---

Modo sat back against a throne made from semi-melted plastic tubes and rustling plastic bags. The naked, spent and oil covered forms of the Duke of Deception, Minister Blizzard and Kung the Assassin lay around her, recovering from the violent thrusts of coitus with the embodiment of the modern age.

Her white teeth flashed underneath her pure black face as she tossed the already flesh-stripped and bleached skull of Maya towards the demonic entity that stood before her. The Lilin had come to play, on behalf of their Mother, and they had found Modo to be more than accommodating.

“What an unexpected pleasure.” The oil slick of a woman got to her feet, treading on the Duke’s hand. He let out a yelp and was met with a stare that could melt metal. He recoiled in silence as she continued forward, her hips wiggling in an almost inhuman manner.

“Unexpected? I imagine not,” the Demonic entity replied as Modo's finger graced the side of its face and played into the corner of its lips. She sucked the end of it and leaned forward, offering her best face of innocence.

“A liar? Me? Tst…please, how can I,” she paused to wave her hand, limp at the wrist, before the demon, “entertain you?”

The demon's face cracked into a smile as the other Lilin, apparently less evolved and more feral circled around him. Modo's face immediately grew into a sneer at the creatures and took a few steps backwards towards her throne. “Control your rabble, Lilin. You Mother may be a monster womb but I will not tolerate Hell’s abortions running riot around MY palace.”

The lead Lilin's hands raised and the creatures sat down before him.

“Much more respectable. Why are you here?” Modo asked, her patience beginning to thin.

The Lilin smirked, lifting the skull of Maya up into the woman's eye-line.

“You believe you have taken the life of the woman who once wore this body. You are mistaken. Lilith knows that you are mistaken and your arrogance threatens everything.”

Modo growled, her oil coated hand shooting from her side and gripping the creature around the neck, lifting it off the ground.

“Respect.”

The Lilin around the leader jostled for attention. Their leader was now suspended from the ground a look of fear on its features as it grabbed at Modo's wrist. They approached, growling and baying in anger and frustration.

“You can't come into my home and speak to me like this. I AM THE FUCKING EARTH, NOT SOME WHORE YOU CAN PISS ON AND CLAIM AS YOUR OWN!”

She hurled the Lilin with her own great strength, casting the creature down the length of the four hundred meter cavern.

The Lilin sat up as Modo strolled casually toward it. “You're saying that Maya isn't dead? That the Earth soul is still alive? Explain this to me and I'll be more inclined to not murder you where you lay, like a crumpled old bag lady. Do this and I'll make sure that my operatives are certain she's dead.”

The Lilin smiled and sat up slowly, rubbing its pure black face. “Her soul is split across the world, to save its powers and its role. Maya has split herself in the throes of Death. Our agents, together, will find her and make sure she is destroyed.”

“Together?” Modo snarled. “My agents alone will make sure she is dead.”

“Then dispatch them. The Death-Mother has already released her own beasts to destroy and rend then from this...ahem...your Earth.”

Modo tapped the side of her hip in frustration. “Explain.”

---

“Diana...” Donna trailed off as she touched the stone woman's face gently. Diana had been removed from her role as Wonder Woman when she inadvertently released the collective mythological memory of Greek Monsters into the world. Since then she had been offered a new place on Earth as Maya's Earth Elemental*. The title of Wonder Woman had been gifted, albeit it through association, to Donna Troy.


“Please,” Diana said curtly, pulling Donna’s hand away at the wrist and throwing it to her side. “We need to stay focused. I don't have much time**.”


“Fine, but we need to talk, Diana,” Donna said sternly, moving back toward the small group of women gathered behind her: Donna Troy, Artemis, Natasha Irons and Doctor Light on a video-call.

“I have recently learned that Maya has been slain,” Diana began. She paused, more for her own emotional stability than for effect. “The other elementals will not answer my calls and the Parliament of Stones has issued me a challenge, but I need your help, my Sisters.”

“We're not your sisters,” Artemis spat, staring at Diana with anger. “This is why we're here?”

“Artemis, this isn't the time for anger,” Donna cooed as the red haired warrior stepped forward, her sword point aimed at Diana.

“She gathers us for her own mistakes again and we're supposed to bay and comply while she leaves us to clear away her mess? Not again. Not this time.” Artemis balled her fists and pushed away from Diana and Donna. “She is not my Princess, or my Sister, or my Queen. I refuse and you should too.”

“Artemis...” Donna began as Diana shook her head and lifted her hand to stop the new Wonder Woman from speaking. Artemis stared at the other women for a moment, hoping that they would join her in her indignation. They did not, instead refusing to make eye-contact with the woman.

“I was Wonder Woman for a time. I know of your responsibilities, Diana, and you constantly neglect them. Even now, when you should be dealing with the Monsters that roam the Earth, you occupy yourself with other things…less important things. Well…to Hades with you. I have more important things to do with my life than play caretaker to your ‘less important’ problems.”

The flame-haired Amazon turned away from the group and stormed off into the distance. The remaining women stood in silence, waiting for someone else to say something.

“She makes a good point. I should be dealing with this, not you.”

Donna took Diana's hand and shook her head. “This is why we're sisters, Diana. We've all fought alongside you, time and again, and we believe in you.”

Diana squeezed Donna's hand gently; Donna would make a fine Wonder Woman. Her soft demeanour changed quickly, releasing the younger Amazon's hand and turning to the other women. “Maya, the Earth soul, is dead. She was killed, we believe, by her opposite number but, as you know, nothing can truly die when it's related to nature.”

“I didn't know that,” Natasha said quietly. Donna turned to look at her and the young woman shrugged underneath her armor. “It makes sense; I'm just saying I didn't know that.”

“Now you know,” Diana continued, quickly. “Maya's powers over the Earth have been split. They moved across the planet and into women who were deserving...Avatars, I suppose, for her abilities.”

“So...we are to travel the world and track down these Avatar Women?” Doctor Light asked, leaning closer to the camera. “How do we know they will be women?”

“Because the Earth Soul will always be a woman, Kimiyo. It is only a woman who can care for the Earth.”

“Isn't that a bit sexist?” Natasha asked.

Diana met the woman’s gaze. “Is it sexist to suggest that Father Time might be a woman?”

Natasha shrugged. “I dunno. Just, people get annoyed when you say God might be a lady...why wouldn't people get annoyed that the Earth’s soul only chooses women instead of men?”

“While that is an interesting point, young lady,” Kimiyo interrupted, “it isn't relevant for right now.”

“How do you know where the women are?” Donna asked.

“I have someone I...trust, who tells me this is true.” Diana replied, bowing her head and feeling the boiling inside her stomach. It wasn't long before she had to leave for her Challenge.

“Donna, we don't have much time...please...say you will help me,” Diana pleaded.

The black haired woman smiled and nodded gently. “Of course I will, Diana. That's why we're here isn't it? To help you?”

“Where do we go then?” Doctor Light asked.

“You'll have to get the remaining information from me,” a blonde woman, a few feet taller than Diana, said as she stepped into the room. Her chest appeared to glow as though a central point of light was caught between her breasts. She flicked some of her short blonde hair from her face and smiled.

“Her name is Pandora,” Diana said, stepping away from the group and returning a mournful glance to Donna. “Listen to her as you would me.”

With that Diana melted into the floor, a few larger fragments of slate and silt littering the ground where she had once stood.

Donna and Natasha turned to the woman who stood before them, a great smile on her face.

“Right then...time to divvy up the women, right?” Pandora began, cracking her knuckles and leaning back on her heels. “Don't need t'worry about France, alright? Got the Crimson Fox and her little Set of Vixens lookin' for out representative of consciousness over there***.”


“Consciousness?” Natasha asked. “So, what sort of powers do these women have? I mean, I am assuming that the one in France is at least awake...”

Pandora pointed a huge finger towards Natasha and smiled. “You'd be right if your sarcasm wasn't so pointed. Yes, she will be awake, but now she's aware of every living thing that's happening on the planet. Imagine having a piss or having a burger or something and suddenly you're faced with the knowledge of everything on the planet. Every tree, animal, fungus and bacteria…every wave crashing against rock and every wind stoked piece of flame. I'm sure that'd give you a pause, right?”

Natasha said nothing, slinking back and crossing her arms into a sulk. She didn't like this Diana replacement.

“What I will tell you is that this is no heroic mission statement. This will not be swooping in and saving the day – the world is going through quite a massive change here. This is a smash and grab mission, not a posturing and preening session.” Pandora continued.

“We don't have a lot of time to work with here. Both our pal Modo and the Lilin are sending out creatures and warriors to murder these women, so we've got to find them. Doctor Light, you've been given the Woman of Life; she's off the coast of Japan somewhere. Donna, you've got the most experience in this area so you've been given Magic and Steel.” Pandora paused eyeing up the bristling girl. “And you've got Balance in Florida.”

“First time that's been said,” Natasha quipped to Donna, as Pandora's face twisted into annoyance.

“Not especially. Let's get going...if you'll all walk into my chest,” Pandora said with a slight smirk.

“This cannot actually be my life now,” Natasha said twisting her face into one of annoyance as she strolled up to the aperture.

---

The Coast of Japan

Kimiyo soared through the sky over the seas of Japan. Beneath her the dwindling sunlight was slowly obscuring her vision of the ocean that crashed together. This far out at sea, she imagined that the waves would have been slightly calmer.

Plumes of energy and light leapt into the sky, drawing in her eyes. She sighed loudly, frustration at once again being drawn into the violent world of super-heroics when all she really wanted to do was to continue her research creeping into her features.

Dipping through the sky and dimming her natural light-based abilities, she hurtled toward the source of the disturbance. Below her the sea was red with chum and destroyed fish was a battle that caused the water to rise high into the air, much higher than it normally could ever rise when bound by physics.

Yet, as Kimiyo reminded herself, she was flying through the air without the aid of technology, so the laws of physics were apparently meant to be broken by the chosen few. Dropping further from the sky, she could see the terrified form of a young Japanese girl clinging to the side of a heavily wounded Humpback Whale. All around her fish, squid and other sea life leapt to her defence, as twisted monsters powered their way through the water.

“Lilin,” the Doctor told herself quietly as she ramped up her abilities, sending two beams of pure light energy into the water. The creatures that they struck immediately exploded, taking the attention of the others momentarily away from the girl and onto the Doctor, who hung in the air hands glowing. “I would imagine that asking you to leave her alone would be a pointless exercise, so I'll save my breath,” she said, casting another bevy of beams into the water.

Kimiyo swooped low and practically tackled the girl from the side of the Whale. “You're safe now. My name is Doctor Light and I am a member of the Justice League.” The Doctor offered a weak smile to the terrified and weak looking girl as the animal life below them continued their violent battle with the monsters. Kimiyo's eyes were drawn for a second to the glowing form of a thin man covered in glowing purple tentacles who stood upon the side of the Whale, seemingly healing it, while a woman of glowing green swam underneath the surface and deeper into the ocean.

She shook her head and turned her attention back to the girl.

“My parents,” she sobbed, clinging to Doctor Light for dear life. “They were on our boat...they're..”

Kimiyo fought back the tears. She knew how her own children would react to her death. Biting her lip she continued to climb higher into the air and pulled the girl ever closer. What was even more devastating was the girl clearly had no idea what was happening to her. It seemed as though the knowledge of being a fraction of Maya's consciousness had not been impart to her and all she knew was the death of her parents and an increased activity of animal life around her.

“I am so, so sorry...”

---

India, the Himalayas

The mountains themselves appeared to be alive with a moving black mass. As Donna appeared in a burst of light, she landed heavily on her heels and looked down at the sandy dirt beneath her.

She set her teeth on edge and burst forwards, leaving a plume of dust in the ground behind her. Hurtling across the ground she attempted to make her way toward what she viewed to be the most important aspect of the Earth.

“Damn!” Donna cried as she saw the woman in the distance. The Lilin hordes were already upon her and her limited ability with the powers she wielded meant that she couldn't effectively defend herself. Energy blasts sprung from every direction, aimed at nothing in particular.

Even as Donna sped forward as fast as she could, she noticed the woman sinking into the ground. Not even Donna's great speeds could have gotten her there in time to rescue the woman. Engulfed by the black nothingness of the Lilin, Donna's boots landed on damp soil. Now alone at the foothills of the biggest mountain range on Earth all Donna had left was rage.

Rage and disappointment.

---

Florida Everglades

“One for one,” Natasha said to herself as her boots landed her gently on the soft vegetation that grew from the side of the Everglades. The energy signature of Pandora had long since faded but the diagnostics of her armor allowed her to take into account every element of the women's energy source.

“We'll see how that attitude works when I find out what you really are,” Natasha said to herself. She gripped the hilt of her Hammer tightly as she stepped forward. She found herself walking for some time before she eventually came to a wooden pier. Sitting on the very edge of it, with her bare legs dangling over the end, was a girl with a bandage wrapped around her head, covering her eyes.

“Excuse me?” Natasha asked as her armour began to go haywire. “Figures.”

The girl turned to face Natasha and smiled.

“You're the other side then?” she asked, a cryptic smile on her face.

“I guess?” Natasha let her hammer drop to her side as she moved over to the edge of the pier. She set the hammer aside and sat down next to the girl, letting her legs hang over the edge.

“You're a hero, I take it, if those things are demons?” she pointed down toward the black spots that were pushed underneath the surface of the water, struggling to get up at her.

“Well, I wouldn't call myself a hero.” Natasha's helmet folded back in on itself, revealing her face. She smiled at the girl before her and scratched her chin gently. “I'm just trying to do the right thing, you know?”

The young girl nodded, shaking her short dark hair around her head. “You're not like those things at all. I can feel inside you. I can feel your balance.” The girl turned to ‘look’ at Natasha before she got to her feet slowly and gestured for Steel to follow.

“Okay, I'll go with you, but only because you asked me so nicely.”

“Uh, sure, because that actually happened.”

Natasha shrugged and offered her hand to the girl. “Come on, we've got to go and find your sisters and save the damn world.”

---

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To Be Continued...

Next: In Wonder Woman #14: Stone Throwing!

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