to be revealed on StrangeFate Onslaught War Special, and we know more about the mysterious character who has impersonated StrangeFate on The Onslaught War #2.

Disclaimer: Antonio Cabanas (me) have created Blue Beast, Cyforge and Maddie DaCosta. Marvel and DC own the Amalgam Universe.

Amalgams

Canary [Black Canary/Mockingbird]: Dinah Morse, ex-agent of SHIELD

Diana Prince [Wonder Woman/Punisher elements]: expatriate Amazon Princess, wife of Trevor Castle, adoptive sister of Wonder Woman.
Goliath [Green Arrow/Giant Man, Hawkeye]: Oliver "Ollie" Queen.

Hyppolita [DC]: Queen of the Amazons, mother of Diana and adoptive mother of Ororo.
Hera [Hera, Juno/Hera]: queen of the Eternal Olympics.
Herakles [Herakles, Hercules/Hercules, Ikaris?]: son of Zeus, former paramour of Hyppolita.

Trevor Castle [Steve Trevor/Frank Castle]: The Punisher, husband of Diana Prince, friend of Orion

Zeus [Zeus, Jupiter/Zeus, Zuras?]: king of the Eternal Olympics