“Face Off With Industry”
With a groan Diana awoke. She went to rub her forehead but found that her arm was, in fact, missing. Rolling onto her side, she caught a glimpse of the shattered remains of her limb. Then she remembered: the Duke of Deception had blown part of her to pieces. How did he get so powerful? Before all he could do was make illusions; now it appeared that he could duplicate himself and wield weaponry and power levels beyond his past ability. Panic gripped Diana as she knelt upright, looking across to where Maya had once been. Her benefactor was gone, all that was left in her wake was hardening Magma and a spattering of rainbow colored blood, like oil mixed with paint, splattering on the wall. As the mass from the fallen rock around her began to reform into her limbs, she held her weeping stump and looked at the hole at the center of the Earth where the Duke had broken through. Diana wondered what would happen to the world if Maya was really dead, or subverted, or just manipulated by someone like the Duke. She prayed that she didn’t have to find out. A dull buzzing started to form in the back of Diana’s head, ordinarily reserved for her summons by Maya, but she knew that the Goddess of the Earth was gone this time. She felt the buzzing, but without the presence behind it. This was a different message completely. Without words, she knew of several events around the world that required her immediate attention. Stumbling towards the womb that she had opened for herself, she fell in as it dropped below the surface of the Mayan throne room at the center of the Earth and travelled toward her first destination. The poles were lighting up observed John Smith, the super-hero known as the Red Tornado, as he hung in the air being buffeted about by magnetic poles, bursts of light and wavelengths of electromagnetic powers. He tried to steady himself by firing bursts of tornados from his hands, but he simply wasn’t powerful enough in this tide of energy. His cloak was far below, on fire from the large amounts of energy being produced. He felt the internal parts of his android form being pulled at with every Magnetic contraction. If he could sweat he’d be drenched at this moment. It was moving towards the ultimate birthing now, he observed, as the Wavelengths began to split before his eyes. The Elemental was being born right now…and it was time for him to play midwife. Rogue lava flows were the easiest thing Diana had had to deal with to date, quickly calming it before she was able to turn it back towards the volcano from which it had erupted. Shortly after that, Diana held her own against the Easter Island Head Gang, as they were known, a group of angry and very mobile heads moving from the waters of the Easter Islands to destroy the monuments and hurt the people native to the island. Her strength had stayed with her for most of the fight but had begun waning toward the end. She thought she was incapable of fatigue, but it seemed that she needed a chance to sit and rest after all. She still held the trappings of a woman kept in a mortal body in her mind, even if she was now so much more beyond that point. Case in point, she was breathing heavily despite the fact she had no lungs. Before her stood a woman, a woman she knew, whose dark skin glowed with a kind of power Diana’d never seen before. The gem on her tie glowed brightly as she stepped towards Diana, her hands wrung together. “Diana, Diana, Diana…how we’ve both changed.” She gestured towards the large fields before her, hundreds of Egyptian workers toiling in an environment alien to them, the vast fields that had been used by the Russian's as tactical training and nuclear testing had started to be processed. The workers transforming it from the vast dead expanse that it used to be into something much more important in the scheme of things. “Like you, I was visited by a Benefactor, someone who could give me what I wanted in exchange for a little loyalty and a little sacrifice. It appeared that our two needs met in the middle; after all, compromise is all part of business is it not?” “What...are you doing?” Diana asked breathlessly. She was too tired to play the fawning hero trying to seek information from the villain. She wanted a straight up answer from the woman. “Why, Diana, how forward of you.” The familiar energy pyramid that enclosed Osira on so many of their battles snapped into place. Osira floated upwards onto one of the many, many towers of scaffolding littered about around them. She cast her gaze from Diana to the men approaching her operation with a large smile on her face. “Can I help you?” “You can explain to me EXACTLY what you are doing here,” the man said. He looked familiar to Diana but she could not place him. Instead, she stood in silence, her hands balling into fists at her sides. “Why, we're building,” her foe said, climbing down the scaffolding without the aid of her powers and walking slowly towards the group. A man, dressed in black, walked by her side and handed her a briefcase. She offered it to the men before her. “If you take the time to look into these folders you'll find that, despite your sovereignty of this area, we now own this land and can do what we like with it. I can assure you my industrial buildings and revolution of this area will not cause a detriment to your castle or your country. Just benefits for us both.” “You cannot build here or work here. This area was used by the Russian's to...” “I am aware of the site’s history,” the woman snapped. “Now, if you excuse me, I have pressing work to be getting on with.” She waved for them to walk away and, in a fit of anger, the man threw a finger out at her and yelled. “THIS isn't over, woman.” “No, I'm sure it isn't.” She continued to walk away from him, sliding her arm around Diana's shoulder and whispering into her ear, “We know where Theymiscara is,” before sliding her arm away and walking towards the large bungalow that had been built, presumably to house her while the workers were building...whatever they were building. Diana walked through the fields, not quiet ready to find out what exactly Osira meant from that comment. She stopped next to a small girl, who couldn't have been more than 16 or 17 years old. “Sister, what are you building here?” she asked, crouching down. The young girl looked up at her and narrowed her eyes. “Away, Whore. You are the reason we are chained to this.” Diana shook her head and prepared to reason with her, but before she could answer the other women in the area closed in around her, hitting her with their tools. A hammer hit her square in the back, knocking her from her feet. “Why?” she asked from her position lying on the ground. “Because, as she said, you are the reason we are forced to work here, Diana Prince.” She sank into the ground, the rocks and rubble around them absorbing her into their embrace and, for a mere moment, she felt safe. Then the waves of anger came. Who was Osira to tell these women their fate was a result of her own actions? Moving through the dirt as a fish would move through water, she exploded through the surface of the top soil and put her fist through the bungalow’s front door, pulling it from it's hinges and throwing it through the air. “OSIRA! What have you told these people?” Diana demanded, charging into the house. Osira sat, legs crossed, hand in the air, with her other holding a martini. Two large men stood beside her and Diana smiled. Osira hadn't changed; she thought power came with size and with accessories. “Fine, we'll have it this way.” Diana moved forward, a smile creeping across her face until Osira snapped her fingers. The two large men lifted their hands in the air and blasted Diana with two large rocks. The energy discharge shot Diana through the bungalow walls and onto the ground outside. She skidded a few feet on her back, digging a trench into the surface of the land. Diana pushed herself up into a sitting position and looking through the wall, observing Osira walking forward with her two bodyguards next to her. “What you just experienced is the first gasps of the Industrial Revolution in the unexplored and mined field of Magic.” The henchmen held their rocks in the air again and blasted another energy projectile towards Diana, who slid a sheet of rock between herself and the attack, which still showered her in heated pieces of sediment. “Damn,” Diana muttered, trying to pace backwards as Osira and her stooges advanced. “We're already having orders from the Bewitched Club in San Fran and from Modru, Diana. We're going to breath new life back into magic and get a little bit of money back from it as well.” Diana got to her feet and held her fist at waist level. “It seems we have you at a disadvantage here, Diana. We're more powerful than you, it seems, and the people here don't want your help. Whatever will you do now, Princess?” Osira smiled, licking her lips with pleasure. “I don't need to reflect the will of the people, Osira,” Diana said with her fist shaking. “I work on what I think is right and best. I am not governed by the wills of others.” “That isn't what I've heard, Diana.” Osira made a mock pouting face as she leaned forwards, the dueling energies of the rocks in her thugs’ hands exploding once again, blasting Diana into the ground and leaving her sitting in a trench that extended to her neck, her eyes closing from the shock. “I heard you're Maya's lap dog, which makes a change from being the lapdog of the Gods. Whose next, Diana?” She smiled as another burst of energy shot Diana even deeper into the ground. Diana bared her flint teeth to Osira and a dome of rock snapped into place around the pair, pulling them deeper into the ground. “Don't test me, Osira! You will find that I am NOT the same Diana you once thought I was.” She reached out for Osira's tie, but received only an invisible barrier as Osira's triangular shield popped into place. “I'll try not to quake in fear, Diana.” As Diana sunk into the ground up to her waist, she remembered that, in her rage, Osira had mentioned her island home. “What do you know of Themiscyara? Osira smiled as her guards broke through the rock dome and continued to fire into the pit. “That's for me to know and you to find out.” Diana held her head in her hands, laying flat against the ground as she stared up at the sky. There was some peace knowing that in the distance, in the sky and out in the universe, there were others like her doing their bit, working hard and, more importantly, keeping their planets alive. She rolled onto her side in time to see a man walking towards her, dressed in a garb she recognized. Quickly getting to her feet, she began to walk away from him. She did not want him to see her like this. “Diana! Wait!” He ran after her and she stopped in her tracks, keeping her head down and staring at the grass below. “Go away, Brion.” Geo-Force, former Justice League member and long-time friend and teammate stood behind her, his arms cradling something heavy. He side-stepped around her and pushed his arms outwards. “Diana, these are for you,” he said, pushing the stone roses towards her. She looked up from underneath her strata hair and smiled a tiny smile. “Thank you,” she said, turning away from him. He placed his hand on her shoulder and tried to pull her back to face him. “Diana...I don't know how to put this, given your...condition…” She turned away again; this was an intervention…the same as Donna and Cassie. “Brion, I do not have time for this.” “Will you have dinner with me?” he asked. Diana's jaw dropped. “Dinner?” she asked as Brion smiled a deep smile. “Yes, I saw you today. I am not sure you recognized me, but you will also be instantly recognizable. Your beauty has only become more striking.” He took her hand and she felt the magma rise to her cheeks, giving her a rosy red glow. “Brion...please.” She pulled away from him and held her arms close to her chest. “Diana, please…what does dinner mean between friends?” he asked, putting his hands on her shoulders. Diana turned around slowly and slid her arms around his waist, looking up at him. Brion had never seen her this submissive; something was definitely wrong. He pulled away from her and looked down. “Diana, this isn't you,” he said and she scolded herself internally. “I...it's been a long road to get here, Brion.” She sat down on the ground heavily, looking across the lands of Markovia, to where the industrial grounds were being constructed. He sat down next to her and shared her vision. “I have heard, Diana. The league speaks of nothing else at the moment.” “Then why have they not sought me out, Brion? Why have my sisters removed me from their minds and hearts? Why have my allies given me no thought aside from at their tables in their homes? Why am I cursed to be in this form and shunned by everything I ever held dear?” “Because, Diana, we who rule have to bear the responsibilities of our actions,” he said, after a few moments. “And while you do not rule in the same capacity as I do, we are both still rulers and royalty in our ways.” Diana said nothing for a while and just watched the construction ahead. “Then, let us face this as a king and queen should, Brion.” She glanced to him and got to her feet, waiting for him to stand. As he got up, he extended a crooked arm for her to take. “Dinner is it, then, Diana.” To Be Continued... Previous Issue | Next Issue |
