Wonder Woman - The New God(s)

Darkseid watched himself die enough times for it to become a mere statistic as his finger tapped a divot into the arm of his throne. The continuing singed-flesh smell of the bio-vats slowly churning worlds into Parademons highlighted all of it and turned it into the kind of gross spectacle only appreciable with dark humor. It all gave him a new appreciation for the depths and extents of a hypothetical hell, among other things. The orb showed an infinite number of ways for him to fail. Given a long enough time frame, he might be able to experience them all. He did not have that kind of time.

"My lord, is now a good time?" DeSaad had entered sheepishly, a well-practiced level of just the right amount of fear allowed him to carry himself pleasingly.

In spite of this, Darkseid sighed.

"Goodness and time are ill-matching concepts," he swept the orb aside, "but speak anyway."

"Then you have been planning our attack? Watching the multiverse?"

"Yes."

DeSaad's face brightened slightly, more at the concept of the loss of life that came with battle than anything else.

"And what strategy proves the key to our victory?"

Darkseid laughed; a low, rumbling, bitter thing.

"There is none. We fail."

DeSaad's face didn't change, "None, my lord?"

"In every line of the multiverse, a direct attack on Themyscira results in total failure."

"Then, my initial plan, with an indirect one-"

Darkseid slammed his fist down, rising enough to tower over his counselor, "Small-minded fool! The Gods favor direct action! So long as the Old Gods rest, we cannot incur the wrath of Olympus. We need the Anti-Life equation to conquer Themyscira."

"But we need Themyscira to complete the Anti-Life equation." DeSaad responded bitterly.

Darkseid slouched back into his seat, "And there lies our problem."

"So what then of the other lines? Themyscira in alliance with Apokolips?"

Darkseid gestured at the orb, "Hippolyta is easy, she has only a mind for power and the pleasures of her eternal life. But in every line where her daughter exists, she holds too much sway with her mother for us to take hold."

"Then kill the daughter."

Darkseid scoffed, "The only reason Themyscira hasn't mustered a force against us is that we've given them no reason to. Even if we had no reason to fear them, killing Diana is easier said than done."

DeSaad cleared his throat painfully, a deep sickly gurgling moving in his chest as he did.

"Forgive me, I must have forgotten who her daughter was." He glanced at the orb for a moment, then scrunched his face in thought.

"A mistake you cannot afford to make twice."

DeSaad's face remained unmoving for a moment, then he shrugged.

"Does the mother hold similar sway with the daughter? If the mother had your approval, would her spawn be forced to accept you?"

Darkseid furrowed his brow and glanced into the orb again, the image slid to the surface reactively, one almost entirely cloudy and yet to be explored, but one that was there.

"I would need a distraction to draw the child away, one tempting enough for her to ignore her mother's summons... at least for a time."

"Perhaps you should take some time to ponder it, it would need to be perfect-"

"No," Darkseid rose, "Prepare a vessel for Themyscira with a banner of peaceful negotiation, and prepare half of my legions to attack Earth. Favor sites of heritage, not population centers. If we're lucky, Diana will take far greater issue than the rest of her allies. And stagger them, only begin another attack when we know the last has been quelled. For as long as I need, until I give the order to stand down."

"Whether you are right or wrong my lord, you are sending those legions to their doom." DeSaad responded wistfully. "And if you need a great amount of time, it will be a great amount of doom."

"Yes, and it will be a beautiful doom."

***

The boom tube cracked the sky with the shimmer and ripple of a sheet of ice over water splitting under a blow. In actuality, under the hood, that was something like how it was really working. But reality didn't shatter, didn't expose a frigid belly underneath. The "stone" cut a hole from the top of the pond and, instantaneously, settled on the bottom. The space in the hole between was infinitely long, but in the physical world that both ends appeared at, they were both simply depthless holes viewable only from one angle. The first hole in Apokolips, the second in the central square of Themyscira. Stepping in, going from the ice to the bottom, took him a single step. It was an extremely effective manner of ambush in a lot of ways. In others, it announced itself with an ear-splitting sound that earned it the name "boom tube" and glowed the otherworldly red and white of the infinite folds between. All that aside, he had also announced his arrival in advance.

Still, regardless, he found himself surrounded by a whirlwind of blades and shields on the other side. He raised his hands symbolically, even if their weapons didn't pose much of an immediate threat. Once they saw this, and saw the boom tube close behind him with only him on their side, they didn't all relax, but some of them did. The rest stood down when Hippolyta's voice rose angrily from the dais.

Hippolyta was the first Amazon, the oldest. Even if she had a near-infinite life, it seemed like her appearance was slightly older than the rest of her sisters. She wore her hair long, for one, which was unthinkable for most of them. Some of them would grow theirs out, but to do so and have it untied while armed was an audacity that he had only seen Hippolyta and her daughter express. Diana had gotten her mother's jet-black and almost immaculately straight hair, but she hadn't gotten her mother's sharp, high-rising eyebrows. What few wrinkles had started to emerge around the family's icy eyes only seemed to make her gaze pierce harder. Unlike her daughter, either intentionally or not, Hippolyta smiled softly at rest. Soft, unpainted, pink lips that turned upward slightly but also seemed to be pressed together in unease at all times... or at least when she was looking at him.

"At ease! Until he justifies otherwise, this is not how we greet a visitor who comes under the banner of peace."

In locked unison, every Amazon that had surrounded him turned on their heels to face the front of the forum, where Hippolyta stood flanked on either side by a pair of Amazons. There was no throne behind her anywhere, and the relaxed but strong-postured stance she took told him that this was a position she was ready to hold for a long time. Each Amazon stamped their right foot in acknowledgement and then dropped to one knee, lowering their heads. A quick glance in any one direction showed them to be fifty or sixty deep. She hadn't mustered all of Themyscira for his arrival, but she'd made a show of force. Likely a pair of legions. He could crush them all in less time than it would take to walk out of the cities' borders from where he stood, but he wouldn't do it uninjured. None of the Amazons looked at him as he lowered his hands and clasped them behind his back. Hippolyta watched him, then barked something short and forceful, and the Amazons rose again, surrounding him but not facing him.

"Honor guard, to the hall!" Hippolyta stepped from the dais and down into the forum, then brandished her sword and pointed it to the wide northern entrance and began marching with it held in front of her.

The Amazons stamped again, then began to march wordlessly after her, all facing away from him in a circle. The ones at his side striding leg-across-leg sideways and the ones behind him walking backwards in even pace with their sisters. Evidently, he was expected to simply keep stride on his own, or let himself be run into. It was a circle protecting him, all the blades and keen eyes facing outward for threats to their escorted guest, but it was hard to miss that the circle of soldiers also gave him no room to leave.

They left the forum and filed out into the streets. The whole city was out, more or less. Both street traffic and heads poking from doorways and windows. It was a pretty compelling royal welcome, in its way. Every face was female, and even the ones whose hands were covered in food or who had exited their houses with their weaving and art still in hand had the standard Amazon build. Most likely, one didn't ever really retire from combat entirely, one merely rotated into and out of city life after some time in the force or out of it.

As they walked, the outermost circle sheathed their swords and set their shields over their backs. They slowly dissolved from the procession, stepping into alleys or directly into houses. As one stepped away into a near house, a small girl ran up to her and embraced her, the soldier picking her up in her arms. As the second circle dissolved, he saw some of them going to greet mothers, daughters, lovers, all the like. Not only did the circle dissolve, the air of duty and service dissolved as each left the escort, becoming an indiscernible part of the crowd of the city.

When they reached the foot of the palace, the final closest ring, likely Hippolyta's personal favorite soldiers, stamped their feet and bowed again, then broke the circle and filed away last, trailing back down the path into the city. Hippolyta approached him and pointed her sword at him, not close enough to be a threat, more of a broad gesture.

"You haven't bowed," She phrased it almost as a question.

"I came to you as an equal, you would not be expected to bow on Apokolips."

After a moment, she sheathed her sword.

"Good, the Highfather would have had me believe you to be a brute with no command of words or manners. And if you came here merely to appease me until you could kill me, you would have bowed."

"As you might guess, I would not consider my brother to be a champion of my name."

He took a step forward, but she raised a hand.

"Distance, for now. You still have much to prove. You will find that my soldiers are not the only ones that mistrust your banner of peace."

"As you wish."

"You are to be the first man in Themyscira in over a thousand years that poses a threat to my legions, if I give the word, or scream, or am not seen in front of them for some time, you will suffer as Heracles did, and die very small at the end of several days torture. If you scream, we will draw it out of you. If you beg, we will make it death you beg for. And if you bleed, we will find no shortage of creative ways to exsanguinate you."

"Spare me the pleasantries, I'm not-"

"Now is not the time for trying to speak candidly to me, Apokoliptian. Assure me that I am clear and ease some fraction of my unease."

Darkseid gave a nodding bow and let his hands hang at his sides.

"Your unease is understood, I will avoid doing anything to aggravate it."

She stepped closer to him with her hand resting on the hilt of her sword, they were about the same height with her a step above him on the stairs to the palace. She stared him down with intensity, ice-blue eyes that bordered on white seeming to try to look through him. He met her gaze, unblinking but also without force or malice. A simple acknowledgement of her scanning. After a moment, she smiled and half-turned, gesturing up the steps toward the palace.

"After you, then, Outlander."

Darkseid took the front, not looking back to see if Hippolyta's sword was back out. He could feel her presence only a step or two behind his, making it seem like she would have had to sheath it, but he wasn't about to assume much of anything. In what was clearly an entry hall within the building, a sizable table had been set forth. It was large enough to make an impression, everything since he had arrived had been intended to make an impression, but it was also small enough and set meekly enough to only be for the two of them. A small legion of personal guards and working Amazons would overhear them, but they didn't have to share the table with anybody but each other. The Amazons gestured for him to take his seat on the end near the door, his back to the way he'd come. It was an old gesture, the same principle as having a throne face the entrance. Hippolyta didn't wear a crown or sit on a throne, but she was well-versed in the small gestures of superiority. He took his seat casually.

The Amazons ate a lot, but slowly. Everything was in metered courses, with a few moments in between to compose oneself. No real conversation happened. He ate politely and Hippolyta tore away at her portions with gusto. The Amazons brought new dishes to her with a flourish, occasionally scowling at him. When they would draw near to him to replenish his plates, he caught them wrinkling their noses or furrowing their brows. It was a fine balance of obvious, but not so obvious as to be purely for him to see. Each time one came, there was a subtle shift in temperature that he didn't draw attention to. Hippolyta saw it, but only combatted it when one of the Amazons waved an obvious hand in front of her nose, as if he bore some terrible odor. Hippolyta snapped her fingers sternly, and the Amazon instantly pressed her forehead to the floor in an apologetic bow. The dark-skinned Amazon waited until Hippolyta clapped her hands for the next dish, then bowed back into the line of waiting hands.

"Perhaps your guard find my presence offensive?" Darkseid finally joked.

Hippolyta snorted, "They make a great deal about small things. You are male, that is alien enough, but you are alien as well."

"Even if it is small, I would like to know about it."

"Very well then, you do bear an odor. Not a foul one, more an upsetting one. Burnt flesh."

The Amazon diet had been a lean one. Greens, breads, and what meat there was came in the form of cold uncooked fish.

"Perhaps your people simply aren't used to the smell of roasting meat."

"Not meat, rending flesh."

The bio-vats, then.

"Perhaps I should bathe then, before we begin discussing business."

"Bathe, then rest. Bad luck to do dealings on a full moon, and a night's rest will give you time to firm your case in the face of what you've seen." Hippolyta leaned back in her seat.

Darkseid shifted in his seat, "Fine, a bath then."

Before Hippolyta could speak, the dark-skinned one from before let out a laugh made uglier and louder by the failed attempt to suppress it.

Hippolyta raised her eyebrows, "What is it you find funny, Barda?"

Barda pressed her forehead to the stone floor again and a weak, muffled voice came from inside her curled form.

"Begging your pardon, my queen. One of my sisters suggested throwing a bucket of water at him like a pig."

"And which of your sisters said that?"

"The laughter was mine alone, my queen, the punishment should be as well."

Hippolyta swirled the wine in her glass for an awkwardly quiet moment that seemed to drag on for a very long time. Eventually, she shrugged.

"Good, for your offense you'll be escorting our guest to the royal bath and taking his clothes to be washed. For your loyalty and strength of character, you won't be put into the stocks afterwards, nor will you be asked to attend him in the baths."

Barda seemed to press her forehead harder into the floor.

"Thank you, your majesty!"

Hippolyta cleared her throat, "As for the rest of you, you will all be cleaning up as punishment for not naming who it was."

An Amazon standing behind Hippolyta in an apron with bags under her eyes sighed in relief as the group of nine guards all approached the table. Only when Barda heard Darkseid rise did she get up off of the floor. Darkseid nodded to her and she made a conscious effort not to wrinkle her nose or make a face.

"For whatever reason, you've been given access to the royal baths, outlander. Please follow me." She forced a smile as she gestured down the hall.

Darkseid stepped closer to her and he watched her nose pull up harder with satisfaction. She quickly turned on her heel and started off at what was probably a very brisk stride for her, but one that he kept pace with easily. He stood about two or three heads taller than all but the tallest ones here, Hippolyta among them. Barda was shorter, blockier, more of a prototypical meathead. He had some fun tailing her close enough to keep her from getting away from the smell of him as she led him down a couple of increasingly narrow hallways. While the impressiveness of the palace never disappeared as they got deeper in, the showier aspects of it did wane.

She stopped at a heavy curtain cutting off a room. The door was narrow, short, and unassuming. The curtain in front of it bland and heavy. When he pushed it aside with a hand, the sound of gurgling water suddenly filled the hallway. It was well-hidden, perhaps intentionally. Meant to keep anybody who wasn't trusted from entering uninvited. He entered and Barda let the curtain close behind him, clapping a metal armguard to her breastplate with a resounding clatter. She then turned to face the curtain and waited.

The baths were almost entirely white, set apart by the soft pink foam on top of the water. Not bubbles, not so much, but a sort of oil that caused the view of the tiles beneath to go blurry. Curtains of stark red and crushed blacks covered the ceiling-high pillars that were placed sparingly throughout, meant as much to give splashes of color as to make them seem like small slits where the soft light of the room gave way to portals to the underworld. There were no gaps on the walls uncovered by shelves of towels and supplies, tapestries of abstract swirling color, or paintings and ornate carvings. No windows, at least not on the walls. But a number of thin slats in the ceiling that let the dimming evening light in to contrast against the small fire that burned on a raised dish on an island in the center of the massive bath. Dim, but not dark. Warm, but not hot. And open, but not exposed. At a guess, the look of it was something that Hippolyta took very seriously. But a queen likely needed her zen gardens, whatever form they took.

He slid off his boots, the floor underneath spongy and porous, seeming to exude the pinkish film that coated the water. When he had undressed fully, he picked up his clothes and handed them to Barda. He watched her eyes quickly dart over his body, trying to hide it but failing. The Amazons were bad at hiding their minute, human errors. Barda stomped a foot, scrunching her nose, and ducked back out of the curtains. He stepped into the bath, finding the water to be about as close to boiling as could be physically tolerated. If this was her zen garden, it was being cultivated by somebody who was well past deep breaths and meditation. He made his way over to the island in the center and set his back against the steps leading up. He let himself slide down in his seat, submerging himself fully, then sitting back up and grabbing a towel from the island to wipe his face.

He hadn't been in long when a soft grinding broke just barely over the steady gurgle. It only took his eyes a moment to catch one of the decorative stone panels that decorated the walls sliding up and away from its mount. He paused for a moment until he saw Hippolyta slipping through from the passway. When the stone closed behind her, she breathed a sigh. He cleared his throat.

"Seems that you take great effort to keep this place hidden."

She slid the circlet off of her head and set it on a wooden bench.

"Had I not sent Barda with you, you would not have even seen the entryway. It is my means of escape in both the literal and the figurative."

"Then I suppose there are no shortage of secret passages leading both to and from here?"

"Not just that, but if I gave the order, I could have it frozen in stasis indefinitely. Guard obviously the places you want to draw the most attention, guard secretly the places you most need to keep safe."