"There's a Jungle Out There!"
"Gang War, Part 3"
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The Amazon Princess.....
"There's a Jungle Out There!" "Gang War, Part 3"
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| Wonder Woman #3 - March, Year One | by Des Davies |
"I don't like being made a fool of boy," he snarled as he followed up with a kick the stomach.
Air exploded from the prone youths mouth along with a gasp of pain. He managed to make eye contact with one of the other youths silently watching but it was obvious that there was no help coming. As he tried hard to regain his breath he ignored the continued rants from the leader of the gang. At least the words couldn't really hurt him, he thought. Although they could put him out of the gang, but he wasn't immediately sure if that would be such a bad thing.
There was something wrong with Sean Leahy. He was convinced of it. Ever since he had won control of the Blazing Skulls they had been on a collision course with anyone and everyone. Until Wonder Woman's interference a couple of nights previously, their extra numbers had always allowed them to get away with things. Jerry was the second member of the Skulls that Sean had taken his anger out on. Last night Jake had been on the receiving end simply for telling everyone how hot Wonder Woman had been. He wasn't even sure what he had done to annoy Sean, but it was obvious that it didn't take much. His breathing finally became easier and he tuned back into what Sean was ranting about tonight.
"Freaking hero or not, I'm going to break the little snot in half. Then we'll take their territory and add it to what we already have. We won't have to worry about the cops no more."
Jerry glanced around carefully and noticed the lack of expression on the majority of faces in the room. He wasn't the only one to think that their leader was mad he could tell. He wondered briefly if Sean was even aware that their numbers had been dropping over the last few weeks. Jerry had noted that he hadn't seen at least four guys for the last couple of weeks. They'd been in school, he seen them there, they simply hadn't attended any of the gang meetings. Not that Sean seemed to care. He'd been drafting in all sorts over the last few weeks and of course they were loyal to him.
Jerry glanced at one of the new guys and quickly looked away when he discovered that the man had been looking right back at him. The only name anyone had heard him be called by was 'Snap', and if Jerry had been asked for a word to describe him he would have said 'square'.
The guy was short. Maybe about five and a half feet but he was almost as wide it seemed. Jerry had never seen as many muscles on one person, but looked like his muscles had muscles of their own. The crown of his head was bald and circled by a thick fringe of red hair, almost like a monk. His face was dominated by his nose that pushed his eyes deep into the folds of skin around them. He was dressed in a white t-shirt with the sleeves removed and blue jeans. It was his eyes however that scared Jerry the most. There was no madness lurking in them. It had no need to lurk. It danced and played for everyone to see. Jerry remembered the mess that Snap had made of a couple of the gang members. They were going to be in hospital for a long time recovering. At least two of them would recover. The other boy had been buried, and in a closed casket.
Jerry heard Sean reach the crescendo of his rant and he hoped that it wouldn't mean that he would become the target again.
Diana raced through the night sky heading south. With the speed granted to her by Hermes she had covered much of the distance already. However, she knew that it could take her many hours to find the location she sought.
Annoyance laced her thoughts as she considered the animals that she had already turned over to the animal park outside of Gateway City. They were animals that should have been roaming free, but there was no way she could return them all to their native lands. Even if she had, she wasn't sure that they would have been able to survive after spending so much time with humans.
Looking down she saw the coastline she had been following and felt some of her annoyance fade at the sight. The golden sands that fringed many of the small inlets she passed over, along with the deep, midnight blue of the ocean made her think of her own home.
How were her sisters doing, she wondered. Would the tensions between the two tribes of Amazons ever be quelled enough to allow the peace of the Island to fully return? As she watched small, white-crested waves playfully slap at the sand before running back to the safety of the mighty ocean, Diana remembered the times she had spent playing with her sisters on similar beaches. Carefree days, she thought, and was briefly melancholy for the days of her long gone youth. For a moment she felt her responsibilities crash heavily onto her shoulders and allowed herself to wallow in a wish for a simpler life.
With a shake of her head she threw the thoughts back to the depths they had reared themselves from and refocused on her search. In the distance she could see the edge of the jungle that she sought and increased her speed to reach it. She had a rough idea of the area she should search, but the jungle itself was huge.
Turning away from the coastline she rocketed inland. Her sharp eyesight picked out a depression in the foliage and she angled in that direction to discover a landing strip large enough for a small plane. Flying lower she examined the ground and then dropped to land close to what she had seen as tracks. Diana quickly thanked her sister Phillipus for insisting that she learned these skills as she identified the tracks belonging to at least twelve men. Most were bare-footed, but one set had worn shoes. From the confusion it was obvious that whoever had been there, had both come and gone sometime within the last day.
She stood and was about to examine the tire tracks she had seen from above when she found herself moving rapidly to avoid a volley of thrown spears. Turning she faced a group of charging men, that were armed with either short bladed swords or thrusting spears. Diana stepped in to meet the lead warrior and parried the thrusting sword with one hand while carefully smacking the man on the temple with the palm of her other hand. As the first opponent crumpled to the ground, Diana turned to meet the next one. With short, sharp, carefully placed blows within moments Diana found herself standing over the unconscious body of the attackers.
Her sharp hearing allowed her to catch a brief whisper of rushing air and she began to turn and twist to one side. Even so she felt claws rip over her left shoulder leaving a set of thin, blood lined tracks where they had hit.
Diana allowed her own momentum to carry her away from the attack before turning to see what had attacked her.
Flying away from her, with large feathered wings outstretched, was what could only be described as a bird-snake-human hybrid.
In a voice edged with suppressed fury Stefan Holliday said, "I presume that they cannot be traced back to us?"
The man that the question had been addressed to nodded his head once and replied, "No. I hired out of town muscle through a third party." He was about to continue but a hand gesture from his boss made him halt.
"Get out. I need to think."
With another nod the man turned on his heel and headed for the door. He couldn't help but notice the other two men in the room. One he knew as the boss's aide, Kenneth Smithe. The other however, he had never seen before, although he was aware of the menace that the man exuded even sitting quietly in the chair. He wasn't aware of the scrutiny he was under, and had been since he entered the room.
With a soft thump the door closed behind the man and Stefan Holliday took another deep breath before turning to regard the men sitting on the couch. He was also unaware of the scrutiny being directed at him by one of his guests.
"It appears than instead of improving matters, last nights fiasco will only cause the troublesome Detective Schorr to increase his interest in me."
He stopped for a moment deep in thought. When he continued, the thread of the conversation had changed.
"You come highly recommended," he said bluntly to the huge black man.
The man simply nodded his head once by way of acceptance of the statement.
"You are sure that you can accomplish what we might require of you?"
There was more statement than question in the words as he was already very aware of the abilities of the man in front of him.
"Yes," was the reply he received in a voice than rumbled through the air. It was a voice that spoke of confidence, and deference. Stefan Holliday appreciated that.
"Is there anything else you need? You've already seen your accommodations and I assume they are adequate."
"Yes sir, I have everything I need."
The voice held the sounds common to those Stefan Holliday associated with stupid blacks and with a wave of his hand he dismissed both men.
Keeping his face straight, the huge black man stood and walked to the door. His eyes roamed around the room casually but missed nothing although his demeanor clearly stated that he was a menial servant of Stefan Holliday.
The man was dressed in a simple black bodysuit, with the only adornment being silver bracelets on each wrist. He was short of six feet in height and the body of a professional athlete was clear underneath the bodysuit. A black facemask covered the entirety of his face without obvious openings for eyes, nose or mouth.
Cautiously the man approached the rear of the building he had been watching for the past two hours and then pulled a small object from one of the many belt pouches that hung around his waist. With deliberate slowness he pried a cover off the box he knelt beside and using the tools he had extracted began to work on the wiring underneath. Some minutes later he replaced the cover and using the shadows slid up to a door of the building.
Pulling further tools from his belt the man quickly opened the door and slipped inside. Turning he hurried down several hallways before coming to another door. This one had a electronic lock, but the man simply pulled what appeared to be a credit card from his belt and the door opened easily after he slide it through the reader. Once inside he quietly closed the door and moved to stand in front of the row of computer monitors.
Moving to the back of the room he pulled several cables from the large pouch at his back. Concentrating he began to connect ports in the wall together. After examining his work critically he lifted his arm to his mouth and whispered softly, "Go".
Then he stood back and watched as moments later lights began to flicker on the ports he had activated. Exactly fifteen minutes later the lights blinked out and he began the process of reversing the path he had taken.
Diana landed a glancing blow against the shoulder of the creature attacking as she narrowly avoided being struck by its claws again. She had initially underestimated it and had two wounds to pay for that foolishness. Turning in the air once more, she kept close watch on what the creature would try next while reviewing what she had already learned.
Shrugging off the blow, the creature banked around using its feathered wings and immediately launched itself into another dive at Wonder Woman. This time, instead of waiting to confront the creature she turned in the opposite direction and accelerated away. She was careful not to fly too quickly as she had no wish to lose the creature. She merely needed time to decide on a course of action.
After the initial attack Diana had tried to talk to the creature, but it had ignored her and turned to attack once more. She had avoided the creature's claws but had been surprised when its scaly tail had struck her as it sped past. Over the next series of passes Diana now realized that the creature had not changed its tactics once. It continued to dive at her, exactly like a hawk strikes at its prey.
The blows that she had landed on the creature and been shrugged off, but they had been nowhere near full strength. Diana had no wish to harm the creature, but she realized that she might be forced to do so if this continued much longer. She wondered if the creature's method of attack was simply due to it being unable to hover. She had no way of confirming her thought, but she decided that the confrontation needed to end and soon.
The creature's eyes she grasped suddenly had very little hint of conscious thought in them. In fact they were the eyes that belonged to a madman. Even from the brief glimpses she had had, she knew without doubt that insanity lurked in them. With a wry thought she knew that the Batman would have noticed that fact much more quickly. After all, he was much more accustomed to looking into the faces of lunatics than she was.
Bringing her focus back to the matter at hand, Diana reached a decision and immediately acted on it. Halting in mid air she turned to watch the creature rapidly bear down on her. Mere moments before the creature would have been in a position to attack once more she arrowed away back in the direction she had come from.
A scream of pure frustration followed her, and this time she charged away from the creature at full speed. In seconds she had left the bird-snake-man behind and she angled her flight to land at the edge of the landing strip she had discovered earlier. In the dawn light that was beginning to leech into the night sky she quickly found the spot that the tribesmen she had fought earlier had broken cover from. Stepping into the jungle her tracking skills, aided by her sharp eyesight, allowed her to trace the path that they had used. At one point she thought she heard a scream of anger in the far distance, but ignored it in favor of moving as quickly as possible to what she hoped was the source of all the trouble.
Diana was so focused on the difficult to follow trail that she never noticed the figure sitting concealed in the branches of one of the larger trees. If she had, she would have been even more surprised when it began to follow her after she passed by its position. The noises of the rain forest seemed to wrap themselves about the figure. He was part of the forest and it lent him its gloomy, early morning darkness to hide in.
At one point, as Diana stopped to interpret the confused trail markings, the man slide into the tree above her. Looking down his lips silently formed words long forgotten to most men and then he allowed a small amount of spit to slip past his ancient lips. The droplet seemed to hang in the air for long moments before plummeting down and impacting with a soft plop against in the Amazons dark hair. He watched with a sadistic smile etched on his face as Diana absently brushed her hand through her hair.
As silently as he had arrived he began to move away, almost mirroring the path that Diana would soon follow.
"I have been unable to discover the source of the note Master," stated the man standing with his head bowed. "We have, however been able to verify the information."
The older oriental that was being addressed bore a look that warred between anticipatory covetousness and severe annoyance. He looked directly at the top of his underling's head and in crisp tones he stated, "I am unhappy that someone could walk into my home and we are unable to find out whom."
After the briefest pause he added, "However, it would appear that whoever placed this information in our hands has our good fortune in mind. At least for now."
The man he was addressing said nothing in reply, merely awaiting further instructions.
"Inform Hon-Son that I require his presence."
With a low bow the man turned and quietly exited the room leaving his master to his own thoughts.
"The Crown of Wanli will allow me to make changes that would otherwise have taken years to accomplish. With the power that the Crown is reputed to possess..."
His words were stopped by the sigh of pleasure that passed his lips. He looked around the room he was in and surveyed the aged treasures that adorned it. Sitting back in a high backed wooden chair the man steepled his fingers and waited for his most trusted agent.
Diana finally stepped out of the jungle and into the large cleared area that surrounded the ancient Aztec temple that she was gazing at. She had been aware for the last few hundred yards that there was some large building up ahead and she hoped that it would be what she was looking for.
Many insects flew around her, but even with the light sheen of perspiration that covered her skin, none landed. Her hair did not have its usual curl as it too had been moistened by the humidity of the jungle. To many, the physical discomfort caused by the climate would have been cause enough for much complaint. Diana merely ignored it and focused on the problem before her.
Looking around she saw that the grounds were empty of anyone and then she turned her gaze to the sky. It had been some time since she had heard any noises that she could associate to the creature she had dueled with earlier, but she knew it could be, and probably was, nearby.
At the temple itself, the old priest looked at the figure that had emerged from the jungle with something akin to surprise on his face. "She should be dead," he muttered irritably to himself. Even through his irritation he found it difficult to suppress a grin at the form of his adversary. "We could have made many little ones," he almost cackled before schooling his face back into its lines of annoyance.
He was further surprised, when following her examination of the area, she stepped out boldly and began to move towards the temple.
The words, "I wish to talk," fluttered over the still, water-heavy air to the old man.
"This is not what they told me she would do," he muttered once more. He stepped back into the room behind him and knelt in front of an altar. He voiced a prayer before reaching down for the wooden mask that laid there.
Diana strode across the open area keeping her senses alert for an attack. She called out several times hoping that this matter could be decided without further battle. She was more than halfway across the area when she saw movement at the top of the structure and she stopped to look up. The dawning sun lit the temple from behind with a bright yellow light and Diana had to shield her eyes to make out the figure descending the steps.
He stopped fifteen steps from the bottom and she examined him closely. He was obviously very thin, and from his hands she could tell he was aged. He was draped in a loose fitting gray-blue robe and wore an over-sized wooden mask. It was also obvious that he annoyed from the rigidity of his stance.
Diana moved several steps closer before saying, "I would like to talk."
Her calm words floated lazily to the ears of the priest and after a moments pause he replied, "What is it you want?" in a hostile tone.
"I wish to know why the creatures that live here have been sent north to the city where they have been used by criminals?"
"What business is it of yours what we do with the resources of our land?" he spat out at her.
Diana restrained her first thought at a response and instead said mildly, "You are correct in that you can use the resources here as you wish, even if I disagreed with you. However, when I find criminals in the city that I call home using wild animals, and providing them to children, then I am left little choice but to step in."
"So you intend to stop us?" he sneered down at her.
"It is my hope that we can come to an agreement. I have no wish to fight you."
The old priest stood looking down at the intruder to his land and continued to exude his original anger. However, his mind was whirling rapidly as he digested what he had been told. He had not sold the animals to the men from the north for them to be used in such a way. He had been assured that they would be used simply as pets. He wondered why he should believe the strangely garbed female standing in front of him, but realized quickly that the information he had been given about her had also been false. If they lied about that, he pondered, it is possible, even probable, that they had lied about the animals too. He wondered briefly once more about how the men had discovered their whereabouts here in the jungle.
Diana waited silently until the strangely garbed man said in a much calmer voice, "Tell me more of how the animals have been used."
Diana took time in her descriptions of the animals she had discovered in the city. She started with the panther she had taken from the Mexican youth gang and finished her story with the animals within the crime bosses home. By the time she had completed her story, the sun had risen high into the morning sky.
"Those are not the only animals we have sent north," he said moments after she had stopped.
Diana's eyes closed slightly in the only display of anger she had made since she had entered the clearing. "How many others are unaccounted?"
"Three. A snake and two more big cats. It would appear that I have been a taken for a fool." The annoyance crept back into his voice for the last phrase and Diana decided to hold her peace and wait for the man to continue.
"Why is it you did not attack as I was informed you would?"
"You were told wrong. I am a messenger of peace and only fight when I am given no other choice." Her tones rang with a similar regality that mark her stance.
The old man mulled the response over before replying, "You may leave now. Your city will have no more worry about animals being sent there. We will find other ways to support our people. It would be wrong in the face of the Gods to make use of the animals in that way."
Diana nodded once and before she threw herself into the air she added one last comment, "It is not wise to anger the Gods."
Next Issue: We return to Gateway City and Diana discovers that someone wants something from the Museum.
| Sounding the Horns |