Wonder Woman - The New God(s)

He watched her sliding off the tertiary jewels and armor pieces for a short time, dismantling a well-maintained coating of baubles and trophies and leaving her in the base war tunic of an Amazon. She took a moment to stretch and run her hands over the previously covered areas, and he wondered if that was where she intended to stop, but to his surprise only a moment later she casually slid the war tunic down and stepped out of it, grabbing a towel and stepping nude over toward him.

Her body as well showed a certain age and maturity that the others didn't. She had the usual firmness of build, the movements of her arms and legs showed a certain wiry muscle that was well-maintained. But on top of it lay the slight hints of softer living and motherhood. Breasts that had likely once been little more than handfuls had started to swell and attract weight, now seemingly big enough to be an inconvenience. Nipples that had become puffy and prominent enough to make for easy targets in a fight, something that a soldier would have moved heaven and earth to undo or hide. Her hips had widened, joined with both her belly and her thighs collecting a slight but noticeable layer of fat. She wasn't the sheet of rock-hewn muscle that he had come to expect from her kind. She was still lean, still strong, but among her women she looked like the only one that had actually, properly borne a daughter before.

He waited until she was in the bath, submerging herself up to around her shoulders and obscuring her body, before he spoke.

"You are unphased to be seen naked?" He made it equally a statement and a question.

"Even if you are...male," she weighed the word heavily on her tongue, almost like it was an insult, "This is not your world, and I will not be embarrassed for the way I conduct myself."

"It wasn't meant to embarrass, most just associate nudity with vulnerability, even without shame."

"And I am neither shamed by it nor made vulnerable by it, are you trying to tell me that you're never nude on your planet?"

"No, I just could count the number of my subjects who have seen me in such a state in the single digits."

Hippolyta shrugged, "All baths are public except the ones that aren't. I bathed with the common people until I was queen, and I host guests in my bath as one. One would question if your lack of the practice is why my subjects took issue with you."

She let the question hang in the air rhetorically and he watched as she rose back up to seat herself on the step across from him. She leaned back, positioning herself so that her breasts hung just above the surface of the water, then looked to see if he was looking. When she saw that he was, she closed her eyes contentedly and relaxed.

"If we're asking questions, I have one."

"Ask it then, and see if I care to answer." Hippolyta responded more than a little flippantly.

"You don't have a throne, why?"

She looked at him for a moment, then laughed.

"As with most things, there is both a theoretical answer and a pragmatic one. The theoretical answer is that a throne is a symbol. I don't rule through fear, I don't look down on my subjects. I make a statement to them every time that I stand before them by not sitting on a throne. I tell them that I am looking upon them as an equal, unafraid of both well-meaning and ill-natured challenge. It keeps those who wish to better themselves comfortable, and those who would wish to challenge me at bay."

Darkseid nodded, "And the pragmatic answer?"

Hippolyta took one of the towels sitting on the steps of the bath and dunked it into the water, then laid it over her eyes and tilted her head back.

"My skirt is quite short, and I have a wide stance."

Below the water, her legs were spread even wider than his, despite her standing a head or two shorter. She keeled back with open legs and her elbows on the steps, head tilted back almost ninety degrees. Fully exposed, telling him she had nothing to hide and nothing to fear in equal measure. Even if he did attack her, either violently or trying to force himself upon her, would he close his hands fully around her throat before one of her Amazons burst into the room? To say nothing of the woman herself. He could kill her, there was no doubt, but doing so would be a death sentence. In that way, she presented them as equals, but lorded that very fact over him.

"My turn for a question then, the Anti-Life equation..."

She trailed off, Darkseid leaned forward.

"Yes?"

"It is what you're seeking, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"And you can't have it without destroying my people, correct?"

"I can't have it while standing opposed to your people."

"Ah," She smiled, "Then either by standing over us or with us, that is your way forward. Why not conquer us, then? Surely, in your infinite worlds, there must be one of you that defeats us. One infinitesimally small pebble in the ocean?"

"It's not quite that simple."

"Ahhh-" She dragged it out with glee, "And that's why you're here. That seems to put me at some level of advantage over you, does it not?"

Darkseid kept his jaw tight and forced out, "So it would seem."

Hippolyta grunted quietly in acknowledgement, then sighed.

"And here I thought it was the other way around."

He frowned, "Why?"

"In due time," She patted the water with her hand, as if dismissing the line of thought. "Why do you want the Anti-Life equation? What does it do?"

"In short?" He snorted, "It gives power over death. With it, I would bring back the Old Gods, ending the age of the puny new Gods."

"New Gods... Olympus?"

"Among others."

She scoffed, "Well, good riddance then, but to what end?"

"I would think you might take issue with the death of Zeus."

She pulled the towel from her eye for long enough to glare at him.

"We are no more friends of Olympus than you are of the Highfather."

"Why not? Is Olympus not the source of your people's power?"

She dipped the towel back into the hot water and returned it to its place over her eyes.

"That too in due time."

"It seems our game of questions and answers is rather one-sided, then."

Her hand shot out the water and snapped loudly, pointing at him.

"We are not playing a game, outlander. You yourself just admitted that I have the advantage here. The Queen of Themyscira is interrogating you, when she feels you have earned an answer, she will give you one."

Her finger remained locked, pointed between his eyes. The tone of her voice wasn't angry, wasn't harsh, merely informing. Despite keeping her head keeled back almost horizontally, sagging behind her shoulders, it felt like she was glaring daggers at him through her towel.

"So be it," He backed down without apologizing, earning a smirk.

"To what end, then? The destruction of what you call the "new" gods?"

He cleared his throat, "That is a hard question to answer directly. In each timeline, the Anti-Life equation does something different, and my reasons to seek it change accordingly."

"And is there any reason you bring up the other timelines? Any notable features or differences that make them relevant?"

"Not especially. In one of them, I had a truly repugnant beard, but almost all of them are variations on our own so minute as to be indistinguishable at a glance."

She smiled, but almost tauntingly.

"Then why bring them up? Tell me why you want it in this timeline."

"The death of the old gods is what empowered your gods. Olympus, Krypton, New Eden, no matter where, it comes from the death of Yuga Khan. The Highfather and myself hold the last of that power."

"But you said that their death gave birth to our Gods?"

"The Highfather and I have the purest fragments of the Old Power. Yuga Khan remained pure until his bitter end. His brothers, my uncles, fell apart slowly around him. Enough that lower beings like your gods could kill them."

She shrugged, "Then bring back the old gods and so long as you're the only one who knows where they are, you can control how they die and who gets the pieces."

He shrugged back, "In brief, the other truth is that, puny as the new gods may be, since their power is the same as mine, they're the only beings that pose a threat to me."

"Ah," she sighed again, "Then it's not just to seize strength, but to do so to overcome a weakness."

"Perhaps, perhaps I also just want to crush my father's skull in my bare hands again."

Hippolyta let out a soft hum to herself, "I fear you may speak too freely of this matter, you have put yourself further at a disadvantage to me."

Darkseid scoffed, "How so? You yourself said you were no friend of Olympus."

"No, but I am the daughter of Ares. One of the new gods."

Darkseid laughed hard enough for Hippolyta to remove the towel from her eyes and look at him angrily.

"It doesn't work like that. My own child, Orion, could not kill me. You, as the daughter of a more broken fragment, don't stand a chance."

She looked at him in silence for a long time, emotions shifting behind her eyes that didn't reach her face. After some time, she responded coldly.

"Then what's stopping you from forcing yourself upon me or snapping my neck as it pleases you?"

"Did you present yourself the way you did in hopes that I would?" Darkseid taunted slightly.

She looked at him for a long moment again, then re-dipped the towel with slightly less-sure hands and placed it over her eyes. She didn't relax as completely. Part of him wondered if it had been as much of a show of fearlessness as she'd made it appear, or her closing her eyes in anticipation of a blow.

"But you haven't." She shot back icily.

"As you said, there is both a theoretical answer and a pragmatic one. I came here as an equal to you, regardless of any imbalance in power. You welcomed me into your home, even if some of your Amazons look upon me with fear and hatred. I would prefer to stand beside your people than over them."

"And pragmatically?"

"Even if none of you can kill me, you can injure me badly enough to keep me here until somebody who can kill me arrives."

Hippolyta relaxed in stages. Once the words sunk in, her head finally slunk back loosely between her shoulders. Then she shifted down in the bath slightly, her legs opening even wider. Then, finally, what started as a chuckle turned into a full-bodied laugh that caused her chest to sway and bounce about the surface of the water. When the laugh finally passed, she perked back up. She straightened up, setting the towel on the water's surface and planting her back firmly against the steps behind her. The amber of firelight caught her now-wet skin and gave the lie of an earthy tan.

"Well then, perhaps the beast can be reasoned with."

He started to respond, but she cut him off.

"Of course, my daughter would never approve of our alliance, but she and I see the world differently. She wasn't alive to see the rape of Heracles. She sees the world as one cohesive whole split temporarily, not the den of vipers and traitors it is in reality."

"I'm glad you could see reason."

Her face soured very quickly.

"Do not misunderstand me. I said that you could be reasoned with. For now, it's my turn to speak too freely."

She set her hands on the outer rim of the bath and lifted herself until she set her backside out of the bath, keeping most of her legs submerged while she exposed her body to the air, letting the steam rise up off of her. It deepened and extended the illusory tan. She leaned back, almost laying down but instead resting with her elbows locked, chest jutting into the air. To look down toward him, she had to look down between her breasts, almost between her legs. She caught him staring and smiled. She was showing off, he could tell. That didn't mean it wasn't working.

"One of your... Parademons, you called them? One of my Amazons was out undergoing trials when one of them happened upon her. Normally, she would have taken care of it easily, but she was underfed and unarmed. Your creature... forced himself upon one of mine."

"An unfortunate reality of war," He nodded, choosing not to apologize again.

"We Amazons are immortal, or rather were. That was the first of Zeus's tormenting gifts. As a reward for our services, he granted us eternal life. But, of course, knowing that given enough time, we would conquer any worlds we could reach. He "freed" us of the "burden" of childbearing."

She paused, both as if waiting for a response and yet leaving no room for one. She leaned back further, coming to rest on her elbows. The veins and muscle of her stomach pressing and shifting against the minute layer of fat.

"Some time later, I made the choice for my people. I didn't put it to a vote, I didn't ask if everybody thought it would be best. I made the choice for them. To forgo immortality, to live mere thousands of years, in exchange for the ability to bring life into this world once again."

Darkseid groaned under his breath, the Queen's shameless display was working. He shifted in the bath, squeezing the muscles in his shoulders, trying to draw blood away from the growing erection between his legs.

She sighed, "Of course, when one makes deals with Zeus, one never receives an honest deal. He gave us back our ability to bear children, but not our fertility. Every ten years, one in ten Amazons are chosen, seemingly at the whims of fate, to become pregnant without conception. Of these, half are born men and given away to Hephaestus in exchange for weapons. Our population grows in measures of five every ten years. With how many we lose any time we fight, our population can continue to create new Amazons for all eternity without our number ever growing. That is why I have no love for Zeus. I am a warrior queen that must seek to avoid conflict."

Without warning, she thrust herself back into the tub, submerging herself fully for a moment before standing in the center. She stood in front of him, their heights about equal, and looked him in the eye. Her gaze shot down between his legs for a moment before shooting back up, her expression unchanging but her eyes brightening.

"My Amazon, she returned to us in tears, her trials aborted temporarily. And nine months later, she gave birth. A healthy child, by all measures pure Amazon, no obvious taint of Parademon. It was a miracle, but more specifically, it was the miracle I had been hoping to see for a thousand years."

"The child," Darkseid cleared his throat, trying to ignore that Hippolyta was getting slowly closer to him. "What became of it?"

She gave an idle wave of her hand, "Born male, given away like the rest of the men children. He lives to this day in the craftsman's workshop, none the wiser of his origin. I am told that he's among the best workers in the bunch. The mother has been told to not speak of it under pain of death, though I fear some whispers have escaped."

"An interesting story,' Darkseid's voice sounded slightly more harsh in his own ears than he had meant.

Hippolyta laughed, making the final strides over to Darkseid and setting her hands against his chest.

"Interesting? It's not exactly a tale of conquest. However, if you have the kind of power you mentioned, as it seems you've given your underlings, then that is very interesting indeed."

"You want your army." He responded flatly, setting his hands on her wrists. "But your daughter will not see it your way."

"I'll tell you what I want, I want you to fuck me like a Parademon would fuck a wayward Amazon. I want you to be the first man I invite into my bedchambers in several hundred years and I want us to forgo our kingdoms and be man and woman. I want your Apokoliptian seed to invade my Themysciran womb as much as is needed and wanted. If it fails, if what happened to my Amazon was a fluke of fortune and nature, we'll declare your little diplomatic visit a mutual yet acrimonious miscommunication, never mention the extent of it, and go back to our little cold war."

She settled into his lap, gripping his shoulders with vicious strength and pressing her chest against his. She kept his cock tucked underneath her, pressing up into her like it was trying to lift her off of him. She let out a forceful, almost angry exhale and kissed his neck, looking up at him impatiently.

"And if it succeeds, if you can give me and my people warrior daughters, I will make a choice for them once more. And my daughter will learn to live with our partnership, as she will motherhood."

His hands moved down to her waist, gripping the pliant flesh. His body's aroused response was equal parts genuine interest and him forcing his own responses. He unlocked a series of feelings and desires in himself he kept restrained and let them wash over him, his heart starting to race in his ears. Still, he didn't commit fully.

"It seems you're rather single-minded in how a partnership between us would work."

Her eyes locked onto his with a layer of almost angry impatience.

"This is the only way a partnership between us will exist, whether it will work is an open question. Now are you going to breed me, or are you going to shrink away?"

Darkseid let the last of his resistance relax and suddenly hefted Hippolyta from the water with ease. She yelped in shock but didn't squirm or fight. She let herself be laid down on her back, Darkseid's legs still in the water but his cock resting between her legs, nearly reaching the bottom of her ribcage. When she saw him resting against her, there was a momentary twinge of shock and displeasure in her eyes, but she pushed it away.

"Perhaps you didn't understand the full extent of what you were asking for." He teased.

In a moment, the steely frustration returned.

"I have no interest in pillow talk or foreplay, proceed or falter. I want you to breed me quickly and be done with it."

He looked down at her, a mixture of feelings twisting in him for a moment. He could do what she likely wanted, give her a few quick thrusts and empty his balls, doing all that he could to ensure the seed took. He could make it hurt if he really wanted. Of course, he could also take his time, enjoy himself both at her expense and probably to her pleasure.

Her eyes were what convinced him. Those icy, hawk-like eyes, even lidded with intimacy that seemed to probe with distrust and challenge. Who was to say she made good of her turning the other cheek if things went wrong? What was stopping her from doing as she pleased even if things went right? To antagonize her was unwise, but to simply give her what she wanted and leave no impression might have been just as unwise. He would need to show her the pleasures of the flesh, he would have to muddle her mind so thoroughly with pleasure that the thought of disposing of him didn't so much as cross her mind.

He pushed the bulbous head of his cock into her slowly, then fed her the rest of his length faster. Hippolyta hid a small wince well, but not perfectly. How long it had been since she'd been with a man, and if she'd ever been with one of his size, both were things he didn't know and didn't need to. He started to change subtlety inside of her. Thicker in some places and thinner in others, harder in some places and more malleable in others, wider but shorter all around. The entrance of her pussy gripped him close to skintight while the inside of her only encased him tightly when he rocked his hips into her and buried himself fully inside. Quickly, any masked displeasure faded, shifting to a sort of bewildered lust. He kept gripping her hips firmly and used them almost like handles as he made himself the perfect size and shape for her, then started to pound himself into her. A tiny, almost electrical crackling passed between them where their skin met, lighting up her nerves and increasing her sensitivity. She hid her moan far more poorly.

"Are you sure you want me to be quick and done?" He taunted again, "It sounds like you're enjoying yourself."