New York City

For as long as Philip Kastronic could remember, he had always loved the water.  His childhood dreams were to be a pirate when he grew up, traveling the oceans looking for buried treasure.  As he grew, the childish fantasies went away, but his love for everything aquatic grew only stronger.  He was a star swimmer in high school before joining the navy after graduation.  Philip could still recall the day he was assigned to the Coast Guard and sent to the Big Apple for training and placement.  It may not have been his first career choice, but he relished every moment of it.  Even the midnight shifts sitting in front of the radar.

Philip snapped awake after having dozed off once again.  He was alone and the events of the day were starting to settle in on him.  Rising to his feet, Philip turned on the coffee machine and moved back and forth across the early warning center, stretching his legs that had long since lost all feeling.

These shifts wouldn’t be half as bad if there was more than one person on at a time, Philip thought, but there’s no way the higher ups are going to change procedure simply to accommodate my boredom.  I’m too low on the totem pole for them to care.

BEEP!

The sound was familiar, one that Philip had heard more than his fair share of many times on the midnight shift.

Philip turned at the sound, his training taking over.  He moved toward his station, his eyes gazing at the radar just as another beep was emitted.  Philip sat down and reached for the phone just as a third beep sounded off.  There was definitely something out there that hadn’t been a moment ago.  It was as if it, whatever it was, had appeared out of nowhere.

And one thing was for sure as Philip looked at the radar…it was big.  Very big!

Phone in hand, Philip put it to his ear and waited for the Coast Guard operator to pick up.  The moment he heard a voice, Philip cut off the woman speaking.  “There’s something going on,” he said, speaking as fast as the words would come out of his mouth.

“I need to speak to the Director immediately!”


A trio of supersonic jets was in the air less than ten minutes later.  Whatever had appeared on the radar was now stationary in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, a few dozen miles outside New York Harbor.  The Director had hesitated calling the Pentagon and decided to prolong that call until there was solid proof of something awry.

The jets cut through the air, leaving an extraordinary roar in their wake.  Their target was coming up fast.  They would have their answers soon enough.

{Alpha two, this is Alpha one,} the pilot of the lead plane said.  {Can you read me?}

{Affirmative, Alpha one,} the response came in.

{Can you see through these clouds,}Alpha-one asked.  {I don’t have a visual.  I repeat I do not have a visual.}

{Negative, Alpha-one,} Alpha-two replied a moment later.  {I can’t see a thing through these clouds.  But the target should be coming up any minute—}

While Alpha-two spoke, the jets broke through the clouds and everything became clear.  Three pairs of eyes widened as one as the target came into view.  It was humongous and significantly out of place.

{Is that what I think it is?} Alpha-three asked his two partners.

{Affirmative,} Alpha-one replied as the planes barreled in for a closer look.  {It’s an island.}

 

The Amazon Princess.....

Wonder Woman
"Relocation"

PART ONE: ILLEGAL


Wonder Woman #23 - October, Year Four
by Matt Hrubey

The Watchtower

An alarm brought them together.

J’onn J’onzz, the man that had triggered the alarm, sat immobile while he waited.  Since the League had disbanded, he found himself spending more and more time at the Watchtower, using its technology to scour the planet for emergencies.  More and more, he found himself playing information broker for a majority of the heroes that protected a world easily corrupted by evil.  J’onn steepled his hands underneath his chin while he waited for a sign of the aid he had called for.

He didn’t have to wait long.

The computer registered two incoming signals through the transporter bay.  When they had arrived, two flashes—one red and one violet—swept through the Monitor Womb, coming to a stop at J’onn’s side.

“You rang, tall, dark, and emerald?” Wally West asked.  His head seemed incoherent as he searched every screen in the Womb, seeking the one that warranted the alarm.

“I did,” the Manhunter responded, rising from his chair.  He gave a quick nod to the other man that had answered the call.  “Nice to see you again, Kal-El.”

“Likewise,” Superman said, shaking hands with his long time friend.  “What’s the situation, J’onn?  I’m sort of in the middle of something in Metropolis.”

The Flash finally came to a stop next to the two men.  “Yeah, what gives?  There’s nothing on any of these monitors.”

“This is a different kind of situation.  I’m not even one hundred percent sure something’s amiss.”  J’onn floated to a nearby console and hit a series of keys.  He could tell that such a vague statement confused both Superman and the Flash, but the truth was that that reaction mimicked what the Manhunter was feeling at that moment.  “I wouldn’t have even noticed this if I hadn’t been paying so close of attention.”

All of the monitors in the Womb changed so that they showed the same display.

“This is coming from one of LexCorp’s satellites,” J’onn explained.  The screen showed an island sitting in the middle of the Atlantic just Southwest of Staten Island and New York Harbor. “This is just a few miles off of the coast of New York City.  Does anything strike either of you as out of the ordinary?”

The Flash looked from J’onn to Superman and back.  “Uh…sure it does.  What’s out of the ordinary?”

“It shouldn’t be there,” the Man of Steel replied.

“Precisely.  I had that same feeling so I ran this picture against another scan of the same satellite two weeks ago.”  The monitors changed and the island was gone.  “That island should not be there.  I’m just not sure what this means quite yet.”

“I do.”

All eyes went to Superman, who stood facing the wall.  Anyone who knew him, however, knew that Kal-El was looking through the wall, not at it.  “I can see it from here.  It’s Themyscira.”

The Flash cocked an eyebrow.  “As in Wonder Woman’s Themyscira?”

“One and the same,” Superman replied.  He rubbed his chin as he stared at the Earth from the Moon.  “What kind of game is she playing?”

“I thought that her island was supposed to be hidden behind some kind of secret special curtain of ignorance or something.”

“One of many questions that need answering, Wally,” J’onn replied.  He turned to Superman, emphasizing, “And soon.”

The Man of Steel spun on his heels and made his way out.  “Let me handle this.  I’ll call if I need assistance.”

There were no arguments.


Themyscira

Queen Diana sat atop her throne, a spot where her mother had once set herself.  It seemed like years since Diana had returned from Olympus to find her mother dead and Themyscira nearly crippled.  At that time, she had no idea what destiny had in store for her.  She didn’t know that she would become the new monarch for the Amazons.  However, Diana saw it as a means to an end.  For longer than she could remember, Diana had believed that the Amazons were being left behind as man’s world grew stronger and more technological.  The Amazons were still living in the past, long before cell phones and even before gunpowder.  It was time for that to end and Diana now found herself capable of taking action.

The relocation of Themyscira was a radical move and one many Amazons had trouble accepting, but in the end, they would all bow to the will of the queen.  Diana had met with Athena, asking that the goddess do one last thing for the Amazons before they were banished from the island.  It had been Athena and her sisters that had moved Themyscira from behind its veil of obscurity in the first place.  It was plausible that they could move Themyscira once more, out of anonymity and to a place of strategy.  When all was said and done, the world would know that Themyscira existed.

Diana simply wasn’t sure that it would work.

That’s why, when Donna Troy entered the throne room, a giant smile on her face, Diana exhaled a pent up breath of air.  The queen mimicked the smile and rose to her feet.  “Is it over?”

“It’s over,” Donna replied, “but we may have a problem.  The goddesses dropped us off a few miles outside of New York City like you asked.  However, if I’m right, we’re still inside United States territory.  They won’t take kindly to a sovereign nation simply popping in on their space.  There are going to be consequences.  I just don’t know how bad.”

“We’ll deal with problems as they arise, sister,” Diana responded.  “If we are going to make Themyscira a force to be reckoned with, we have to go for shock value.  And I guarantee you, by morning, we’ll be in every newspaper from New York to California.”

“We have to keep this quiet until we know what’s going on.”

It didn’t take long for the news of an island’s sudden appearance off the American coast to make its way up through the political hierarchy.  The Secretary of Defense sat back in his chair, his eyes glimpsing around the Oval Office before finally resting on the President, the only man that he answered to.

In response to the secretary’s suggestion, the President responded with a simple, “Agreed.”

There was a silence between the two men.  Though, it wasn’t an awkward pause, neither knew what to say next.  It was such a bizarre situation that found them in conference this morning.  Neither had been prepared for the calls they had received in the middle of the night.

Finally, the President cleared his throat.  “What do we know about this island except for the fact that it appeared out of nowhere early this morning?”

“Initial visual reports from the pilots that flew overhead say that the island is definitely inhabited.  They didn’t see anyone but the architecture was advanced enough for us to take precaution with our next move.  We don’t know what we’re going to be going up against.”

“And I suppose we won’t know until we actually investigate, huh?” the President asked.  “This is quite a predicament we find ourselves in.”

“Give me an hour and I can have an entire squad parachuting onto the island.”

“Absolutely not,” the President responded, rising from his chair.  “I will not send our men into a dead zone we know nothing about.  I want all our satellites focused on this piece of land in the next five minutes.  We need answers.”

“If we’re that worried about loss of human life, Mr. President,” the Secretary of Defense said, “then why don’t we call in the Justice League?  I’m sure they’ll be willing to help us.”

“Though I’m sure Superman could have this state of affairs situated in the blink of an eye, I want to hold him on the back burner.  For right now, I want to keep this little problem in-house.  Once we get satellite photos and determine that there are no visible weapon systems, we’ll send in a team of our best.”

“Understood, sir.”

“Let me make one thing perfect clear, Mr. Secretary,” the President responded, looking out the windows onto the front lawn of the White House, “if we don’t have any answers by sun down tonight, then we have a problem.  Let’s not have a problem, shall we?”

“I’ll put everyone on this right away, sir.”

The President nodded.  “See that you do.”

He broke through the atmosphere, flying from the Moon.  He didn’t slow down until Themyscira had appeared from behind the clouds.  He felt his body cool immediately as he stalled his speed.  To his surprise, she was waiting for him.

“I expected you sooner, Kal-El,” Wonder Woman said, her arms crossed.  “I figured something like this wouldn’t go unnoticed.”

Superman set down at her side, his face stolid and unmoving.  He made no pleasantries and his body language would never offer a hint that these two were the best of friends.  “J’onn picked up the island from the Watchtower and called me in immediately.  What is this, Diana?”

“The future, Kal,” Diana responded, her visage softening.  “We should talk.  A lot has happened.”

“Diana, you disappeared weeks ago.  I haven’t heard a word from you since then and suddenly this?  What game are you trying to play at?”

“Kal, my mother is dead.”

Superman went silent.  The anger on his face was compromised in exchange for sincere sympathy.  “I’m sorry, Diana.  I know how important she was to you and the Amazons.”

“Thank you but I’ve since come to terms with her passing,” Diana responded.  “When she died, the Queen of the Amazons died with her.  I was elected the new queen.”

“Congratulations, Diana!”

“I said yes but I’m still not sure how severe this decision is going to change my life.  I’m trying to be strong for my sisters, but I’m afraid, Kal.”

“I don’t mean to sound brash, Diana, but none of this explains why Themyscira is now in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.”

Same old Clark Kent.  Always wanting to get to the core of the story right away.  He always was a journalist at heart.  “I became sick and tired of Themyscira being hidden away like the Amazons were ashamed.  Man’s world may not be the paradise that I wish it could be, but from this point forward the Amazons will be living in it, for better or worse.  I had the goddesses transport the island here.”

“You should have spoke to someone first.  You don’t know the problems that this is going to cause.”

“Donna informed me about the hassle over territorial lines and I’m sure something can be worked out between the President and myself.”

“Donna?” Superman asked.  “Troy?  She’s here?”

“Yes, my sister came home after I returned from Olympus.  She has been at my side throughout the decision making process.”

“I know her and Kyle were close.  How is she handling his death?”

Diana shrugged.  “We haven’t really spoken about it but she seems to be coping.  She’s strong.  Stronger than I could ever hope to be.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit, Diana.  Why else would the Amazons have made you their new queen?”

“I’m a hero, Kal,” Wonder Woman responded.  “That’s what they see me as.  I can do no wrong in their eyes.  We’ll see if that same confidence holds up after my sisters see some of the other ideas I have in mind.”

“You realize you have to go to Washington right this instant, don’t you?  You have to explain what’s going on before the President launches an attack against Themyscira.  You know how trigger happy he can be.”

“I understand perfectly,” Diana responded with a smile, “but I’m not going to Washington.  I’m going to New York City.”

“Why?” Superman asked.

“Kal, it’s not a coincidence that I asked the Gods to move Themyscira to this location.  I’m going to New York City because I have an agenda in mind.”

“What are you playing at, Diana?”

“I thought it would have been obvious by now.  If I play my cards right, Themyscira will be a member of the United Nations by the end of the week.”

“The satellite pictures came back negative, Mr. President.  The island appears peaceful.”

“Alright, Mr. Secretary.  Rally your team.  I want this situation solved yesterday.”

“It’s as good as done, sir.”

“And remember, Mr. Secretary, looks can be deceiving.  Tell our boys to be careful.”

Superman’s eyes were wide.  “That sure is…ambitious, Diana, but you can’t just walk before the United Nations.”

“And why not?” the queen responded, turning her back to her friend.  “We’ve saved this world more times than I care to remember.  We’ve garnered so much publicity.  If I go, they won’t stop me.  And if they try, they’ll regret it.”

“This doesn’t sound like you, Diana.”

“I’m not sure who I am anymore, Kal.  I have to be strong for my sisters.  I cannot afford to be trampled on by bureaucrats.  I will simply give my plea and wait for a response.”

Superman rubbed a sudden exhaustion out of his eyes.  Looking at his friend, Diana turned back to him after the silence had taken over.  They locked eyes for a moment.

“I’m coming with you,” the Man of Steel said.  “With me at your side, we’ll have nothing to worry about.”

“Kal, that really is not—”

“I’m not offering, Diana,” he interrupted.  “I’m telling you that, as your friend, I’ll be at your side whether you want me there or not.”

Diana smiled, the light glinting off her bracelets.  She embraced Superman, pulling him in tightly.  She was not surprised that he was so selfless in his manner.  He had always been like this.  And truth be told, having him at her side was a stress reliever.  Kal-El had called her ambitious.  Truth be told, she was just getting started.

Wonder Woman pulled back, looking up at the sun overhead.  “I’ve spent enough time waiting on this island.  We have to get underway.  I believe the UN is in assembly right now, so there’s no more time to waste.”

She floated up into the sky, riding under the delicate touch of the blowing breeze.  Peeking over her shoulder, Diana smiled.  “Try to keep up, Kal-El.”

And in the blink of an eye, both heroes were gone.

They moved fast, but Donna Troy watched the blurs that were Superman and Wonder Woman until they were long out of sight.  Diana had explained her plan to gain entry to the United Nations.  She had never seemed as excited than she appeared at that moment.  Donna had offered to be at her side, but the queen had responded saying that in such a new place, the island was vulnerable.  The Amazons needed Donna and Cassandra to stay on Themyscira as a first line of defense should anything happen while Wonder Woman was on the mainland.  In the end, Donna had conceded.

“Good luck,” she muttered before turning away and heading back into the palace.

“Donna!”

She turned, smiling at the teenage blonde running toward her.  “Is everything alright, Cassie?”

“Perfect,” the new Wonder Girl responded.  “Where’s Diana?”

“On her way to the UN.  Today makes or breaks Themyscira.”

“We’re on our own?” Cassie asked.

“Why?  Is something wrong?”

Cassandra Sandsmark shrugged.  “No, it’s just that—”

Screams filtered into the palace from outside.  All conversation ceased as the current Wonder Girl and the former Wonder Girl looked to each other.  They made their way outside.  The first thing they saw was a number of Amazon sisters pointing up toward the sky, horrified expressions on their faces.

“It’s a flying monster!” Phillipus screamed from behind the wonder women.  Spear in hand, she pointed.  “Themyscira is under attack!”

“Phillipus, no!” Donna Troy responded, motioning for the head of the army to calm herself.  “It’s called a helicopter.  It’s a method of transportation, like a canoe.  It’s one of the many things that man’s world possesses that you will find strange.  We’re not in any danger…I think.”

“Uh, Donna,” Cassie responded, pointing herself.  “You wanted want to rethink that statement.”

Donna followed Cassandra’s view, watching as the door to the helicopter slid open.  Several masked figures jumped from the belly of the helicopter, falling fast to the ground.  Parachutes opened as the men reached the ground, landing slowly upon the ground.

“Oh, Goddess,” Donna said.  “This could be bad.”

At her side, Wonder Girl could only nod her head.


Next: As Themyscira plays host to a number of uninvited guests, Wonder Woman goes before the UN General Assembly, bargaining for the future of Paradise Island!  Watch the events unfold in the second part of “Relocation”—

Intruders!


Story © 2006 Matt Hrubey and may not be reproduced without permission.