Stolen Legacy
Written by Hellacre13
Chapter 7:
Lois' lips twisted and she leaned back in her chair. "So what do you want me to say? I forgive you? You think if a normal guy did this to me it would be okay? Why should I excuse you?"
Clark tilted his head at her and said wryly, "You're right. You shouldn't. But I did not do it for kicks, Lois."
"Look even if I could forgive you, it's weird for me, you know? I thought Superman and I had something special. I never looked at you that way, Clark. You're a nice enough guy, but never my type. You're telling me you're Superman but I keep seeing two different people… I can't just pick up and date you without feeling…"she began and suddenly her phone beeped. She pulled it out. It was a text message. She read it. "Damn it. My source pulled out on me again." She texted back furiously and said, "I look at you and you're just… just… Smallville. You've been Smallville for six years…" She yelled at her cell phone screen. "Damn it, I paid you a hundred bucks…you're not worming out of this!"
"I'm not expecting you to date me…," he began a little dryly, seeing how she was not paying attention.
She looked up and frowned. "What? Look, Smallville, I need to go kick someone's ass…damn idiot took my money but now won't give me a scoop. We'll talk tomorrow…I'm due in City Hall in half and hour." She got up and left him.
He shook his head wryly and was about to get up when he heard a series of screams. It was coming from outside the city. His eyes were drawn to the sky line and he saw a large, alien aircraft break the clouds. It opened its underbelly and dozens of pods with winged armored figures carrying weapons flew out. Then ten slightly bigger crafts the size of buses with cages attached to them flew down to the street level.
He pressed his JLA comlink and hissed, "J'onn! Metropolis is in trouble. Send back up! Apokolips is here!"
He blurred into his uniform and flew out of a window to meet them head on. He went straight for one and took its rifle blasts, evaded its pod fire, and sliced half the craft down the middle with his heat vision. His hand grabbed another from behind as he flew down upon it and he swung it around. It smashed into another. He looked down to see the craft with the cages, and mechanical tendrils with pincers coming out and grabbing civilians. He dived and broke the tendrils and tore the cage from the craft. He then lifted it and tossed it into the direction of the harbor.
He was opening the cage and letting the shaking and crying people out when he heard more screams and an explosion. It came from high above.
He could hear Lois' voice. "Who are..? Put me down!"
He saw the Planet smoking. He took off at once. There was a gaping hole in the wall to the main news room. He saw his colleagues scrambling and two figures appearing at the hole. His eyes widened.
It was her. Opaque. And beside her, hovering on a kind of chariot was another female Fury. This one's right arm was an actual energy weapon. His face hardened with anger and regret. At himself and them. It was clear they were here because they had linked Superman to Lois and the Daily Planet. It was not rocket science for anyone to make the connection. Much less them.
He blurred towards them and had to pull up short as he saw her hovering just outside the hole they had blown into the building's eastern face. She was holding up Lois by collar like a rag doll, and the other one had her weapons trained on the cowering staff at the Planet.
Lois was struggling and trying to punch and kick her. "Let me go …you…you…Sow!"
Opaque raised her gauntlet hand to casually block a punch and Lois's hand smashed into it. She cried out in agony. The Fury's voice was icy. "I will break it next time. Be quiet."
She saw Superman blurring at them. "Ah, here he comes. They say you are his "girlfriend" on those reports. They say here on Earth males will do anything for their mates. Let us see if this is true." She switched Lois to her left hand and drew her sword over her shoulder.
Superman pulled up short as the blade went to Lois's neck. Opaque said, "I will kill her if you come closer and the Vuldarian will use her flame thrower on the people inside this structure."
Superman asked warily, "What do you want?"
"I thought it would be clear."
"Darkseid is invading?"
She said coolly, "This is not an invasion. The Dark Lord has no need to subdue this ants' nest. This is a raid. For more slaves. And you and the traitors, Scott and Barda."
As she spoke, the sight of Green Lantern on a platform created by his ring, carrying Batman and Flash could be seen. Flying along side them was the Martian Manhunter.
The Man of Steel remarked, "Ah, back up. And this is just a fraction of our allies."
She did not budge. She kept the sword to Lois' neck. "We were expecting no less."
Superman saw and heard the sound of oncoming aerial machines varying from a disk, a pod to a chariot. Lashina, Stompa, Bloody Mary, and Malice Vundabar zoomed in and went after the individual members of the League. He watched Batman plummet to the ground from a punch from Stompa. Bloody Mary went after J'onn and tried to telepathically attack him. Lashina's arm bands went after Lantern. And Flash, now on the ground, was trying to avoid the shadow demon Chessure.
Opaque threatened, "Call Scott and Barda or else I will kill your mate…"
He did not budge. He saw more explosions and heard screams as the harvester ships took Metropolitans.
"You need to put her down. This is between you and me…"
"Call Scott and Barda," she repeated.
"I don't sell out my friends," he replied.
Opaque pressed the sword blade closer. Lois gasped. His eyes darkened as he saw reddish specks. He warned, "If you kill her…or kill anyone of them …"
Opaque said mockingly, "That is up to you, Superman."
He said sarcastically, "You are a typical bully, aren't you? You could not even defeat me alone, even amongst your own. You must come and use one of the very ants you disdain to do it. Is this how you became Head Fury? Using the weak and helpless?"
He felt her bristle. He heard her steady heart suddenly give a harder beat.
Even Lois' eyes widened. She choked, "What the hell are you doing? Trying to get me killed?"
But he was gambling here, based on what he saw of Opaque on Apokolips. That she had a sense of competition and the desire to win on her own terms. She had her own code.
"My duty is to the Darklord, not answer to you."
"Oh, is that why you took me on alone in Apokolips? If you had done your job properly in the first place, you wouldn't need to come to this backward place for a rematch."
"I know what you are doing. Stalling for time. It will not work." She kept her temper in check. She was not as volatile as the others.
"I can reach you before you hurt her."
"Yes, I know you are fast but will you choose between her and the people she works with? Dalmar will burn the flesh off their bones while you come to save this one. I grow weary, Kryptonian. Make your choice."
Superman watched the Vuldarian train both her arms on the newsroom. His eyes glowed and Opaque tensed, waiting for his reaction.
It took a split second for it to happen. J'onn, who had managed to leave the battle against Bloody Mary, appeared when he heard Superman's call for his help on the telepathic link.
He had been seeing the whole scenario in his mind's eye having been fed it via Superman's mind and now he knew he had to help. So he left the vampire, who looked around in some perplexed annoyance as he phased out.
He appeared behind Dalmar and grabbed her arms. He shape shifted into a large serpent and coiled around her.
Opaque saw Superman coming at her.
She moved the blade right under Lois's jaw. There was that strange sensation again. This time it felt like someone was touching the skin of her arm. Opaque shrugged off the feeling and sliced the edge swiftly against Lois' skin and dropped her.
His blue eyes widened and then burned in anger. He plunged after Lois.
Opaque flew in to help Dalmar.
By the time he caught Lois, he realized she was struggling and hyperventilating. She was holding her neck while it bled freely, the horror and fear in her eyes. She spluttered, "She… killed… me…"
His eyes assessed the damage and he saw that the blade had precisely cut a half inch deep; it had missed the gullet, but had cut skin and tissue and just narrowly missed the jugular. He frowned. It was an amateurish mistake for a Fury. Or was it?
His strong fingers staunched the flow and he blurred with Lois to the hospital.
"You'll be fine, Lois. Easy now. Your windpipe and jugular were not severed."
He left her in the hands of bemused ER staff and flew back out. On the way, he encountered dozens of parademons who clearly were sent after him and he had no choice but to take them on. It dawned on him that Opaque had done it to get rid of him. Even if it was for minutes.
"Clever girl," he muttered.
He spoke on the comlink. "Batman…GL…Flash …Where are you?"
Batman's gasping voice came back. "I'm in front of City Hall. The harvesters have gotten dozens of people. A SWAT team has managed to get one down. Where are you?"
He tore three parademons from their pods. Melted the wings of two more. "Fighting the parademons… Where are the Furies?"
"Well, I have one rather er…large one here…giving myself and MET PD some trouble…She's strong …"
"Wally?"
The Flash answered, "Here, Blue. Trying to keep one step ahead of this crazy kid who looks like she just stepped out of Alice in Wonderland and this red eye shadowy thing …I can't even pin it down…"
"G.L?"
John Stewart's voice answered, "I can't get near the main ship either. It has a shield up. The vampire and the other one with the energy whip are on my tail…My ring is protecting me from any telepathic attacks for now…"
Flash's voice whined, "Whip? How come he gets to fight the hot looking ones? I get the Psycho Kid, Bruce gets Thunder Thighs, you get Pig Lady, and J'onn…Where is J'onn?"
The Manhunter's voice sounded and it was pained. "Here…trying to save people from the Daily Planet. The one in the mask attacked and managed to get the Vuldarian free and they used the flamethrower. Superman, come quickly if you can…you know how I am with fire… and there are people injured and the floor is burning."
Superman rammed into the main group of parademons. Heat vision, freezing breath and high impact winds disabled many of them. He headed towards the Planet. He demanded of the WatchTower, "Are we getting any back up? We can't fight and rescue on these numbers without incurring civilian casualties!"
Black Canary replied, "I've called in more Leaguers who can be spared from their own missions. Wonder Woman, Zatanna, Barda and Scott are teleporting to you now. The military is waiting for us to call them in."
He said, "We don't need them yet. If they come in, there will be more destruction. This is not an invasion. It's just a raid. They will not be here for long. Send Zee to the Daily Planet. She can help us get the injured to safety and to the hospital fast!"
He saw the flames and smoke billowing from the newsroom floor and he plunged into the room, using his freezing breath to put out the flames. He found J'onn had managed to move as many people as he could from the flames but he unable to do anything else.
He went to help him up. "Are you alright?"
Now that the fire died out, the Martian Manhunter could function. "I…am…thank you, my friend."
Superman looked around grimly. There were some badly injured colleagues of his. One of the sports reporters and Perry's receptionist lay dead from the initial explosion. He saw Perry and Jimmy were unharmed but disheveled. They were calming people down and trying to assist.
Zatanna appeared. "What have we got?"
Superman indicated to the room. "Injured men and women. The building needs evacuating. Can you two handle this? I need to go and help deal with the Furies and stop those harvesters."
"J'onn and I will handle it. Go. The others are on the roof."
He flew out to meet them. Wonder Woman looked around. "Neith, what is this?"
Barda said grimly, "She came for us. It was inevitable, I suppose."
Superman looked at Artemis. "Batman is downtown, near City Hall…"
Artemis looked at him defensively. "And so what if he is?"
He would have smiled under normal circumstances. But now, he said in that inimitable calm of his, "He and Flash could do with a hand."
She said sarcastically, "I thought Batman needs no one's help? He told me to stay out of his way when I went to help in Gotham last week"
"Artemis, don't pay much mind to Bruce. He's not in charge today and this is my city. He needs a hand."
"Humh. Very well." She took to the air.
As she disappeared, Barda looked at Superman. "It is Opaque?"
"Yes. She wants us. I tried to hold off you two coming in…"
Barda looked at her husband. "We need to end this today. As bizarre as it might sound there are still rules to be adhered to. Apokolips wants us. Then, led by her, they must face us. The outcome here will determine what happens next. We must do this. Scott, call her to us."
Scott touched the motherbox attached to his chest. "Hacking into their frequency now."
It took all of a minute for her to appear with Dalmar, Lashina and the remaining airborne parademons. Bloody Mary was detaining Green Lantern.
Opaque said mockingly, "So it had to take dozens of your people harvested, injured and dead before you three would come out? Earth's greatest heroes indeed."
Batman watched a whole squad car come at him and he used his grapple to swing and lift out of the way. Stompa laughed and punched the wall he stood upon. It cracked and he had to somersault off it before he went down with it. He fell heavily and rolled, avoiding her huge boot as she leaped and came down at him.
He kicked back at her, enough to make her stagger but only a fraction. She grabbed his cape and lifted him. She slammed him through a glass window of an antique shop. He fell against the far wall between a large grandfather clock and piano. Her feet crunched as she waded through the glass to him, and her hand reached in the space and grabbed him by the neck.
"Little man, you are making me impatient. I will crush your skull to a pulp."
"No. You will not."
Stompa turned to see a fist come at her. She dropped Batman and went flying. She burst out of the wall of the shop and came to land in a pile of bins in the alley.
Batman looked up to see Wonder Woman put a hand out to him. "Are you alright?"
He looked at it for a moment but then accepted it. He said gruffly, "Fine."
He stood up. They were in close proximity to each other, the clock and piano flanking them. He asked, "Is she actually out for the count?"
Artemis lifted her right hand and said mockingly, "The Gauntlet of Atlas, Batman. It works better than grapples, batarangs and explosives."
"Ah yes, toys from the Gods make a regular Amazon a great hero indeed."
She said sarcastically, "Yes, a thank you from you is too much to ask."
"You want a thank you from me?" His eyes seemed to narrow at her through the cowl.
"I need nothing from you, Batman," she snapped and tried to move pass him. She had no choice but to brush close to his chest.
His gloved hand caught her wrist. "Spoken like a true Amazon."
Artemis' green eyes flared and her lips curled and she hurled a string of Bana obscenities at him. Bruce Wayne was fluent in many languages and he knew enough Greek and, like most Leaguers understood the Themysciran language, to grasp her native dialect.
He said, "But a very poor Ambassador…Who could believe such foul things could come out of that beautiful mouth."
Her words stopped short as she saw his gaze on her mouth.
They were close now. The air seemed still.
Then he let her go and said abruptly, "We need to find the Flash and stop those harvesters from leaving."
Her face turned a dull red and she shoved him back and pushed past him.
Superman, Barda and Scott looked at the three Furies.
Opaque saluted Barda with her sword in a familiar gesture taught to her by Kanto. She then yelled. "Attack!"
This time Opaque, and Lashina took on Superman. The parademons and Dalmar went after Barda and Scott. Barda had her mega rod and her experience stood her in good stead. She and Scott fought back to back and were able to take the parademons on easily. Dalmar was a little more troublesome, being able to morph her body into energy weapons and having some advantage on her flying chariot.
The two ex Apokoliptians could not fly but they were strong, fast and able to leap and jump far distances. The fight moved off the roof of the Daily Planet and ended up on the freeway. Civilians stopped and jumped out of their cars that were heading out of the city and ran for cover because the news that people were being harvested by aliens had made the airways and no on in their right mind wanted to be abducted.
Superman was now tagged teamed by both Furies. He dodged Lashina's energy bands and whip, and then with a burst of heat vision sliced the aerial disc she was atop into two. Lashina leaped to the ground, and watched Opaque go after him. Her tactic was to get him to the ground. She used her sword to hack at the globe of the Daily Planet. With a grunt, she kicked at it and it rolled and began to fall upon the street below where firemen and police officers were helping the evacuated employees of the Daily Planet get into buses. He plunged after it and caught it just before it hit.
He eased it to the ground, in the middle of a square where there were no people. Only to turn to see both her and Lashina behind him. Opaque came at him first. No sooner had he defected her strikes and hit her back into a wall, Lashina's whip came around his neck. He grabbed it and swung her around. She lost her grip off the whip and skidded onto the ground landing on her back. She leaped to her feet, pulled a farhen knife from her boot and came at him. His irises glowed and she shrieked as her hand burned with the heat coming off the knife.
He lifted her and flung her into a nearby fountain.
Opaque flew in and grabbed the end of the whip that still hung off his neck and she yanked at him. He stumbled back and turned to feel her gauntleted fist in his jaw. He fell back for a moment but recovered by wrapping his hand around the whip even as it sizzled with energy and he yanked her to him. She slammed into him and they fell heavily to the ground. She was on top of him. She let the blades of her left gauntlet shoot out and this time he moved as he heard the sound of the click, long before they even came out at him. She felt her hand stick into the asphalt street as he rolled and avoided the hit.
She growled in frustration and yanked her hand up. She reached for her sword and withdrew it but not in time to swing at him. He had her by the helm and he hovered with her, lifting her above him and pulling his fist back.
His eyes were sparking as he gritted, "You asked for this."
And delivered a powerful punch that sent her flying across a whole three blocks. She crashed into a glade of trees in City Park.
She sat up after a minute, shaking her head to regain her shaken senses and equilibrium. She was lying in a crater with fallen trees around her.
She had one thought. That Kryptonian could hit.
She heard a rustling on the wind and reached for her sword. But it was not in her scabbard. She recalled she had it in her hand when he punched her. She saw it near the lip of the crater.
Before she could move for it she saw a parademon landing. She watched as it bowed and picked up her sword and held it reverently in both hands and waited for her to hover out of the crater.
She hovered. "What is the situation?"
"Grave, my Commandeer. Most of our parademons are disabled and fallen. We should consider a retreat before they bring it more forces. We at least would have harvested some slaves," it replied.
She said coldly, "We do not retreat until there is a victory or a defeat."
She reached for the sword, only to suddenly see the parademon grab it by the handle and drive it into her stomach. She cried out. As she teetered unsteadily, the parademon removed its helmet.
Graven stood watching her with a smile.
"You…" she rasped.
"Yes. Me."
"Darkseid will… have… your… head…," she grunted.
"Darkseid will not care because you would have failed. This is payment for what you inflicted on me. We could have ruled together, Amazon, you at my side when Darkseid becomes defunct. It is a certainty he will die one day. But now who will I have to share it with? No one." He bent and sniffed her neck. "Still smelling so delectable. A shame I did get the chance to plumb your depths. But still, I gave you your first taste, did I not?" His hand reached down into the neck of her tunic, and squeezed her breast, much to her revulsion. He undid the torque from her neck. "A souvenir for my victory." He then pushed her down into the crater. "I wonder how the Earthlings deal with murdering marauders…if you live that is. Good-bye, little princess."
She fell heavily onto the earth. Lying on her back, a sword sticking out of her stomach, she vaguely saw his shadow move and fly into the sky. The sun beat down upon her. She could feel her self floating. The last thing she saw while losing consciousness was a shimmering figure with golden hair above her.
Superman watched Lashina rise and he waited for her to attack again but to his bemusement she seemed to look up and then he saw her body vibrate and dissolve as one being teleported. She vanished in a burst of light.
Scott and Barda saw the same happen to Dalmar. The remaining parademons turned and flew towards the aircraft.
Green Lantern saw Bloody Mary vanish. Wonder Woman, Flash and Batman saw Malice Vundabar vanish. Stompa, where she laid unconscious, also vanished.
"They are retreating!" yelled Flash in relief.
Superman shouted, "First priority! Stop the harvesters before they reach the ship! G.L., Wonder Woman! With me!"
The three heroes flew after the eight harvester crafts. Each hero took one on and managed to stop it and save the people in them. But unfortunately the remaining five reached the ship and docked unscathed. And with a sound like thunder, the boom tube opened and the Apokoliptian threat vanished.
Dalmar stumbled off the teleporting podium and looked to see the remaining parademons docking with the harvester crafts via the observation deck. She saw one by one the Furies appear and watched them gather on the bridge.
"Why are we retreating? Where is Opaque?"
Lashina said, "We are defeated. Opaque is dead."
"W-what? Who said that?" she demanded.
Bloody Mary, the recently revived Stompa, Malice Vundabar all looked a little blank.
Lashina said coldly, "Take my word for it, Dalmar. If we had stayed we would have all been at the mercy of that insect colony. Humiliated. Darkseid would not want to see us. At least we go with some pride intact and slaves."
Dlamar's eyes looked daggers at her. "Opaque would never give us the word to retreat! You…you …are leaving her behind… You subverted this mission because you are jealous of her! Darkseid will not tolerate this! Turn this ship back and go back for our Commander."
Lashina smiled. "Your loyalty is touching. You always did grovel after her. But I am Commander now. You will listen to me and shut up."
Dalmar's hands instinctively morphed into guns.
A voice sounded behind her. "Do not be stupid, Vuldarian."
Dalmar spun around and gasped in astonishment to see Graven appear. "You would be very stupid to side with a dead woman, than one who can make life a living hell for you. And one who is a prince of the realm."
Dalmar shook her head. "She is not dead."
He produced the torque. "Isn't she?"
Dalmar's eyes seemed to glisten. Her voice choked. "You all planned this. You betrayed her." She looked at the other three Furies. "Were you in this too?"
They said nothing.
Graven said casually, "It has been a fruitful mission. Everyone got what they wanted. Stompa and Mary will have redeemed themselves somewhat. Malice would have gotten experience. Lashina will not doubt take Opaque's place. I have gotten my revenge. What you take out of this is up to you, Vuldarian. A shame we had to let the Kryptonian, Scott and Barda go this time. But I am not here to so much please Darkseid as myself."
Dalmar muttered, "You will not get away with it."
Malice suddenly said innocently, "Chessure did not get anything."
Graven turned. "No? That is a pity. He must be very hungry."
"He is." The shadow demon appeared behind Dalmar.
Graven smiled. "Then let him have his fill."
Dalmar's screams followed, along with her viscous, silver blood being splashed on the walls and metal floor.
Downtown Metropolis was cordoned off to allow the emergency services and the League to try to bring some order to the city. There had been rescue and clean up following the incident and the Martian Manhunter took questions from the media to explain what happened.
Superman, as usual, remained with the firemen and City workers to help search for anyone trapped under any fallen structures and clear up debris. He had managed to find a couple of kids under a collapsed play park and an elderly man in his overturned trailer. Luckily all three had minor injuries and were more shaken up than badly hurt. While he dropped them off at the hospital he checked up on Lois to find her warded. Her throat had been sutured and she had been sedated for her own good. The doctors were confident she would recover with no permanent damage and scarring would be minimal.
Superman flew back across the city, his mind full, even as he scanned the city. Unfortunately Perry White had to make phone calls to give two families bad news. They had been lucky according to Scott and Barda. Apokolips normally left ruin and death behind it. The League hoped this would be last they saw of them. But Scott had said with Darkseid one was to expect anything. This had been just a minor flurry.
Superman was now flying over high over City Park. It was now close to five in the afternoon. The sun was descending in the west of the city. He was passing over a part of the park, even as high as he was, he could see the lack of uniform green and know it had been a casualty of the raiders. He knew the police had cleared the park and he could not hear any human activity. He would have gone past were it not for light playing on something that glimmered and sparkled.
He stopped and frowned. He was miles up but he saw it. Shimmer like glass or a jewel.
He dipped and flew towards it.
His eyes widened in real astonishment as he saw her body lying in a crater with a sword sticking out of her.
Her heart was beating faintly. She was barely alive. He assessed the depth of the sword. It had not touched any vital organ but the blood pooling beneath her indicated how long she had been wounded and how much blood she had lost.
He did not hesitate. He knelt and scooped her up into his arms. He was careful not to disturb the sword. He spoke to the Watchtower. "Superman to Watchtower."
Black Canary was still on duty. "Yes, Superman? Go ahead."
"I am coming in with the Head Fury. Prepare the Infirmary."
"The Head Fury? What? Are you serious?"
"I am. I have the one called Opaque with me."
"You mean prepare a holding cell for her? Not the Infirmary," came back Canary's confused voice.
"No. I mean the Infirmary. She is badly wounded. Inform Scott and Barda at once."
"I…okay…"
He flew as fast as he could to the nearest teleporter location, which was located in Clark Kent's apartment.
As he vanished, Hermes watched him from the trees.
The God looked up at the sky as if communing with the heavens. "I have done all I can do within the rules that govern. The rest is up to the Fates and them."
The others were waiting for Superman as he appeared with her on the teleporter podium.
Flash cried, "Clark, are you out of your freaking mind? Why are you bringing Pig Lady here? Let her go back where she came from!"
Superman said dryly, "Your compassion, Wally, knows no bounds."
"Hey , we were all chased by her and psycho friends and I was nearly eaten by some shadow demon…Forgive me if I ain't in a hurry to be all charitable to folks who think it's fun to raid other Planets and enslave them. Can't you all just send her back to Apokolips in a boomtube?"
Wonder Woman frowned, "Who stabbed her?"
"I don't know. But it looks like it has been some hours and she has been deliberately left to die."
Black Canary frowned. "They left their Leader? Isn't that odd?"
"Unless they don't like their leader," spoke up Batman coming out with Green Lantern and the Martin Manhunter from the conference room.
Green Lantern said, "I wouldn't be surprised. There is a lot of competition to make the Elite of Apokolips. They are all very volatile and self serving, these servants of Darkseid. You cannot let up your guard for an instant."
J'onn said, looking at the woman's limp body in some gentle bewilderment, "No one says we will be letting up our guard. You did the right thing, Superman."
Flash said sourly, "She nearly killed your girlfriend too, Blue. She should be shipped to a government facility for her crimes."
Superman headed for the elevator. "We will decide her fate after she recovers. Regardless of who or what she is. She is dying and it is in our mandate to help any wounded or injured party."
Wonder Woman began to follow him and said, "She will come in handy. She knows many secrets of this Apokolips and will be able to enlighten us once we interrogate her. It is in all our interest to keep her alive. The Amazons have a purple healing ray if your technology cannot deal with her injury. I can try to speak to Queen Hippolyta about it."
Superman said, "We'll see what Kimiyo says first. J'onn, will you come as well?"
Flash rushed to step in with Superman, Wonder Woman and the Manhunter. "I need to see Dr Hoshi. My shoulder feels a bit sore."
"You're just too nosey for your own good," called Green Lantern, "and we know you want to go and flirt with Kimiyo."
Flash stuck his tongue at him.
As they went down several levels, Flash looked at her masked face and the sword sticking from her stomach. He shuddered. "She must have pissed them off bad to have them turn on her. That mask is grotesque. She must be badly scarred to hide behind that."
Superman said, "War masks are much more about intimidation and fear, Wally, than actually physical deformity."
"Says you. Have you seen those other Furies? Most of them are weird as hell. Twenty bucks say she is more Marilyn Manson than Marilyn Monroe."
Superman said nothing. They stepped onto the corridor of the large infirmary. They were met by Kimiyo Hoshi, aka Dr Light. Flash beamed and reddened a bit.
She indicated for Superman to place her on a bed. Her eyes widened. "She is alive?"
"Yes. But she has bled out quite a bit."
Dr Hoshi moved her hands to the sides of the helm and lifted it and the mask off.
"Oh," she uttered in bemusement as the beautiful, albeit ashen face, was revealed.
Flash gasped and elbowed Superman. "Oh. My. God! Do you see…?"
Superman folded his arms across his chest and nodded. "Yes, you owe me twenty bucks."
Artemis herself let out a strange inaudible gasp. "This face! It is …It cannot be…"
Every one looked at her. "What is it?"
Her face looked wary and she studied the woman's face carefully. "No…she is different…But the resemblance is startling…"
"What resemblance?" asked Superman.
"She …Have anyone of you seen the Princess of Themyscira? Queen Hippolyta's heir?"
"Once. Years ago. She was just a teen," replied J'onn.
"This woman…she looks a little like Princess Donna …"Artemis shook her head. "No, it is impossible…This could not be."
A voice came behind them. "Your instinct serves you well, Wonder Woman." They all turned. Barda and Scott stood on the threshold.
Aretmis's eyes widened. "What? Oh great Neith! You cannot mean…?"
They all turned. Barda and Scott stood on the threshold. Barda nodded gravely at the titan haired Amazon. "Yes."
Superman frowned. "What is going one here?"
Artemis explained, "Years ago, the Amazons of Themyscira had two heirs. Two princesses. With gifts bestowed upon them by the Gods and Goddesses of Olympus. The elder simply vanished off the face of the Earth one day and was never seen again. The details were kept confidential. Only the elite guard and select Amazons knew the truth. They did not want to start a widespread panic, I assume. They searched everywhere for her. Finally, Queen Hippolyta broke the rules that had governed the Amazons for years. She sent sisters out into Man's world. But this princess was never found. I was a teenager myself when it happened. I remember the rumors flying all over the Bana court that winged demons would come for us next. But thankfully nothing ever did and in time the fear died down. But life had changed for the Amazon people. I never saw this princess myself. But I do know the current heir. It is said she and her sister had a strong resemblance. Not twins but very similar. Similar enough not to doubt their bloodline."
Dr Hoshi blinked. "Are you saying what I think you are saying?"
Artemis looked at Bard and Scott. "I don't know what I am saying. It could be a simple coincidence."
Superman asked grimly, "Barda? What is it that you have to say?"
Barda answered, "I was Head Fury when a ten year old girl was brought in with other abductees, young females, all potential candidates to be trained as a Fury. It is the custom for Apokolips to scour the universe to find the best warriors. We were not told much about the lives of these girls but we did know one was an immortal Amazon and princess and she came from Earth. Her name was Diana. Like all trainees she was tortured and brainwashed and bent to do the will of Apokolips."
Flash gasped, "Holy Cow! You mean?"
Scott nodded. "Yes. This is the lost princess of Themyscira."
Author's Note: A quick update. This chap really came faster to me than I expected.I guess we in more familiar territory, so now it gets even more interesting. :)
I always thought Superman would have an analytical mind when in battle. How could he not? He has the advantage of his super vision and hearing and he is supposed to be the son of a scientist and an investigative reporter. I could imagine his mind assessing his opponents, a situation and reacting as best he could. Even given that he is not one to stand around, the idea that he would just fly foolishly into situations and get conveniently knocked around is shortsighted. I also wanted to show how decisive, practical and compassionate he is as Leader of the Justice League. It's why he holds the Chair and he is respected. Comics ,tv and movies have let Superman down a lot in recent times.