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Post by Admin on Sept 19, 2006 19:23:26 GMT -5
  Wonder Woman Annual #1: " ...'Til Death." Plotted by Sam Harrison & David Charlton Written by Sam Harrison Cover A by Camp6BoyCover B by pungangClick their names to view their galleriesEdited by David Charlton |
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2006 18:37:31 GMT -5
Dust flew up in the wake of ten sandaled feet. The Amazons ran, racing for the ribbon at the end of the hundred meter dash. Diana watched from her perch upon a nearby hilltop as the final race of the Honorary Games dashed to the finish. The games had been good this year, with an all round fair competition. She, with the unfair advantage of being blessed by the gods, had not competed. Hippolytus had also side-stepped the regulatory nightmare of a man competing by removing himself as well. He had offered to join Diana as an adjudicator and sat, looking very relaxed, on her right.
“I see you Themyscirans have some fight in you,” Hippolytus said with a smile, “The competition is fairly even. If it weren’t for my champion Zenobia, your athletes might even have bested mine.”
Diana elegantly sat herself down next to Hippolytus on the hill they had chosen to adjudicate from. Hippolytus’ champion Zenobia had just come second in the final race, “She is good. But not good enough to win the final race.”
“What is that phrase Steve Trevor uses?” Hippolytus asked rhetorically, “You can’t win them all.”
They laughed together for a moment, then a shout from the finish line reached their ears.
“You cheated!” Zenobia shouted at the winning runner, “You clearly left the starting line before the race began.”
“She did not! Iolanthe would never cheat.” Another retorted.
“All you Themyscirans are liars and cheats!” Zenobia said, voice dripping with rage, “I cannot fathom how our two peoples are even distantly related,” she said before turning to walk away in disgust.
“At least we are not weaklings led by a man…” One of the Themyscirans muttered under her breath.
Zenobia spun and as quick as lightning her fist had flew out and struck down the offending Amazon. Then another threw her fist at Zenobia in retaliation and a full brawl ensued on the beach of Paradise Island.
“Stop!” Diana and Hippolytus shouted in unison.
“Put down your arms Zenobia. I cannot believe you struck at one of your sisters,” Hippolytus said angrily. Zenobia withdrew from her fighter’s stance and stormed away.
“This island is full of fools and weaklings.” She said without turning round, “This matter is not done. Mark my words, Themysciran cowards.”
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2006 18:37:52 GMT -5
The sun lowered over Paradise Island, orange sunset diffused into the sky and truly made the island seem worthy of its name. Diana stood on the hilltop that was the site of her mother’s final battle with the vile Minotaur, a cairn of stones lay on her final resting place. Diana’s gaze was fixed upon these stones, so deep in thought she almost didn’t hear the approach of Steve Trevor.
“Diana, I don’t mean to disturb you-” Steve started before Diana interrupted.
“It’s okay Steve. I was just thinking about things,” she said with a comforting smile.
“You hear about the brawl?” Steve said, sitting in her field of vision a respectful distance from the cairn.
“I was there,” Diana came to sit by Steve, “the first games without my mother to officiate them, ruined. The first under my---” Diana paused and looked down then carried on, “Reign.”
“No, I… There was another fight,” Steve replied, “In the temple, when the Lost Ones found out that Ares had been struck from the prayers.”
Diana stood and looked towards the city. Without a word she took off and flew towards the temple district.
“These are most definitely turbulent times.” Steve said to himself, as he watched Diana’s fading silhouette against the sunset.
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2006 18:38:15 GMT -5
Diana arrived to an empty temple. It was in a mild state of disarray, the benches provided for people to sit and worship moved out of their places for the first time in thousands of years. Diana sat down on the rearmost pew and closed her eyes. For one of the first times in her life she had no idea what the best course of action was. She normally would have turned to her mother or to the gods for help, but her mother was gone and the gods were in as much disarray as their temple. In her true hour of need she was alone. She rested her elbows on the pew in front of her and rested her head on the palm of her right hand as she exhaled deeply. Her head told her there was one option, but her heart rallied against it.
The temple door creaked slightly as Hippolytus eased his way between them, signifying his presence.
Diana turned to him and offered a weak smile, “Come to tidy up?” She asked.
Hippolytus sat down beside her and exhaled almost as deeply as she had, “I feel as though a storm is coming.” He said, “I’ve been feeling it ever since you drove away those demons from the heavens. Seeing patriarch’s world in flames has left me wondering why our people have been left practically untouched.”
Diana replied matter of factly, “We were just fortunate, they may have seen us as too high a threat.”
“Or something else kept them away. Something worse, lurking under the surface.” Hippolytus replied, “I cannot believe all of this fighting. It all seems wrong somehow.”
Diana shifted in the pew to look at Hippolytus, “I… Have been thinking.”
“I believe I know what you will suggest.” Hippolytus interjected, “Because I’ve been thinking the same thing. We should marry, and rule our people together, as they were before the sundering.”
Diana looked away for a split second, out of the door and towards the sunset she and Steve Trevor had watched together earlier, before nodding her agreement.
Her heart had lost its war with her head.
“I shall call everyone together, the sooner we announce it the sooner the fighting should stop.” Hippolytus said, standing up and walking out of the temple.
Diana, too, stood up and walked over to the statue of Athena. Her’s was the largest of all the statues in the temple and at the far end, beneath a glass dome that made her appear to glow from reflected starlight. It was Diana’s favourite place on Paradise Island. She held her hands to her side and looked down for a while. As she spoke, she slowly raised her eyes to meet Athena’s.
“Oh Goddess. Tell me I’m doing the right thing…”
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2006 18:38:43 GMT -5
One of the few places on Paradise Island that the starlight reflected from Athena did not shine, was a small alleyway between two governmental buildings in the main square. It was here, in this dusty alley, that Zenobia sat slumped between the two walls, cradling a jug of wine.
“Zen,” Hippolytus said tenderly, stepping out of the light at the end of the alley, “I’ve been looking for you. What are you doing here?”
“It reminds me of the dark place. We spent centuries there; sometimes I miss the certainty of a lightless void.” She said, without moving a muscle to look at Hippolytus.
He stepped into the shade with her and slumped down opposite her gaze, “I wanted to tell you something myself before you heard it elsewhere.”
“You and the Themysciran Princess are to be wed.”
“Yes.” Hippolytus said with a hint of surprise in his voice, “How do you know?”
“It’s obvious.” Zenobia replied, taking a short swig of wine before continuing, “Those weaklings would never fight us for the power we deserve, so she has connived her way into your mind and made you think this is the best course of action.”
“You can’t really think that Zen,” he said, his voice almost pleading, “You and I have shared much over the centuries. I am making this choice for our people, for peace.”
“Peace is for the weak. She has made you weak.” Zenobia stood and spat down by Hippolytus. “I loved you once. You were a powerful man, you led us with fire in your heart for centuries, and now after a few days in this place of weaklings you have become soft. I can barely stand to look at you.”
Hippolytus was stunned into silence and simply watched as she marched away and out into the courtyard.
She looked to her left and saw Diana, in her full Wonder Woman ceremonial armour, preparing to announce the betrothal to the gathered Amazons.
Zenobia pulled a bystander from the edge of the crowd, and whispered to her roughly, “The statue of Ares that was removed from the temple. Where is it now?”
The scared Amazon girl, who was hardly more than a child, replied with a voice shaking from fear, “It could not be destroyed, even by Diana. So she put it down by the beach, in a cave on the eastern tip of the island.”
Zenobia practically threw the girl back to the crowd and marched off in an easterly direction.
All of the Amazons, Themysciran and Lost One alike, stood in formal rows in the courtyard. Some expected a coronation, some a banishment, most had no idea what was about to happen.
Steve Trevor sat to one side on the steps of the Themysciran Treasury, smoking one of the cigarettes the visiting marines had given him. He had a nagging thought in the back of his head as to what this announcement was, but he pushed it back and hoped he was wrong.
Hippolytus, visibly shaken, joined Diana at the top of the steps to the royal residence. He was dressed formally as well.
Diana stepped forward and addressed her people, “My people! Our people!” She included Hippolytus in her glance. “We have wonderful news to share with all of you.”
Hippolytus stepped closer to Diana, putting his hand on the small of her back, and announced “We have decided to marry. To rule Themyscira together, and to create one united civilization of Amazons As it was before, so shall it be for all time!”
The entire crowd erupted with cheers and clapping. During all the noise Steve threw down his cigarette and crushed it underfoot in disgust before turning and making his way towards the beach and his motorboat.
Diana saw Steve go and her heart sank. Her feet instinctively lifted half an inch off the ground to follow him, but she kept herself in check and sank back down to the ground. She recovered her smile and continued to address her people.
“The ceremony will be performed here tomorrow, and everyone is invited. It will be the first wedding ever performed on Themyscira, and a royal one. This is a great cause for celebration.”
Hippolytus added the concluding statement, noticing Diana wanted to go after Steve, “Tomorrow is the first day of a new era! The United Amazon Nation shall be a glory worthy of Olympus itself.”
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2006 18:39:09 GMT -5
The cave was hot. Zenobia warily worked her way inside where Ares’ statue had been abandoned. It wasn’t far and she soon found the effigy. The tide was in and filled the cave, lazy waves lapping at her ankles. She knelt in front of Ares’ statue, closed her eyes and leant on her sword for balance. A warm hand touched her shoulder and she leapt back.
“The fire you hold inside you piqued my interest,” Ares said with his smooth and confident voice, “I hope I will not regret giving you this audience.”
Zenobia justified herself in one word, “Diana.”
Ares nodded.
“She is unfit to be the Amazon’s ambassador to Man’s World,” she continued, “she must be… Removed.”
Ares turned to face away from Zenobia and smirked widely, pleased. Everything was coming together for him, after so many failed plans. He turned back with his face now blank, “You intend to call her out?”
“Yes.”
“You know you cannot win.” Ares said matter-of-factly, “Skilled as you are, you are a still only a mere Amazon, while she is blessed by the gods.”
“Merely Amazon?” Zenobia growled, “I am Amazon and proud. I will beat Diana, even if it is with my last breath!”
“You have made an impression on me, my daughter,” Ares replied, “I shall bestow my blessings on you, as the goddesses so blessed Diana, so you may defeat her in an honourable fight.”
Zenobia fell to one knee and lowered her head in deference. Ares stepped towards her and placed his hand on her head. His hand glowed red and a flash filled the cave. A powerful shaking loosed the stalactites from the ceiling. Everything fell apart as a cave-in began.
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2006 18:39:24 GMT -5
Steve Trevor’s motorboat leaped the crest of a wave before landing smoothly back on the ocean. Suddenly, he caught sight of the cave-in on the beach and slowed the boat to a full stop. He pulled a pair of binoculars from the passenger seat of his boat and looked over at the beach. His selflessness overtook the urging in his stomach to get away from Paradise Island, from Diana, and he turned the boat back toward the beach and pushed its accelerator to the floor.
He reached the beach and drew his sidearm, lining up a torch with the barrel and slowly moved towards the rubble that was Ares’ cave. In the centre of the rubble stood the statue, proving its invulnerability once again by being completely untouched. Steve passed his torch over the rocks and saw a glint, like the gold of Amazonian armour.
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2006 18:39:46 GMT -5
She had decided to visit the royal bathhouse, to allow herself to be vulnerable for the first time in a year. Vulnerability was a luxury for Diana. Even more so now that she was to be a queen. Tomorrow should be a joyous occasion for her, but she felt almost as much foreboding as she had when she’d seen the boom tubes open above her mere weeks ago. She had much to be thankful for. Her home and her people would finally be back to normal tomorrow, for the first time in almost a year.
She bathed, trying to relax, forcing herself to loosen all of her muscles, from her shoulders to her toes. She felt the unease physically in the form of a constantly empty feeling in the pit of her stomach. She kept thinking about Steve. She knew she’d hurt him, the hurt look on his face had cut into her like a knife. She sunk down a little further into the water, immersing herself in her thoughts.
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2006 18:40:08 GMT -5
“Anybody there? You hurt?” Steve shouted, putting his foot on one of the first rocks to stabilize his torchlight on what he thought was the glint of Amazonian armour amongst the rubble of Ares‘ cave.
The rubble began to shift around the armour. Slowly, rocks fell aside until a slender and powerful hand appeared, holding a long golden spear.
“Diana?” Steve asked, lowering his gun slightly.
The arm leaned on the spear and dragged Zenobia’s body from the rubble, dusty but completely unscathed from the cave in. She marched intently towards Steve and swiftly slashed him with the tip of her spear before grabbing him by the throat with her free hand.
“You could not have been more wrong Trevor.”
Steve tried to squirm free, but in the process lost his gun. Blood flowed freely from his wounded stomach. Zenobia narrowed her eyes in indecision before simply tossing Steve behind her. He landed painfully with a crack of broken bones amongst the rubble of Ares’ cave. Just before he blacked out from the pain he could swear he saw the statue smile.
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2006 18:40:32 GMT -5
The sun rose over Themyscira. Under Apollo’s gaze Diana and Hippolytus were wed. The service was a solemn occasion, the first wedding ever performed on Paradise Island deserved some reverence. After the wedding came the feasting, and Hippolytus tried his hardest to make it a joyous occasion.
Diana, however, was not enjoying it. Her heart had fallen when she’d seen Steve turn his back on her, and it hadn’t risen since. The realization that she cared a lot more for Steve Trevor than she thought had snuck up on her. She had daydreamed throughout practically the whole day, even through Hippolytus’ speech, declaring how happy he was to be married and to have united their society as it once was. It was now her turn to speak.
She stood and looked out over the crowd, “My sisters! We are on the brink of a new dawn for Themyscira. A new united Amazon people, brought together after centuries apart.
“I have even more happy news, even though I have just begun my reign as your queen I do not intend to give up my mission in Patriarch’s World. I will be returning to the Justice League in a few days.”
Cries of dissent shot up from the assembled populace. A mass of Amazon voices crying out in uproar, until one single voice silenced all the others. A voice that belonged to Zenobia.
“Traitor!” She shouted with all the air in her lungs, “You would leave Paradise with demons still roaming the island? You would leave, of all things, a man in charge? You care nothing for Themyscira or your people, this marriage is a sham. You’re only marrying him to ease your guilt over leaving your people, again, for man’s world!”
“Zenobia!” Hippolytus shouted, stepping in front of Diana, “You are out of line. Apologise to your queen.”
“She is not my queen. She is a traitor!”
Diana pushed Hippolytus aside, a little rougher than she would have liked, and stepped up to Zenobia, “Who do you think you are?”
“I think I am more than your match,” Zenobia replied with a steely gaze.
Diana looked around, nobody was backing her up, her people really thought she was abandoning them. She had to get their trust back, she had to get rid of this woman. She slowly and purposefully stalked down until she was nose to nose with Zenobia and said simply, “Prove it.”
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2006 18:40:59 GMT -5
The moon had risen on Themyscira. Diana stood in her nightdress looking out of the window of her royal chambers, watching the oceans surrounding Themyscira. She felt a large hand on the small of her back, she turned away from the moonlight and looked up to stare into Hippolytus’ eyes. There were several moments where their eyes just lingered in each other’s gaze. Their lips came together as she pressed herself against him.
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2006 18:41:48 GMT -5
Sand blew across the silent beach on the East side of Themyscira. The red light from dawn made the sea turn a sickly blood red, Zenobia stood against it, the blood red dawn light outlining her. She pulled a long silver spear from the sand and readied herself against Diana.
Hippolytus stood behind Diana and whispered quietly to her, “Surely she knows this is a fool’s errand? You are blessed by the gods, and she is merely an Amazon.”
“Merely an Amazon?” Zenobia yelled across the sands, “And I thought so much of you, lover,” she grinned wickedly, like a cat who’d caught a mouse, “Ready to be defeated yet, coward princess?”
“You shall die regretting those words.” Diana said calmly, tying the ceremonial dueling robe she wore instead of her Wonder Woman armour. The armour was enchanted and almost invulnerable, she didn’t want to seem like she was abusing her blessings to beat this woman. She hefted a large circular shield her mother had taken into final battle with the Minotaur and took her battle stance.
Zenobia grew impatient and rushed her head on, thrusting the spear for Diana’s side. Caught off guard by the sheer speed and brutality of the attack Diana barely managed to dodge,the cloth of her robe ripped by the head of the spear. Zenobia surged forward and dealt Diana a brutal backhanded blow that sent her flying into the air. Diana called upon her powers of flight and righted herself, stopping in midair. Zenobia merely grinned viciously and leapt into the air after Diana.
“What trickery is this?” Diana asked Zenobia as they locked together in mid-air combat. It was all she could do to block the furious Amazon’s blows and spear strikes, the speed and strength of them far beyond mortal means.
“Trickery?” Zenobia stopped and laughed. Diana took the opening and rushed her with her shield, giving a glancing blow to Zenobia’s face and drawing a thin line of blood. “There is no trickery here traitor,” she said as she grabbed the back of Diana’s head and pulled it down, viciously, into the edge of Diana’s own shield. She drew her knee back and then drove it into Diana’s side, causing the Amazon princess to double over as the wind was knocked from her, “You just aren’t that good.”
Diana fell back to the ground, feeling her strength leaving her, she was exhausted from all the fighting of the war and then the recent crisis and now this duel was becoming the straw that broke the camel’s back. Zenobia threw herself into a dive and smacked full force into Diana, creating a shockwave of force that blew over some of the less stout Amazons nearby. She picked Diana up and threw her as hard as her new strength allowed into a nearby storehouse. A storehouse that had been used to hold the ingredients for Greek Fire.
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2006 18:42:03 GMT -5
The explosion was devastating. The fire singed the faces of all the nearby onlookers and the heat rose in waves from the site as Zenobia zoomed towards the flames, whistling an old song whose name had been long forgotten at the dawn of man. She still gripped the spear in her hand and she used the blunt end to rifle through the rubble of the storehouse. Then she noticed a footprint on the sand the other side of the storehouse, a footprint that was speckled with blood. She grinned.
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2006 18:42:40 GMT -5
Diana had half-stumbled and half-crawled her way from the wreckage of the storehouse. She was exhausted, wounded, burnt and despondent. What she had always feared had finally happened, her gods had given up on her.
“At this point, I think I would just give up.” Zenobia said as she stepped gingerly up behind Diana. They had come some way from the beach now and were at the top of the cliffs that surrounded the south side of Paradise Island. Zenobia picked Diana up by the chin from her position of defeat, until their faces were level. “Out of respect for your mother, a true Queen of Amazons, I will allow you to live. But you must give up, you must concede to me.”
“I believe…” Diana struggled to say, held up only by Zenobia’s grip, “That the words of Man’s World are the most appropriate here,” she drew a breath and Zenobia came closer to gloat, “Screw you.” Diana said through a bloodied smile.
Zenobia raged, whipping her hand up and throwing Diana to the edge of the cliff, this time she couldn’t summon her flight to stop herself and had to scrabble with every last reserve of her energies to stop herself from going over the edge.
“This has ceased to be enjoyable,” Zenobia said sourly, “This ends now.”
Diana dragged herself to her feet, more tired and more injured and more miserable than she had ever been. If anything, her mother’s death had taught her that a true Amazon dies on her feet, blessing of the gods or not. Zenobia twirled the spear she had been carrying throughout the fight, the shield fell from Diana’s arm, its weight too much for her to bear and stand at the same time. Diana’s divine blood seeped from hundreds of wounds all over her body and was splattered all over Zenobia and her spear. The world seemed to slow as Ares’ champion stepped up to Diana, then stopped altogether as Diana felt the cold metal thrust into her body. The killing blow was dealt. Zenobia put her foot on Diana’s chest and kicked out, pushing Diana’s body not only off the end of the spear but clear off of the cliff.
In the distance a splash of water rang out, the only sound to be heard on the whole of Paradise Island.
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2006 18:43:02 GMT -5
Hippolytus’ mouth fell in shock as Zenobia stalked back to town, covered in blood and none of it hers. She walked past all of the staring Amazons and into the temple. She walked right the way through the temple and stopped in front of the statue of Athena. For several seconds she stood still, before thrusting the spear she still held through the heart of the statue and clear out the other side.
Zenobia bent down to pick up something that was piled neatly next to the statue by Diana some days before, the ceremonial armour of Wonder Woman, and picked it up with her blood-covered right hand. She walked out of the temple to face the crowd of Amazons that had been watching the duel and then held the armour above her head in victory.
“Themyscira’s false Queen is gone. Dead.” Zenobia shouted across the huge square, “And as the greatest warrior on Themyscira I rightfully take her place as the ambassador to Man’s World. I will be Wonder Woman.”
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2006 18:44:21 GMT -5
To be continued!
Join us October 4th for the All-New Wonder Woman #11, written by Sam Harrison!
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Post by mockingbird on Aug 3, 2011 15:29:42 GMT -5
To let us know what you think of this issue, please visit the letters page here!
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