Themyscira
Arriving on a beach is usually a dramatic event for heroes. But the Atlantean delegation found themselves all but neglected in this instance. Even considering that the Amazons' beloved princess was with them. Diana, Arthur, Mera, Garth, Lorena and Jackson walked onto a beach covered in markers denoting graves, and the weather over Themyscira seemed particularly less sunny than it had ever been in Diana's memory. "What has become of my sisters?" she asked exasperatedly knowing these markers denoted death. There was no one to answer her as Arthur placed a hand of comfort on his friend's shoulder. Diana quietly began a prayer to Persephone to guide their souls to Elysium. Mera stood back with Garth while Jackson and Lorena began chatting to themselves away from them. "Garth," she addressed her surrogate son, "you didn't need to come with us. I appreciate you hate Thawne more than the rest of us. But your wife is having the twins soon." That earned a sigh from the young man. "I don't know what to say Mera," he shrugged, "Do I care? Like I told you, Orm wanted me to marry her. Debbie might love me but I can't say I care. It's just a royal arrangement. At times I wonder if I care for the children either. I lost the child I had with the woman I loved…twice thanks to Thawne. I welcome oblivion so I may return to them. Dying gloriously for Atlantis might achieve that." Mera gripped her old friend's hand.
"Garth, you have been like a son to Arthur and me in trying times. I know what it is to lose a child…more than once. I lost Arthur Jr. and then I had AJ, but I will never know him like a mother. Or ever again. It's so…wrong. I never had a passion to breed, but Arthur was king. It would have been wrong not to. Now that Orm is king, I feel that having children would be a wonderful thing for both of us. Now that duty does not override us, maybe a child could be possible." Garth smiled at his dear friend, almost without any emotion. "I understand your pain, Mera," he understandingly informed her, "And I appreciate how in a world where we were not heroes, raising children would have had less hazards for both of us. But I feel an overwhelming sense of doing good on this world, that my desire for those I love who are departed will never rise above. We are heroes, Mera. All six of us here. And some things are more important than our contentment. As long as I am on this world, I am Tempest. No child of mine can change that. I will only rest when I am back in Elysium with my son and the two women I love. Until then I will make sure others can love their children instead of me." As passionate as what he said was, Mera was heartbroken by what her darling Garth had just said, when he walked away loosening her grip on his hand and joined Arthur, Diana and the teenagers.
"We need to speak to Queen Hippolyta now," he told the group without any lust for life in his voice, "I fear that what happened here affects all of this planet." Arthur nodded and they all headed towards the main encampment of the Amazons. Whilst it was not as vibrant or populated as it would normally be, Themyscira still had a lot of natural beauty. All the same, the lack of civilisation did not suggest it was the beautiful place it had once been. The atmosphere was one of fear rather than an exuberant embracing of life and all it had to offer. No living in peace and bliss. Anyone they saw looked at Diana curiously, but at the others with scorn. A small, dark-skinned girl approached them from the main steps to Hippolyta's palace when they drew near to it. "Lyta!" Diana exclaimed, giving the young one a fraternal kiss of Amazon greeting, "How are you, my child?" "Very well, sister," the purple haired girl smiled, "Your mother seeks an audience with you all. She demands that the Atlanteans explain what has happened to our people." Diana twitched uncomfortably at that while her companions tried to remain unperturbed. "Alright," Wonder Woman acquiesced, "We shall join my mother in her chambers immediately." Ending their embrace, Lyta took Wonder Woman by the hand and led her upstairs to her mother.
Hippolyta sat on her throne alone and angered as they arrived. "You may leave us, Lyta," the sovereign of Paradise Island told her foster daughter. "My queen," Lyta bowed as she exited her namesake's throne room. Diana gulped in anxiety. Taking the lead, she and Arthur approached her mother and bowed. "Mother, please know this," Diana spoke before her mother or Arthur could begin debating, "Atlantis is not responsible for what occurred on our shores. We ourselves were attacked not long ago by Circe and her familiars posing as our sisters. We believe this to be the wicked work of one—" "Hush, child. I know everything," Hippolyta impatiently dismissed her daughter with a regal handwave, "Father Thawne's agent has confessed to all." Snapping her fingers, Hippolyta summoned forth two Amazon warriors pushing forward a familiar face who was drooling at the mouth and begging for forgiveness. "No more, not the Furies," he babbled, "I'm not a bad man. Please. Please!" Jackson grew a strong sense of discomfort at the sight of this figure, and Lorena grabbed his arm in a show of solidarity. The man was his father. David Hyde. The Black Manta.
"This is Black Manta then?" Arthur asked almost rhetorically. "Yes," Hippolyta replied, "Consider him a peace offering, Prince Orin. The man who murdered your son is now at your mercy. And thanks to the enhanced interrogation techniques of the Furies, we know he doesn't work for your half-brother, but for the government of the United States." All that Wonder Woman could feel to this news was incensed. "Mother!" she bellowed, "That is highly unethical. The Erinyes should not be used against a prisoner of war." "What war, daughter?" the queen scoffed, "The war that has not been declared between Themyscira and Atlantis. I knew as soon as I looked in his eyes that he was part of a grander scheme to draw our peoples into war. And I'd like to hope that you two have the answers." Arthur moved to speak, but before he could Hippolyta motioned for Black Manta to be taken away. "Well?" the queen pointedly addressed Aquaman.
"We don't know anything, your majesty," Arthur said with sheer sincerity, "We only suspect that one Eddie Thawne is behind this. Diana claims he is some kind of…" "Preacher who has seized the reins of government in America," Diana concluded for him, "He adulates people like me and Arthur as being righteous for our actions. Yet I have seen into his soul, Mother. He desires nought but our destruction." The queen of the Amazons sat silently for a time, musing over her daughter and the Atlantean's words. "And yet he is not an official part of their government?" Hippolyta raised an eyebrow. "He is some form of court priest," Diana showed her own bemusement in the reply, "A personal religious advisor to their president." "Hmm," Hippolyta remained suspect, "No evidence though that the United States government are behind these attacks."
"Neither Arthur nor I have any intention of taking their bait if they were. We do not ask for recriminations, Mother, but for a treaty between our peoples. An assurance that neither will go to war but that we will appreciate the game that is being played on both of our peoples through cooperation. Recriminations need only occur if either of us is directly assaulted. If we don't unite, then this is the end for all life on Earth."
"Diana is right," Mera spoke, moving forward and placing her hand on her friend's shoulder before her husband could utter a word, "This man has the power to raise the dead and has enchanted even the brave Kal-El into his web of deceit. Queen Hippolyta, your majesty, we of New Atlantis beg that your people and ours enter a pact of mutual defence. Else these joint false attacks will claim both our lands." Hippolyta then raised her hand in an act of sovereignty. Diana still marvelled at how much respect her mother could command just by the mere movement of her body. Truly, a ruler to be adored. She had rarely seen such qualities in Man's World, outside of the likes of Batman, whose intensity would rival her mother's, should they ever come to blows. "There is only one reason I do not believe any of you," the queen began, "These attacks were so…obvious. Not even your King Orm would have been stupid enough to fall for Circe's attack."
Arthur blushed as the rest of them, except Diana, smirked slightly. "Nothing says to me this is a genuine plot by your enemy in America," Hippolyta continued, "because if he is as brilliant as you say, he would have ensnared us all in something far cleverer than obviously staged acts of provocation." Diana moved to counter her mother when suddenly she realised the woman was right. Impossibly accurate in fact. Thawne was a master manipulator who had seized control of the United States with ease. There was not a chance on Earth he would make a move as obvious as both attacks on their people had been. It didn't make any sense. "It is how it is, my lady," Arthur answered her mother, "And whilst you may have a point, we still need to enter into a pact of peace in the wake of these attacks. Even if Thawne isn't behind them, Black Manta and Circe are...and such an alliance between our enemies cannot end well for us."
"And do so we shall, Prince Orin. That is assuming you are a plenipotentiary of your half-brother?"
"I am indeed."
Hippolyta then stalked down from her throne and shook his hand. "Very well, then," the queen addressed the former king, "I trust in my daughter's faith in you and accept your offer of friendship between our peoples against the nefarious Eddie Thawne and his schemes." Arthur and Hippolyta engaged in a fraternal kiss of diplomacy. "Now, you will join our sisters in celebrating the new treaty, will you not?" she asked expectantly. "Indeed, we will," Arthur answered for all of them as Diana silently pondered what her mother had just said. Thawne was not idiotic enough to just send their arch enemies like Circe or Black Manta against the other to merely entice their emotions. He knew Hippolyta and Arthur were not stupid. But why do it in the first place? Sure, Circe had escaped but Black Manta had been captured and confessed everything. But he seemed to know nothing. And Circe's familiars even lacked a sense of individuality.
"Mother," Diana queried Hippolyta during the feast, "Were the people fighting with Black Manta Atlanteans?" "Not one of them," Hippolyta answered her only child, "Merely from Xebel as Queen Mera and Prince Kaldur are. That was how we knew they weren't King Orm's agents." "Xebel," Diana muttered to herself as she sipped some red wine while Arthur and Mera danced with Amazons before their table. "Does it matter?" Hippolyta asked as she moved her daughter's chin upward with her dominant hand, "It does not do for my beloved daughter to be so unhappy on such a joyous occasion." "I am not unhappy, Mother," Wonder Woman responded, "Merely…unsettled. This has all been too easy. I cannot believe a man who has done the things our enemy has done…the man whose eyes would make Hades quake in his boots…is capable of only going so far. It does not do." Diana then stormed off from the feast unexpectedly. No one followed her, as Hippolyta appreciated that her child needed to be alone, and her commanding stare made it clear to all present the princess should not be followed.
The sun set eventually and shortly after Garth went to sit beside Diana on the beach. "You're not comfortable with what your mother did to Manta are you?" Tempest asked Wonder Woman. "Not entirely, but I appreciate the necessity," she replied, "I understand why she did it. We've all done terrible things for the greater good. But unleashing the Furies—" "I will not lose sleep knowing that the man who murdered my little brother was subjected to them," Garth angrily intoned, "If anything, by my faith that means justice." There was a brief silence. "No, Garth," Diana shook her head, "Manta did deserve it, disturbing an act as it was. What truly worries me is…how easy this has all been. Barring Arthur's anger over his father there has been no difficulty in forming our pact. None whatsoever. Thawne clearly only wished for us to think his sacrificing Tom Curry and using Circe and Black Manta as puppets was his plan for us. There must be something more. But what?" "Don't you think you're being paranoid, Diana?" Garth shrugged his shoulders. "A warrior never goes off guard, Garth," the Amazon princess reminded the Atlantean prince, "Especially when the air is this foul with the stench of death."
At the feast, Lorena and Jackson drunkenly debated who on the Teen Titans was the hottest. "Superboy!" Lorena shouted while hiccupping through her wine. "You're so basic," Kaldur replied, "It's clearly Kid Flash." "Ooh," Lorena said, knowing her friend's preferences the rest of the team hadn't, "So you prefer the shorter man. Or are you brunette over raven-haired?" "Shut up," Kaldur laughed, "Anyway, we all know Red Robin is the hunk of all three. Why Wonder Girl picked Superboy over him I'll never know." "I can," Lorena said, "Because he's more like her. He's got an emotional vulnerability masked by a false self-confidence for the fact that he hasn't got superpowers. Tim is more like the twin brother she never had. Smart and funny, with the self-confidence masking only that he's in more pain than any of us can imagine." "Wow," Kaldur hiccupped, "That's… deep. I always just saw Red Robin and thought…Why do the Batboys all have such nice rear ends?" A splurt of wine burst from Lorena's mouth and nose as she guffawed. "Why do you only act like this around me?" "Like what?" Kaldur smiled. "Like men are just complete sex objects." "You know I'm not exactly from a place where this stuff is tolerated, right?" Jackson laughed knowingly, "You're a California girl. This is like letting everything off my chest at once." That earned Kaldur a kiss on the cheek from Aquagirl. "You're alright, Aqualad," she rubbed his shoulder as the two of them returned to their debate.
When everyone whiled away their revelry, Diana continued to appear vigilant, looking into the stars. "There's not a chance this is going how we want it, Garth," she spoke vigilantly, "We've got to be ready." The island seemed to shake a little as Diana steeled herself for battle. Tempest stood up and held her by the shoulders. "Hey, it could just be an earthquake?" he said unconvincingly. "On an island paradise cut off from the rest of the world," Diana scoffed, "By Hera, Garth, common sense shows we don't tend to have tectonic shifts around here." Another quake knocked them both to the floor and spilled the goblet of many a person at the nearby feast. Garth now tensed himself as well. "That didn't feel like it came from below," he worriedly whispered with anxiety. Diana turned around and saw a blonde man with a scraggly beard in a black trench coat look at them pointing and laughing like he was Dick Dastardly. "What do you want, Thawne?" she shouted, recognising the false prophet, "What is this?" "Your death, Princess," he drawled in a serpentine manner, "The death of your people…and of Aquaman and his family." Pulling a familiar box from his coat, the villain pressed a button on it, all the while laughing before he suddenly disappeared into thin air. "Where did he go?" Garth asked as the quakes seemed to intensify and Diana looked into the sky. "I really don't think that's what we should be worrying about, Garth," Wonder Woman gulped, looking into the sky.
In the sky, there was a gigantic chasm that had not been there prior to Thawne's apparition. The chasm seemed to be like a black hole, in that at its centre there was no light. And all light surrounding it seemed to disappear anywhere in proximity to that centre. But how could a black hole appear where there had been no star? Simply put, it hadn't. That wasn't a black hole. It was a portal to another dimension summoned above Earth's atmosphere. Specifically, above Themyscira. It wasn't just any dimension this portal led to though. It led straight into the soulless abyss that the government of Krypton had deemed fit to house the worst of its criminals. Those vile enough that the universe needed to be kept from them. This portal led to the Phantom Zone. And there was one person who led all the criminals of the Phantom Zone in tandem. General Zod, a man with a recent, implacable hatred for the planet Earth and all its denizens. And it was that same man who led the descent from the portal to the island.
"Women of Themyscira! Amazons as you dub yourselves. You are bearing witness to the greatness that is the people of Krypton and their ruler returning to their rightful new homeworld. You are the privileged few who have the opportunity to do obeisance rather than be killed. Your island will be at the centre of our new throne world. It will be rechristened New Kandor! And all of you will be given an opportunity to enter into our breeding programmes with Kryptonian males. This chance you shall have, that no mortal will on this mudball. Take our beginnings here as a sign of appreciation. A sign that we desire only to make peace with you warrior women, and perhaps forge an alliance that will sweep away the species that destroyed New Krypton. This is a once in a hundred lifetimes opportunity. None shall come close to the endeavour we shall lead. I swear, in the name of my late, lamented planet, that you shall all know a chance to rule over the patriarchs who drove you to such solitude by our side. I only offer one condition. One unnegotiable condition. I ask only that all of you…Each and every woman of the Amazon race…KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!"
Aquaman and Mera nodded to one another as this speech commenced and walked out to meet their aggressor with Hippolyta before them. The queen of the Amazons had such a regal gait that even someone as strong as Superman would feel that they had to walk behind her. She was as natural a leader as anyone, and even Arthur thought, the one example of a monarchy working. She had been chosen as the first among equals for her strength and seniority over her comrades. But the legend of the Amazons beginnings claimed they were the reincarnated souls of women murdered by men they loved. He thought that might not be the absolute truth. Particularly the idea that Hippolyta was only queen because she was the first woman to suffer such a fate. No, there was more to it than that. The Amazons had been founded by the goddesses allied with Hermes in defiance of the philosophy of Ares. Her seniority and that of the late Antiope had to be something more than that. Something more personal. But such issues were not for them to debate now. Now was the time to meet with the one who threatened their doom.
Zod landed before them and smirked through that angry beard of his. The portal remained open but only he, Ursa and Non seemed to be on the Earth now, while the rest of his troops hovered around the portal. Garth attempted to advance but Diana held the younger man back, respecting her mother's position of parley. "No matter the purity of your location, I can never shake the stench of your simian neighbours from the soil of this world," Zod muttered first as he grabbed a lump of sand and inhaled it disdainfully, "One of them visiting your land is too…fishy for my liking." He was staring at Aquaman at this moment. "You insult our negotiations already, your majesty, by his mere presence," the general continued, "My infinite wisdom and forgiveness permit you that though." The Amazon queen advanced even closer to the Kryptonian general. "Do not pose as the diplomat," Hippolyta derided the invader of her land, "It does not take a genius to realise that Dru-Zod walks on this world again for the sake of war." "You wound me further, my queen," Zod feigned insult at her terms, "I desire peace with your people but not with Man's World."
"We are not enemies of Man's World."
"Are you not? They have attacked you, haven't they?"
"One agent of one nation has led a covert strike. Ourselves and the Atlanteans have brokered an arrangement in order that such an attack does not destroy both our nations."
"Yes, but why accept their…dominance. They persecute your gender unjustly. Observe myself and my beloved Ursa. We are mates and equals as our enlightened society embraced. I was my mother's heir. My father was a vainglorious fool who resented her superiority to his. But I am not my father, know that any man who follows Zod is a comrade of yours against those barbarians. We could spread your idyllic society to all the globe, and thereby build a New Krypton…with you as our queen, Hippolyta. Man and woman living together in peace, once we have revenged your fallen subjects on Man's World. Hippolyta and Zod. Together, we could make paradise more than an island, but a world!"
"That…is the way of Ares. A way my sisters and I have strayed towards far too many times for any of our liking. We despise the crimes of Man's World but appreciate that not every man is evil. Many men have aided us in trying times, such as Prince Orin and the young men who accompany him, his wife and their charge to our island. To hate man would be to live unlike we were made to live. Our patrons all but forsook us when we took revenge on Hercules and his brutes, how would they condone us leading a full-scale invasion of Man's World?"
"You already have."
"No, we haven't. I was kidnapped and impersonated by a dark creature from another world, whose job is to turn women into weapons. I would never endanger my sisters nor humanity in such a way again. I am a queen, and with that comes responsibility. I will defend us to the death, but never will I subject mortals to tyranny through my armies."
"Tyranny? You call justice tyranny? My world was destroyed by humans. The world I built. They owe me every grain of soil on this heap of mud. Every one of them should be my slave, for what they took from my species. All of them should kneel before each and every Kryptonian ever born, for not only are we gods before them but they have wronged us when we restrained ourselves. Every species in the history of the cosmos does not have as much blood on their hands as the race you are apathetically ignoring for their misdeeds, your majesty. Now, I ask you again…will you join me in destroying them?"
"With those words, you have proven you are filled with naught but hate, general. All you desire is for others to serve you or die."
"I desire justice for Krypton!"
"What justice? Krypton died because your council failed, as you and Jor-El knew more than anyone else. The criminals responsible for its end died with the planet. Kandor was captured by Brainiac. Hardly an affiliate of humanity. My daughter has kept me appraised of the situation concerning New Krypton and as far as I can see a man now dead is responsible for that world's destruction. Kal-El offered an olive branch and you denied it. For that, I can never make peace with you, general."
"You are indeed being unreasonable, my lady. That man was a sanctioned general and former cabinet member of the government of the most powerful nation of the simians. Samuel Lane. Kal-El only offered an olive branch because he engaged in bestial relations with the daughter of that monster!"
"He does not see in such blinkered generalisations as yourself, general! I once thought as you did. We were on our own here for so long we forgot that not every woman is a slave offshore nor is every man a domineering monster fit only for being an oppressor. Whilst you have a point in that humans have things to answer for as a race, destroying or oppressing them is not the answer, Zod. Humans need to learn by example. Some of them have learned, many of those not very well, by the example of a carpenter's son dead for nearly two millennia. Others have similar teachers such as an Indian prince who sat beneath a tree. Some need no teacher but their own innate goodness. But we live for the same purpose as they did. To show that the world can be a better place, despite what man has done. The man who destroyed New Krypton is dead, Zod. The majority who had no hand, act or part in it live freely. Join us in making peace with the humans. Please. Rise above such petty constraints. We can make this world a place of peace and prosperity and raise humanity into the sunlight together. Amazon and Kryptonian. Just as you proposed."
Hippolyta's right hand was now extended towards Zod. The general looked down at the Amazon and her bracelet that had once been a manacle which bound her and her sisters in oppression. It stood as a reminder that they should rise above adversity and live by their philosophy against everything. They would fail in that, anyone would, be they as pure of heart as the Amazons or not. But the bracelets stood as an eternal reminder to seek peace before war. And Queen Hippolyta would not brook war in the name of vengeful alliance, as Zod wanted. Zod looked for a good half a minute at the hand. Then, he began laughing like a jackal. "You truly think I have any longing to improve the lot of my inferiors. It sickened me enough even treating with your kind, demi-goddess. Know now that I will have no qualms murdering you and your entire people, in order to make your island New Kandor!" Zod then grabbed Hippolyta's arm and began twisting it, but she punched him out of the way, freeing herself, and withdrew her sword and shield.
Aquaman jumped on Zod before Wonder Woman could while Ursa fired her heat vision into the sky like a beacon, and dozens of flying Kryptonians descended on the island in a coordinated assault. "By Hera," Diana muttered as she flew up to fight each of them. Arthur and Zod were fighting tremendously. As an Atlantean, Arthur had similar strength to a Kryptonian, but was nowhere near as fast or mobile as one. Thankfully, his powers came from magic, a force Kryptonians found hard to resist. So, like the Amazons, an Atlantean could actually harm a Kryptonian, no more than a human hunter pinned in the woods could harm a bear with their knife, however. Arthur kept punching Zod, as the two entered a fist fight.
Then, Zod grabbed his left hand as he threw it to strike the generals face. "You know nothing, man of the sea," the general mocked the deposed king, "You still stupidly think your magic means you can fight against my species." Arthur drove a right hook into Zods face but the Kryptonians grip on the left was maintained. "Very well," Zod spat out some blood, "Some people need to learn lessons the harsh way. Bring this message to your brother. The message of my strength." He began twisting Arthur's wrist in such a painful way that the former king began doubling over in pain. "Kneel," the Kryptonian demanded. "No!" Arthur's hind legs maintained themselves through a great degree of pain. "Kneel!" the command was repeated. "No!" Arthur remained defiant, his legs standing firm. "KNEEL!" the general was more impatient now. "Never!" Aquaman struggled through the agony. Zod twisted Arthur's left hand so much then that it came clean off. It was gone again. Arthur Curry had lost his left hand for a second time in his life. Wow. How unique was that? Losing the same hand twice. Only Aquaman could have done it, he thought as he passed out in shock.
The forces of Zod were burning Hippolyta's palace with their heat vision. Diana was still engaged with several of the Kryptonians, but their strength matched hers and they were faster. She managed to knock out three before being felled in the back with heat vision and collapsing to the ground. But even this would not break her. She was Wonder Woman, the child of clay forged by the gods to be the representative of the ideals of peace and love to the planet Earth. Some criminals held in a ghost dimension were no match for Diana of Themyscira. A hand helped lift her up then. Mera's. "This Zod character must think himself greater than he is." "He's a colleague of our enemy, Mera." "I find that hard to believe. How could anyone work with such a vainglorious monster? I'd fight him as soon as look at him." Diana then noticed a few of her sisters slaying some Kryptonians and being killed themselves in turn. "That's because Thawne wants us to kill one another. Nothing more, nothing less."
Zod laughed as he fought Kaldur and Lorena who had leapt upon him having seen the state of their mentor. "Two foolish children think they can destroy me," the general said, tossing Aquagirl into the sand, "Bah! You are all nothing." He now held Jackson by the throat. "You didn't even know what you were boy," he mocked Aqualad, "A foolish hybrid. An abomination. Your race will thank me when they learn I have destroyed you." A harpoon struck against Zod's arm, giving him great pain but it snapped before he could break Kaldur's neck. The general turned to see what fool had dared to swat at him. It was a man looking very bedraggled and just out of chains. Black Manta. "My child," the mercenary struggled to say, "My kill." Jackson used that opportunity to signal out to the water with Mera. Signal a hydatic creature from the depths. A construct of water. That construct arose from the water and assaulted Zod with his own strength, knocking the general to the ground and releasing Kaldur from his grip.
Hippolyta and Astarte had tactically withdrawn to the palace, specifically to the chamber underneath Hippolyta's throne room. "My queen, this may not be wise," Astarte warned her. "Nothing about this situation has a kernel of wisdom, sister," her queen was desperate, "We lost too many to Manta to hope to win alone. The situation demands it. Release the Erinyes!" Astarte nodded and pulled a sword from the centre of their room, whispering to herself, "Forgive me, Lady Thanatos". The sword had been that of a courtier in Syracuse named Damocles who constantly warned his king of danger. Kindunos, the Themysciran Greek word for danger, was something that hung over all human minds when the inevitable was apparent. The epitome of terror being unavoidable, no matter what road one takes. After the death of her brother, Oneiros, Thanatos had worked to find a way to ensure the Threefold Goddess could not be unleashed, and after they came for her daughter, Hippolyta agreed with the Endless embodiment of Death to be their gaoler. Damocles' sword would be the means of holding them. An enchanted blade acting as a key. The only primordial forces which remained entrapped were the Three Who Are One. They have many names. The Kindly Ones, The Wyrd Sisters, The Charities, The Norns. But in their anger, they were the Erinyes. What mortals now called the Furies. The spirits of vengeance. Alecto, Tisiphone and Megaera were freed from their slumber. Astarte passed the blade to her queen, which granted her authority over the three through the magic of the Endless, while spiralling black smoke emerged and three women with dark wings arose from the ground.
"Queen Hippolyta," Alecto hissed, "Why have you summoned the three sisters from the abyss? Have you not used us enough on your prisoners?" "Stay back, fiends," Hippolyta raised the sword to drive the sisters away as they made their advance, "I charge you with defending our island from a beast without a conscience. Swear on the name of your father, the great Atlas!" The three sisters stood still, knowing that the enchanted blade held power over them. Absolute power. "Very well," Tisiphone spoke now for her sisters," We swear. Who is this fiend?" The queen of the Amazons smiled with disgust at the thought of the brute attacking her island. "He is Dru-Zod of Krypton," she coolly and regally informed the trinitarian being, "A criminal to his own world, Man's World, and now to ours. Unleash the fury of the gods upon him, sisters of vengeance! Destroy his mind!"
Zod had escaped the water construct and was now fighting Mera, Garth and Diana while Jackson and Lorena lay unconscious. Diana lassoed him while he was holding Tempest by the throat and gloating as he had with Aqualad. Arthur had by now slightly recovered with Ursa and Non exulting in their general besting the great hero. Reaching out telepathically to his fellow denizens of the deep, his call called forth a great beast with the might to help fight the Kryptonians. The fearsome kraken. Its two legs slipped onto the ankles of Ursa and Non and slammed them both down with titanic strength, allowing Arthur time to recover. Zod saw what was happening and fired his heat vision directly into the kraken's maw, slaying it. As he delighted over the beast's destruction, Diana wrapped him in her Lasso of Truth. "Gah!" he spat defiantly, "You may hold me, Amazon, but my brothers and sisters will not be far behind to liberate me!" Zod's confidence was suddenly shattered as three black whirls of smoke surrounded him, pushing Diana away and loosening the Lasso of Truth.
"Your heart is black, Dru-Zod," Alecto whispered almost seductively into the general's ear. "How many people have you killed?" Tisiphone asked sincerely, but also maliciously. The general smirked a little at that. "Implying animals from this rock are people?" he mocked the goddesses. "You still took many souls, Zod," Megaera reminded him. "Souls," he laughed, "You think you can torment me? You spirits that primitives do not even believe in anymore? I have been to a realm of true torment. I have been to a dimension only phantoms are fit to reside in. This world and its horrors cannot use fear as a weapon against me. Look into my mind, creatures. See Hell!" Zod made his memories of when he has thrown in the Phantom Zone apparent to the three spirits. The emptiness of the dead space. The realisation that time and space are being taken away from you, and that existence has lost the taste of life. No meaning. Nothing. Such a black vastness caused the Furies to scream. Scream in vain as they knew no horror they could inflict on Zod would hurt him or any of his comrades as this had. "My fear is a weapon, Erinyes," the general now held Alecto by the throat, "Feel the land that Hades himself would quake in. Feel the fear of Zod!"
The Furies dispersed back into their prison below Hippolyta's palace while Zod stood up proudly. "Sprites and fairies?" he derisively bellowed to all present, "Is this the best you have to offer, Queen Hippolyta? Come out and face me like the queen you are if you will not kneel." Hippolyta sighed and despite Astarte reaching to stop her, she moved her away and marched down the stairs before her citadel, Kindunos still in hand. "I will not kneel before you, Zod," the sovereign of Paradise Island declared defiantly, "No one with any respect for themselves or their race would. I have a blade enchanted by Thanatos herself, and with it I shall slay thee." "Excellent," Zod intoned as he advanced to meet the queen of the Amazons. "No, Mother!" Diana shouted rushing over to them even though Mera shouted at her friend, "Diana you cannot defy the tradition of single combat! Your mother's honour is at stake."
Wonder Woman leapt upon Zod's back and began punching him in the head severely. Grabbing her wrist, Zod pulled Diana down and punched her in the face, rendering her temporarily unconscious. "I will not slay your daughter before you, your majesty," Zod honourably bowed to the queen before she could leap to her daughter's aid, "It is unfitting for a parent to outlive a child." His opponent sighed and bore her sword. "Very well, general," Hippolyta said, ready to face her foe, "Are you prepared to die?" "Not as greatly as yourself it seems," he chuckled, You suicidal fool." The two leaders struck one another with an intensity of titanic proportions. Zod's punch broke one of Hippolyta's ribs while Zod himself lost a finger from the strike of Kindunos upon his hand. "Well done, my queen," he said, during a lull in fighting as they both nursed their wounds, "But not well done enough." He then fired heat vision into her stomach, burning it and felling Hippolyta to the ground. As he moved to make a killing blow, Hippolyta moved up with the sword only for him to swat it away. "You do not know how to give up, do you?" he announced, lifting her up by the neck, "Since you insist on prolonging your expiration, I shall aid you in that endeavour. Out of respect." Zod began applying enough pressure to strangle Hippolyta. Diana roused and saw her mother helplessly being strangled by Zod.
Then, time seemed to stop. Arthur was caught fighting Ursa and Non, Garth and Mera lay wounded behind her as did Jackson and Lorena. The assembled Amazons were busy fighting and dying against the rest of the Phantom Zone criminals. But Zod and her mother, like them, were frozen. It made no sense. "Hello, Diana," a sinister, serpentine and unfortunately familiar voice said behind her, "I was hoping our reunion would be a little more pleasant than this." Turning behind her, Diana saw a tall man cloaked in his blue armour, with his helm masking his face in shadow, showing only red eyes. "Ares," she said, disgusted to see her old nemesis had returned from the grave, "So, you're working with Thawne, as well?" "Thawne?" the war god laughed, "Not at all. I have been meaning to find you since my resurrection. I have been preparing for a rapprochement for a while."
"Really? Forgive me if I find that very hard to believe."
"Of course. I would expect no better from a true warrior than to not look a gift horse in the mouth."
"Your countenance disturbs me. You are the God of War, you are not supposed to be reasonable."
"All the years we have fought, Amazon, and yet you still know nothing of me. I am the God of War, yes. But the God of War celebrates warriors. And what warrior could be greater than she who slew me?"
"I am a hero, Ares. Not a warrior."
"Oh, Diana, your mother and her gods have indoctrinated you into seeing war as inherently evil. War can be wasteful, no doubt. No creature knows war better than I do. War creates beasts like Zod who cannot be controlled and are obsessed with making others suffer. But war can also be a place for those who desire peace. 'If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.'"
"Thomas Paine."
"Indeed, the foreign brain of the American and French Revolutions. Peacemakers have a place in warcraft. People who desire to end war must prosecute it so that they can forge a better world. Mao Zedong once said that "war can only be abolished through war." Peace and war are not absolutes. Violence is a part of the world, Diana. Even if you find it anathema, you have had to resort to it on more than one occasion."
"I know."
"And by blaming yourself for doing such a thing, you are denying a part of yourself. There is a part of every creature that desires to resist what they view as wrong, be it by force or not. Your philosophy is not wrong, but your mother will still fight a brute like Zod to the death and use all her abilities to do so. She will fight for what she loves. Will you, Diana?"
Ares then vanished as suddenly as he had appeared and time seemed to resume. Diana reached for her Lasso as she continued to watch Zod take the life from Hippolyta. "Surrender to Zod, you foolish woman" he whispered maniacally as the life began to leave the queen's eyes. Then suddenly he felt himself being pulled back by a force he couldn't resist. The princess and her Lasso of Truth. Holding Kindunos to his neck, Diana pulled Zod close to her, bound in the grip of her lasso. "Release me, Amazon!" the boastful Kryptonian commanded, "Release me or I will execute you here with your mother." "You will kill us anyway, Zod," Wonder Woman shot back, "Call off your dogs!" That was only received with a smirk from the general. Diana knew she couldn't threaten him in that regard so she decided to announce to his forces before they killed any more of her sisters her ultimatum.
"Kryptonians! Lay down your fight. This is not your day. This is our island. We would happily make peace with your people but you bring war to our shores. And war is the antithesis of the Amazon way of life. Yet we are not unbloodied weaklings either. I will kill your general unless you all surrender immediately. You will then all return to the Phantom Zone, each and every one of you, and never darken this world again unless you come in peace. If you continue to fight you will have only the head of Zod as a trophy, coupled with all the rest of your heads when I come for you!"
Everyone stared, mouths agape at Wonder Woman in seeing how angry and bestial she could be. There was the fury of Ares in Diana. Hippolyta shed a tear in dark realisation at what had become of her child. Repressing the primordial goddess within from her slaying of Nemesis, had meant Diana now had a rage manifesting from her ancestry on Hippolyta's side. "Daughter, please don't do this," she struggled through Zod's now relaxed grip, "Do not kill this man in cold blood. You will become something you never wanted to become. You will become like...like..." "Like whom Mother?" Wonder Woman queried pointedly, realising Hippolyta was not speaking of her foe. "It does not matter," Hippolyta managed, avoiding the question. "Do I have a father?" Diana asked with all sincerity. "No," Hippolyta decisively answered her, "It's…it's more complicated than that."
Ursa then began laughing nearby. "You are an idiot, Amazon," the general's war bride mocked the princess, "You think that the death of Zod will make us shirk from his cause. The cause of Krypton. The memory of our planet and our civilisation. Zod is but a leader. We are all Zod in our hearts. We will all fight for our world until your lesser gaggle of apes kneel before us or perish in resistance. Even if you kill our leader, my beloved, today…the world will kneel in memory of Zod." Diana hesitated then and knew Ursa would not stop even if she did kill Zod. Or Non. Or any of the Kryptonians destroying her home and slaughtering her sisters. Breathing in deeply, Diana began praying to the gods who gave her power when suddenly time froze around her once again.
"There is only one thing you can do if you will not slay Zod, Amazon," the voice of Ares whispered in her ear, "You must slay them." "There is always another way, Ares," she said, trying to remain defiant but evidently upset at the situation. "Was there another way for Maxwell Lord?" the god of war asked his nemesis. "No," Diana let the tears fall this time but her face was still a mask of resistance. "Then there is certainly no other way for Zod," Ares seized his victory with those words. "No!" Diana shouted back at the manipulative deity, "I won't do that again. And even if I did there's no point. I can't beat them." "Can't you?" Ares asked genuinely, "Maybe Wonder Woman before she killed me might not have…but now you have the soul of a primordial goddess. Now you are Nemesis, Diana. And Nemesis is beyond gods and mortals. She is justice. And her power can destroy creatures as mighty as Kryptonians." Ares then uncharacteristically and affectionately wiped the tears from her eyes, almost like a caring father. "There really is no other way," Diana asked him. "I cannot imagine one," Ares lowered his eyes, clearly distressed to see this woman, his old foe, was so upset, "I am...sorry." "You have changed haven't you, Ares?" she asked, still feeling suspicious of the god's intentions. "Not entirely," he told her, quite frankly, "But for the first time in many millennia I feel like I…care for someone. Goodbye, my child."
Inhaling deeply, Diana reached deep into her psyche. She reached into the primordial rage she had absorbed from when she slew Nemesis to restore herself to the timeline. Nemesis had the ability to drive people from the universe. From history. But Diana knew she couldn't use that on a whim. "Mother," she said to Hippolyta as time began moving onward once more, "Do you want these aliens gone? Do you want our island saved?" "I don't see—" the queen began. "Answer me!" Diana spoke with a strength and authority normally only her mother could command. "Yes, of course," Hippolyta struggled to reply, cowed by this uncharacteristic display. Diana nodded in acknowledgement.. "Forgive me," she said as the power of Nemesis was unleashed. It would take all the power Diana had absorbed. The power she had been fighting to never use. A power that no one should wield and by using it to this scale, Diana would drive the attackers from her home and save anyone who had not yet perished here. She banished the attacking Kryptonians from Earth. The soldiers all suddenly flew back up into the black hole portal to their prison in the sky above. And then it sealed instantaneously, as Diana collapsed to the ground, the power of Nemesis free to find form once again. "I told you there was another way, Ares," she whispered into the void.
Except Zod was still there, now lying prone on the ground as the magic had abased him in its awesome power, his arm still tied in the Lasso. "Why do I remain?" the general asked, "And with what witchcraft did you banish my troops, Amazon? None of your kind has such power." "No, but Nemesis did," Diana said, placing Kindunos under the general's chin, "And you're alive, Zod, because we need a witness. A prisoner to tell us all about Thawne's plans." The queen moved toward her daughter and placed her hand on Diana's shoulder. "I could not be prouder of you, my little one," she kissed her daughter on the cheek, and they embraced for the first time in months as Astarte escorted Zod to a dungeon in magical shackles. "Mother," Wonder Woman sobbed, "You have no idea how much your pride means to me." "It is is justified my child," her mother smiled, "You have rejected the way of Ares." The sovereign of Paradise Island found herself shoved aside by her daughter. "Do not lie to me, Mother!" Diana shouted accusatorily, "Is Ares my father?" That question only received a laugh from her mother. "Diana, you have no father," Hippolyta managed after composing herself, "Unless you count the savage brute who slew me when I was with child. No, you were forged of clay from the soul of my unborn child and given life by the gods. No more, no less. The perfect daughter. A vessel for the power of the gods." "But then why worry I will resemble Ares, Mother?" Wonder Woman asked pointedly. Sighing in defeat, Hippolyta took her child's hand and led her to the palace.
Arthur lifted Jackson, Lorena, Mera and Garth up from unconsciousness. "Arthur, your hand!" Mera exclaimed. "Oh, I'm used to losing it now," he told his wife, nuzzling her closer to him in an embrace. Philippus came towards them carrying a small, golden shaft. "You nearly gave your life to save our people, Prince Orin," she addressed the former sovereign, "And you sacrificed a necessary part of your existence. Of any being's. For that, we feel you deserve this as a reward." Philippus then attached the golden shaft onto Arthur's wrist. From within emerged a hook, which could fire a string for grappling as Arthur's previous hook hand could also do. "Forged by Hephaestus himself to serve Perseus when he lost his hand battling the petrified Cetus," Philippus exposited, "May it now help you defend your home and ours from enemies, my prince." "Back to the hook hand and the beard then?" Garth smirked, "By Poseidon, that takes me back." "Back to when we first met Dolphin," Arthur asked. "Yeah," Garth nodded in sadness at the memory but had to smile at them all the same, "And you and she were a thing while I was studying magic with your father." "Yeah, good times," Arthur laughed as he and his surrogate son hugged one another warmly. Jackson stared off towards the beach to see his father, Black Manta was being dragged away by the Amazons. David Hyde looked into his son's eyes and leered. Lorena placed her hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry," Aquagirl reassured Aqualad, "I'm sure this isn't over." "Not by a long shot," Kaldur nodded in agreement.
In the warrens of Hippolyta's palace lay a tapestry. A tapestry depicting Prometheus giving fire to humanity. Walking down here with her daughter and a torch, Hippolyta displayed the wonders depicted thereon. "You are familiar with the tales of our gods, Diana," she asked knowingly, "How Zeus slew or imprisoned the Titans and made himself master of the world?" "Of course," Diana said, realising her mother was about to tell her truths which conflicted with such an account. "Pure mythology," Hippolyta sighed, "None of them are truly gods...only in that they are mightier than mortals. The Titans were a powerful species that we cannot comprehend...even those who live on New Cronus are but appealing shades of what they truly represent. But the gods we have served are divine but not omniscient as you well know. The Olympians were born from the cross breeding of Titans with humanity. The Olympians are humans evolved through the DNA of those from another world." "Born human?" Diana scoffed in disbelief, "Mother, that—" "Flies in the face of all I taught you?" Hippolyta finished her sentence, "The same goes for myself. It took me and your aunt Antiope many years of research to prove it. The myth of Prometheus creating mankind and then giving them fire to irk Zeus was inspired by how Prometheus was a hostage of Zeus after the war of Titans, due to his popularity to giving fire to the primitives who worshipped them. Prometheus wasn't even born on Earth." The queen indicated a fresco which showed Prometheus standing beside a handsome, auburn haired woman, seemingly about to marry her. "Is that-" Diana began before her mother interrupted her once more. "Hera, yes. Her first husband. Her true love. Before Zeus betrayed them both." Hippolyta then grazed her hand over a depiction of a beautiful statuesque woman and cried.
"Who is that, Mother?"
"Your grandmother, Otrera. We were only playthings of the gods. They still cared about humanity then in the time after the Titans were driven from Earth. Loved us, or so they said. That was why Zeus sired so many children with what were called nymphs. Most of his divine children are not by Hera, as you know. Nymph was just a term for beautiful maiden. Later myths made them goddesses lesser to the Olympians. They were merely beautiful and capable mortal women."
"But what were the Titans?"
"I do not know. There have been many theories. Some suspect celestial intervention in human makeup to turn them into gods. Maybe the Olympians weren't even really their children. Maybe they were just humans they experimented on. I don't think any of us will ever be certain. Maybe they were humans who just a had a gene, no more than some of your friends gain their abilities from quirks of genetics, which gave them immortality and supernatural abilities. It doesn't explain everything about them, but all my research points to my and my sister's conclusion being the case. We were always told in our first lives that our mother's mate was the son of a powerful chieftain. But that that chieftain left our world with his parents when we were infants. My sister and I were both murdered by our own mates in later years and our mother died of grief. Not by the hand of a man, so we never saw her again. It took us years to find out who our father was, but we were never sure until…until Antiope eloped with Poseidon's son, Theseus. They had a child. A boy. A boy who resembled our father according to how our mother spoke of him. Her son, Hippolytus, had blonde hair and red eyes…"
"Oh no. Mother…you can't mean…"
"What I mean, Diana, is that you are and always have been the granddaughter of Ares, just as he suggested to you on Olympus years ago. Ares is my father. And now that you have slain him, he holds you in higher regard than any other being in the cosmos. You will now be caught in a tug of war as your aunt and I were all our lives. The struggle between our ways of peace as Amazons and the bestial, warlike nature of our sire. The struggle between our philosophy and our blood. You, Diana, with all that has happened to you, must forever strike a balance between your virtue and that of your sisters with the sins of your grandfather…"