Wonder Woman #38: A Whisper of Winter, part 2

Diana could feel cold washing over her, sitting in the throne room on Themyscira. She wore a resplendent purple robe, with the Golden Girdle of Gaia that once belonged to her mother around her waist. She wrapped her hands around her golden scepter, got up off her throne and walked out to the palace courtyard. Palm trees, flowers and the other plants were coated with frost and decaying. Goosebumps adorned her skin, her breath fogged in front of her face and when she looked up, she saw no stars. In front of her, she saw a regiment of soldiers marching toward her, dressed in army fatigues, berets and held rifles on their shoulders.

They stopped their march in front of Diana. None of them responded to her queries or commands. They couldn’t, they did not have faces. A red-headed soldier and a black-haired soldier emerged from the regiment and grabbed Diana by the arms and lifted her up. The Amazon Queen dropped her staff and tried to break herself free, but found herself powerless against her assailants as they brought her to a surgical table and strapped her down to it, binding her with a golden lasso around her arms and neck. Diana struggled against her bonds, but they grew tighter the more she struggled. Snow began to fall and stung once it touched her skin. She saw that she no longer wore her purple robes; she wore her old Wonder Woman suit, her star-spangled blue skirt cascading around her legs. Soon she could no longer move her legs, then her arms, then her head, only her eyes. Her body felt detached from her, but she could still feel it, she could still feel her heartbeat grow faster and harder, despite the cold around her.

Past her feet, she saw a young woman wearing medical scrubs. Her face was covered by a surgical mask, blonde hair tied up behind her in a bun and glasses framed her blue eyes. She bent down and picked up the scepter that Diana had dropped and started to talk to a man, the only man. He wore fatigues with the American flag on the shoulder. Diana couldn’t make out the name on the badge or his face, but looking at him hurt her. A tear rolled out of the corner of her eye and down her cheek while her breathing became ragged. She closed her eyes and prayed. Prayed to her gods, to her mother, and to her fallen sisters, but heard nothing but silence.

She opened her eyes again, still feeling the sting of the snow falling on her. The woman in medical scrubs and the man in fatigues no longer stood before her. She now looked at another woman, wearing similar purple robes, a golden girdle and scepter. Blonde hair covered her face and her arm bands looked peculiar, they looked older and weathered. Behind her stood a woman in a red robe, holding her arms across her face, crossed right over left. The face behind her arms continually changed. Sometimes she saw her mother, sometimes her sister, sometimes it was her face and sometimes a face she did not know. The only constant were the glowing red eyes.

The blonde woman walked up to the bound Diana. She drew a sword from the scepter and with the tip traced a faint line on Diana, starting at her foot and up her leg. A small red line followed the sword up the Amazon’s body. Were Diana’s robe got in the way, the scepter cut through it like paper. She did this until she rested the tip at Diana’s throat. This biting of the snow intensified as it mixed with the trail of blood.

< “I’m sorry, my Queen,”> the blonde woman said as she lifted the sword and pointed the tip of the at Diana’s eye. < “I’m sorry, my Queen,” > she said again and thrust downward at a helpless Diana. Diana closed her eyes and said another prayer, praying to be reunited with her mother. Warm drops began to fall on her forehead and trickle down her face. They reached her lips and tasted of copper and salt. She opened her eyes and saw the blade of a broadsword wedged between her palms. Blood flowed from her hands and around the blade, dripping down the swords edges and onto her face, and mixing with the water and oils in her bath.

Diana had anticipated a quiet evening, preparing a bath to relax and maybe curling up with a book before retiring for the evening. Soon after immersing herself in the bath, she had dozed off. While the images she had seen in her dream disturbed her, they were the furthest thing from her mind at the moment. She looked up at the length of the sword's edge and saw it move downward, cutting deeper into her palms. Diana grimaced, ground her teeth and squeezed her palms together. The sword slowed its decent and Diana began to push upward. The sword began to shake in resistance to the opposing force Diana was applying. Anger welled within Diana as she screamed Hera’s name. She jerked her torso to the side, and snapped the blade of the sword. The Amazon Queen leapt out of the bath as her attacker stumbled to the side and swung the broken piece of steel in her hands. The flat of the broken blade connected with the side of her attacker’s head, and a loud metallic clang rang through the room.

The moisture on her feet caused her to slip slightly when she landed on the tile floor. She lowered her hand to the floor to stabilize herself. She took a quick glance at her palms and saw two large gashes down to the bone. Her body’s accelerated healing began to mend the wounds together, but she would still need medical attention. The adrenaline from the fight kept the pain at bay, but revelation of her identity sobered Diana a bit.

Her attacker wore a silver breast plate over a silver curaiss, decorated with a stylized bronze eagle, similar to the one that adorned Diana’s uniform. A sword belt held a bronze war skirt in place and silver greaves protected her shins. The iron shackles on her arms reminded all Amazons of the penance they had paid.

“Aelia,” Diana called out to the captain of the Themyicira Household Guard. “What is the meaning of this?” Aelia removed her dented Corinthian helm and dropped it to the ground. Blood trickled down from a cut on her head and down her face. A thin layer of what looked like frost covered her bronze skin. She narrowed her bright blue eyes, grabbed the dagger attached to her sword belt and charged at Diana.

Diana stood her ground while the Amazon she appointed to succeed Arisone ran toward her at full speed. She ducked a swipe aimed at her head and hopped back to avoid one aimed at her chest. Before Aelia could recover for another strike, Diana stepped forward and connected with a punch to the head and followed up with a swinging hook that took off pieces of frost that covered her Amazonian sister’s skin. Diana caught the Amazon warrior by the back of the head, interlocked her fingers and pulled Aelia’s head down and brought a rising knee to her forehead. Diana did not let up and hit Aelia with a front kick that caused the Amazon to fall backward.

What in Athena’s name had gotten into Aelia? What is covering her skin and why were her eyes blue? Diana didn’t have time to ponder more as Aelia shook off the previous attacks and charged her Queen. Diana parried the straight stab and countered with a spinning elbow. The strike was blocked by the Household Guard Captain with a turn and the iron shackle from her free arm. Aelia countered with a stab to the side of the ribs, but Diana caught the hand wielding the dagger and squeezed. The crunch of the bones under the skin filled the room and Aelia cried in pain, dropped the dagger and started to stagger away.

Diana grabbed the dagger off the ground and flew towards her Amazonian sister. The Amazon Queen’s fist connected with the warrior's jaw and in one smooth motion, suspended in the air, connected with a spin kick to the side of Aelia’s head to drop her to the floor Diana landed and rushed to her fallen sister. She straddled the warrior and turned her around, raised the dagger in the air, prepared to strike, but hesitated. Aelia’s eyes were her normal brown color. Her eyes and lips quivered, looking into her Queen’s eyes.

“Do it, please,” Aelia begged. “I can’t…” She cut herself off and her eyes turned bright blue again. Diana turned the dagger over and stuck her friend in the temple with the hilt, knocking her unconscious. She dropped the dagger and examined where she struck the blow and hoped it did not do excessive damage. She caringly caressed her sister’s cheek, a streak of blood smearing the side of her face.

“Please forgive me, sister,” Diana pleaded. She flew into the chambers and to the podium where her uniform was suspended and quickly dressed. She grabbed her broad sword and her shield, a gold disc, trimmed with red. In the center was a stylized eagle emblem identical to her breastplate surrounded by a field of stars on a blue background. If Aelia has been possessed, then the other members of the Household guard might be as well. Diana prayed that was not the case and that anyone who remained in Themyscira House was not hurt. She dreaded what she might have to do, but would not hesitate to do what was necessary.

Wonder Woman exited her chambers and made her way down the hallway, swiftly and silently, a trail of blood in her wake. She passed by the doors to the War Room and saw two dead bodies of her personal guard, charged with guarding the entrance to her chambers and the white room. She knelt down beside them and said a prayer, knowing they would be enjoying their afterlife in the Elysian Fields. She heard some commotion inside the War Room. “Hello,” Diana called out, “Is anyone in there? Are you okay?”

“Diana?” She recognized the voice of Alana Dominguez, her secretary.

“Alana, are you okay? Who’s in there?”

“I’m here with Nicole. We’re fine, Nicole’s a little shaken,” Alana said as she opened the door slightly. Diana could see there was some office furniture blocking the door. “Diana, you’re covered in blood.”

“I’m okay,” Diana assured her friend. “What’s happened?”

“We were just finishing up and about to head out, when it started to get cold,” Alana began. “A blue woman outfitted in Grecian-style armor busted in. The household guard confronted her and… snow flew from her fingers and suddenly… they started to attack us. Aelia held them off while we ran up here, but as soon we started to tell your guard what happened, Aelia came up and began to attack. Your guard told us to get in here and we barricaded the door… and heard the fight…”

Diana looked down at her fallen sisters, then thought of Aelia. I will avenge you, sisters, she thought. She turned back to Alana. “Was there anyone else here during the attack?”

“Oh my god, Peter!” Alana said, her fingers covering her mouth. “He had stopped by with his boys. He came back to get something from his office, in all the commotion…”

Gods no, Diana thought. “I’ll find them, call the police…”

“They’re on the way,” Alana replied.

“Good, stay here, I’ll be back,” Wonder Woman assured her and Alana closed the door. She thought briefly about Peter and his sons, Martin and Robert. If Peter and his boys are hurt…

Wonder Woman hovered off the floor and flew downstairs to the next floor where her staff’s offices were. She could see her breath start to steam and noticed the cold. Temperature usually did not affect the Amazon Queen, but felt it sting in the wounds on her hands. She reached Peter’s office and found the door locked. She pressed her ear to the door and heard nothing. “Peter? Robert? Martin? Are you in there? Are you okay?”

“Diana?” She was relieved to hear Peter’s voice. With a click from the lock on the other side the door opened. Her media director, a bald middle-aged man wearing a blue sweater had a concerned look on his face. “Is everything okay? You look hurt.”

“I’m fine, what about you and the boys?”

“We’re fine, all of a sudden it got cold and it sounded like a war broke out downstairs. Is everyone else okay?”

“Alana and Nicole are upstairs. They’re okay, but shaken. We’ve been attacked. Stay here, the police are on their way…” Diana’s attention was diverted as she saw another member of her household guard walk up the stairs, sword and shield in hand. Her eyes were the same shade of blue that Aelia’s had been. “Keep the boys safe.”

“Be careful, Diana,” Peter said and closed the door as the guardswoman walked towards them.

Diana recognized her as Derinoe, a member of Hippolytus’s tribe. A thin layer of frost covered her dark skin. Just like Aelia, Diana noted to herself as the Lost Amazon raised her arm and charged her. Wonder Woman flew towards her and caught the overhead blow with her shield, pushed the sword to the side and came back with her shield arm and stuck a blow to the guardswoman’s face, causing her to stumble, but Derinoe recovered, using the momentum from Diana’s blow into a spinning slash. The Amazon Queen landed on the floor and blocked the strike with her sword, but the reverberation caused a bolt of pain to shoot up her arm and dropping the sword, whose handle was slick with her blood. It left her abdomen open and the Lost Amazon took advantage, using the edge of her shield to strike her Queen in the ribs.

Diana grimaced in pain and found it hard to breathe. Derinoe didn’t let up, unleashing a fury of strikes, that Diana blocked with her shield, but was causing her to move backwards towards Peter’s office. Knowing she couldn’t let the fight get that far, she waited until Derione reared back for another blow. She dropped her shield and crossed her arms, catching the sword in her armbands and lunged forward, flying both of them down the stairs and slamming Derione into the floor.

Wonder Woman tumbled away from her opponent and turned to face her in a fighting position. She noticed a significant drop in temperature as Derione got up and readied for battle. Diana then saw her, the blue woman walking up behind Derione with a sinister smile on her face. Derione jerked upward and blood spurted from her mouth as an icicle in the form of a sword busted through her chest. Derione’s eyes turned to their normal brown color as the blue woman broke the sword off in her chest.

As Derione’s lifeless body fell to the floor, the ice crawled from the blue woman’s hand, down the ice handle and reformed the blade of her broadsword. Diana looked at her opponent. She was as tall as herself and clad in dark blue armor adorned with Greek symbols and hieroglyphics. A blue ruby embedded in her chest glowed as the sword in her hand reformed.

Wonder Woman decided to go on the offensive and dashed forward with the speed of Hermes, grabbed the sword that Derione dropped and attacked the blue woman. An overhead attack and two side slashes were blocked by the blue woman with her ice sword. Wonder Woman spun, attacking with another horizontal slash, but was blocked again by the blue woman, who with alarming speed and strength, took one hand off her ice sword and dug her fingers into the wound on Diana’s sword hand, filling it with frost.

Diana screamed out in pain and began to hear a voice inside her head. Obey, submit, and embrace the cold of winter. The dark blue lips of the blue woman parted in a smile at the sight of Diana’s agony. Diana dropped the sword and tried to stay on her feet as the voice in her head got stronger and stronger. Diana’s looked into the pupil-less whites of her foes eyes and used her free hand to punch her opponent in the face, but the blue woman did not seem fazed by them. Diana heard the blue woman’s voice laughing in her head as she hit her again and again to no effect. The blue woman’s voice began to overpower Diana’s, to the point where they were about one and the same. Diana fell to one knee, struggling to keep control of her mind when she heard a scream from behind her.

“NYPD, freeze!”

The blue woman's attention was drawn to the first responders who drew their guns. Diana could hear the blue woman’s thoughts and the excitement as she started to devise an attack for the officers. Diana could feel the control of the blue woman over her wane a bit and saw the glow of the blue ruby grow more intense. With all the will she could still muster, reared her fist back and unleashed a blow aimed toward the ruby with all of her strength. She connected and the ruby cracked on impact and a sharp shriek from the blue woman ran though Diana’s head.

She released Diana, stumbled back a few steps before she fell to her knees and clutched her chest. Diana could feel herself in total control and the temperature of the room began to rise. A gun shot rang through the room. No, she thought as she dashed to her foe and deflected the bullet with her arm band. “Hold your fire,” Diana commanded.

She turned her attention back to the blue woman, who gingerly got to her feet, still holding her ice sword. The blue ruby embedded on her chest no longer glowed. She swung the sword at the Amazon Queen. Lacking the speed and strength she had earlier, Wonder Woman easily shattered it with a block of her bracer. Wonder Woman followed up, landing a two punch combination. The blue woman dropped to one knee and looked up at the Amazon Queen, who reared back her fist and connected to with a strike that knocked her foe unconscious.

While the officers rushed to take the mysterious woman into custody, Diana fixated on the markings on her armor. It can’t be, that’s impossible…



Nyasir – Africa

Fatigue beat at her temples as Artemis fell to the ground. The sweltering heat beat down on her toned skin, sweat mixing with the blood from fresh cuts. Surrounding her were about a dozen fresh corpses of the women who just moments ago, had transformed into snarling cheetah-like beasts and had attacked her and her two fellow Amazons, her sister Alexa and their friend, Aresia. The cheetah women moved too fast for gun fire that Alexa and Aresia had preferred, so they fought with their melee skills. Despite the long arduous battle, the Amazons had gotten control of the field until a hidden enemy struck a stealthy blow on Artemis. Before the cheetah woman could end Artemis, Alexa stepped in between, her life ended for her friend's

Alexa seemed to be born to hold a book, pen and parchment rather than a sword or a gun. Artemis had just joked earlier on their journey about her being craven. She constantly berated her sister to take the arts of war seriously and always reminded her how disappointed their mother would have been to see her lackadaisical attitude towards fighting. But now, Artemis knew that if their mother was able to see how Alexa handled herself, how she was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, her heart would well up with pride, as did Artemis’s. But as much pride as Artemis’s heart held for her sister, it was about to turn into an equivalent amount of heartbreak.

She cradled her sister’s head in her lap, pushing strands of red hair out of her eyes. She placed her hand over Alexa’s, which clutched the lethal wound. Alexa winched, and gritted her teeth. Breathing heavily as her precious blood seeped between the fingers of the sisters, covering them and trickling to the jungle floor. Tears welled up in Artemis’s eyes for the first time since their mother died.

<“It’s okay Artemis,”> Alexa said, her voice wavering through the pain, as if she could hear her sister’s thoughts. <“Maybe they’ll place me among our fallen warriors; maybe they’ll place me beside mother.”>

<“Aresia,” >Artemis screamed with tears falling down her cheeks. The blond amazon ran to them at once, stopping before falling to her knees, dropping dozens of glowing purple cartridges on the ground. Aresia gently took Alexa’s free hand and brought it to her lips, kissing the back of her hand, then lightly caressing the side her face. Alexa smiled and leaned into it as much as she could. Artemis looked at Aresia and saw tears streaming down her face as well and her bottom lip quiver.

<“I can’t save her,”> she said, turning her gaze to Artemis. <“Even if I re-calibrate all of the cartridges back to healing.”>

<“That’s unacceptable,”> Artemis said and closed her eyes. She knew what Aresia was going to say, but she hoped beyond hope that she would be able to find a way. Death had always expended less energy to take than life. <“Re-calibrate the cartridges,”> Artemis commanded. <“We may be able to get her back to…”>

<“We don’t have enough to do that,”> Aresia interrupted with a crack in her voice. <“She probably won’t even make it back to the capital, much less home. We’ll leave ourselves defenseless should we get attacked again.”>

<“You coward,”> Artemis snapped at her longtime friend, her brow furrowed in anger. <“You only care about saving yourself.”>

Aresia returned the stare back at Artemis, hate now showing in her eyes behind the tears. <“I would’ve killed anyone else for saying that.”>

<“Please,”> Alexa groaned, crying in pain. <“Don’t fight; you’ll never survive fighting each other…”> Her voice trailed off.

<“Alexa!”> Artemis screamed as she checked her pulse. She was still alive, but her heartbeat and breath were fading fast. She turned back to Aresia. <“Re-calibrate them, now.”> Aresia looked at Alexa, then back at Artemis. She nodded and started to work. I wasn’t able to save our mother, Artemis thought as she held her dying sister. But I will save you.

Before Aresia could proceed, a squad of soldiers from the Republican Army of Nyasir emerged from the jungle to surround the trio. Artemis drew her weapon and Aresia followed soon after. One of the soldiers held out a small metal disk and placed it on the ground. It hummed and lights circled around it before it formed the image of the man in the suit they had encountered earlier.

< “My, my ladies, I have to say I am impressed,” > the man said, rubbing the red ruby around his neck.

< “I swear by my gods that I will find you and kill you for what you’ve done,” > Artemis growled.

< “You’re emotional, I understand, but my dear, you need to look at your current situation,”> The man snapped his fingers and the soldiers drew their weapons on the Amazons. < “I can help you. If not for yourselves then for your ailing sister, who does not look like she is going to make it.” >

< “We’d rather die in battle …”>

< “Artemis, I don’t like it any more than you, but we need to consider Alexa,” > Aresia pleaded. < “He obviously has the knowledge and technology to create those beasts. He may be the best chance we have to save her.” >

< “How can you even consider…” >

< “An honorable death can always come about later,”> Aresia interrupted. < “ Alexa will not last long.”>

< “Your fellow Amazon is wise,” > The man said. < “Please, I beg you. Do the right thing.”>

Artemis turned her head slightly to look at her sister splayed on the crate from the corner of her eye, then turned to the hologram. < “Can you save her?” >

< “You have my word,”> The man said. < “The General’s men will take you to my compound, where my people will tend to your wounds.”>

Artemis looked at Alexa, then at Aresia who nodded and back at the hologram before throwing her sword to the ground. Aresia followed suit. The man in the suit smiled as the soldiers moved in on the Amazons, rubbing the glowing red ruby around his neck.

To Be Continued...