Wonder Woman #37: "A Whisper of Winter"

Nyasir – Eastern-Central Africa

<Gods, what sins have I committed to deserve such a fate,> was all that Alexa could think since they had left the Nyasir capital city of Buranda. Half a day had gone by and they had not seen any type of civilization since entering the jungle outside of the city. Up ahead, her sister cut a path through the dense foliage while Alexa attempted to navigate a hidden path to the rebel camp like they were supposed to. The heat and humidity was insufferable, sweat plastered her chiton to her body, sting her eyes and make the strands of her red hair cling to her face. Bugs have been feasting on her lightly bronzed skin when the branches her sister had missed hadn’t scraped or cut it. Every step she took with dread, not knowing what she might step into next. She longed to be back home, soaking in one of the hot baths or to be in the reading room of the Pergamum immersing herself in one of its tomes.

<“I see the clearing,”> Her sister shouted ahead.

Thank the Gods, Alexa thought as she hurried forward, following the sound of foliage being cut. She found her sister standing in the middle of a cut-out path used by the Liberation Army. It was this group of rebels that kept the Nyasians in constant civil war with the government and the group that the women were supposed to meet. The recently-cut clearing was big enough for supply caravans to reach the Liberation Army’s base. According to their contact, it was not yet discovered by the nation’s military. Alexa walked next to her sister, hunched over and grabbed her knees and began taking deep, rapid breaths of the humid jungle air.

<“If you would spend more time training in the yard and not so much time with your books, you wouldn’t be so winded, sister.” > Like her Alexa, the physical exertion and heat made her red hair and chiton cling to her bronzed body, but unlike her sister, she showed no sign of fatigue. She stood up straight, chest out, sword in ready position as if she was expecting an attack. She looked every bit the regal warrior that Alexa had admired since she was a small girl.

<“Lucky for me, Artemis, our queen values scholarship as much as the arts of war,”> Alexa replied, gasping for breath.

< “And thankfully for us, the gods have taken our mother, so she wouldn’t have to hear such insolence.”> Since they were girls, Artemis had always chastised Alexa for her uninspired attitude towards her military training. While Alexa was considered average at best with her skill with a sword, their familial line was one of elite warriors and Artemis was never shy in reminding Alexa of that fact.

< “Artemis, I’m sure Alexa would agree with me that that your bickering can wait until we are back home,” > a voice said from behind. They both turned to greet their blonde companion, who guided a metal crate on a levitator into the clearing. < “Besides, without our precious little scholar, how else will we be able to communicate with the savages?” >

< “Althea and Callineria are just as capable linguists as Alexa is, but with palpable sword skills,” > Artemis replied.

< “Yet they are nowhere near as cunning,” > the blonde said with a sly smile as she walked toward the sisters, handing a skin of water to Alexa, a hand on her bent forward back.

< “Gods, I’ve had it with the two of you,” > Alexa stood up and drank before handing it to Artemis then walked to a nearby fallen tree to sit down. She went to inspect her feet through her buskins, but not before giving her two compatriots a deathly stare. Her feet were caked in dirt and the blisters that had been forming along their journey had begun to break. Once they got back to Buranda, she would have to make sure to wash her feet before infection started to set in.

< “Alexa, please, it’s all in good fun. >

< “Enough with the japes, Aresia,” > Artemis said after taking her fill and handing the skin back to her blonde companion. < “Let us rest for a moment before continuing. The camp should not be too far.” >

< “Perhaps that is a good idea,” > Aresia said as she hopped back onto the metal crate. She winked at Alexa before taking a drink. Aresia was cut from the same cloth as Artemis and could almost match her skill as a warrior, but was technologically adept and open to using it in battle, where Artemis preferred traditional means of combat. Aresia seemingly could get a working knowledge of any device within a matter of minutes. < “I’m going to need some time to prepare myself to deal with these sub-human brutes. If their currency is anything like what we saw in their capital city, then we are severely getting deprived on this deal.” >

< “Well, look at the bright side,”> Artemis said, staring out, following the trail with her eyes. < “We can now find a suitable mate for Alexa.”> Artemis turned to her sister and gave her a chuckling smile while Aresia laughed.

Alexa put her head down and shook her head. < “I don’t know what I did to anger the gods that they stuck me on this forsaken place with your two.” > She stood up and dusted off her chiton and moved away the strands of red hair that fell into her green eyes.

All three women heard a faint rustling in the trees and cracking twigs ahead. Artemis took the lead, sword drawn to a ready position. Aresia and Alexa followed, but kept their distance and their hands on the hilt of their swords. Alexa watched as her sister peered into the foliage, monitoring the situation with her grey-green eyes. She motioned them to stay back and exited the clearing into the forest. Worry gripped Alexa’s heart as she waited with Aresia for Artemis to return. She knew whatever Artemis went in to find wouldn’t cause her much difficulty. She was as good a tracker and hunter as she was a warrior, every bit like the goddess she was named after. Despite all of that, Alexa still worried whenever her sister went out for a hunt or sent on some mission at the behest of their queen.

Artemis returned minutes later, to Alexa’s relief. Alexa would hardly admit it publicly, but she looked up to her big sister. Artemis was graceful, elegant and beautiful, admired by the others in the tribe. Sometimes she was jealous of Artemis’s gifts and wondered why the gods had blessed her with so much and only gave Alexa wits or why was she was born into a warrior’s lineage when she was better off suited to be born to a scribe or an oracle. But when all was said and done, Alexa couldn’t have asked for a better sister than Artemis and knew that Artemis, despite her misgivings, would be there for her.

< “Did you find anything we should worry about?” > Aresia asked.

< “Just animals, they seem to be fleeing,”> Artemis replied.

< “That’s never a good sign,”> Aresia said, sniffing the air. <“The wind’s shifted, and I’m starting to smell fire about, someone may be cooking.”>

<“Or burning, the stench of rot is in the air.”>

< “I think it’s best if we keep going on, the sooner we get this mission done, the sooner we can get out of here and back home.” > Alexa said.

< “I agree sister,”> Artemis said. < “Let’s put on our armor, we might not like what we run into ahead.”>

Aresia walked to the crate and passed out their armor. She began with a grey armored skirt, with each pointed plate outlined in purple. They helped each other put on their breast plates, custom fitted to the curves of their bodies, each engraved with the markings of their lineage. Each put on a matching set of greaves over their buskins and vambraces over their arms. Aresia handed them each a hoplon shield and grabbed two laser pistols and pouches, handing one to Alexa and keeping one for herself, knowing Artemis would not accept either one. She then handed Alexa the power source for pistol, a glowing purple clip which Alexa loaded into the pistol immediately and attached it and the pouch to her sword belt.

<“Should we use these?”> Aresia asked, holding up a Corinthian helmet.

<“Leave it,> Artemis said. <“we will need our wits about and cooking them in that won’t do us any good.”>

< “Artemis, you give these brutes too much credit,”> Aresia said, putting the helmet back and sealing the crate. < “I’m sure a fool’s wits will suffice against these animals.”>

< “Be careful with your hubris, Aresia,”> Artemis warned, as she went first, taking the lead. <“An animal is capable of anything when it’s cornered. Gods be with us.”>

< “Gods be with us,”> Alexa echoed following Artemis, sharing her sister’s unease at their situation.

Aresia chortled. < “And you two should be careful in placing your faith in dead gods that abandoned us a long time ago.”>

< “Perhaps you should give faith a chance, Aresia,”> Alexa responded. Aresia was not alone; almost all of their sisters had forsaken the gods of their ancestors. Artemis, Alexa and their line were among the few who still revered them and paid them tribute, and were usually would hear japes about their old and outdated ways.

< “Please my darling, Alexa,”> Aresia responded. <“We’ve been doing this since the Fall of Antiope, and we’ve proven ourselves to be superior to men along the way, because we’ve outgrown those antiquated beliefs and are no longer shackled to them. You want to know what I have faith in? Us, our sisters and our technology. What could be out there that we can’t handle?”>



“Let the child go, Barbara,” warned Diana, Queen of the Amazons, renowned throughout the world as the heroine Wonder Woman. Her violet eyes furrowed and her fists clenched tight as she stood on the subway platform beneath Manhattan, in a standoff with a familiar nemesis, the Cheetah, who held a pre-teen girl hostage with long, razor-like claws, baring her canines while letting low growls escape her throat.

Dressed in her red, white and blue costume, the golden breastplate and silver armbands shining under the florescent light, Diana contemplated her next move, while bystanders shuffled behind her for protection, some taking out their cell phone cameras to document what was about to come. She still remembered what Barbara Minerva did to her Amazonian sister Arisone, who was so badly maimed, only the cybernetic enhancements that turned her into the Silver Swan saved her life.

I cannot let that happen to this child, Diana thought as she looked into the narrow, slit eyes of the Cheetah, wondering if there was any humanity left in her to appeal to. “Barbara…” Diana began.

“Cold,” Cheetah interrupted over the sobbing of the girl, elongating the word with a hiss and growl. “Winter,” she said in a similar fashion.

Athena, guide me, Diana prayed to her patron goddess, more out of habit and comfort knowing that she, along with the rest of the Olympian gods had departed from this plane of existence. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a clean-cut African-American man wearing a suit and tie pull out a sub-compact Glock from his jacket and identifying himself as NYPD, catching the attention of the attention of the Cheetah.

With a hiss and a growl, the Cheetah dropped the child and lunged at the officer. Diana, blessed with the speed of Hermes, leapt forward, rearing back her right fist and unleashed a powerful blow to the abdomen of her enemy, sending her crashing to a nearby wall, the impact cracking it in a spider-web like pattern. She turned to where the officer stood but found him scooping up the shell-shocked girl. Diana walked towards the two to check on them, when the officer screamed, “Behind you!”

Diana turned and saw the Cheetah jumping toward her. She interlocked her arms and held them up, blocking the downward swipe with her arm band and followed up with another right. Cheetah ducked the blow and lashedat the Amazon Queen’s mid-section, raking her stomach with her long, sharp nails. She followedwith an upward blow to the face, but Diana dodged her head to the side, grabbed the wrist and a hand full of orange hair from the side, then lifted her adversary up and slammed her to the ground with authority. Cheetah countered, wrapping her prehensile tail around one of Diana’s ankles and pulled it out from underneath her, taking her to the ground. The villain turned to charge once again, but was met with a red-heeled boot that sent her flying into the wall again, making a matching impact crater next to the one she made earlier.

Diana got to her feet and looked at her stomach. While she felt the strike underneath her costume, the new mesh that Io had outfitted it with held up. She made a mental note to thank her, before turning her attention back to the Cheetah, struggling to her feet and trying to shake out any cobwebs from head to tail. “Cold,” she hissed and sprinted up the stairs to the street above, pushing bystanders out of the way.

You won’t get away, Diana thought as she took flight, pursuing the Cheetah to the busy New York street. She saw Cheetah run across the street, dodging and leaping over cars screeching to a halt. Diana grabbed her Golden Lasso as she flew after the villain. With few twirls over her head, Diana threw the lasso at the orange-furred metahuman. Cheetah tried to leap out of the way, but Diana’s aim was true and the lasso caught her around the waist. Diana pulled on the lasso to bringing Cheetah off the ground. Cheetah used that momentum to spin around and caught Diana with a kick to the head that caused her to lose her concentration and both women fell to the pavement below. Cheetah tried to run away, but the lasso was still around her waist and Diana had not let it go. She pulled her toward her again, this time meeting the Cheetah with a punch that sent her flying in the opposite direction. Before she could get far, Diana yanked on the lasso again, bringing the Cheetah back to her and planting a double-fisted uppercut to the villain’s chin, sending her up to the sky. Diana pulled down on the lasso, this time letting the Cheetah slam down to the pavement.

Diana saw the Cheetah try to get up again, but this time, to no avail as she collapsed to the ground. Her orange fur began to recede into her body.. Diana confiscated a coat from a passerby and flew to the Cheetah. She was shocked to find that this Cheetah was not Barbara Minerva, but a lithe, dark-skinned woman with short hair.Diana covered her up with the coat before binding her with her lasso. I’ll have to wait to interrogate her, Diana thought, while sounds of sirens filled the air, , but it does explain a lot. Cheetah had just appeared in Central Park and began attacking random people. Luckily, Diana had been in the park taking a walk and prevented anyone from getting seriously hurt. There was usually a reason to Barbara Minerva’s madness, but this version of the Cheetah was nothing more than a feral animal.

Diana saw the officer from the subway, gun pointed up in a firing position, approach her while an NYPD van pulled up to the scene. “We’ll take it from here, Your Majesty.” He said lowering his weapon and showing her his badge with his free hand.

“Thank you for your help officer, but your weapon was not necessary,” Diana said as she untied her lasso from the Cheetah and bound it to her right hip. “An innocent bystander could’ve gotten hurt if you discharged it...”

“Detective Trevor Barnes, NYPD MCU, and you would be right.” He held his gun up to show Diana. “I never took the safety off. I didn’t want a bullet ricocheting and hitting a civilian. Given the way Cheetah was acting, I figured if I posed a more immediate threat, she would come after me, leaving the girl.”

“That was noble of you Detective Barnes,,” the Amazon Queen replied, “but you could have been seriously hurt.”

“Well, I was counting on Wonder Woman to save me,” Detective Barnes smiled as he holstered his weapon and extended his hand to her. “Thank you.”

“Your bravery is exemplary, Detective Barnes,” Diana shook his hand. She couldn’t help but feel a growing respect, that this man would be willing to place his life in her hands to do his duty. “I hope you won’t need me to save your life next time.”

“Next time, I hope we won’t meet under these circumstances,” Detective Barnes smiled at Diana. “We’ll take it from here and get her booked and processed. I doubt we’ll get any info from her, but if anything comes up as it pertains to you or your people, we’ll be in touch with the embassy.”

“Thank you, Detective Barnes,” Diana said. Detective Barnes was slightly taller than she was. He had broad shoulders and she would tell he had a muscular build under his suit. “If there is anything I can do, please let me know. I’m always willing to help.”

“Good to know we have powerful friends in high places. Good day, Your Majesty.” He smiled at her one last time before turning to oversee the imprisonment of Cheetah. Diana waited for his back to be turned before she let a smile creep on her face and took to the sky.



Diana did a pass around Themyscira House before touching down on the rooftop balcony. The building had been undergoing extensive renovations of late, in preparation for a repurposing. The top floors would house the offices to carry out the buildings main function as the Themysciran embassy, but the first two floors of the building were being fastened as a museum and learning center, to better educate the world about her people and their mission of peace, as well as a place to host various community outreach programs to help those less fortunate. She was pleased with the work her architects, Consiuria and Ipthime, have been putting into the project and if all went well, she would look into the possibility of opening more Themyscran embassies around the world.

Despite her heroics, those of her mother Hippolyta, the original Wonder Woman who fought with the Justice Society during World War II, and her sister Donna, a member of the Teen Titans, she still felt a general distrust about her people in man’s world. Since Themyscira House originally opened, there have been regular protests outside the building ranging from the Amazons are destroying family values to the Amazons are the hidden army of a secret society that wants to rule the world. Diana leaned over the balcony to see a few protesters there now, but she was too tired to give any attention to their negativity.

Diana opened the French doors of the balcony and stepped into a large office that took up half the floor and spanned across the entire length of the building. Plush blue carpeting lined the floor and bookshelves with texts from Themyscira and around the world decorated the walls. Paintings and tapestries hung in the spaces not covered by the bookshelves, displaying some of the best work of Themyscira’s artists. Three large oak desks were placed in front of each wall, facing each other, each with a large mesh desk chair and two large leather office chairs in front of them. This room was called the war room by Diana’s executive team and was primarily used to hold their meetings. Each member of the team had a personal office in the floors below, scattered among the various rooms, for late nights or for guests. The other half of this floor contained Diana’s personal quarters, an armory, and the secret White Room that contained a portal to Themyscira only Amazons could access.

Diana walked to the desk next to the door, pulled the black chair out and sat down. The office was empty so she leaned back and closed her eyes. Opening Themyscira House was only part of her larger vision. She planned to open parts of the Paradise Island to Man’s World. She wanted to invite some of the leading academic institutions of the world to study on the island, and maybe set up an exchange program to have some of her sisters study in Man’s World to find ways to better Themyscira. She had some ideas about opening up trade for Themysciran goods, but she would have to tread carefully with that idea since a lot of tenets and business practices of Man’s World did not mesh with Amazonian beliefs. With some notable exceptions, men were still not permitted on the island and no one was named to take Steve Trevor’s place when he left to take the position of White King in Checkmate. Opening up more embassies around the world would likely mean more ambassadors to the island and it had to start with that position. Diana hoped that the announcement could be made at the repurposing ceremony.

The idea of opening Themyscira’s borders was not met warmly by her sisters , and they were quick to remind her of what happened the when they opened up the original city of legend Diana didn’t need them to remind her, the iron shackles on the arms of all amazons was a reminder of that painful event. She respected her sister’s reservations and knew that anything she implemented would have to be done in a way to preserve the safety of the Amazons, their traditions and their beliefs. But Diana believed that for the Amazons to succeed in their mission to show Man’s World the error of their ways and guide them to a path to peace, they would need to be more transparent and show the world that they are genuine in their mission and modernize themselves and their thinking.

Compounding the situation more, old tensions between the Themysciran Amazons and those of Hippolytus’s lost tribe started to surface once again. Even whispers of secession could be heard on both sides. It was something Diana could not allow to happen. The Amazon’s needed to be a united people; this was the dream of her late husband and the reason for their marriage. Diana was always grateful that Hippolytus had ruled fairly and justly for both tribes in her absence and it was because of his memory that nothing ever escalated beyond whispers. Many of her closest advisors implored Diana to spend more time in Themyscira and even consider appointing a new Wonder Woman to devote her time to ruling her people. It was something Diana did not want to fathom, but as her advisors reminded her, when Hippolyta was Wonder Woman, they didn’t have two tribes living on the island and eventually, even she gave up the title to focus on ruling. Diana wished she could lean on her gods for guidance, but they were gone and it would be up to her alone to make a decision that was in the best interests of her people.

Diana started to doze off until she heard the door to the office open. She snapped her eyes open and found herself staring at a wide-eyed, mouth agape, intern carrying a stack of papers and books in her arms. “Here, let me help you with that,” Diana said as she got up and walked over to the intern.

“Thank you, Your Majesty, I mean Your Highness, I mean Your Grace, I…” the intern stammered, holding the stack of papers and books with her hands at the bottom and stabilizing it with her chin. Her long, brown hair fell behind her glasses into her blue eyes. “I’m sorry. What’s the appropriate way to address you? I don’t seem to remember,” The intern chuckled nervously.

“Diana,” she said with a smile, moving the hair out of the intern’s eyes and grabbing the books her stack. “And what’s your name? You're new here right? I usually make it a point to learn everyone’s name before they begin work, but I’ve been so busy lately, I just haven’t had time.”

“It’s understandable, my name is Nicole Miller,” she said folding her arms and holding the remaining papers to her chest.

“We’ll Nicole Miller, welcome to the team, I hope Miss Dominguez isn’t working you too hard.” Diana walked around the room, replacing the books. Alana Dominguez was her secretary and was in charge of running Themyscira House when Diana was on Paradise Island or out on Justice League business.

“Not any more than necessary,” Nicole said with a big smile and cheerful tone. “It’s all awesome and.. great. I love it here. I’m so happy to finally be able to meet you.” Nicole gave Diana a one armed hug when she returned from putting the books away.

“The pleasure’s all mine, Nicole.” Diana returned the hug.

“I don’t mean to be all fanboy-ish,” Nicole said after they broke the hug. “You are just so… fascinating and your culture… I would just love to be able to sit down and ask you some questions.”

“Sure, after the re-opening, I’ll be sure to have Alana set aside some time,”

“That would be so awesome!” Nicole said, excited and bubbly. “Oh, that reminds me, I do have some things I was going to drop off across the hall for you, but since you’re here,” she took her tone down half a step, as she shuffled through her papers and gave Diana a small bundle. “These are just some things Miss Dominguez wanted you to go over, history, names, dates before we sent it off to the printer, and…” she started to finger her way through the remaining papers she had before pulling out a another sheet of paper. “Here is the guest list, just wanted to make sure we got everyone.”

Diana took the sheet and looked over the names. “Looks good, but I want to add one more person, Trevor Barnes, he’s an MCU Detective here in New York. He helped me apprehend the Cheetah earlier.”

“I heard about that, I hope everyone okay?”

“Yes, thank the gods. No one was hurt.” Diana handed the guest list back to Nicole.

“Awesome,” she said, taking a pen from her lapel pocket and jotting down Detective Barnes’s name. “I will get an invitation to Detective Barnes.” Nicole put her pen away and held the remaining papers to her chest. She started at Diana, silent with eyes wide open and a big smile, rocking back and forth on her heels for a few moments, before realizing the situation was growing a bit awkward. “I better get going. Miss Dominguez probably has something else for me to do. Thanks again Your Maj… I mean Diana… I’m looking forward to… well everything!”

“I am as well,” Diana said smiling, walking Nicole out the office. She skimmed over the stack of papers the intern had given her when a wave of fatigue washed over her. These can wait, she thought as placed them down on the desk and headed to her chambers to rest.



< “How much further?” > Aresia asked from the rear, following Artemis and Alexa through the jungle trail.

< “We should be there shortly,” > Artemis replied, leading the way.

< “Good, because this stench is starting to kill me,” > Aresia said. The closer they got to the encampment the rendezvous, the stronger the stench of rot and decay got. The foliage around them started to lose their color and turn a sickly shade of yellowish brown. Birds and insects ceased their flight and sounds, and no animals could be seen. < “Am I the only one who thinks this is starting to smell like a trap? No pun intended.” >

Artemis felt it too. She turned to check on her sister and saw that Alexa walked tensed and apprehensive, her gun and shield held tightly. Artemis worried about her sister’s abilities should they be there be a fight, and said a quick prayer for her. She was the only family she had left and would protect her with every breath in her body, but in case she would fall, she hoped the gods would give Alexa courage and strength. She cleared some brush out of the way and they finally made it to the camp, taken aback at the sight she saw.

A large pyre burned in the center, dozens of men as the kindling. Tents and the makeshift huts that circled the camp were all destroyed or set ablaze. A head adorned a pike in front of the pyre and Artemis recognized it as the head of the rebel leader they were supposed to meet.

< “Artemis, look,” > Alexa said rushing to the other side of the fire. Bound, gagged and locked up in a wooden cage were the women of the camp, about a dozen. Alexa grabbed the lock and ripped it off the door. She holstered her gun and drew her dagger, cutting the bonds and trying to reassure the captive women in their native tongue that they were here to help in.

< “I guess it’s always good to be reminded of what Man’s World is truly like,” > Aresia said, side by side with Artemis as they surveyed the scene. < “No matter how many we deal with, they are all the same…”>

< “Now come on, for a group that claims to be ‘enlightened’, that’s a very harsh and closed minded thing to say,” > a masculine voice said from behind them. Both warrior women turned, weapons raised to see a man, wearing a three piece suit standing behind them.

< “Who are you? How do you know our language?” > Artemis demanded.

< “I’m a scholar of the world, and a lover of beauty, and I have to say there is nothing more beautiful in the world than the wondrous Amazons,” > the man said. He spoke their language with a peculiar accent and his complexion was slightly lighter than theirs, eliminating him as a local. His hair was slicked back and he wore sunglasses, and did not seem to be affected by the heat of the jungle. Artemis couldn’t tell for certain, but it actually looked like his breath fogged up as he spoke. Around his neck hung a chain that was attached to a sliver of a ruby that glowed red when he spoke. < “I know much about your people, such as there are three other teams of your fellow sisters doing what you’re doing now. You should consider yourselves fortunate; you will be joining them shortly.” >

< “Why did you do this?” > Alexa asked, joining her sisters along with the women that were captive.

< “Me, I did not do this. This was the work of Nyasir government. You should actually be thanking them, considering the stock that these rebels were going to trade to you, you would hardly have considered it fair compensation, unless Amazon standards in men have declined and you prefer them diseased and malnourished. But I have spoken to the General of the Army and he is looking forward to getting his hands on that famous Amazonian weaponry that’s all the rage in the region.” >

<“We might as well give this General a demonstration of our engineering and craftsmanship,” > Aresia said as she fired her weapon at the man in the suit. A purple ray shot from the barrel right between the man’s eyes, but it passed through him, causing his image to jumble out of focus for a moment. The ray hit the tree behind him, causing it to wither and decay from the inside out until the husk it became collapsed on itself.

< “What a nasty weapon,” > the man said, adjusting his tie while his image re-focused.

< “A hologram,” > Alexa said.

< “Now my dear, you don’t think that I would be there in person do you? A place like that is no place for a man like me,”> he said touching the ruby around his neck. < “But no worries, we’ll see each other soon, you, me, your amazing sisters and your wondrous Queen.”> He smiled at them and disappeared.

< “The Queen, she’s in danger,” > Aresia said. Before Artemis could reply, the women Alexa had freed began to scream and dropped to the ground.

< “What in the gods' names is happening?” > Artemis asked as she saw these women began to sprout spotted fur out of the pores of their body. Their nails began to grow into sharp points. The canines in their teeth began to grow as did their eyes, which formed slit irises. Surrounding the trio were a dozen, hissing and roaring cheetah women.

< “Artemis,” > Alexa said with a quiver in her voice. The three women stood back to back to back while the cheetah women circled them. Artemis couldn’t answer her sister. She prayed and hoped their gods had not abandoned them as Aresia had teased them so many times before.



The man smiled as he touched the ruby around his neck, taking in the sounds of the cars driving by on the street below on this mild night. <“I do hope they survive,”> he said, turning to his companions. < “I was beginning to like them.”>

< “Artemis and Aresia should, they are first class warriors,”> the woman next to him said, staring straight ahead and her breath fogging as she spoke. < “I fear for Alexa, the genes that made her family the finest warriors in the tribe seemed to skip her.”> She wore a purple cloak over a long white robe that covered her all the way to her sandaled toes. The hood covered her face, though he had seen it many times. Around her waist was a girdle, made of a golden material that seemed to glow along with the precious and semi-precious stones that adorned its surface. In her hands she held a ivory tipped golden scepter, with a jeweled eagle adorning the top.

< “For someone who is seeking justice for her people, you seem a little too willing to sacrifice your loyal subjects its behalf.”>

< “Do not mistake my words for callousness, sir,” > she shot back. < “My heart breaks to do this and I will weep for any Amazon life lost today. But all are willing to sacrifice ourselves for the greater good, to keep the injustices that have happened to us sisters from happening to our future generations.”>

< “Forgive me, Your Majesty, I did not mean to offend. I have a great admiration for the selflessness of the Amazons.”>

< “I’m sure it matches the admiration for the technology and gold we have given you and your brother over the years.”>

< “It has, Your Majesty, but not as much as the admiration I have for your desire to seek vengeance against those who’ve wronged you. It has gotten me thirsty to seek vengeance against the one who let my brother get slaughtered as if he were a piece of livestock.”>

Silence passed between the two before the man spoke again. < “Doesn’t it taste sweet, Your Majesty?”> The man asked. < “To be on the precipice of having all of the years of plotting and planning pay off, to be so close to tasting the revenge you’ve sought after for so long, that your taste buds are about to rip themselves off your tongue to soak in its sweet vintage?”>

< “The palate of my people has waited centuries to drink its fill; it will be able to wait until we have Themysciran heads adorning pikes on the beaches of their Paradise Island.” > She turned her head to the left to look at another robed figure. She wore a long red robe with a black cloak over it. The hood was pulled up, but strands of long black hair seeped out from the edges. She returned the look of her queen and said nothing. Her arms were crossed in front of her, crossed right over left, silver armbands seeping out from the edges of the robe.

< “We have waited lifetimes to finally be able to reveal ourselves to our traitorous sisters,”> the Queen said, as she stared across the street toward Themyscira House. <“While the fates have spat on us again by not allowing all the usurpers to taste our justice, the remaining traitors will pay, blood for blood, for the lives lost due to their kowtowing to Man’s World.”>

< “That really does it for me,”> the man smirked, rubbing the red ruby around his neck. < “Shall we get started?”> The Queen nodded and all three turned around as the man motioned for someone to come to them. Approaching them was a statuesque woman wearing a dark blue breastplate, contoured to her body, with a matching armored skirt, vambraces and greaves. Her lips matched the shade of blue of her armor, but her skin was a light sky blue and her hair as white as snow. A ruby, similar to the one around the man’s neck was embedded into her sternum, glowing a steady blue hue. The temperature dropped with every step she took towards the group. The man’s teeth began to chatter, while the Queen and her companion did not seem to feel the effects.

<“My dear,”> the man said, speaking through his chattering teeth, pointing to Themyscria House. <”Would you mind going over there and giving them a little kiss of Winter? Show them the fruits of Devastation?”>

She nodded and began to walk forward, extending her hand and forming a slide of snow to guide her from the rooftop to the street. The temperature began to rise as she walked further away from them. The man turned to the queen and her companion, < “Now it begins…”>