Ultimate Wonder Woman #4

Oh, how the mighty had fallen. Once, long ago, he had dined with gods. He had sailed with the greatest heroes in all the world; fought with them, been their equal—no, their better! But now, after so many years without glory, he was only a face in the crowd. Where he had been mighty, now he was nothing. No one believed anymore, that was the problem. He remembered years, decades when the whole of the world (or at least the whole of Greece) would flock to the son of Zeus. But there were too many other gods these days, and too few mortals left who would believe him. It had been a long time since he had stopped trying to make them.

In the recent years, Heracles had found some happiness in a clean, airy apartment in New York, where so much action took place. He’d kept himself amused for a while with drink and women and sports. He’d traveled and seen all the sights there were in the world. He’d even gone to watch several of these new ‘Olympic’ games, and idly wondered if any of the athletes had even guessed that a true Olympian was among them. He’d gone by different names in different cities, through different jobs and hobbies until he sat at home now, tired of it all.

He was alone at the moment, sitting at a table and sighing into his glass, trying not to think about how pathetic he must look. There was just no purpose left for him, after all this time. All of those long-ago quests had been finished, all of the great battles won. Nothing was left.

Just as these thoughts threatened to multiply and take over his mind, Heracles felt a peculiar, unfamiliar sensation somewhere in his heart. He raised his head and looked around the room, trying to identify the feeling. It took him a long moment to recognize the call of the Golden Fleece, but then, it had been a very long time since it had called out to him. Far back, that mythical pelt used to alert all of the heroes who had found it whenever something truly extraordinary was about to occur, through the bond of heroism that only they had forged. Nothing had come up in years, but now it seemed that the Fleece was back; and with it, adventure.

Heracles closed his eyes to listen better, already sitting more straight, more determined. The Gods’ new champion had arrived. A new Amazon, and in his own world, this time. That old, sly grin crept onto his handsome face. Hippolyta’s daughter.

Getting up slowly, Heracles wandered through his home to a small closet, where his cherished old clothes still hung. Finally, he had something that he could do, some act of bold heroism, some adventure to bring the spark back to his days. All he had to do was listen to the past, and he would be great again.

All he had to do was find her.







As the stranger walked through the door, Vanessa thought to herself that there may be a definite upside to this superhero thing. He was stunning, from that beautiful brown hair down to perfectly toned ankles. The fashion sense may have been a little questionable, but that could be fixed.

To his credit, Ari tried hard to seem modest and non-threatening when Diana and Julia introduced him to the other two girls. But those baby-blue teenaged eyes were making it difficult, especially when Vanessa kept looking him over and smiling. Ari ran his fingers through his hair, preening under the attention.

Donna cleared her throat loudly, and Ari and Vanessa both jumped. “So, ah, Olympian? What’s brought you down to Salem?” She asked, carefully studying him.

“Oh, call me Ari,” he insisted, with a dashing smile that failed to sweep Donna off her feet. He coughed, and continued. “The amazing Wonder Woman, of course, is what’s brought me here. How could I have ever resisted such power and beauty?” Another smile brought the smallest chuckle to Diana’s lips, but still wasn’t impressing Donna.

“Aristedes was a very good help to me this afternoon,” said Diana, in an attempt to soften Donna’s look. “And I hope and believe that he will continue to be so in the future. If he should stay, of course.”

“My dear woman,” Ari started, going so far in his gentility as to bend to one knee before her, “There’s nothing that I want more than to fight at your side!”

It wasn’t until a moment passed without the effect that he’d intended that Ari stood, brushed himself off, and gave another disarming smile to the room. “But I thought you’d be in the city, to be honest. Where all the action is. You know, all the action,” he winked.

Diana looked puzzled for a moment, but shook it off. “I have made my home here, with the women who’ve taken me in. But I wouldn’t wish to impose any further by offering you a place to stay.”

For her part, Julia struggled silently between giving Diana’s friend a home as well, and keeping her daughter away from yet another strange and charismatic young man. Fortunately, she was spared the unenviable decision when Ari spoke again.

“Well, thanks for the concern, but it’s fine with me. I’ll hang around in Boston, I guess. But only if I can get your number.” There was something expectant in his gaze that Diana couldn’t recognize, even when he stepped closer to her, standing only a few inches away. “You know, you can always come with me. See some sights, fight some bad guys…who knows what else could happen?”

“Thank you, but I’ll be staying here,” Diana said politely, but quite firmly. Despite his dreams otherwise, Ari couldn’t even think of trying to convince her to go with him, not with that look in her eyes. “I’ve become very fond of this house, and of my friends. Although I will be sure to see you again,” she finished with a smile.

Ari pulled up his disappointed look, and made a barely exaggerated bow to the four women before turning with a swish of his fleece, and leaving them for the greater adventures outside of the suburbs.

Of course he was disappointed, but there was no reason to be too upset. So the great Wonder Woman needed some time to get used to him. It wasn’t like she’d denied him, or turned him away. Hell, she practically begged him to stay right there, in her house! Ari grinned when he thought of it that way. He had nothing in the world to worry about. He’d get her, sooner or later.

And if he never did, well hey, there was always the daughter.







He was sitting at the cold little table with his head in his hands, sighing heavily when she walked into the room. Some hidden part of Mavis Razel saw the beauty in his sadness, the blond hair falling over his fingers. She almost wished she could actually help him, just for a moment. It was such a waste.

He looked up with a resignation in his eyes at the sound of the door opening. “You’re Miss Razel?”

She nodded, short black hair bouncing back into place as she looked at her client through a thin pair of glasses. “Justin Streiger. Or would you rather go by Panzer?”

“No, please. Call me Justin,” he said quietly. “Thank you for coming. I appreciate how difficult this is going to be for you.”

“Oh no, it won’t be all that bad.” The smile that crossed her lips betrayed only the slightest hint of her true meaning. Justin was far too preoccupied to notice, but Mavis shook the look off of her face quickly. He had to trust her, if this was going to work. And what better way than by getting to know him a little first? Orders or no orders, he was quite an interesting man.

Mavis had flown out at the first chance she could after she received her instructions. The Iron Cross was not a man to question or disobey, and Mavis’ alter ego was certainly not about to lose her high standing with him. She was well-known as Doctor Poison; anytime anyone needed to die quietly, she was the first to be called.

It was quite the advantage to keep her identity a secret, though. For all his work as Red Panzer, he had no idea who his benefactors had hired for a lawyer. Mavis had to fight back another wicked smile. She’d let him live only until she grew tired of him. After that, the little packet of powder in her pocket would simply slip into his glass of water. When they checked later, all the paramedics would see was a heart attack. Sad, surely, but saving them the trouble of getting rid of the Nazi themselves.

“I already know what the charges are, and I doubt I’ll be able to explain myself,” said Justin, snapping the woman’s attention back to the present. There was such a calm sadness in that voice of his. He really was intriguing. “I’d like to plead guilty. The sooner I can repay my debt and return home, the better.”

“Giving up just like that, are you?” She finally sat down on the cold chair across from him, lacing her fingers under her chin. Her dark eyes looked at him over the top of her glasses, searching out the truths in his face.

“No, not giving up. Not as bad as all that.” Justin managed to smile softly, although without his eyes. “I don’t want to drag this out. I have better things to be doing. At least once I’m locked away my family can visit.”

Mavis’ eyes narrowed just slightly. “You half-demolished a government building, and endangered hundreds just to draw out and kill Wonder Woman, and all you want now is a jail cell?”

“I was following my orders,” he started to explain. “I was doing my job. I just want it to be over with, now.”

“Hm.” Mavis let a hand fall down into her pocket, and the fingers toyed with the little paper packet. “Well, don’t you worry, Justin. It’ll be all over with, and sooner than you think.”







“Hey, can I show you something?” asked Donna casually, leaning against the doorway to Diana’s room. It had been a few days since all of the activity had settled down, and it was high time for Donna to start searching for her own answers.

“Of course, come in.” Diana turned off her small television and focused all of her attention on the other girl. “What is it?”

“You ever see anything like these?” Wasting no time, Donna held up her arms, letting thin sleeves fall back to reveal the sparkling silver bracelets around her wrists. She unclasped one of them and handed over for Diana to inspect, the little gems embedded in the metal sparkling in afternoon light.

Diana studied the bracelet intently, looking over every inch of it. “I don’t know…where did you get them?”

“They found me with them,” Donna started to explain. The confidence and nonchalance were in her eyes as always, but there was a hint of long-buried pain behind them. “I was too young to remember any of it, but someone just found me one day when I was a baby, and took me off to the orphanage. They didn’t know where I came from, and there wasn’t a letter or anything at all. Just a little crying baby with a pair of bracelets.” Her fingers trailed along the metal on her wrist as Diana’s ran over the twin band. “I always thought I’d outgrow them, but I never did. They always fit perfectly, even now, after all this time.”

“How strange.” Diana held onto the silver for a moment more before handing it back. “Have you always worn them? I think I would have remembered.”

“I put them away in a safe deposit box when I was thirteen. I haven’t even seen them in years…but I got them back out because, well, I thought maybe you might know something.” Donna chuckled. “I mean it’s fine if you don’t, I can’t expect you to. But you know…Wonder Woman.”

Diana tapped her foot on the floor as she thought. “They do seem familiar somehow, actually.”

“Wait, they do?” Donna sat on the bed and bounced.

“I’m not sure.” Diana brushed back her long hair with one hand and thought far back. “I can’t remember precisely…it must have been something I studied long ago. I’m sorry that I can’t be more help, but I can’t remember where they might be from. Or what they might do.”

“But I know what they can do! At least, I sort of do,” Donna said, pulling back her initial burst of energy.

“You do? How?” Diana leaned forward in her chair, attentive and interested, even as Donna shrugged and seemed almost embarrassed.

“I don’t really know, to be honest. It was just…geez, how do I explain this…when I was around twelve and thirteen, I started being able to, not control things, exactly, but things started happening around me. Like, I’d think about something, a toy or a tool or whatever, and it’d just be there all of a sudden. One time I actually saw a fork flying across the room to get to me, and it almost hit my brother in the eye—adopted brother,” she explained at Diana’s look. “But anyway, I started getting scared around then, an I locked them up so that it wouldn’t keep happening.”

“I see.” Diana’s voice was measured and calm, in contrast to Donna’s rushed excitement. She listened intently to everything that Donna told her, thought it all over for a moment, and then stood from her chair. “Come with me.”

Donna followed her out of the room and down the stairs, into the yard out back, wondering if she was finally going to get some of her answers.

“I’m going to have you try a few things,” the Amazon said to her friend as they stepped into the afternoon sunlight. “Do you mind? Would you rather not?” she added as an afterthought, anxious not to seem as though she were ordering Donna around.

“No no, go ahead. What do you want?” Donna asked eagerly.

Diana pursed her lips as she thought, but before very long a wide grin spread across her face. “Just trust me.”

Donna gave her a quizzical look, trying to draw out more information, but Diana’s eyes twinkled as she held it back. Soon, Donna nodded, and Diana searched the ground until she found a stone large enough for what she had in mind.

“Now, do as tell you, when I tell you to,” Diana instructed, tossing the tennis ball-sized rock idly from hand to hand. Donna nodded again and let her eyes follow it. Out of nowhere, Diana cried “Block!” and threw the stone straight ant Donna’s head.

Donna gasped and made to dodge, but suddenly felt that she knew what to do. Keeping her feet firm on the ground, she held up her wrists and crossed the bracelets, and focused with all of her mind.

The stone bounced off an invisible shield above Donna’s arms, and landed harmlessly on the ground.

“Whoa….” Whispered Donna. Diana beamed proudly, and picked the rock up again. She tossed it softly to the other girl.

“Now throw it at me.”

With a halfhearted, gentle toss, Donna obeyed. The rock hit Diana’s shoulder and glanced off, and the Amazon Warrior looked at it dispassionately before picking it up again. “No, THROW it at me.”

This time the throw was hard and fast, with much more strength behind it than Donna had ever imagined herself to have. Diana was forced to quickly block with her bracelets; this throw would have been hard enough to hurt her. Donna stared at her hands in awe, and started to put it together. Her eyes met the dark, sparkling ones across the space, and Diana grinned.

The two women worked like this for some time, training in the fine weather for hours until they were both tired out. Donna’s bracelets made so many remarkable actions possible—feats of speed and strength, shielding, what looked like telekinesis, and she even managed to hover a few feet off the ground before she became too surprised to keep her focus. Finally, the sun began to set, and the two decided that they would spend only a few minutes more on their practice.

Their plans were disturbed quite suddenly, however, when a stray throw of the stone from Donna’s tired arm flew into the patch of trees nearby, and drew out an irritated “OW!”

Diana was immediately on her guard. “Who’s there?” She called, thoughts of Doctor Psycho and Red Panzer flitting through her mind, and a momentary panic running through her.

A few quiet curses and rustles of leaves, and a figure began to come into view. While disgruntled and with a rather ugly look on it, his face was stunningly beautiful. He had thick, jet-black hair, cut stylishly short around his face. The classic look was evident in his head and neck, down to powerful shoulders and chiseled muscles. He seemed made to be immortalized, a master’s perfect statue come to life. Something in that face was so very familiar to Diana, and for a moment she dropped her stance, trying to place the man as he stepped out into the open yard.

“Who are you?” She asked him, noticing her relaxed guard, and quickly pulling herself back in position. “What are you doing here?”

A few feet away, Donna was also studying the new arrival. Her sparkling bracelets still clipped in place, she started to think back to her childhood, and to the martial arts classes she used to love taking. Wild ideas started to run through her mind, and more so as the man began to advance on Diana with such a wild look in his eyes.

“You must know who I am, Princess.” His voice was measured and slow, the annoyed scowl melting away, replaced with a sardonic smile. The words rumbled out of his throat and crossed the air, their timbre shaking Diana before their meaning hit.

“What business do you have with me?” She asked softly, knowing not to bother hiding who she was. The look of this man was so familiar, and he had already addressed her as ‘princess’. Somehow, he already knew. He knew that she was Wonder Woman, and he knew that she was not her mother.

“You’ve something of mine. Something that was rightfully my own, and that I have been missing for quite some time.” His eyes were on her waist, and so hungry that the very force of his stare made Diana take a step backward. “That lovely belt…It belonged to your mother, didn’t it?”

“Hey, who the hell do you think you are?” shouted Donna across the yard. The stranger’s eyes glanced over her for the first time, but she was ready. “Hiding in the damn bushes ready to jump out at us for God knows why and then you’ve got the NERVE to demand anything? Who the HELL do you think you are?”

“I am the son of Gods and Men,” he said, the smile growing on his lips as he re-lived his glory. “I am the slayer of the Nemean Lion. The man who tamed Cerberus. I was on the great Argo with the finest warriors of all time.” He smiled even more as he saw Diana’s understanding, followed by Donna’s. “I am the rightful owner of Hippolyta’s girdle. I am Heracles. And I will be taking what’s mine.” He held out his hand to the two women, and grinned.







Justin felt marginally better after he went over his case with Miss Razel. There was always that sense of relief when he finished talking. He explained his actions to her as best he could, and hoped that somehow, that explanation would make its way to the ears of all those people who had hated him so, without understanding. Some of the weight of their glares was lifted away from his shoulders.

For her part, Mavis was proving to be an excellent listener. She nodded and made soft, sympathetic sounds at all the right moments, and no judgment showed on her simple features for what he had done. It may have only been a lawyer’s objectivity, or a simple, honest interest in his story. But something in her manner nagged at the back of Justin’s mind. He ignored it.

Mavis could taste her victory already. The water bottle in her hand was tainted with the perfect poison, and the only thing left for her to do was hand it over. She grinned to herself when Justin wasn’t looking, imagining him slumped over on the table as his heart gave out, with all the classic signs of heart attack. Only she would know what really happened.

Just as she was about to offer the poor boy a cool drink, Justin spoke rather suddenly. “My daughter’s birthday is next week. I’ll be in prison,” he said quietly, resigned. “I’ll give you money, if you’d please buy her a gift from me.”

Mavis blinked, and set the bottle of water back down by the leg of her chair. “What?”

“She’s only seven.” Justin picked his eyes up from the table and looked almost pleadingly across the metal table. “She…she needs to know her father loves her.”

For a rather long moment, Mavis was silent. She looked away from the man’s eyes, ashamed of herself for the lump forming in her throat. Why the hell should this affect her so much? She had gone too far into this game of hers, she was letting it affect her performance in the field. It had to stop, and now. But…Mavis looked back at Justin’s bright eyes, and couldn’t stomach their intensity. He was practically boiling over with thoughts of his family, a wife and child. Perhaps that was all their was to it—Mavis couldn’t deny him the life she longed for herself, but could never have.

“I…I think she knows,” Mavis finally said, licking the dryness away from her lips and grabbing again at the bottle of water. No more games, she thought. It was getting far too deep, and she needed to get herself out. All of her honeyed words and smooth tones had left her, though, and all that she could do was hold the bottle up with a questioning look to offer it to him.

“Ah, thank you, thank you very much,” said Justin, smiling although his lips were cracked, and taking her silence as agreement to his request. He laid his hand on the table and let Mavis slide the bottle along, the damp paper on the label smacking into his palm. “How should we approach the case, then? I know I haven’t any chance of getting out, but do you think they might shorten my sentence? Anything at all might help.”

“Let’s…not discuss that this moment,” said Mavis pointedly, her eyes darting slowly between the bottle cap and the man’s face. “Why don’t you just…have a drink, relax for a moment.”

Justin nodded, and unscrewed the cap. Mavis silently urged him along, visualizing the tiny toxic particles in the water, watching as they ran down his throat and into his blood in her imagination.

He lifted the bottle to his lips, his mouth suddenly dry at the prospect of water.

He tilted the bottle.

The door slammed open, and Justin brought the water back down, without having drunk a drop. As he turned to look at the guard in the doorway, Mavis angrily slammed her fist into the table and cursed under her breath. And then she drew it in with a gasp, at the same time as Justin stood to rush for the lovely blonde woman in the door.

“Marissa,” he murmured, standing as close as he dared with the guard blocking his way.

The woman herself stepped past the guard and threw herself into her husband’s arms. “Justin, this is ridiculous, they have to let you go, I won’t stand for it! None of your friends will, you know that, we’ll get you out. Have faith, love.”

But although he wanted nothing but her embrace, Justin pushed Marissa’s arms away, so that he could look straight into her eyes, as bright and blue as his own. “None of that, now. I’m going to pay my debt. I couldn’t face you and Christine if I didn’t.”

“But Justin--!”

“No,” he said firmly, her presence giving him the strength to refuse her. “Take care of our daughter, Marissa. She needs you. And I’ll need you to go home to when this is all a bad dream again.” He held her closely, regardless of the uncaring guard, and of the stunned and conflicted Mavis Razel.

“Dammit…” Mavis whispered to herself, before she reached back over the table for the bottle, and shoved it back into her purse. She stood as professionally as she could manage, and nodded to Justin. “I think it’s time for me to take my leave. I…wish you the best of luck.”

Without waiting to answer his questioning look, Mavis raced out of the room, a treacherous lump in her throat. She had never disobeyed an order like that before. But then, she had never had so good a reason. All that she’d ever wanted was a family of her own. Was it so wrong to let him have his?

As she strode out into the sunlight, Mavis sighed again, and made one final decision. She couldn’t risk helping him too much, after what she’d just run off without doing, but she could do one more thing.

When she got home, she’d have to get Justin a real lawyer.







Heracles charged, and in an instant, Diana registered the fact that she was fighting a god. Well, if not a god, then as close as she was ever likely to see. Her thoughts didn’t have time to collect themselves much more than that—she ducked and nearly spun in place to avoid a vicious blow from his fist.

“What is it you want?” she called, as his momentum carried him past her, and she crossed her wrists in front of her.

“I’ve told you, little Princess.” He regained his balance and tried to strike again, a fist sailing through the air until it struck Diana’s invisible shield. “I’ll be having that belt back. However I have to get it.”

“What are you even talking about?” Diana grabbed his wrist before he could pull it back, and stared at him. The belt in question wasn’t something she’d even thought about—it was just one more part of the costume her mother had given to her. She’d been using it only as a way to keep her lariat close at hand, without having to hold on to it. “This isn’t anything!”

“Perhaps not anymore.” Heracles wrenched his hand out of her grip, and stood a few feet away from her. He tried hard to control his breath as he spoke; he hadn’t realized how long it had been since he’d had this sort of workout. He’d jumped in too fast, and now he needed to stall a little. “Didn’t Polly ever tell you that story?”

“What right do you have to call her—“ Diana started angrily, but Heracles cut her off.

“Oh, you never knew. Polly and I were very close, you see…She gave her lovely girdle to me centuries ago. To thank me,” he grinned cruelly at her. “It was lost some time ago. I suppose she must have retrieved it. Ungrateful thing that she is.”

“You will NOT insult my mother!” This time it was Diana who rushed forward, and kicked her leg out hard. The heel of her shoe hit Heracles square in the chest, and he stumbled backwards, gasping for air and jut barely able to remain on his feet.

He didn’t stay back for long. Heracles punched out and slammed into Diana, much stronger and heavier than she was. But he was ashamed of how much the combat was already taking out of him. He had to duck several of Diana’s attacks, and before very long at all his throws were dangerously wide and unsteady. He growled, anger at his own shortcomings fueling his attacks, and Diana was forced back, blocking and ducking to avoid his powerful blows.

Donna stood to the side of the fight, watching in awe as the two combatants began to fight for real. She may have had a nifty pair of bracelets, but she certainly wasn’t any match for a demigod…was she?

The large stone was still lying on the ground a few feet away. Slowly, ever watching the action, Donna stepped over to pick it up. She was only a yard or two away from Diana and Heracles, only just out of range of the powerful punches and kicks that were being thrown by both of them.

“Screw it,” she said to herself, and summoned up all the power she could find to toss the rock at Heracles’ head.

She missed, but to her advantage. The heavy stone crashed into the back of his knee, and Heracles stumbled and fell with a roar. Diana spared a moment’s proud glance in Donna’s direction before she aimed another kick, just enough to keep him down.

It was the overwhelming anger and shame that did more to keep Heracles from standing than Diana’s blows. The two women had done their job injuring him enough, and it was too much for him to bear. He, Heracles, beaten by two lowly mortal women! But then, they weren’t both mortal…it must be acceptable for an Amazon to face a God…and a demigod centuries out of his prime…it was a heavy blow still, but Heracles finally found himself able to live with it.

Donna, meanwhile, was looking over at him, and down at her own hands with awe. “I can’t believe I just did that…” she said to herself softly, raising her voice when Diana came running up to her side. “I can’t believe I just knocked out Hercules.”

Diana chuckled, and then reached down to undo the belt around her waist as Heracles started to stir. She looped her lasso around her shoulder, and held the belt in her hands, slowly walking toward him with a near-unreadable expression on her face.

“Take it, then,” she said, pushing the belt out toward him. “If it means so much.”

He looked up from the ground, slowly pushing himself to his feet. “You would just give it up?”

Diana shrugged. “Why not, I don’t need it. If you want it that badly then just take it, and leave us alone.”

“But…it’s not, what do you mean you don’t need it?” He had to ask, knowing as he spoke how foolish he must sound. “This isn’t…I went through all this, and this isn’t your mother’s?”

Diana narrowed her eyebrows, and slowly retracted her hand. “No, it’s just a belt. Mother lost hers centuries ago…if I remember correctly, a certain half-God stole it from her on a mad quest for power,” she added with a glare.

Heracles actually let out a chuckle, and looked off into the distance as he remembered. “Polly…Hades holds no fury, it’s true. I wasn’t lying, you know. I was very close to your mother, for a time…she had given me her magic girdle as a show of affection. When I told her I had to leave her and Paradise Island, she must have changed her story. It was just lucky for me that her version sounded better, for a hero’s reputation.”

“You, a hero?” Donna called out, her boldness returning now that the fight was through.

“Well,” he said to Diana, “Perhaps not the same as you, and your little wonder girl.” His tone was mocking, but his heart wasn’t quite in it. He looked back at the belt coiled in Diana’s hand, and turned around. “I don’t want your pity. And I surely don’t need your pity. Keep it. But be sure, you haven’t seen me for the last time.” With no other words than that, Heracles walked back the way he’d come, vanishing again into the trees.

“Oh….my god.” Said Donna, after a very long silence. Both women looked at each other, and burst into nervous giggles. Those giggles quickly turned into full-blown laughter, as the tension of the fight thinned and the atmosphere returned to normal around the Kapatelis home.

“Julia is never going to believe this,” said Diana.

“Forget that, Nessie’s never going to believe we let him go!” Both of them laughed again, and Donna wrung her hands around the bracelets at her wrists.

“Enough training for today, do you think?”

Donna smiled gratefully. “Yeah.”

The two of them headed back inside as the stars began to come out above them, and somewhere in the back of her mind, Diana cherished the thought of her second victory.