What to do about Magik Gotham style?
Author's note: I quite enjoyed using the song Unstoppable as there are so may fan youtubes of that song set to the first Wonder Woman film. Well, onwards to the last chapter of this story arch. I suppose this chapter explores, in part, why Illyana avoids being in change in the comics.
Part 10a: End of Jacuzzi time
"You've never been to Disney land?" Was both Harley's and Ivy's surprised outcries.
"No… what's the big deal? It's just an amusement park."
Ivy and Harley exchanged a look before Harley exclaimed. "It's Disneyland!"
Illyana sifted a bit to realign the jets just so. "So…? The New Mutants took me to Coney island once, where I learned I don't like roller coasters. Barfed all over Roberto afterwards, which served him right as it was his idea to drag me onto that evil contraption."
A frown from Ivy. "Disneyland is much more than an amusement part."
While Harley added. "How is it possible that you've never been to the kingdom of the mouse?"
A shrug from Illyana as she stood (sigh, time to exit the Jacuzzi and get ready for the show at the Iceberg). "I grew up in Limbo, afterwards the Professor and later Magneto were not big on such things."
The other two stood as Harley decided. "Well, next time you're here, let us take you to Disney."
Three light disks shimmered into existence and descended upon the three, and as the disks and a the disks passed over their bodies, the bathing suits were replaced with formal wear, and of course their hair was done and markup applied.
"Now that is practical magic." Commented Ivy as she looked at her reflection. "Ready?"
"Ready." Echoed back the other two as light disks teleported them to the Iceberg and a fun evening.
Part 10b: Aftermath
Dust.
The clatter of falling stones.
The roar of the collapse reverberating about the arena.
Echoes that slowly died away to silence as the shifting of stone ceased.
Leaving the stillness of the grave.
A rumble of shifting rock thrust aside as a battered Diana emerged from the rocky debris, she was on her hands and knees as she had pushed the stones away, then she rolled onto to her side with a cry of pain, showing an equally battered Illyana, still in her Darkchilde form, who had been beneath Diana.
Diana's panting from the ordeal briefly paused as a weak whispered comment could be heard from Illyana.
"You… are… the… shitiest… of… hosts."
Which caused Diana to give a choking kind of laugh that quickly ended in a groan as it really hurt to laugh, before uttering her own kind of a whispered reply.
"I shielded you, you're welcome by the way."
"With your ass." Was the less then appreciative whispered reply.
A slight frown from Diana, which resulted in the discovery that frowning also hurt and the realization that everything was likely going to hurt, before she disagreed. "With my body."
A definite negatory from Illyana. "Butt. That ginormous hinny of yours. Which I admit is attached to your body as it serves as the butt's life support system."
A comment that did motivate Diana to resume the fight, just after she was done resting here for oh… the next week or so. "My butt is not that big."
Illyana pointed out that… "It's big enough to shield two people. I see why everybody's always talking about it."
"What?"
"Your butt. Everybody is always talking about it when you're not around."
"They do not!" An exclamation that Diana regretted as her ribs informed her that why yes, more then a few parts of her body were most unhappy with management. Now Diana was not that body conscious, but she did get to see endless footage of herself and the resulting endless media criticism. And most infuriating, so many comments were always about how she looked and not her heroic actions; something the male heroes were almost always given a pass on. Which might, just might, make Diana think her ass could be just a tad… a tinny smidgen… larger then she wanted.
Illyana gave a pained chuckle. "Grande. Zeppelin grade. Man, check out her badunkadunk. Folks go on and on about it all the time. Lex even has a room dedicated to it, filled with big screen TVs and a single leather recliner. Supposedly the TVs continually show various photos and videos of your giggling asshemoth as he likes to call it. Sometimes he uses other pet names like buttzilla and cheeks."
"What!" And again her ribs complained, but with time with a written formal union grievance detailing their plans of actions if their concerns were not met.
Illyana went on. "You must have some idea as to how many websites are focused on your posterior, heck you make Nightwing's numbers look small. And there are twenty three version of Sir Mixalot's classic that focus on your most prominent of features. Anyway, Lex calls the place The Wanktorium for some reason. Sometimes Power Girl is the guest video star whenever he's focused on other parts of the female body because he finds you um… inadequate in that way."
"Inadequate!" That's it, the ribs declared a strike, leaving Diana gasping for breath before she finally whispered a reply. "That can't possible be true." Suffice it to say Diana was well equipped in the frontal department and nobody had ever before called her inadequate in that way.
"He says 'why settle for Choice when you can have Prime?'"
Choice?
Prime?
OMG Lex was comparing various female heroes grades of meat. Bovine meat!
"I'm going to kill him." Was Dian's whispered reply, whispered because the ribs really were threatening a complete walkout at this point. "Unless this is all some kind of lie."
"Toss me your lasso and I'll prove it."
Diana started to shift… and stopped. Nope, that was really going to take more then she had at the moment. "Um… later."
"Later?"
"Later… hurts too much."
Chuckles from Illyana before it was her turn to complain about the pain of laughing.
Diana stated, in a suddenly suspicious tone. "Your pulling my leg aren't you?"
A few more pained chuckles. "Yeah."
A sigh from Diana, and a soft chuckle of her own. "You. Evil. Bitch."
"Yeah… I get that sometimes. Likely why Emma wants me to dress all black and spikey for the Hellfire gala, remind all the guests just what is on Mutant side."
That statement was interesting, but Diana did not bother to follow it up, instead she went with sarcasm. "Sometimes?"
A touch of sarcastic tone from Illyana. "Who started this fight?"
"Okay, I'll give you that."
"Thanks, yeah, I was mostly pulling your leg."
"Um… Mostly?"
"Mostly."
Mostly did not sound… as good as it implied... Well… Diana was too hurt and tired to follow up.
A slight clatter of pebbles as, out of sight, Illyana shifted, groaned and then said. "Now I get it."
"Get what?"
"Logan has a saying about fights. Sometimes you're the penguin, sometimes you're the seal." For those who don't know what means, in the Antarctic seals are the main predator of penguins.
"Um…. wise man. Who's who here?"
"I think we've both are kind of penguins." Stated Illyana with a bit of a pained laugh.
A pause, then a question from Diana on a topic that has so bothered her. "Why did you invite them of all people?" Gods, they had kept taking selfies with Diana, her mother, and Amazons in general. Which Diana just knew was going to show up on Facebook and other locations.
A slight pause from Illyana before she answered. "I was getting the vibe that my choice was not… appreciated."
"Nooooo…." Was Diana's slow negatory. "Lex in drag would have been a better choice."
A comment that did cause Illyana to giggle. "I completely blanked on who to pick, not like I know many people here, and the Bat clan was a non starter as that could be compromising for both them and you. Pammy and Harley were apparently no longer villains, and female, and the only non Bat females I know so I picked them. I contemplated Mazikeen but decided against her."
"One such as her would not have been allowed." Was Dania's stern reply.
Illyana gave a cough, before pointing out. "The invite did not have any restrictions."
"But to bring a demon…" Diana did not finish that sentence as was not Illyana one?
Illyana was a tad annoyed about the dismissal of Mazikeen. "Perhaps I should have brought Max, she'd have gotten on great with most of the Amazons."
"In what possible way?"
"She's a great fighter, loves to talk about fighting and gods help us all if the topic of male castration comes up, which it always does, as I'm sure many of your Amazons would just love her stories. But drinking would be involved and then the inevitable. I figured bringing Harley and Ivy was a better choice as Mazikeen would likely have started a war before the night was over."
No response as Diana chewed on that answer, but Illyana did add. "Likely a fun war but… no… the Bat would be all upset at me so ixnay on Mazikeenay. But if you want I could teleport her…"
Diana hastily interrupted. "No, that's all right. No need for her as well."
Illyana had an unseen smile. "Okay… but she really is fun."
"No… I think I've had enough fun for now."
The conversation ended for a moment as the two of them lay there in the shattered rocks and watched the clouds in the sky. After the pause Illyana completely switched topics as she suddenly stated.
"And now at last it comes. You will give me the Ring freely! In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!"
It was from Lord of the Rings, a book that Diana was familiar with. Why she could almost picture it…
LORD OF THE RINGS BOOK INTERLUDE
She lifted up her hand and from the ring that she wore there issued a great light that illuminated her alone and left all else dark. She stood before Frodo seeming now tall beyond measurement, and beautiful beyond enduring, terrible and worshipful. Then she let her hand fall, and the light faded, and suddenly she laughed again, and lo! She was shrunken: a slender elf-woman, clad in simple white, whose gentle voice was soft and sad.
END LORD OF THE RINGS BOOK INTERLUDE
"I pass the test." Illyana finished. "I will diminish, and go into the West and remain Illyana."
Things were suddenly serious, a reminder that the partial demolition of the stadium emphasized as Diana replied
"Quoting Tolkien now? Next you'll be saying that Sauron was misunderstood."
"Mairon." Was Illyana's reply.
"Hu?"
"Mairon, that was his name, before he fell to the whispering and guile of Melkor."
"Right… so Mairon was just misunderstood."
A sigh from Illyana as she shifted, which generated another minor groan and a wince as abused parts of her body registered their complaints, one of which was her very flexible tail which felt like it was sprained, or perhaps even broken. "No, he fell, and in his shame he got to fall a second time, which is quite rare."
"A second time?"
Illyana slightly shifted topics. "Kitty loves Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Growing up with her, when we were roomies, there was always books about. Niven was one of her favorites, also Heinlein, and Tolkien. I'm more non fiction in my preferences but Lord of the Rings did catch my interest.
"The book is very good."
"No, not that, it was… why?"
"Why what?"
"Why did the villains do what they did?"
Diana had a ready answer. "Lust for power, conquest, the desire to do harm to others. Basic evil and such."
Illyana was not in agreement on such simple answers. "Yeah, but why? I'm not talking orcs here, or trolls, I'm talking the main players. Why? They knew better, they were better, they were not made to be such, it was not part of their intrinsic nature. And yet… they did what that did."
"They were evil." Was Diana's reply.
"Again… why?" They were not made that way. They were angels not demons, and yet… they fell."
"Why not ask the devil then?" Was Diana's unthinking reply, then a sudden mental start as she remembered just who she was talking to.
A defiantly cold response from Illyana. "I have. They all have different reasons for falling. Most… lie. Blame others for their failings, deficiencies, claim mistakes were made or that they are the victims of conspiracies. The reality is most… chose, almost none claim to have been created to be the way they are, unlike… myself. So… why did what should have been good people decided to deliberately choose to do what was wrong? After I was brought back, after… some really bad things, that question became more then just an abstract philosophical question for me."
Illyana's tone shifted from cold to musing.
"When the Ainur finally overthrew Melkor and exiled him to the unending dark till the time of the ending of the world, and thus the first age ended, many were the workings of Melkor that were thrown down and destroyed. Some servants fled and hid, the last surviving Balrog being one. But one repented. Well, kind of repented, as the power and might of the Ainur, whom he had once been a member of as a Maia, filled his heart with trepidation as he never thought that Melkor could be so overcome, that the Ainur would once again set foot upon Middle Earth. Repented of his deeds but there was also fear in his heart."
Perhaps there was sarcasm was in the heart of Diana but she let it lie as she listened.
"And in his fear of judgment he couldn't bring himself to return to the West and stand before the judgment of the Ainur. Were not all his works fell? And uncountable were his harms. How could there be forgiveness for one such as him? For one who had done all that he had done? So… he hid. He mused, and he came up with a plan."
Diana injected. "To be the second Dark Lord."
An unseen shake of Illyana's head. "No, one of recompense, to do good as he perceived it. To help order the world for the better of all. For was he not Mairon? Had he not been the mightiest Maia of the Vala Aulë? Had he not learned much from Aulë in the ways of smithying and handiwork? Was he not mighty in the lore of" Aulë's people?"
A regretful tone in Illyana's voice. "His greatest virtue, and his flaw, was his love of order and perfection, his dislike of anything wasteful. That was what helped lead to his first downfall as Mairon saw in Melkor the will and power that would help him achieve his own goals and desires faster than if he pursued them alone. However, while Melkor wanted to either control or destroy Middle Earth itself, Mairon desire was to dominate the minds and wills of its creatures for what he perceived to be their own benefit."
"Sounds very much like the ends justify the means." Commented Diana, who also gave a small groan as she shifted due to a particularly sharp rock that was digging into her left thigh.
"The excuses of so many villains." Agreed Illyana. "And so many heroes and politicians as well. The phrase I know what is best for you better than you really does fit the situation."
No response from Diana as Illyana continued.
"After a few centuries, Mairon began to implement his plan, with the best of intentions I suppose. First he ordered the creatures of evil in that he setup a dominion in Mordor, mostly just to gather up the leftovers of Melkor to keep them away from the elves, dwarfs, and humans. But everything else was just so… disorderly, unguided. And the elves just had to go playing with the rules that underwrote all of reality, delving with powers that were beyond them; meaning the early work that was to result in the rings of power."
"The nine for humans, the seven for the dwarfs and the three for the elfs." Added Diana.
"Umm…" Illyana's tone was indicated disagreement. "That was the final outcome, but the elves never meant for any of the rings to be worn other then by them, apart from the one ring that was crafted for Durin, King of Khazad-dûm, such was the friendship between Durin and Celebrimbor. No, the earlier rings, sixteen in all, were the foundations of lore that led to the crafting of the final three."
This… sounded more like she was telling a story she had experienced then reciting a book was Diana's thought. "By elves you mean the Elven smiths of Eregion, including Celebrimbor, the greatest of craftsmen and creator of the rings of power." Added Diana, who really was a secret Tolkien fan girl.
A nod of agreement from Illyana. "Yep, the perfect opportunity to set everything right was Mairon's thought. To arrange the world as it should be run. He so enjoyed that time, actual having… friends of a sort. Peers. But he hid his true intentions, and in so doing, over time, contempt once again entered his heart. Ah, such was his rage at the elves when they discovered his true intents once he forged and wore the one ring as they took the rings from their fingers and thus thwarted his plans. And in that rage, with contempt, and his fear, the second fall was complete as he set himself on the path of complete dominion and conquest, when the plan had been but to create good works so as to prove he was worthy of forgiveness and thus escape judgment for all that he had wrought."
A long pause, then… a tired sounding complaint from Diana.
"Is there a point to this story?"
There was a reason Illyana did not… do certain things. Perhaps Mairon to Sauron was one of the reasons Illyana consistently choose to not rule other then Limbo. She gave a slight sigh as she replied. "No… just musing out loud after my host decides to have a knock down fight with me because of her concerns and fears as she tries to force me to attempt to kill her and thus demonstrate my evil plan."
With a groan Diana pushed herself upright, and then with a hand on a boulder, stood and looked down upon Illyana. "Just so you know, this fight… well… I went easy on you."
A flash of light and a partially healed Illyana, now in human form, was standing before a very disheveled Wonder Woman. "Ahh… I also have a secret."
Diana shrugged, which hurt, heck even her earlobes hurt. "Which is?"
"I too am not left handed."
A statement that made no sense to Diana as they had both fought with their right hands. "What?"
An answering shrug from Illyana. "No matter. This place, your island, feels…. off. Very much convinced of a very specific world view as how everybody should live. Like if you just had the right tools then you could make it happen. All for the greater good of course."
Illyana stretched her back with a few popping sounds. "This was more fun then fighting Thor when he was bumbling around Limbo smiting at everything, geeze that took forever to clean up the mess he made." Then a more serious tone. "Falling is easy when you are convinced of your own righteousness and infallibility. And this place, you Amazons, you're so close to the cliff edge. Such statements like 'Man's World' just show how out of touch you are. Just a few nudges away from trying to force everybody to conform to your way of life, or so it appears to me. Why, think of all the things you could achieve if you had but some rings of power."
"We would not be so foolish as to accept." Was Dania's cold reply.
Illyana raised both hands. "Of course, of course… how silly of me. Of course you're too smart to accept items of power from people wandering by. But…"
"But what?"
A smile that was not at all kind. "I can't help but wonder, where did your Lasso come from?"
Dianna opened her mouth to reply, but… then closed it.
Illyana gave a small nod of her head. "Yeah, from the gods right? I'm sure they don't have their own… agenda in giving such… gifts." Illyana dusted off her legs before she started walking away (in search of a hot shower and then breakfast). "But don't listen to me, after all, what I know about falling?"
Part 10c: Later that night, at the Justice League's space station
Diana sat down in the chair that Bruce had existed as it was her turn to stand watch. Sat with a grimace of pain and a slight groan. Which, of course, was noticed by Bruce.
"Issues?"
"Just sore from… some martial practice with… Magik." Was Diana's reply.
An internal frown from Bruce, but he let it go if Diana was not going to expound. Diana did add.
"She made a strange comment, that she too was not left handed when we were done figh… practicing."
Bruce begin. "I have noticed that Magik is almost completely ambidextrous in…"
Oracle's voice interrupted as she was present, electronically, at the watch turn over.
"Oh, Princess Bride!"
"Hu?" Was both Bruce and Diana's response.
"The film The Princess Bride." Clarified Oracle (Barbra Gordon) as she loved the film. She then brought up the scene on the big screen for the two of them to watch.
BEGIN FILM EXCERT
Inigo Montoya (a skilled sword fighter) helps the Man in Black up over the cliff and allows him to rest a bit before the fight commences. They are reluctant fighters.
"You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you," Inigo says.
"You seem a decent fellow. I hate to die," the Man in Black replies.
They compliment each other's skill as the fight starts. ("You are wonderful." "Thank you." "You are most skilled" "How kind of you to say such.") as they wait for each other to perform tricks. In this dual there are no cheap shots.
When the sword battle begins they each use their left hand. When it looks like he may be about to lose, Inigo tells the Man in Black that he has a little something up his sleeve. "I know something you don't know. I am not left-handed."
He switches hands and backs the Man in Black into a wall. Then the Man in Black says, "There's something I ought to tell you. I'm not left-handed either."
After a little crafty acrobatic work, the Man in Black knocks the sword out of Inigo's hands. Montoya drops to his knees and says, "Kill me quickly."
The Man in Black tells him he would as soon destroy a stained-glass window then an artist like him and conks him over the head. The Man in Black says, "Please understand, I hold you in the highest respect," before he trots off to find his Princess Buttercup.
END FILM EXCERT
"Her name is Buttercup?" Was the appalled statement from Diana.
Bruce made no reply, just look… musing, as he departed while Oracle signed off.
Once it was just Diana, she took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. She was pretty sure she'd pulled off the act against Bruce and Barbara as she'd given the appearance of being focused on the very silly name instead of what 'I too am not left handed' implied about the altercation between her and Magik.