The grinding of rusted metal on rusted metal reverberated throughout the dungeons of paradise. The overwhelming darkness was cut in half by light that shined in through the opening door. Hateful eyes lifted from the floor and stared daggers through the female silhouette outlined by the light.
“How long are you going to keep coming back here?” the prisoner asked the captor.
There was a moment’s hesitation before the captor replied, “As long as it takes.”
Diana, Queen of the Amazons, took a few more steps inside, stopping an arm’s length from the restrained Circe. The sorceress lunged toward Wonder Woman but didn’t get very far. She wanted nothing more than to rip Diana’s head from her shoulders. Unfortunately, she had to settle for staring into the stern gaze of a queen.
“Stop struggling, witch,” Diana replied. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“We’ll see about that.”
“Your vibrato is pathetic,” Diana shot back, eyes rolling. “Zatanna is binding your powers. You can’t break your bonds. Again I say you’re not going anywhere.”
“Then kill me. It’s better than listening to you.” When Diana remained silent and strict, Circe sighed. “But you’re not going to, are you? Not until you get the answer you seek.”
“This can end if you would just tell me.”
Circe snarled. “You want to know why I did what I did?”
Diana nodded. “I do.”
“Because I hate you. It’s that simple.”
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The Amazon Queen.....
Aftershock Part One: Orphans
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Wonder
Woman #34 - September,
Year Five
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by
Matt
Hrubey
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Diana slammed her fist into the dungeon wall, shaking the entire palace. Teeth gritted, veins popping, she looked down at Circe. “It’s NOT that simple!” she exclaimed.
“Oh, did I touch a nerve?”
Diana’s chest rose and fell as she breathed deeply. “I don’t accept it.”
“Well, maybe you should. Then we won’t have to have this conversation again.”
“I refuse to believe that a person can hate someone so much that they would go out of their way to ruin lives,” Diana said. Her body sagged. “It’s not possible. There has to be an additional reason.”
“How can you be so delusional?” Circe asked. “After everything you’ve done and everything you’ve seen…you can’t understand why people give into their most basic emotions? How do you explain Lex Luthor and Superman?”
“Jealousy,” Diana replied without skipping a beat. “Lex wants what Superman has but knows he can’t have it.”
Circe snorted and broke out in laughter.
“What?”
“That’s your reasoning?” Circe asked. She fidgeted when a cramp developed in her leg. “What about this? Couldn’t Lex just be pissed that Superman ruins every plan he has?”
“Right is right and—”
Circe put up her hand. “I am not debating morals and ethics with you. I just want you to understand that I hate you so you can move on and stop bitching.”
“Maybe you’re jealous too.”
The sorceress stopped all smiling and movement, her body becoming completely rigid. Circe’s eyes turned indigo. Diana took a step back. “Don’t you dare think that that is the reason why I did what—why hello.” Her eyes returned to normal and the smile returned.
Diana turned to find Cassie standing in the doorway, her face just as emotionless as it had been the last time she saw the girl. “What are you doing here?” Diana asked.
Cassie said nothing. In fact, since learning of her mother’s death, she had hardly said a word.
“You don’t think you’re the only one that’s been coming to see me, do you?” Circe interjected. She rolled her eyes. “Now who’s selfish?”
“You shouldn’t be here,” Diana told Cassie.
“Oh, don’t be such a spoilsport, Diana. She just wants to see the woman responsible for her mother’s death. Of course, her visits are nowhere near as productive as yours. She usually just stands there and looks at me.” She nodded her head in Cassie’s direction. “Like so.”
“Quiet,” Diana snapped. She grabbed Cassie’s shoulders. “You really shouldn’t be here. I don’t want you doing something you’ll regret.”
“Something’s already happened that I regret,” Cassie replied, vehemently.
“Oh, she speaks!”
“Fuck you, murderer!” Cassie shouted. She attempted to blow past Diana but the queen held her firmly. “Let me go!”
“No,” Diana replied and forced the younger girl out the door. She glared at Circe’s smiling fact before slamming the door and returning the sorceress to darkness.
Outside, Diana watched Cassie pace back and forth. “What were you thinking?”
“I’m thinking that the woman that killed my mother is behind that door still alive. In American culture, Diana, people fry for what she did.”
“This is not America, Cassie, and Circe didn’t kill your mother. Barbara Minerva did.”
“Well, the Cheetah’s not here, is she? Someone has to be responsible.” She pivoted from Diana. “What are you planning on doing with her?” Cassie asked, tears in her eyes. “Rehabilitation? Prison?”
“Whatever I must do, I will do.”
Cassie sighed. “I don’t believe you. She killed my mother, she killed Julia Kapatelis, she manipulated the Amazons, and she turned the world against Themyscira. And you STILL can’t…won’t do anything about it.”
“What do you want me to do, Cassie?”
“I don’t want you to stop me.”
“From doing what?”
Cassie sniffled. “From leaving.”
Washington, D.C.
A knock on the door of the Oval Office snapped the President out of his daydreaming. He straightened up in his chair and adjusted his tie. “Come in.”
The Defense Secretary stuck his head into one of the most famous rooms on American soil. “Good evening, sir.”
“What is it, Donald?”
“News from Themyscira. Wonder Woman claims that the woman responsible for the Amazon attack has been defeated and incarcerated. She wants to talk a truce.”
The President sighed. “I don’t even know why I want this job anymore. I mean, living in today’s world is a crap shoot. Anything can and will happen. I launched four nuclear bombs at Themyscira and they did nothing.”
“We have Wonder Woman’s assurances that the fighting is over.”
“I wonder how George Washington or Thomas Jefferson would have dealt with superheroes.”
“Sir…Themyscira?”
“No truce. People want someone to blame.” The President rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Send Melinda in please, Donald.”
Melinda was the Press Secretary as the Defense Secretary was well aware. “What are you going to do, sir?”
“What else? I’m going to give the people someone to blame.”
Themyscira
There were two sets of eyes that watched Cassandra Sandsmark fly away from Themyscira. Even from a distance, they could both see the tears streaming down the teenager’s face.
Diana stood at the spot Cassie had flown from; her arms were wrapped around herself.
“You’re going to just let her go?” the other woman, who up to this point has remained hidden, asked. “She’s mourning and not in her right mind.”
“Hello, Donna,” Diana replied emotionlessly.
Donna Troy walked past Diana without a glance. “I’m going after her.”
In the blink of an eye, Diana had grasped Donna by her arm. “No, you’re not.”
“Why not?”
“Cassie will be back.”
“How are you so sure?” Donna asked.
“Because Cassie has no else but us,” Diana replied. “She’ll mourn and recover and return when she’s ready. Give her time.”
Donna searched for Cassie in the distance but found the girl already out of eyesight. “What about her mother?”
“There’s no body to bury so the service would be strictly memorial. Again, that can wait until Cassie is ready.”
“You sound like you’ve got everything taken care of.”
Diana lowered her head. “Nothing could be farther from the truth, Donna. I’m barely hanging on.”
“We should talk.”
“I would love to,” Diana replied, “but I can’t right now. I have a call to make. Have you seen Zatanna?”
“I think she’s in one of the temples sightseeing,” Donna replied.
“Thank you, sister.”
“No problem,” Donna said to Diana’s back as she walked away. There were so many things she wanted to say to her sister but she was afraid of how Diana would react. The queen was standing on the edge of a precipice and Donna prayed she didn’t fall.
New York, New York
Helena Kosmatos walked among the human traffic of Times Square wishing she were anywhere else. She detested large crowds, often feeling claustrophobic among them. However, when the Queen of Themyscira came to her personally and asked for a favor, there was no way on earth that Helena would say ‘no.’
Themyscira was technologically inferior to other nations in terms of communication. There were no televisions, no phone lines, no anything that could tell the queen what was taking place in the states. She had asked Helena to travel to the Big Apple and find out what was taking place in regards to Themyscira now that Circe was defeated and the fighting in Massachusetts finished.
Helena had taken the request as a compliment. Out of all the women on Themyscira that she could have asked, she had chosen her. It meant that Diana knew she could protect herself in a dangerous situation. She supposed that being bonded to a demon led people to that conclusion.
So far today, Helena had scanned nearly a dozen newspapers and watched hours worth of news broadcasts in the vain hope that she would be told what she was looking for. If she had wanted to find out what the current presidential administration was planning, she would have been better off heading to Washington, D.C.
She passed by a screaming child and her mother when something caught her eye. Turning to the store front, Helena found herself outside an electronics store that had several televisions in the window playing the same feed. Helena couldn’t hear what the man on the television was saying, but she could most certainly read the captions that trickled across the screen as the President of the United States spoke.
Eyes darting across the words as she appeared, Helena felt herself gasp.
The war wasn’t over. The President was calling for Themyscira and Wonder Woman to surrender or they would take further military action.
To the surprise of the people surrounding her on the streets, Helena Kosmatos began to change form from a middle-aged white woman to a winged demon with the darkest of flesh. She kicked off the street, flying high as the screams began. Fingers pointed after her but the Fury paid them no mind.
She had to get back to Themyscira.
Themyscira
“This place was beautiful once.”
Zatanna shrugged her shoulders. “And it will be again. This temple can be rebuilt.”
“It will be.” Diana moved to Zee’s side, her eyes drifting over the area that had once been Athena’s temple. After her battle with Circe, the place was now nothing more then rubble. All that remained standing was the statue of Athena, which was what the two women presently stood before. “It feels like all I’ve been doing as queen is leading the reconstruction effort.”
“You haven’t had it easy,” Zatanna agreed.
“Not at all,” Diana replied. She shook the negative thoughts away and got back to business at hand. “I asked you about using magic to communicate with the mainland. Do you think you could do it now?”
Zee responded, “Of course.” She was already concocting the proper spell in her mind. “I’m going to need a picture of the person you wish to connect with as well as a mirror, just like I told you.”
Prepared, Diana retrieved a folded up piece of paper from beneath her breastplate. She handed over the paper and a golden, handheld mirror.
Zee took them both and gazed at the picture. In it were two smiling women. One was Diana, radiant as ever. The other was a heftier woman with short hair. She had her arm around Diana in a way that conveyed they could have been family. “What’s her name?”
“Etta. She’s in eastern Massachusetts.”
Zee nodded and went to work. Sitting cross-legged on the ground, Zee closed her eyes and began muttering under her breath. In a surprisingly short order, Zatanna spoke a backward sentence. All the while her hand rested on the mirror. “attE ot yawetag emoceb rorrim,” she said.
For a moment more, the mirror reflected the image of Diana and Zatanna. Then, the glass shimmered and showed something else entirely. There was a hospital room on the other side. Within view, a woman sat next to the hospital bed scanning a magazine.
“Etta,” Diana said.
Boston, Massachusetts
“Etta.”
Etta Candy started. She hadn’t heard anybody come into Vanessa’s room. She lifted her head, expecting to see the doctor but found no one. Was she hearing voices?
“Etta,” the voice said again. “Over here.”
Following the voice that she knew could not be in her head, Etta spotted the mirror above the sink at the other end of the room. She thought the image reflected back at her was trick of the eye, but it wasn’t. “Diana?”
“Yes, it’s me, my friend.”
“H-How are you doing this?”
Diana motioned to the black haired woman next to her in the frame of the mirror. “My friend is a sorceress. It’s magic.”
Etta laughed anxiously. “Right. Silly me.”
“How’s Vanessa?” Diana asked, getting to the point.
The shock of the metaphysical passed, Etta shook her head sadly. “The same I’m afraid. She says a few things every so often but she has been scarred, maybe irreparably.”
Diana sighed heavily. “I wish I could be there but my duties to Themyscira have kept me here.”
“I understand. And I’m sure Vanessa would too.”
“What about Julia’s funeral?” Etta had agreed to plan the ceremony for Julia Kapatelis, Vanessa’s mother and a mutual friend to both women.
“It’ll be at the end of the week. I haven’t finalized many details yet what with staying in the hospital most of the day.”
“I appreciate everything you’ve been doing in my absence,” Diana replied.
“No worries. I’m glad to do it. I care for Vanessa.”
“She’s lucky to have you.” Diana couldn’t take her guilt for not being there. “I’ll call ahead before I visit. Contact me if anything changes.”
“I will,” Etta responded and the spell ended.
Themyscira
Diana watched the mirror return to normal and dropped her head. She fought back the tears she was feeling and remained silent for a time.
“Are you alright?” Zatanna asked after the extended silence.
Nodding, Diana straightened up. “Can you do it again?”
“Contact Etta? No problem.”
“No,” Diana replied, pulling out another picture, “someone else.”
“Oh yeah, she’s definitely headed for Themyscira.”
“That thing is an ugly fucker, isn’t it?”
The woman lowered the binoculars from her eyes and looked at her associate. “Ugly is putting it nicely. She looks like a demon straight out of hell.”
Taking the binoculars himself, the man looked up at the sky and the ebony winged figure cutting across it like a bat out of hell. “How do you know it’s a woman?”
“Lucky guess? Or it could be the rack.”
Floyd Lawton relinquished the binoculars and shrugged. “Whatever. More targets for us.”
“You really don’t have a conscience, do you?” Lawton’s companion, Bette Sans Souci, asked.
“Nope,” Lawton replied, “and I’m damn proud of it.”
The boat the pair was on was tiny, consisting of a motor and just enough room for both passengers and their equipment. Lawton guided the boat’s course to the left, toward the island that could be seen off in the distance.
“Alright,” Bette said, “the boss told us to take down Wonder Woman. Easy enough. How are we doing this?”
“Easy enough?” Lawton asked in disbelief. “Who are you kidding, woman? This is fucking Wonder Woman.”
Bette glared at Lawton. “Don’t call me woman, ass hole.”
Lawton smiled. “What would you prefer I call you, baby?”
Bette visibly shivered. “Ugh…never mind. What’s the plan?”
“Standard smash and grab,” Lawton replied, reaching for one of his bags. “You smash a lot of shit and I’ll grab what we came for.”
“We don’t want to do this quietly?”
Lawton extracted a wrist-mounted pistol from the bag and began to inspect it. Not surprisingly, everything appeared well kept. “Nope. We’re sending a message with this one.”
Bette shook her head with disgust. “I hate politics.”
“It’s politics that keep money in our pockets,” Lawton said.
“Good point.”
With that, the conversation was over. In silence, Deadshot and Plastique continued on toward Themyscira and their next job.
Helena Kosmatos hadn’t slowed down her flight since taking off in the middle of Times Square. If anything, when she saw Themyscira in the distance, she pushed herself even faster. The beach and the sandy ground came closer but faster than anticipated and Helena slammed into the ground in one of the most ungraceful landings ever attempted.
Sore, Helena sat upright, hissing at the superficial damage she had done to herself. She looked around and found the beach empty. She thanked the Gods that no one had seen her make such a fool of herself.
“Great Hera! Helena, are you alright?”
Helena winced at the voice. Out of all the Amazons on the island, it had to have been her that witnessed the Fury’s embarrassment. Hand in front of her face, Helena took it and was pulled up by the strength of Queen Diana. “I’m, uh…fine, Diana.”
“Do you bring news from the mainland?” Diana asked, without skipping a beat. “Tell me something good, Helena.”
“I wish I could,” Helena replied, shrugging slightly, “but the President is out for blood. He’s demanding that Themyscira surrender or America will go to war.”
“How long do we have?” Diana asked. She was panicked now.
A shrug. “I don’t know. I’m sorry.”
Wonder Woman pushed her bangs out of her face. “Circe got exactly what she was hoping for. I hope she rots in Tartarus.”
“There’s more, Diana.”
“It gets better?”
“Much better,” Helena answered. “The President wants you. He’s calling for the public surrender of Wonder Woman.”
“I’m going to turn myself in,” Diana told Donna upstairs in her quarters. The queen was pacing back and forth, purposely avoiding Donna’s gaze so that she wouldn’t see the woman’s reaction.
Donna jumped to her feet. “You can’t do that! There are so many people depending on you. The Amazons don’t know how to survive in this world. They are looking to you for guidance.”
Hanging her head in shame, Diana replied, “There’s no other choice. The United States Army is going to come after Themyscira again and wage war until the President gets his hands on me. Why subject our sisters to that when I can just surrender?”
“Because without you, they’re already dead. The only reason Themyscira is still standing is because of you. If you abandon the Amazons now, you can bet that some superpower nation is going to come looking to annex the island. What then, Diana?”
“You protect them.”
Donna sighed. “I can’t. I’m not you. I’m not the queen.” She shook her head. “I’m not Wonder Woman.”
“Then perhaps it’s time we discussed that,” Diana replied. “I always figured you would be my replacement someday. It seems that that day has come sooner than I—”
“We’re not having this discussion,” Donna interjected. She turned away from Diana.
“Donna, I—”
“No!” she exclaimed, spinning back. “No one is replacing anyone!” She stood there for a moment, her whole body shaking.
“Donna?”
She looked at Diana and shook her head. “I have stood by for weeks and watched Themyscira come down around us. I have done everything you have asked of me and have not said a word. What you are attempting to do here, with this island and these Amazons, is very ambitious but it needs to be done. Even if they don’t all agree with you, they will someday.”
“No, they won’t,” Diana replied, sadly. She sat upon her bed. “The Amazons were driven to kill by their anger toward me.”
“They were under Circe’s spell,” Donna pointed out.
“Yes, but they were guided down the path to darkness by their resentment over what I did by bringing Themyscira to Man’s World. You don’t think I overhear the things they say about me? I may not have Superman’s super hearing, but I have been gifted with Athena’s wisdom. Give me some credit.”
Donna pictured back to when she had still been Circe’s prisoner, when Archon Phillipus had affirmed just what Diana was saying right now: the Amazons were unhappy. “Regardless,” she said, “you can’t leave the Amazons like this. Your intentions for Themyscira’s relocation were genuine but there were outstanding influences that weren’t taken into consideration.”
Diana nodded, heartbroken.
“If you want to surrender and abandon this island,” Donna replied, harshly, “then you know what you have to do.”
Every step took a monumental effort. Diana felt like Atlas with the weight of the world on her shoulders.
She had made a terrible mistake. The Amazons were not destined for this world, a world dominated by technology and greed. They were a simple and peaceful race that had been content in their isolation. And she had taken that from them. Without even asking them what it was they wanted.
Shame nipped at her heels as she reached the remains of the temple. Her eyes drifted out over the Atlantic Ocean, where ships could be seen massing off in the distance. It was the United States, land of the free, coming to lock her away for a simple misunderstanding turned violent altercation. They would not listen to reason, Diana well knew, making this situation even more dangerous. She had very little time left to act.
She stepped through the debris of Athena’s temple. Reconstruction efforts had already begun on the place of holy worship, but there was still a long way to go. Diana took care making her way through the wreckage. She eyed the statue of Athena and made her way in that direction.
Standing next to it a few moments later, she spoke with a sob, “O Great Athena. O wise, grey-eyed Pallas. I need your help.”
When the statue began to move, Diana knew her prayer had been answered. The statue, once solid and immobile, wavered back and forth. Its movements became more fluid and humanlike. Its hand rose up from its side and rested upon Diana’s shoulder.
“I knew this conversation would take place eventually,” Athena said. “It was just a matter of when.”
“You’ve been watching me,” Diana said. It was a statement, not a question.
“Since you were born we have been watching you, Diana,” Athena replied, taking a step off the platform that statue had been on. “I’ve just been watching even closer the last few weeks.”
“When we talked last, you said you would help me correct my error,” Diana replied. “Does that still stand?”
“Of course, Diana. What would you have me do?”
“For the sake of the Amazons,” Diana replied, “we need to undo everything I have done since becoming queen.”
That was when Wonder Woman was knocked off her feet by the detonation of the Royal Palace.
Next Issue: The hits just keep on coming as Diana attempts to make amends for what she has done. The United States is closing in on Themyscira just as the island has come under attack from two supervillains. Is there a connection? Where did Wonder Girl run off to? All this and more as “Aftershock” continues.
Story © 2008 Matt Hrubey and may not be reproduced without permission.