Wonder Woman #33: "Dystopia, Finale"

Ares could take a punch. He relished the chance to take a punch. He was a god, after all, and gods do not regularly get punched, so the appeal for him was very much real. After having his helmet shatter after the fiftieth punch, the appeal had worn off. He looked up at Wonder Woman, faster than ever, stronger than ever, brutal… he realised he could love this woman if she didn’t always ruin his plans and generally gain an immense pleasure from inflicting pain upon him. “Amaz--” Another punch, his armour cracked and red fissures shot up his breast plate. He’d never seen that before. “Wonder Woma--” Shoulder plate gone. If he was human, his collarbone would have shattered, he’d have forever lost the use of his arm. Right now though, all he felt was pain. Godly pain, but pain none the less. “Diana!” He caught her fist, and his fingers shunted out of their sockets. Godly pain. “Fight this!”

“Fight you!” She slammed her boot between his legs, and then with her elbow, cracked his armour once more, freeing her caught hand. “Fight you!”

Kronus basked in the glorious murder that was being committed. He had no rhyme to his reason. With reality wearing thin from the apparent death of his great mother Gaia after her sacrifice toward some great coming evil, he emerged, he struck with an almighty fury, and now he was one step closer to dominating the world, because he could. She is part of me now, Ares. My power is hers. Have you ever thought what it would be like to be killed, Ares? Not just removed from the world but killed? Give it time. It will come.

Ares spat blood. It sizzled and boiled on the patch of the world it landed on, grass withering at its touch. “Yes, I do suppose so, but--” Another punch, he felt a tooth dislodge at the back of his throat. So this is what it felt like to truly battle the Amazon hero known as Wonder Woman? Who would have thought it… “--At least I’m not a castrated little half man!”

Kronus laughed loudly. Sticks and stones, Ares, but her fists… those will be the ones doing the breaking.




Below the world of the living, the battle raged on. Persephone and her legion of departed warriors trekked toward the world above, hacking and slashing at the monsters and demons and ghouls that surged into their path. Persephone, Queen of the Dead, lead the army, her sword black and red with the blood of a thousand horrors, her deft hand ending lives as soon as they would attempt to end hers. She was a god, and she would not falter in her mission.

The Olympians had been trapped in their realms between worlds. She had been denied exit from the Underworld. But there was one way out, one way back into the action. So she took her hordes, thousands of fallen Spartans, thousands of fallen Greeks, thousands of fallen heroes, and side-by-side with their generals and kings, and headed to Doom’s Doorway. And to Kronus. “FORWARD!” she cried, “WE’RE NEARLY THERE!”



“The Amazons must survive,” said Donna Troy, “but so must the rest of humanity.”

“Well they’re safe underneath the embassy, aren’t they? Safe and anxious away from the battle,” replied Zenobia. “We’re alone on Themyscira, with a battle raging outside that could end the world as we know it. And you sent the race of warriors away from the ultimate war.”

“There’ll be more wars, Zenobia, plenty more. But this is a battle that cannot be won by numbers alone. We have to be--”

They reached the battlements that surrounded the city of Themyscira. Below them, near the shore, Ares battled a black clad warrior woman, and it took a split second for both of the heroes to realise it was Wonder Woman. Zenobia’s hand crushed the stone she was gripping, both salivating and fearful at the sight of Ares being beaten to bloody bits. The God of War’s blood was caking his body, and Diana’s fists.

“Oh, God,” said Donna Troy. “We have to get down there--”

“No, look, Kronus’ is there, he’ll tear us apart, we have to… we have to think about this. I…”

“I don’t understand this, I don’t know what’s going on. He claims to be my father, but how can I come from that? he’s just… evil… and I’m…”

“Now is not the time for doubt,” snapped Zenobia, speaking both to her young ally and herself. “We need to do something. We need to free Diana from Kronus’ influence.”

What is it that they say? Zenobia spun around and was punched squarely in the face, her nose breaking and her body sent flying toward the shore. I heard so much during my eternal imprisonment… the words… Easier said than done come to mind. Kronus smiled, and looked down at Donna Troy. Do you want to hear the story of your birth, my daughter?



“Ghhhhuhhhhh…” Zenobia wiped the blood from her nose, her gods-given abilities dealing with the injury as best they could. Her thoughts were woozy, concussion, she surmised, but her thoughts gained clarity, and then she looked up to see Ares being beaten to death by Diana.

“Nnnno!” She thrust herself up and deflected the punch thrown by Wonder Woman with her bracelets, scant moments before it would have collided with Ares’ face. The God of War looked at his rescuer and began to laugh as best he could considering the state of his face.

“Oh, my champion, my dear champion… you saved me!”

Diana stared at Zenobia with black eyes, looking this new obstacle up and down, her fist still clamped by Zenobia’s two hands. “Diana! Think! Think about what you’re doing!”

“I. Don’t. Need. To.” She kicked up, catching Zenobia in the stomach, and then leaped up, and kicked her in the face, sending the other Amazon flying to the side, face first into the beach. “Die.”

Zenobia looked up, and pulled out her sword. “Hera help me, I never liked you Diana.”

BOOM!

Zenobia and Ares turned to the source of a massive explosion, but Diana just smiled, and slammed her fist into the blade Zenobia held, smashing the metal into pieces. Zenobia leaped back, and Ares leaped forward, punching Wonder Woman in the head, and then throwing her back as far as he could. He put out his hand to Zenobia, and the former-Wonder Woman looked at it, and then pulled herself up under her own power. “I was just being polite.”

“Yes, well, what was that noise?”

Ares chuckled. “Oh, this is beautiful. Doom’s Doorway. Kronus just opened Doom’s Doorway.”

“Why are you smiling?!”

“You have to admit, it’s a beautiful play.”

Zenobia thought about it for a moment, and yes, had to admit, it was a strong move for the Titan to make, but as she gazed over to the Doorway, she was surprised to see a legion of… men and women?! Out surged an army of warriors, demon blood staining their swords, and they saw Diana, and roared. “That’s not any demon horde I’ve ever seen.”

“Persephone, you glorious thing,” whispered Ares, as he focused his power and healed his wounds, “you aren’t such a poor choice for lord of the underworld after all, are you?”

Persephone, flanked with thousands of brave, loyal undead warriors, swarmed the island straight from the inside of Doom’s Doorway. Wonder Woman, in her darkened state, hissed, and then launched herself at the new legion, and she was engulfed by warriors. Swords stabbed at her but she used her bracelets to dodge and deflect. The sound of steel and war cries filled her ears, but she ignored it. All she heard was Kronus’ voice, telling her to fight, fight, fight, and so she did.



I was trapped for so long, Donna, in the bosom of the world, in the prison my mother made for me. But that did not stop me from being a presence in this world. I love you because you are my daughter, Donna, but I hate you because you are everything I am not. All my potential for good, all my potential to be something bright and shining in this world, it seeped through the membrane of my prison and became you. The one good thing that came out of my life as a Titan, and that disgusts me. But I offer you a seat by my side, as any father would, all you have to do is reject this world. We would conquer this universe, one world at a time, because we are Titans.

“I am a Titan,” Donna Troy replied, “but no Titan of yours, father.” She punched him in the face, and it didn’t faze him. “Oh.”

Kronus shook his head. I am trying to be a fair and lenient father, Donna, but you are making it very difficult for me. He sighed, and caught her fist as she tried to hit him again. My first son treated me very poorly. He did horrible things to me. I admit, yes, I did eat his brothers and sisters, but still, that’s no excuse, is it?

“My mother was Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons! My sister is Diana, the Wonder Woman! You are a just a bitter thing that will never have any hold over me!”

I am going to have to teach you the error of your words, am I not?

“Try,” replied Donna defiantly.

“May I have this dance?” Kronus turned and was blinded by an unbearable light, and he instinctively dropped Donna Troy. The heroine took this chance and dove to the grounds outside the abandoned city, and headed toward her sisters, leaving Kronus facing someone she recognised with a smile. The man hefted a large weapon, bigger than his torso, and barely managed to hold it up. It was an intricate device, with circuitry exposed and a quiet ping-ping-ping emanating from the control box on the top. “This is something we salvaged from the Apokolips War. We call it a Vortex-Cannon. Boom.”

Steve Trevor pulled the trigger and a Boom Tube erupted out from the muzzle of the weapon, and hit Kronus squarely in the chest. The Titan screamed, matter being sucked out from inside his chest and pulled into the tunnel to another dimension. “And before you think you can set yourself up on the other side of this baby? That’s a black hole you’re being pulled into. Earth says bye-bye.”

MORTAL! Kronus stepped forward, and his eyes sparked, and the Vortex-Cannon broke apart into pieces. YOU THINK YOUR LITTLE GUN CAN STOP ME?

Steve Trevor dropped the remains of the weapon and shrugged. “Nah, but I thought it would slow you down.”

I am going to kill you now.

“Ha!” And then Steve vanished from sight, a flash of light engulfing him.

Kronus sniffed the air, and then spat a name. Apollo! You have impressed me! Alive, and still a thorn in my side! I will find you! And I will slaughter you before the world!



Diana screamed as she threw her attackers off her, the power of Kronus coursing through her body. This was the fate Kronus had intended for Donna, for her to be his avatar, to contain as much of his power as her body would hold. More than enough to send these ghosts back to their home in the Underworld. “OFF ME!”

DIANA! MY WONDER WOMAN! STAND PROUD! STAND TALL! Kronus floated down to the sands of Themyscira once more, and his footsteps scorched the ground to glass. A worthy challenge, Persephone, my grand-daughter, but I rule now.

The legion of warriors were thrown to the floor, and Wonder Woman breathed in deeply. Five enemies still remained standing. Ares, Zenobia and Donna Troy, and behind them…

Apollo materialised, followed by Steve Trevor, ready for battle, and Persephone stood tall with her uncle. Kronus stood side by side with Wonder Woman. I will enjoy this.

“Stop! Stop!” Donna Troy put up her hands, “don’t do this. If you’re my father… you wouldn’t… you wouldn’t do this to the people I care for. You wouldn’t kill those close to my heart, would you?”

Ares is close to your heart? Do not make me laugh, child.

“I’ll join you!”

“Donna, what on Earth are you--” Zenobia was cut off by Donna’s hand.

“If you let them live, I’ll join you.”

Kronus didn’t know what to say. He opened his mouth, eyed his daughter suspiciously, and then smiled. Of course. Just kneel before your father. And all will be well.

“What’s her play?” whispered Steve Trevor to Apollo, who just watched, readying himself to strike.

“I do not know,” replied the God of the Sun.

Donna approached Kronus, only to be grabbed on the shoulder by Zenobia and pulled back. “What the hell are you doing, Troy?”

“What has to be done!” She pulled herself free. “Why won’t you trust me? Why won’t you just listen to your heart for once, instead of letting your anger guide you? Trust me!”

Zenobia stared at Donna, and then put up her hands. “Fine. Fine.” She stepped back, and Donna approached Kronus.

Wonder Woman stepped in front of him, her hand raised. Donna Troy looked to her corrupted sister, tears welling in her eyes. She couldn’t believe it had come to this, that she’d lost her sister to her father, She’d always been there for her, and now… Diana looked at her. No hint of re-- wait, Donna thought, just then, that look in her eye, that… no… it couldn’t… “Diana!”

Donna broke free from the unimaginable strain placed upon her by Kronus’ exertions, and pulled the lasso free from her hip, and with one last surge of energy, looped it around Diana’s hand. “Who are you?”

Themyscira exploded in light. Kronus howled in agony, as the light struck him, shards of indescribable light slicing through his flesh like knives. Diana held tight to her lasso, and she smiled. This was part of her plan. The Lasso, the Truth, could not be corrupted by Kronus’ touch, so she gave it to the woman she trusted most, her sister, and knew that when the time was right, Donna Troy would return it to her hands, and ask the question that she could always answer…

“I’m Wonder Woman.” She pointed to Kronus, and her fist moved faster than the eye could follow. The punch sent him flying across the scorched earth outside the city of the Amazons, and she smiled. Her body was crackling with power, purple globules of energy releasing itself from her pores, her Amazonian body rejecting the taint of Kronus. But instead of dispelling the energy into the atmosphere, and far away from here, she held it in her hand, nurtured it, the horrific power of the Titan known as Kronus turning white as she closed her eyes and whispered prayers of thanks to Athena.

Kronus pulled himself up from where he had landed, and stumbled forward, his body suddenly weak. He looked at his hands, and the power that seeped out of him, and then struggled to breathe. His armour turned to dust, his skin shrivelled and his bones grew brittle. He fell to the ground, an old, ancient husk of a thing, and looked up at Diana, Wonder Woman, with cold eyes. “No…” he whispered.

“Yes,” said Diana.

Diana held her hands up, the dark energy encircling her, rushing up her arms and then shooting into the world above, dispersing in the atmosphere. Her lasso glowed brighter than it had before, and she smiled. The Greek pantheon descended upon Paradise Island, freed from the prisons that Kronus had sent them too when he returned. Now, with his power removed, they were free, together for the first time in what felt like forever.

Zenobia clutched her chest in surprise, and then Athena stepped out from inside her, her essence kept safe within the Amazon’s soul. “Thank you, Zenobia, you have held me within your heart, and now it is time for my family to end this threat.” She smiled, and placed her hand upon Zenobia’s head, and then, lingering just for a moment, she turned to join her brothers and sisters around Kronus, who was struggling to stand. “Kronus! Did you really think you would be able to lock us away forever? Did you really think that we wouldn’t have plans in place to stop you from arising?”

“You,” sneered Kronus, “are nothing. Weak and ineffectual. How easy was it for me to return and defeat you all? You have grown decadent and as your forefather, I am ashamed!”

“And you’re a relic, one that no longer has sway nor hold upon the world. Your time has passed.” The Greek gods completed their circle by holding each other’s hands, and the ground began to shake. Kronus began to scream as the other gods simply closed their eyes.

Athena turned to the assembled mortals and smiled on her daughters in spirit. Zenobia, Donna, Diana, she smiled at each with pride. “Strength, insight and wisdom, I could ask for no better triumvirate to carry on the message of Themyscira. We are all relics, and none of us,” she paused to look at Ares, before continuing, “none of us should hold sway over this modern world. It has left us behind and we must leave it behind for real now. We will see to a new prison for Kronus, and watch from afar the future you all forge from this moment on. You will see us no more, but we will be in your hearts, each and every one of you, if you choose to listen. From time to time.”

Athena closed her eyes and the power and light among the gods grew sharper, more radiant and then, suddenly, without warning, the island was devoid of the gods’ presence, the spirits of the warriors that rode through Doom’s Doorway to Themyscira simply turned and journeyed back to their eternal rewards, leaving Diana, Donna, Steve Trevor and Zenobia in silence as they looked to each other.

“We won?” said Steve Trevor quietly, a question more than a statement.

“Yes,” Wonder Woman replied, her hand on Wonder Girl’s shoulder, a nod directed at Zenobia. “The pantheon we worship has departed from this plain, yet they reside in our hearts. Kronus is defeated-- trapped once more. We won.”

“Then I need to get back to Checkmate, I need to make sure we don’t do anything stupid when the voice of reason, read: me, isn’t there.” Steve Trevor smiled at Diana, and then began to walk toward Themyscira, to the sparkling city on the isle.

“And my sisters can now return home, Themyscira safe from the taint of the mad Titan Kronus.”

Donna remained silent through all this. “I should… go back to Titan’s Tower. I punched a few of my friends through walls, I don’t want there to be any hard feelings.”

“I’m sure there won’t be, Donna,” replied Diana, “you did single-handily save the entire world.”

Donna laughed, and then flew back to the city, following Steve Trevor. Zenobia took a step forward. “She’s hurting, that one.”

“I know, sister. I feel it in my soul. The truth is not always something that satiates--”

“Sometimes it leaves us with more questions than answers.” Zenobia smiled softly. I am glad we were finally able to stand together, side-by-side. Better to fight by your side than to face you in combat. Means I didn’t have to hurt you anymore.”

Diana chuckled, as the two Wonder Women, one former, one present, headed toward their home. “Will you ever let that go?”

“No. Probably not.”



Donna Troy sat in Themyscira House, in silence. She was thinking about her life, her soul, her parentage. Nothing made sense to her anymore. She wasn’t lost before-- not like this. Her father… the thing that ‘created’ her, was pure malevolence… and she was all the good inside him? She didn’t know what that meant. She would think on this.

“I see you, Wonder Girl,” whispered the witch-goddess Circe, as she scryed Donna Troy from an age away. “Lost, adrift in the sea of your own doubt… oh, what fun we’ll have together…”



Steve Trevor sat in his office, in silence. The world had nearly been dragged down into the brink, and this was not the first time, nor would it be the last. This was why Checkmate was here. This was why they functioned.

“White King?” Steve Trevor turned toward the door, where a large, imposing man was now standing. “You called for me?”

Steve motioned toward the seat in front of him. “Paul, glad you could make it. Please, sit.”

Paul Kirk, Manhunter, smiled as he entered the office, and sat down in front of Steve Trevor. “I’m sitting around in my quarters waiting for an assignment, sir. I really didn’t have anything else to do...”

“Well, I have a mission for you. Have you ever heard of The Circle?”



“Zenobia…” Diana stood in the doorway of Themyscira House, dusk settling in over the city of New York. “You’re leaving?”

Zenobia was already out in the street, uncomfortable in the clothes that Diana had purchased for her, a backpack over her shoulder containing supplies, but ready at last to move on. “You’ve been very hospitable, Diana, but yes, it’s time for me to leave this place and journey to wherever the world takes me next.”

“You could always return home to Themyscira, to your sisters.”

Zenobia laughed, “Themyscira? Home? Themyscira has never been my home, Diana. It was a place I stayed for a while before my life got tossed upside down by Ares. No. I’m a nomad, Diana, plain and simple. I’ll keep travelling until I find a new war to fight.”

“It doesn’t have to be like that--”

Zenobia smiled. “Yes. It really does. I’ll see you around, Your Majesty. Be safe, and may Athena be with you.”

“And with you… sister. And with you.”