Post by HoM on Jan 7, 2009 18:14:00 GMT -5
“I have been wandering the world, hoping to atone for my sins,” whispered Zenobia quietly. She, the cursed Wonder Woman, and Donna Troy, current Wonder Girl, were armoring up, Themysciran armaments all around them. They were going into battle, and this was not the time to be unprepared. “I don’t think… I don’t think that being locked up by a society that neither knows nor respects me is the best way to seek atonement. So I have traveled Man’s World, and I have sought out injustice, and I’ve ended it.”
“Violently,” interjected Donna Troy, as she pulled on a chainmail vest. “You have murdered--”
“I have murdered murderers. I have not have killed the innocent, I have rooted out the cause of violence, and because violence is the only language these people understand, I have responded in like kind. Athena’s belief in peace, the Themysciran way, was never one I subscribed to. My sisters, those of us that joined you when Hippolytus and Diana united our two tribes, they have had trouble following your beliefs, but they persevere.”
“But you took that a step further,” Donna finally attached a breast plate across her body, covering up the chainmail that protected her body, “you began to follow the doctrine of Ares, and you still do. You preach violence, not peace.”
Zenobia shook her head. “I do what I have to do, and please, don’t lecture me. I don’t mind debating morals and ethics with you, but I will not be lectured. Queen Diana and your own methods of preaching peace are exactly the same. Preach peace and teach violence. How many battles have you won by extending your hand? Now, ask yourself how many times you’ve had to beat, break, batter your opponents into coming around to your way of thinking.”
“I won’t be lecturered,” retorted Donna, as she placed a helmet over her head. “Now, let’s move, we have to do something about the world.”
“My thoughts exactly,” replied Zenobia, as she attached more weapons to her armor. “Let’s fix the world.”
I am the only Titan left in existence. I am the lord of all I survey. And I am happy.
Kronus patted Wonder Woman on the head, and she reeled back. “Nnnnaaarghhh…”
I am happy you continue to fight. I am happy you do not make this easy for me.
“I will… stop you…” she hissed, struggling to control herself.
I really doubt that, considering the position you are in right now. He sighed, and leaned back in his throne. Let’s talk about my grandson. Let’s talk about war.
Like smelling salts had been waved beneath his nose, Ares bolted up from where he had been laying previously. Circe, surprised, staggered back, nearly falling over, and he looked at her, his eyes smouldering red. “He’s manipulating the world. He’s… it’s amazing. I can feel it. And I know what he’s doing right now. Fermenting, right beneath the surface consciousness of the world… he’s making war.”
“He’s stealing from you, my love,” countered Circe, “Stealing something that is your station, that you alone are allowed to do. You need to stop him.”
Ares wiped the sweat from his brow, and nodded slowly. “You’re right. I will show them why they call me the God of War.” He pulled himself up, and closed his eyes, summoning his strength back to him, and causing his onyx black armour to appear. He smiled as his helmet formed in his hand, and he looked to his wife as she smiled at him. “Come, let us make Olympus burn.” He pulled on his helmet, and his sword shimmered into his grip.
“I can see, across the oceans, the armies of man massing against us… but it is not of their own volition… they are forced into this war by another’s hand…” Penelope, the Oracle of Themyscira, looked to Phillipus. “I feel their rage, their hate, but it isn’t theirs, it belongs to another.”
“Ares? Has Ares finally had the audacity to strike against us without parlor tricks and secrecy? Is it the war we always feared would come?” General Phillipus sharpened her blade as she stood ready at the battlements around the city of Themyscira. Centuries ago they’d built this wall, and just within view, across the plains of the island, Doom’s Doorway stood unguarded. “Our sisters are all within the walls. Let our enemies come. Let them see that we are not so easily intimidated.”
THROOM!
The walls of Themyscira House parted as the earth erupted from beneath it, splitting the concrete and marble and sent the collected Themysciran artifacts on display clattering every which way. Donna Troy, Wonder Girl, spun around, shield and sword raised. She and Zenobia were headed to the doorway to Themyscira below the House, but this sudden intrusion demanded facing. “The Titans,” muttered Donna, as she turned to her compatriot. “These are my friends, I swear by all I hold dear, if you hurt them…”
Zenobia looked at Donna, and then to the axe she had bared from its back harness, and slid it back into place. “Hand-to-hand it is then. Fun.”
Terra was first through the wall, the attack on the building hers. She was tired, gaunt, but her body kept moving not of its own volition. “Donna… I’m… so sorry…” She raised up her hands and the building crumbled above Wonder Girl, who brushed the debris aside with her shield.
Zenobia steeled herself as an explosion of white noise filled the air, focused on her by Cyborg’s cannon arm. She felt her teeth shake to the roots, her white hair shot back behind her, and the marble floor lifted from where she had planted herself, peeling back behind her at the sheer force of the attack. She pushed forward, each step an epic effort on her part, and Cyborg’s face creased as he fought the effects of Kronus’ influence. “I can’t stop it! I can’t… I’m sorry!”
Zenobia crumbled forward, her hands digging into the floor, her fingers pushing through ground as the force of the attack intensified. She looked up, her eyes streaming with tears of pain, blood gathering at the back of her throat. “Nnno.” She pulled herself up, and grit her teeth. “Nnnot today.” She pulled out her shield and wrenched it in front of her body, and continued to press forward. “Nnot going to dddiee…” She slammed the shield into the mechanical guts of Victor Stone, whose mouth sparked with electricity and whose arm shut down immediately . “…Not by your hand!”
Donna fared little better. Terra entombed her in a shell of stone, and she punched her way out only to be slugged in the face by Kid Flash, who screamed in defiance of his own hands as he struck her again and again. “Donna! I can’t stop myself! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”
Donna’s helmet took the brunt of the blows but the rate of the attack still hurt. “So am I.” She unleashed a punch to the chest of the speedster that caught him totally by surprise and sent him flying back into the far wall. She unlatched the lasso of truth and spun it around, and threw it at Terra, yanking her down from the gravity-defying lump of rock she floated on, and directed the earthmover to her fist to end the fight. “Zenobia, we need to--” The floor began to shake once more, and Donna looked down to Terra, but she was still unconscious. “Oh, damn.” Gar Logan, Beast Boy, crashed into the ruins of the House, an emerald elephant stampeding toward the two Amazons. Zenobia was instantly by Donna’s side, and the two of them struck at exactly the same moment, two fists moving in unison, and catching Beast Boy between the eyes, quickly rendering him unconscious. Donna turned to her ally, and arched an eyebrow. “We need to leave, before Nightwing gets here.”
“I have no idea who that is,” replied Zenobia, as the two of them hurried down the stairwell that led to the magical doorway to Themyscira.
“You’re better off for it,” Donna snapped back, as they reached the chamber. She sealed the door after them, and then turned to the wall before them, and her jaw dropped. “We’re too late.” Beyond the wall, where Themyscira was visible, and arching across the sky were dozens of planes, and on the ground, hundreds of soldiers, all screaming and shouting as their bodies moved without them wanting to. “They reached Themyscira.”
They’d secured the realm of Tartarus by sheer force of will alone. They battled back against undying monsters, demons, half-breed gods and inbred monstrosities that screamed abuse and curses as they fought on. They locked the realm of the dead, and breathed a sigh of relief. You cannot die when you are already dead. That was one of the inherent rules of this realm. The dead cannot die, but when time demands it, they can fight, and they would.
Persephone lowered her sword, the blade laced with the black blooded ichor of her enemies. “This is not the end.”
The departed looked to her. A hundred kings, thousands of warriors. Heroes, all of them. Elysium had been their reward, and now the world was in turmoil. A king stepped forward. “What would you have us do?”
“I am trapped here, without exit. A mighty hand reached down and took my power from me. The Underworld is my prison, as is the mighty legions we have just defeated. But the world above is under the thrall of a great evil, Kronus. The last Titan.”
The king stroked his beard. “We cannot allow the world to fall beneath his foot.”
“There is one place we can go, one place I believe we can emerge from and enter the world of the living once more. The way there is harrowing, nightmares beyond belief lurking in the darkness, but when we reach the surface… we will be whole again, all of us. We will be able to fight. We will be able to win. Are you with me?”
The king grinned, and pulled on his helmet. “Are we with you?”
The massive cavern beneath the world shook with the shouts of defiance: “HAROO! HAROO! HAROO!”
“What the hell is going on?” Steve Trevor was weaponless, unsure of his location, and all in all, extremely rattled. Mere minutes ago everyone around him was screaming that they weren’t in control, that their heads were exploding, and to be honest, so was his. Now the pain was gone, he had no idea where he was, and in front of him was a man, a god, one he hoped he’d never have to see again. “Apollo, answer me!”
Apollo looked up from where he sat. Steve Trevor was the love of Diana’s life, if she wanted to admit it or not. And these feelings he himself had been harboring for her… “I’m tired, Trevor, this entire… this day, has not been a good one for me.”
“Answer my question, Apollo, what is going on here?”
“Our grandfather has returned, and locked my family into their realms. Poseidon is adrift in the waves, unable to affect his domain, Hephasteaus is inside his forge, all my family, lost. Athena is gone. Ares too. All. Gone.”
“How the hell are you still alive then?”
Apollo began to tell a story.
To put it simply: die, my grandson. Apollo winced in pain as his throat trembled underneath the grip. Kronus smiled, and punched the Sun God in the gut, causing Apollo to cry out in pain. Why are you all so weak? Blood of my blood, kin of my kin, and you are all... weak. Mewling like kittens. You, former leader of the pantheon, slapped across the face like a bastard child and then your sister-- your own sister-- Athena taking your throne.
“You’re… nothing…” hissed Apollo back, as his hands grabbed Kronus’ head, and began to burn with the brightest light imaginable. Kronus simply laughed, and punched Apollo again, the light ceasing, and causing the Sun God to wretch. “Nnnnhhh…”
Powerless. Pathetic. Your twin put up a greater fight than you.
“Artemis!” Kronus’ grip tightened, and Apollo could barely think. “Hhhhrrrr!”
Away with you, boy. I will have nothing to do with you anymore. You are a neutered dog. Away. And with that, Kronus snapped Apollo’s neck, and he crumpled to the floor. I am in control. Forever. Always.
“You’re dead?” Steve Trevor shook his head. “Well, that makes no sense to me at all.”
“Gods don’t die, Trevor: They move on. They go to the other place, after this world, and they loiter there until the cycles continue. The world keeps turning, and the gods keep living, but you can’t see them. Who believes in us anymore anyway? Our hold on this world is so tenuous, you have to look back thousands of years to when people actually cared. When the world was scared because we were petty and cruel and we ran around basking in admiration and power. Now we’re just… lingering. Don’t you understand, Trevor? We deserve to move on, we deserve to stop existing.” Apollo grabbed his head and ran his hands through his shimmering blonde hair. “But I won’t leave Diana, I won’t leave this world, in the hands of Kronus. And I refuse to yield if it means he wins. I. Refuse. To. Yield.”
Steve Trevor watched as Apollo regained his composure. “Just like the good old times then, eh, Apollo? You got me out of my wheelchair, you posed as me when it suited you, and here we are now. So, we need to stop this Kronus bastard. What kind of gun kills a titan?”
Helicopters roared as they attacked Themyscira. Marble and stone buckled under the barrage of bullets that tore through the buildings, but the Amazons were bunkered beneath the Palace, where the walls were thickest, and where they could formulate a plan of attack.
The Amazons were restless. The world shook above them, and they prayed to gods that would have once answered, but right now… silence. “We need to face the threat head on; we need to cut them out of the sky!”
Phillipus shook her head. “No, this isn’t right, Penelope can sense it, and I think we all can. The world has shifted, and they’re not in their rights minds!”
“They? All of the world! We’re being attacked by the combined military might of the entire world! We stand no chance if we cower beneath the Palace! We need to strike! Them before us!”
“No.”
The Amazons shifted their gaze to the doorway and the figures that stood there. Smoke drifted off their shields, bullets having torn into the enchanted metal of the armaments as they had journeyed here. Donna Troy removed her helm, and placed it under her arm. Zenobia remained silent, and watched as the Royal Princess of the Themysciran people stepped forward. “Kronus the Titan, has risen from his prison within the world. We will not kill when there is another way. But we need to be better than those outside. We need to protect our home, and we need to survive.”
“Donna Troy!” Phillipus embraced the Teen Titan tightly, and smiled as she moved back. “You’re alive, I feared you lost.” She paused, hesitated, and then whispered the question that Donna dreaded: “Where is Diana?”
“Diana has fallen in battle,” replied Donna, “but there is still hope.”
“Yes, there is,” came the voice of Zenobia.
“Who are you?” inquired Penelope, “I cannot see you like the others, you are… hidden from me.”
Zenobia removed her helmet, and mutters rumbled over the Themyscirans. “You know me. You know what I have done in the past, but I have words for you now that you must listen to--”
“Traitor.” The mutters were to be expected, and as such Zenobia ignored them.
“I’ve wandered the world since you last saw me. Since I was corrupted by Ares. And I’ve overcome it… and like Hell would I come to the aid of the people who sent me down that spiral if I didn’t need to, but I’ve been fighting side by side with Donna Troy, and I would have fought by the side of Diana if needs be.” She paused again. “I realise you probably don’t want to hear that, but something happened to me. And you need to hear it before you make your assumptions:”
It was raining. It had rained for so long, and Zenobia knew why. Gaia had died. The world was weeping for the loss of it’s soul, and something was creeping on the fringes, groping at this opportunity. Her cape was sodden on the outside, but her hood kept her dry, and she continued to trudge through the mud. She’d been doing this for months now, since she escaped DEO custody in a blaze of fire and action, and she’d keep doing it until she died. Her mind was her own once more. She’d been twisted, tainted, and that taint was gone in a flash of clarity and realisation. Ares had done this to her. And his power was still in her veins, her strength, but no longer his words. That nagging, incessant draw toward: War. Battle. Fight. Kill. Murder. Destroy. All these words, and the natural progression to: Diana. That wasn’t there anymore. She didn’t care, because she knew she’d been duped. Though, if confronted with Ares and bearing a knife that could slit his godly throat… “Cold,” she muttered, as she trudged onwards, searching for injustice.
“You could fly, couldn’t you, Zenobia?”
She spun around, a sword drawn. Athena was untouched by the rain. She glowed in the dark light of the jungle night, and her smile warmed Zenobia even when she didn’t want it to.
“What… what do you want, my… my lady?”
“You are lost, aren’t you? I feel that I am too. Drifting through my years as leader of Olympus like a nothing. It’s… hard to explain,” Athena approached Zenobia, and the sword fell from the rogue Wonder Woman’s hand pathetically, unable to even think to threaten this vibrant deity. Athena’s hand unfurled, became outstretched, and Zenobia took it without hesitation. The rain stopped, the darkness receded, and they were alone in a perfect whiteness. “I can feel the world is going to a terrible, terrible place, and I am not the only one. I have conversed with other pantheons, a concept foreign to me for so long, and they agree. Shining Loucetios feels his power waning, as his light fades and wise Mímir agrees with my belief that something from beyond the world is coming. I fear that the world will be smitten by an act of our own doing, and that will just weaken the world even more so than the passing of Gaia.”
“What… I don’t understand why you’ve come to me to say these things. Diana is your champion, and I’m just… a failure. A broken half thing left unwanted after the touch of your brother Ares!” Zenobia sobbed, finally letting all the emotion she’d pent up fall out of her. She collapsed to the white floor, her cape trailing water across the shimmering ground, water pooling around her. “I don’t know what I am anymore, and I’m wandering the world and I have no idea why… I don’t want to… to live like… this…”
“Diana is my champion, gifted with my wisdom, but you, Zenobia, could be a sister to her in more ways than you know. I would grant you my voice. You would be my messenger, and in times of great need, you would be there to be the reason behind the world’s madness. All I need you to do is say you will be there, when the world is threatened, a symbol of hope when you previously weren’t. Your life will take a parallel path to Diana, but you have differing battles to fight.”
Zenobia looked up, and saw Athena crouching beside her, her hands around her shoulders, comforting the lost Amazon. “I accept your offer, my lady.”
“Then I place a piece of myself inside you, for safe keeping, and then you will know what to do.” Athena placed her hand within her bosom, and pulled out a sphere of incandescent light. She placed it over Zenobia’s breastplate, and simply pushed it inside her, and Zenobia’s eyes shot open. Knowledge filled her, and she knew where she was. Knowledge. Wisdom. Athena’s gift to her in full.
“State your business.”
Donna Troy. Wonder Girl. She looked so beautiful in the flickering light of the candles inside Themyscira House. Zenobia dismissed that thought. “I should have known better than to sneak up on the sister of the great Wonder Woman. Princess Donna Troy of the Themysciran Amazons. To be honest, I’m surprised it’s you. Always thought poor optimistic Diana would be here at the fall of Man’s World.”
“You claim that our patron, Pallas Athena, would make you her voice? I find that hard to believe,” snarled an Amazon, who remained faceless in the crowd. Jeer and agreements filled the chamber. Gunfire still rattled outside.
Zenobia smiled, and placed her hands over her heart. A bright light began to shimmer between her latticed fingers, until she extended her arms out, a sphere of light so familiar to the Amazons that they instantly kneeled before it. The voice of Athena was instantly recognizable to all of them: “Trust, for that is the bond of an Amazon…”
Phillipus held in tears. “Our gods have yet to abandon us…”
Donna smiled as the Amazons were united by their sisterhood. As the Amazons stood, and welcomed Zenobia back to their ranks, Wonder Girl cleared her throat, and the Amazons turned to her, their attention completely hers. “War is not an option, my sisters. War would result in our deaths. We are outnumbered. Outgunned. But there is another option we have left to us. We retreat, we move through the doorway to Man’s World, and we occupy the chambers beneath that sanctuary until this threat ends.”
“How will this threat end though, Donna? How will we survive when we fight something more than a god, but a Titan?!”
“We trust in the one thing that means something to us. We trust in Wonder Woman. And I will bring Diana back to us, and I will not fail. You have my word as an Amazon. As a sister.”
The cheers drowned out the sound of mortars pounding into the palace above.
The military screamed as they attacked Themyscira. Some had been driven half mad by their inability to stop themselves. They fired all their missiles, all their ammunition belts, all their weapons, at Theymscira. The city was a smoking ruin. Forests burned. Animals fled for safety, but found none.
“THIS IS NOT RIGHT!” Ares materialized upon the isle of the Amazons, and threw up his arms. “YOU ARE UNWORTHY TO COMMIT WAR UPON THIS LAND!” Their weapons seized up. Some prayed underneath their breaths, until they realized that their engines stopped working too. “MY GRANDFATHER THINKS HE KNOWS WAR? THAT HE CAN CONTROL YOU ALL? THEN HE HAS UNDERESTIMATED ME FOR THE LAST TIME! THIS IS MY CALLING! WAR RUNS IN MY BLOOD WHILST HE, THE CASTRATED TITAN, SITS UPON HIS THRONE AT OLYMPUS! LIKE SOME COWARDLY LITTLE--”
Oh, Ares. You do me proud. But your words leave me wanting.
Ares span around and looked toward Kronus, a being three times his size, as he took a smoldering first step from nowhere onto Themyscira. The deposed God of War gritted his teeth, and raised his sword.
Fight me. Kill me. Try. Fail. MAKE. ME. LAUGH. His final words caused the island to fall silent, as the entire military might of the world vanished from the air.
Ares charged at Kronus, and slashed down against the Titan’s chest. Kronus ignored the gaping wound, and it simply sealed shut. Ares grunted, and continued his attack, sword stroke after sword stroke cutting open the Titan but sealing shut moments later. “FALL!”
I would waste my time with you again? I think not. I have a better idea. Kronus clicked his fingers, and Wonder Woman appeared between Ares and himself. Diana, do you hate Ares?
Diana looked Ares in the eye, and the God of War nearly took a step back. Pure blackness filled the Queen of the Amazon’s eyes. “Yes.”
Would you kill him for me?
Ares mouthed a word in defiance, No…
“Yes.” Wonder Woman slammed her fist into Ares’ armour, and watched as it crumpled beneath her flesh. “Yes.”
Kronus turned from the fight, and looked to the bombed out husk that was Themyscira. Daughter…? I can smell you. It is time. Come to your father…
Donna Troy cringed as she watched the last of the Amazons, barring Phillipus, Zenobia and herself, passing through the doorway to the sanctuary that was Themyscira House. Zenobia caught her before she fell, and instantly withdrew her hand as their flesh touched. “You can hear him.”
“Athena, yes,” coughed Donna, as she looked up to Zenobia desperately, “he wants me by his side. And… his power… so hard to resist.”
Zenobia slapped Donna Troy across the face, and Phillipus paused as she was about to move through the portal. “Liar. You’re the sister of Diana. Wonder Woman. You’re the next in line for that title, don’t you understand? You are the strongest of the strong, wisest of the wise. You think blood matters? You think that because he calls you daughter it means you are? I call you hero. What does that make you? Stand up. Stand strong. We will end this fight, Donna Troy, and we will end it soon. But you have to resist whatever urges lurk inside your body. Fight now. Because there is more coming.”
“Is that… the wisdom of Athena speaking?”
“What do you think?” replied Zenobia.
Next Issue: Dystopia might just conclude, and like I mentioned last month, it’s still getting worse: Wonder Woman versus Ares, and the God of War might not stand a chance. Steve Trevor and Apollo find the one weapon they have against Kronus, and hate themselves for it. Wonder Girl might just give in to the voice that echoes inside her mind and Zenobia continues to walk that fine line between good and evil, all because of her own God-given mission. Also, where’s Circe gone? What’s Persephone doing? And in the end, when the Gods have been so utterly defeated by the mad Titan Kronus, who really wins?
“Violently,” interjected Donna Troy, as she pulled on a chainmail vest. “You have murdered--”
“I have murdered murderers. I have not have killed the innocent, I have rooted out the cause of violence, and because violence is the only language these people understand, I have responded in like kind. Athena’s belief in peace, the Themysciran way, was never one I subscribed to. My sisters, those of us that joined you when Hippolytus and Diana united our two tribes, they have had trouble following your beliefs, but they persevere.”
“But you took that a step further,” Donna finally attached a breast plate across her body, covering up the chainmail that protected her body, “you began to follow the doctrine of Ares, and you still do. You preach violence, not peace.”
Zenobia shook her head. “I do what I have to do, and please, don’t lecture me. I don’t mind debating morals and ethics with you, but I will not be lectured. Queen Diana and your own methods of preaching peace are exactly the same. Preach peace and teach violence. How many battles have you won by extending your hand? Now, ask yourself how many times you’ve had to beat, break, batter your opponents into coming around to your way of thinking.”
“I won’t be lecturered,” retorted Donna, as she placed a helmet over her head. “Now, let’s move, we have to do something about the world.”
“My thoughts exactly,” replied Zenobia, as she attached more weapons to her armor. “Let’s fix the world.”
Wonder Woman
Issue Thirty-Two: “DYSTOPIA”
Written by House Of Mystery
Cover by tsbranch (click his name to view his gallery)
Edited by Don Walsh
Issue Thirty-Two: “DYSTOPIA”
Written by House Of Mystery
Cover by tsbranch (click his name to view his gallery)
Edited by Don Walsh
I am the only Titan left in existence. I am the lord of all I survey. And I am happy.
Kronus patted Wonder Woman on the head, and she reeled back. “Nnnnaaarghhh…”
I am happy you continue to fight. I am happy you do not make this easy for me.
“I will… stop you…” she hissed, struggling to control herself.
I really doubt that, considering the position you are in right now. He sighed, and leaned back in his throne. Let’s talk about my grandson. Let’s talk about war.
*
Like smelling salts had been waved beneath his nose, Ares bolted up from where he had been laying previously. Circe, surprised, staggered back, nearly falling over, and he looked at her, his eyes smouldering red. “He’s manipulating the world. He’s… it’s amazing. I can feel it. And I know what he’s doing right now. Fermenting, right beneath the surface consciousness of the world… he’s making war.”
“He’s stealing from you, my love,” countered Circe, “Stealing something that is your station, that you alone are allowed to do. You need to stop him.”
Ares wiped the sweat from his brow, and nodded slowly. “You’re right. I will show them why they call me the God of War.” He pulled himself up, and closed his eyes, summoning his strength back to him, and causing his onyx black armour to appear. He smiled as his helmet formed in his hand, and he looked to his wife as she smiled at him. “Come, let us make Olympus burn.” He pulled on his helmet, and his sword shimmered into his grip.
*
“I can see, across the oceans, the armies of man massing against us… but it is not of their own volition… they are forced into this war by another’s hand…” Penelope, the Oracle of Themyscira, looked to Phillipus. “I feel their rage, their hate, but it isn’t theirs, it belongs to another.”
“Ares? Has Ares finally had the audacity to strike against us without parlor tricks and secrecy? Is it the war we always feared would come?” General Phillipus sharpened her blade as she stood ready at the battlements around the city of Themyscira. Centuries ago they’d built this wall, and just within view, across the plains of the island, Doom’s Doorway stood unguarded. “Our sisters are all within the walls. Let our enemies come. Let them see that we are not so easily intimidated.”
*
THROOM!
The walls of Themyscira House parted as the earth erupted from beneath it, splitting the concrete and marble and sent the collected Themysciran artifacts on display clattering every which way. Donna Troy, Wonder Girl, spun around, shield and sword raised. She and Zenobia were headed to the doorway to Themyscira below the House, but this sudden intrusion demanded facing. “The Titans,” muttered Donna, as she turned to her compatriot. “These are my friends, I swear by all I hold dear, if you hurt them…”
Zenobia looked at Donna, and then to the axe she had bared from its back harness, and slid it back into place. “Hand-to-hand it is then. Fun.”
Terra was first through the wall, the attack on the building hers. She was tired, gaunt, but her body kept moving not of its own volition. “Donna… I’m… so sorry…” She raised up her hands and the building crumbled above Wonder Girl, who brushed the debris aside with her shield.
Zenobia steeled herself as an explosion of white noise filled the air, focused on her by Cyborg’s cannon arm. She felt her teeth shake to the roots, her white hair shot back behind her, and the marble floor lifted from where she had planted herself, peeling back behind her at the sheer force of the attack. She pushed forward, each step an epic effort on her part, and Cyborg’s face creased as he fought the effects of Kronus’ influence. “I can’t stop it! I can’t… I’m sorry!”
Zenobia crumbled forward, her hands digging into the floor, her fingers pushing through ground as the force of the attack intensified. She looked up, her eyes streaming with tears of pain, blood gathering at the back of her throat. “Nnno.” She pulled herself up, and grit her teeth. “Nnnot today.” She pulled out her shield and wrenched it in front of her body, and continued to press forward. “Nnot going to dddiee…” She slammed the shield into the mechanical guts of Victor Stone, whose mouth sparked with electricity and whose arm shut down immediately . “…Not by your hand!”
Donna fared little better. Terra entombed her in a shell of stone, and she punched her way out only to be slugged in the face by Kid Flash, who screamed in defiance of his own hands as he struck her again and again. “Donna! I can’t stop myself! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”
Donna’s helmet took the brunt of the blows but the rate of the attack still hurt. “So am I.” She unleashed a punch to the chest of the speedster that caught him totally by surprise and sent him flying back into the far wall. She unlatched the lasso of truth and spun it around, and threw it at Terra, yanking her down from the gravity-defying lump of rock she floated on, and directed the earthmover to her fist to end the fight. “Zenobia, we need to--” The floor began to shake once more, and Donna looked down to Terra, but she was still unconscious. “Oh, damn.” Gar Logan, Beast Boy, crashed into the ruins of the House, an emerald elephant stampeding toward the two Amazons. Zenobia was instantly by Donna’s side, and the two of them struck at exactly the same moment, two fists moving in unison, and catching Beast Boy between the eyes, quickly rendering him unconscious. Donna turned to her ally, and arched an eyebrow. “We need to leave, before Nightwing gets here.”
“I have no idea who that is,” replied Zenobia, as the two of them hurried down the stairwell that led to the magical doorway to Themyscira.
“You’re better off for it,” Donna snapped back, as they reached the chamber. She sealed the door after them, and then turned to the wall before them, and her jaw dropped. “We’re too late.” Beyond the wall, where Themyscira was visible, and arching across the sky were dozens of planes, and on the ground, hundreds of soldiers, all screaming and shouting as their bodies moved without them wanting to. “They reached Themyscira.”
*
They’d secured the realm of Tartarus by sheer force of will alone. They battled back against undying monsters, demons, half-breed gods and inbred monstrosities that screamed abuse and curses as they fought on. They locked the realm of the dead, and breathed a sigh of relief. You cannot die when you are already dead. That was one of the inherent rules of this realm. The dead cannot die, but when time demands it, they can fight, and they would.
Persephone lowered her sword, the blade laced with the black blooded ichor of her enemies. “This is not the end.”
The departed looked to her. A hundred kings, thousands of warriors. Heroes, all of them. Elysium had been their reward, and now the world was in turmoil. A king stepped forward. “What would you have us do?”
“I am trapped here, without exit. A mighty hand reached down and took my power from me. The Underworld is my prison, as is the mighty legions we have just defeated. But the world above is under the thrall of a great evil, Kronus. The last Titan.”
The king stroked his beard. “We cannot allow the world to fall beneath his foot.”
“There is one place we can go, one place I believe we can emerge from and enter the world of the living once more. The way there is harrowing, nightmares beyond belief lurking in the darkness, but when we reach the surface… we will be whole again, all of us. We will be able to fight. We will be able to win. Are you with me?”
The king grinned, and pulled on his helmet. “Are we with you?”
The massive cavern beneath the world shook with the shouts of defiance: “HAROO! HAROO! HAROO!”
*
“What the hell is going on?” Steve Trevor was weaponless, unsure of his location, and all in all, extremely rattled. Mere minutes ago everyone around him was screaming that they weren’t in control, that their heads were exploding, and to be honest, so was his. Now the pain was gone, he had no idea where he was, and in front of him was a man, a god, one he hoped he’d never have to see again. “Apollo, answer me!”
Apollo looked up from where he sat. Steve Trevor was the love of Diana’s life, if she wanted to admit it or not. And these feelings he himself had been harboring for her… “I’m tired, Trevor, this entire… this day, has not been a good one for me.”
“Answer my question, Apollo, what is going on here?”
“Our grandfather has returned, and locked my family into their realms. Poseidon is adrift in the waves, unable to affect his domain, Hephasteaus is inside his forge, all my family, lost. Athena is gone. Ares too. All. Gone.”
“How the hell are you still alive then?”
Apollo began to tell a story.
To put it simply: die, my grandson. Apollo winced in pain as his throat trembled underneath the grip. Kronus smiled, and punched the Sun God in the gut, causing Apollo to cry out in pain. Why are you all so weak? Blood of my blood, kin of my kin, and you are all... weak. Mewling like kittens. You, former leader of the pantheon, slapped across the face like a bastard child and then your sister-- your own sister-- Athena taking your throne.
“You’re… nothing…” hissed Apollo back, as his hands grabbed Kronus’ head, and began to burn with the brightest light imaginable. Kronus simply laughed, and punched Apollo again, the light ceasing, and causing the Sun God to wretch. “Nnnnhhh…”
Powerless. Pathetic. Your twin put up a greater fight than you.
“Artemis!” Kronus’ grip tightened, and Apollo could barely think. “Hhhhrrrr!”
Away with you, boy. I will have nothing to do with you anymore. You are a neutered dog. Away. And with that, Kronus snapped Apollo’s neck, and he crumpled to the floor. I am in control. Forever. Always.
“You’re dead?” Steve Trevor shook his head. “Well, that makes no sense to me at all.”
“Gods don’t die, Trevor: They move on. They go to the other place, after this world, and they loiter there until the cycles continue. The world keeps turning, and the gods keep living, but you can’t see them. Who believes in us anymore anyway? Our hold on this world is so tenuous, you have to look back thousands of years to when people actually cared. When the world was scared because we were petty and cruel and we ran around basking in admiration and power. Now we’re just… lingering. Don’t you understand, Trevor? We deserve to move on, we deserve to stop existing.” Apollo grabbed his head and ran his hands through his shimmering blonde hair. “But I won’t leave Diana, I won’t leave this world, in the hands of Kronus. And I refuse to yield if it means he wins. I. Refuse. To. Yield.”
Steve Trevor watched as Apollo regained his composure. “Just like the good old times then, eh, Apollo? You got me out of my wheelchair, you posed as me when it suited you, and here we are now. So, we need to stop this Kronus bastard. What kind of gun kills a titan?”
*
Helicopters roared as they attacked Themyscira. Marble and stone buckled under the barrage of bullets that tore through the buildings, but the Amazons were bunkered beneath the Palace, where the walls were thickest, and where they could formulate a plan of attack.
The Amazons were restless. The world shook above them, and they prayed to gods that would have once answered, but right now… silence. “We need to face the threat head on; we need to cut them out of the sky!”
Phillipus shook her head. “No, this isn’t right, Penelope can sense it, and I think we all can. The world has shifted, and they’re not in their rights minds!”
“They? All of the world! We’re being attacked by the combined military might of the entire world! We stand no chance if we cower beneath the Palace! We need to strike! Them before us!”
“No.”
The Amazons shifted their gaze to the doorway and the figures that stood there. Smoke drifted off their shields, bullets having torn into the enchanted metal of the armaments as they had journeyed here. Donna Troy removed her helm, and placed it under her arm. Zenobia remained silent, and watched as the Royal Princess of the Themysciran people stepped forward. “Kronus the Titan, has risen from his prison within the world. We will not kill when there is another way. But we need to be better than those outside. We need to protect our home, and we need to survive.”
“Donna Troy!” Phillipus embraced the Teen Titan tightly, and smiled as she moved back. “You’re alive, I feared you lost.” She paused, hesitated, and then whispered the question that Donna dreaded: “Where is Diana?”
“Diana has fallen in battle,” replied Donna, “but there is still hope.”
“Yes, there is,” came the voice of Zenobia.
“Who are you?” inquired Penelope, “I cannot see you like the others, you are… hidden from me.”
Zenobia removed her helmet, and mutters rumbled over the Themyscirans. “You know me. You know what I have done in the past, but I have words for you now that you must listen to--”
“Traitor.” The mutters were to be expected, and as such Zenobia ignored them.
“I’ve wandered the world since you last saw me. Since I was corrupted by Ares. And I’ve overcome it… and like Hell would I come to the aid of the people who sent me down that spiral if I didn’t need to, but I’ve been fighting side by side with Donna Troy, and I would have fought by the side of Diana if needs be.” She paused again. “I realise you probably don’t want to hear that, but something happened to me. And you need to hear it before you make your assumptions:”
It was raining. It had rained for so long, and Zenobia knew why. Gaia had died. The world was weeping for the loss of it’s soul, and something was creeping on the fringes, groping at this opportunity. Her cape was sodden on the outside, but her hood kept her dry, and she continued to trudge through the mud. She’d been doing this for months now, since she escaped DEO custody in a blaze of fire and action, and she’d keep doing it until she died. Her mind was her own once more. She’d been twisted, tainted, and that taint was gone in a flash of clarity and realisation. Ares had done this to her. And his power was still in her veins, her strength, but no longer his words. That nagging, incessant draw toward: War. Battle. Fight. Kill. Murder. Destroy. All these words, and the natural progression to: Diana. That wasn’t there anymore. She didn’t care, because she knew she’d been duped. Though, if confronted with Ares and bearing a knife that could slit his godly throat… “Cold,” she muttered, as she trudged onwards, searching for injustice.
“You could fly, couldn’t you, Zenobia?”
She spun around, a sword drawn. Athena was untouched by the rain. She glowed in the dark light of the jungle night, and her smile warmed Zenobia even when she didn’t want it to.
“What… what do you want, my… my lady?”
“You are lost, aren’t you? I feel that I am too. Drifting through my years as leader of Olympus like a nothing. It’s… hard to explain,” Athena approached Zenobia, and the sword fell from the rogue Wonder Woman’s hand pathetically, unable to even think to threaten this vibrant deity. Athena’s hand unfurled, became outstretched, and Zenobia took it without hesitation. The rain stopped, the darkness receded, and they were alone in a perfect whiteness. “I can feel the world is going to a terrible, terrible place, and I am not the only one. I have conversed with other pantheons, a concept foreign to me for so long, and they agree. Shining Loucetios feels his power waning, as his light fades and wise Mímir agrees with my belief that something from beyond the world is coming. I fear that the world will be smitten by an act of our own doing, and that will just weaken the world even more so than the passing of Gaia.”
“What… I don’t understand why you’ve come to me to say these things. Diana is your champion, and I’m just… a failure. A broken half thing left unwanted after the touch of your brother Ares!” Zenobia sobbed, finally letting all the emotion she’d pent up fall out of her. She collapsed to the white floor, her cape trailing water across the shimmering ground, water pooling around her. “I don’t know what I am anymore, and I’m wandering the world and I have no idea why… I don’t want to… to live like… this…”
“Diana is my champion, gifted with my wisdom, but you, Zenobia, could be a sister to her in more ways than you know. I would grant you my voice. You would be my messenger, and in times of great need, you would be there to be the reason behind the world’s madness. All I need you to do is say you will be there, when the world is threatened, a symbol of hope when you previously weren’t. Your life will take a parallel path to Diana, but you have differing battles to fight.”
Zenobia looked up, and saw Athena crouching beside her, her hands around her shoulders, comforting the lost Amazon. “I accept your offer, my lady.”
“Then I place a piece of myself inside you, for safe keeping, and then you will know what to do.” Athena placed her hand within her bosom, and pulled out a sphere of incandescent light. She placed it over Zenobia’s breastplate, and simply pushed it inside her, and Zenobia’s eyes shot open. Knowledge filled her, and she knew where she was. Knowledge. Wisdom. Athena’s gift to her in full.
“State your business.”
Donna Troy. Wonder Girl. She looked so beautiful in the flickering light of the candles inside Themyscira House. Zenobia dismissed that thought. “I should have known better than to sneak up on the sister of the great Wonder Woman. Princess Donna Troy of the Themysciran Amazons. To be honest, I’m surprised it’s you. Always thought poor optimistic Diana would be here at the fall of Man’s World.”
“You claim that our patron, Pallas Athena, would make you her voice? I find that hard to believe,” snarled an Amazon, who remained faceless in the crowd. Jeer and agreements filled the chamber. Gunfire still rattled outside.
Zenobia smiled, and placed her hands over her heart. A bright light began to shimmer between her latticed fingers, until she extended her arms out, a sphere of light so familiar to the Amazons that they instantly kneeled before it. The voice of Athena was instantly recognizable to all of them: “Trust, for that is the bond of an Amazon…”
Phillipus held in tears. “Our gods have yet to abandon us…”
Donna smiled as the Amazons were united by their sisterhood. As the Amazons stood, and welcomed Zenobia back to their ranks, Wonder Girl cleared her throat, and the Amazons turned to her, their attention completely hers. “War is not an option, my sisters. War would result in our deaths. We are outnumbered. Outgunned. But there is another option we have left to us. We retreat, we move through the doorway to Man’s World, and we occupy the chambers beneath that sanctuary until this threat ends.”
“How will this threat end though, Donna? How will we survive when we fight something more than a god, but a Titan?!”
“We trust in the one thing that means something to us. We trust in Wonder Woman. And I will bring Diana back to us, and I will not fail. You have my word as an Amazon. As a sister.”
The cheers drowned out the sound of mortars pounding into the palace above.
*
The military screamed as they attacked Themyscira. Some had been driven half mad by their inability to stop themselves. They fired all their missiles, all their ammunition belts, all their weapons, at Theymscira. The city was a smoking ruin. Forests burned. Animals fled for safety, but found none.
“THIS IS NOT RIGHT!” Ares materialized upon the isle of the Amazons, and threw up his arms. “YOU ARE UNWORTHY TO COMMIT WAR UPON THIS LAND!” Their weapons seized up. Some prayed underneath their breaths, until they realized that their engines stopped working too. “MY GRANDFATHER THINKS HE KNOWS WAR? THAT HE CAN CONTROL YOU ALL? THEN HE HAS UNDERESTIMATED ME FOR THE LAST TIME! THIS IS MY CALLING! WAR RUNS IN MY BLOOD WHILST HE, THE CASTRATED TITAN, SITS UPON HIS THRONE AT OLYMPUS! LIKE SOME COWARDLY LITTLE--”
Oh, Ares. You do me proud. But your words leave me wanting.
Ares span around and looked toward Kronus, a being three times his size, as he took a smoldering first step from nowhere onto Themyscira. The deposed God of War gritted his teeth, and raised his sword.
Fight me. Kill me. Try. Fail. MAKE. ME. LAUGH. His final words caused the island to fall silent, as the entire military might of the world vanished from the air.
Ares charged at Kronus, and slashed down against the Titan’s chest. Kronus ignored the gaping wound, and it simply sealed shut. Ares grunted, and continued his attack, sword stroke after sword stroke cutting open the Titan but sealing shut moments later. “FALL!”
I would waste my time with you again? I think not. I have a better idea. Kronus clicked his fingers, and Wonder Woman appeared between Ares and himself. Diana, do you hate Ares?
Diana looked Ares in the eye, and the God of War nearly took a step back. Pure blackness filled the Queen of the Amazon’s eyes. “Yes.”
Would you kill him for me?
Ares mouthed a word in defiance, No…
“Yes.” Wonder Woman slammed her fist into Ares’ armour, and watched as it crumpled beneath her flesh. “Yes.”
Kronus turned from the fight, and looked to the bombed out husk that was Themyscira. Daughter…? I can smell you. It is time. Come to your father…
*
Donna Troy cringed as she watched the last of the Amazons, barring Phillipus, Zenobia and herself, passing through the doorway to the sanctuary that was Themyscira House. Zenobia caught her before she fell, and instantly withdrew her hand as their flesh touched. “You can hear him.”
“Athena, yes,” coughed Donna, as she looked up to Zenobia desperately, “he wants me by his side. And… his power… so hard to resist.”
Zenobia slapped Donna Troy across the face, and Phillipus paused as she was about to move through the portal. “Liar. You’re the sister of Diana. Wonder Woman. You’re the next in line for that title, don’t you understand? You are the strongest of the strong, wisest of the wise. You think blood matters? You think that because he calls you daughter it means you are? I call you hero. What does that make you? Stand up. Stand strong. We will end this fight, Donna Troy, and we will end it soon. But you have to resist whatever urges lurk inside your body. Fight now. Because there is more coming.”
“Is that… the wisdom of Athena speaking?”
“What do you think?” replied Zenobia.
End of Part Two; “Into The Void”
Next Issue: Dystopia might just conclude, and like I mentioned last month, it’s still getting worse: Wonder Woman versus Ares, and the God of War might not stand a chance. Steve Trevor and Apollo find the one weapon they have against Kronus, and hate themselves for it. Wonder Girl might just give in to the voice that echoes inside her mind and Zenobia continues to walk that fine line between good and evil, all because of her own God-given mission. Also, where’s Circe gone? What’s Persephone doing? And in the end, when the Gods have been so utterly defeated by the mad Titan Kronus, who really wins?
Please follow this link and comment on the issue!