Wonder Woman Beyond #6

[Glippernip]

Wonder Woman Beyond #6

The Power of Words, part 2

Written by Dean Grey
Edited by Joel A. Sawyer



"What if I mess up, Aphrodite? I’ve never given a speech before, especially to such a large group.”

“You’ll do fine,” Aphrodite reassured her.

Natalie Nemos-Nikolaos finished putting on her long, red jacket, leaned over to the couch, and closed a small suitcase filled with a change of clothes and some toiletries. She pushed the dark brown hair from her face as she stood straight up again.

“I spent the last twenty-four hours writing down everything I should say or at least what I think I should say for the big day tomorrow,” Natalie explained with an uneasy look on her average looking face. “But....what if it’s not enough? What if it’s not the right thing to say?”

Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, with her bright blonde, curly hair and lovely blue eyes, gently grabbed the tip of Natalie’s chin and softly replied, “All you have to do is speak from the heart and the rest will fall into place.”

The two women locked eyes for a moment. Natalie gave a slight nod while she smiled the left side of her mouth. “Thanks Aphrodite, I’ll remember that.”

“Here ya go Aunt Lee, here’s your other bag,” Nathan Nemos happily said as he entered the living room and handed Natalie a smallish, boxy piece of luggage.

“Thanks dear, that looks like everything. The U.N. arranged a plane for me so I told them I’d meet them at the airport. I’ve got the Magic Lasso on me, so once I leave here I’ll find a remote spot to transform and arrive at the airport as the new Wonder Woman.”

“Good luck Aunt Lee,” her teenaged nephew said as he excitedly hugged his aunt almost making her drop her two bags.

“You guys are gonna watch me on TV, right?” Natalie smiled as she opened the front door, seconds away from leaving.

“We wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Nathan proudly smiled back.

[Glippernip]

Several hours later on the East Coast, in the ever bustling city of New Troy Island, Metropolis, a young woman is learning to talk all over again.

Her name is Leila Altair and more than a week ago this raven-haired, Palestinian teenager detonated homemade explosives she wore while in a crowded cafe in Tel Aviv, filled with young Israeli men and women. Obviously she survived the blast having been brought to S.T.A.R. Labs’ main branch for lifesaving surgeries. She’s alive but this 19-year-old girl is not without injury.

Her left hand is missing two fingers and her right eye is gone, replaced with a metal sensory eye which she is still getting used to seeing out of. The areas where her flesh was badly burned have all been replaced with the latest “synth-skin”, which is the closest thing in resemblance to real skin there is. And lastly, the thing that presently gave Leila Altair the hardest time was her throat, or rather where her throat used to be.

“Is there any pain when you try to speak?” the chief surgeon asked, dressed in his light-colored medical uniform, as he stood next to the Palestinian teen’s bed. Leila Altair laid on her back, her bandaged arms loosely strapped to the bed’s metal frame. She pressed her throbbing head into soft, light green pillows and awkwardly touched a slightly bulky, silvery box on where her throat should be.

“No, it doesn’t hurt too much,” she replied in a light Middle Eastern accent mixed with an unnaturally pitchy and hollow metallic sound. The chief surgeon gritted his teeth at the noise. He saw the depressed look on the girl’s face as she laid there almost lifeless.

“We’re ordering a newer, more precise modulator for your voice,” the chief surgeon said having tried to lift her mood. “It should arrive by the end of next week and once it’s installed your voice will sound much more....your voice will sound like it did the way you remembered it.”

Leila Altair didn’t say a word. She just stared with her good, dark brown eye at the stubs on her left hand where her missing fingers used to be.

“There are some more officers outside that want to talk with you again today,” the chief surgeon explained in a more serious tone. “Do you feel up to it?”

“I’m kind of tired,” the Palestinian teen replied, once again in a shrill, metal-tinged tone. She looked away almost as if lying.

The chief surgeon winced at her sharp, whistled reply and told her to get some rest. Outside, through the closed door of her room, she heard the chief surgeon as he argued with the officers that kept guard.

“You’ll have plenty of time to question her,” he said somewhat angrily. “The girl’s so full of painkillers I’m surprised she knows where she is. She’s in no condition to walk, so don’t worry, she can’t go anywhere. When she’s fully healed you can take her into police custody, then and only then.”

[Glippernip]

The very next day, in the late afternoon, back in Gateway City.....

Nathan Nemos had just finished school and was in a hurry to get home. The skinny, 15-year-old, with his jet-black hair parted to the side and draped on his pretty face, waited impatiently at a cross walk for it to change to go. He tapped his foot and watched traditional cars and newer hover cars drive by.

“Finally,” the young man said as the sleek sign changed to walk. Before he even took a step he felt a push from behind and fell onto the sidewalk. Looking up at the laughter over his shoulder were three familiar faces. They were former students at his old high school. All three boys were taller than Nathan who was only close to average height. The one that stood closest up front, with the messy red hair, was the one that always gave Nathan the hardest time.

“Long time no see,” the slightly chunky, redheaded teen snickered.

“What do you want Eric?” Nathan angrily asked as he picked up some books that spilled from his backpack.

“I haven’t seen you around this year. I heard you transferred to the Marston Arts Academy.”

“So....what’s it to you?” Nathan questioned heatedly, still on the ground pushing his books back into his bag.

“Just wonderin’ that’s all,” the slightly chunky, redheaded teen said with a smirk on his freckled face. “You’ll fit right in with all the other freaks and fairies there.”

The threesome laughed amongst themselves as they casually walked away. Nathan stood up, brushed off his t-shirt and jeans, and gave them a scornful look from the distance.

“Dregs like you probably won’t even graduate high school let alone pass the 10th grade.”

[Glippernip]

Roughly ten minutes later at approximately 4:03 P.M., Nathan Nemos entered his aunt’s house, where he’d been staying this school year. He plopped down his book bag and called out for Aphrodite. There was no reply. After a quick check of the house he found her standing in the backyard wearing her long, white, clean trench coat.

“What are you doing out here?” Nathan asked having walked up next to Aphrodite. The screen door squeaked while it slowly inched closed, then banged shut with a thwap.

“I was watching the colorful leaves as they fall,” she replied, somewhat lost in thought, looking a bit sullen. “Sad how something so full of life suddenly loses its virility at a moment’s notice.”

“Um....Aphrodite, is anything wrong?”

The incredibly beautiful, blonde-haired, blue-eyed love goddess let out a deep sigh and her curvaceous body slumped a bit. “I found a wrinkle on my face while looking in the mirror.”

“A wrinkle?” Nathan asked perplexed. “You’re upset over a wrinkle?”

“You don’t understand,” Aphrodite haughtily replied. “I’m the goddess of love and beauty....beauty! Now that my powers diminish more and more each day, so does my immortality. What will become of me when I age and grow older?”

“You’ll be human just like the rest of us,” Nathan answered quite simply. He gave a wink from his boyishly cute face and added, “Don’t worry Aphrodite, you’ve got a few years in you before you look all old and haggard.”

Aphrodite crossed her arms and rolled her eyes unamused. “It is lovely though, this season you call Fall. Is it always this cold?”

“Well, in some parts of the U.S. it is, but here it’s usually more mild. For some reason it’s especially cool today,” Nathan explained.

“Yes, it certainly is “schway” out,” Aphrodite agreed.

Nathan laughed out loud and held his stomach. “No silly, you used the word wrong,” he tried to explain as Aphrodite looked wide-eyed and confused. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to our slang eventually. Come on we better get inside, Aunt Lee’ll be giving her speech any minute.”

[Glippernip]

As the pair headed for the back door a dark voice called out from behind them.

“Mother?”

Nathan and Aphrodite turned to see a young man who wore detailed, dark blue Grecian-styled armor from head to toe.

“Phobos?” Aphrodite asked in disbelief as she put her hand to her heart and looked a bit frightened.

“So it’s true....you survived the attack on Mount Olympus,” the young armor-clad man said from under the ornate, horned helmet that hid his face.

“Phobos, you stay out of this,” Aphrodite warned as Nathan stood cautiously behind her. “This is between Ares and I. This doesn’t concern you.”

“I’ve come to prove myself to Father,” the young armor-clad man declared as he gave Nathan a dark look.

“You will not even attempt to harm the new Wonder Woman or her family so long as I am alive, do you hear me?” Aphrodite reprimanded shaking her finger at him.

“I will prove myself to Ares.....one way or another,” Phobos replied. His last words before he dematerialized into thin air.

“You....you had a child with Ares?” Nathan asked still a bit shaken.

“Yes, several I’m afraid,” Aphrodite answered with a burdened look on her attractive face. She turned to Nathan, put her hand on his slender shoulder and added, “Do not worry about Phobos. So long as I’m here he knows better than to try anything foolish. Come now, your Aunt will be starting any moment now.”

Nathan followed Aphrodite inside. Before fully entering he turned around and nervously looked at the spot on the leaf-covered lawn where Phobos had stood. Once inside he closed the door, locked it, then double checked to make sure the door was really locked.

Tense seconds later, Aphrodite and Nathan were in the living room. Aphrodite took off her trench coat revealing a pink blouse and white skirt borrowed from Natalie, while Nathan turned on the medium-sized holo-vid located near the center of the room.

Their particular television is one of the newer models. This holo-vid, sometimes called a vid-screen, is rectangular in shape and roughly two inches thick. The image projects a half inch from the actual screen. Nathan gave the television a couple slaps on its side making the blurry picture more in focus as it jumped a few times. Any worries the young teen had over Phobos are instantly pushed aside.

“She’s on! She’s on!” Nathan shrieked to Aphrodite in a girlish manner as the two stared at the television with their eyes peeled.

[Glippernip]

At that second, on the other side of the world in the war-torn country called Kasnia.....

It’s late morning here and Natalie Nemos-Nikolaos prepared herself for her big moment. While she waited to be introduced, Natalie took several deep breaths from the side of the stage.

She was dressed in complete Wonder Woman attire. From the shiny, reflective silver bracelets on each wrist, to the neatly coiled glowing, golden Magic Lasso at the side of her right hip; secured to the golden belt wrapped around her thin waist.

The suit itself was almost identical to Diana’s, the original Wonder Woman, but with slight variations. On her red bodice once rested a bold golden emblem at her chest. It’s a cross between two letter w’s and eagle’s wings. Now the emblem is more spread out and softer looking. The golden, two-pointed tiara at her forehead has a smaller, gentler look to it. Even the red, star-shaped earrings now daintily dangle off her ear lobes from small chains.

The dark blue, form-hugging briefs still have their sea of white stars on them. And the pointed, red knee-high boots with a vertical white stripe down the center still looked similar as well. It was the same basic ensemble and design only this time more delicate in appearance. The new Wonder Woman’s armored costume was more superhero looking than say Amazon warrior.

At the suggestion of Aphrodite, Natalie also wore a long, solid blue cape which had a trim of white stars all along its edge. She adjusted and centered it on her shoulders and agreed it gave her a more dignified appearance.

Natalie went over her speech once again which was carefully written on small cards, nervously held in her hands. While she read several lines to herself, Natalie heard one of the main organizers of the event on stage as he spoke into the microphone. He had a thick accent and explained to the large crowd about the speech to be given. Natalie noticed at times he spoke in Kasnian, obviously in case some of the locals, who still weren’t that fluent in English, would understand what was happening.

The quiet rumbling of the crowd stopped, which made Natalie look up from her notes. On stage, the man at the podium had gestured for her to come forward.

“This is it,” Natalie thought, as she walked up to the center of the small wooden stage, which creaked under each footstep. The new Wonder Woman stood in front of the thin podium and watched the man that introduced her leave the stage.

The crowd was strangely silent. They had heard of superheroes but never actually saw one in person. A warm breeze blew the new Wonder Woman’s blue cape behind her and it appeared to softly dance in the wind. The crowd stared at her patriotic costume and the incredibly beautiful, tall, toned and shapely, dark-haired woman that filled it.

The new Wonder Woman scanned the crowd. Close to four-hundred gathered here. Mostly shabby-clothed, local civilians who wanted the violence to end in their country. But also among them, as arranged by the U.N., were representatives from several warring tribes.

Of all the spots in the world right now Kasnia is the hardest hit. You wouldn’t know it’s close to fifty years after the start of the 21st century by looking here. Most technological facilities have long been bombed away. It’s all very primitive looking. Lots of inadequate housing, roads in disrepair with carcasses of burned out automobiles strewed about, and rubble everywhere from once large buildings. Literally a country ravaged by years of war.

Flanked on each end of the stage were a number of news cameras with their crews broadcasting the event to homes across the globe. Natalie tried to ignore that fact. She was nervous enough. She looked ahead at the still quiet, though inquisitive crowd and made them her focus. The new Wonder Woman placed her speech on the thin podium, took another deep breath, leaned into the microphone and began:

[Glippernip]

“I’m not the original Wonder Woman most of the world has come to know but I share in her message of peace. I’m here today because the violence in this region is at an all time high. That needs to change. Um....war is not the answer. I feel...um...we can do more...um to....”

Natalie quickly scanned her notes getting flustered. “Ugh....this sounds too thought out, too contrived,” she thought. “They’ve probably heard all this a thousand times already.”

The large crowd began to murmur at their speaker’s sudden silence. The new Wonder Woman heard and felt the awkwardness of this moment.

Come on Natalie, think....think! What would the original Wonder Woman say? No, I’m not her and I shouldn’t pretend to be. She fumbled with her notes as the crowd grew slightly louder. Natalie stopped for a moment to clear her head. Remember what Aphrodite said....speak from the heart.

Natalie Nemos-Nikolaos took her prepared speech, tapped it into one pile, turned it over onto the podium, and ignored it. The new Wonder Woman took another deep breath, looked up at the crowd which had quieted down, and started over:

“I have lost my brother and my husband here because of war. I know the pain of losing loved ones as most of you do. I know the ache of the heart that is so deep that at times I thought I would die. I have felt anger, rage, and resentment at all involved in their deaths.”

“I wanted things to be like the way they were. I wanted my brother and my husband back. But that wasn’t going to happen. They are gone and no amount of crying, hatred, or violence will ever bring them back, and it won’t bring your deceased family members back either.”

The crowd began to stir again. They heard the frustration and hurt in the new Wonder Woman’s words, saw it on her extremely attractive face:

“No one wants to wallow in the pain of old wounds and you don’t have to. I have come to all of you here today, not in an attempt to get you to simply forget and bury the past, but to ask that you all try to move forward.”

“There is more to this nation than the cycle of violence, retaliation, and more violence again. You are a diverse people with common hopes and dreams. All of you want your children to grow up safe and for their families to grow up safely. You want happiness and joy in your life just as I want it in mine.”

Close to half the crowd clapped in agreement and a dozen or so enthusiastically whistled. The new Wonder Woman cleared her now congested throat, held back the tears that welled up in her blue eyes, and continued:

“There is more to me than sadness, anger, and grief and there is more to all of you too,” Natalie added. She saw some of the crowd were crying as they held their hands in the air. The new Wonder Woman's voice was at its loudest now, her body language energetic as she gestured to the lively crowd.

“Help me....help each other....help this country to end the violence today!” Almost the entire crowd applauded and cheered. The new Wonder Woman couldn’t hold her tears back any longer. They ran down her face and lovingly kissed her lips. “I loved my brother and my husband....God knows I still do. None of us want to lose anymore members of our family and we don’t have to.”

“Let’s bring our commonalities together and fight!....fight for peace! Let’s show every other country across the world that there is more to us than they know! Let them see that there can be joy here, that there can be happiness, that there can be peace!!”

The entire crowd loudly cheered and waved at the new Wonder Woman who had her clenched fists stretched toward the sky. The crowd jumped up and down, emphatically clapped and whistled, clearly touched and moved at her message this day.

[Glippernip]

At that moment, in an undisclosed, remote location.....

In an elaborate royal throne room fit for a queen, he watched the commotion unfold. Under his dark blue, horse-plumed, Grecian-styled helmet he stared enraged. His dark red eyes narrowed in on the cheering crowd at they chanted the new Wonder Woman’s name like she was a goddess.

He is Ares, the Greek god of war, clad in full dark blue, dark violet armor. He had seen the entire speech via a large seeing pool which presently sat in the center the marble-laid room.

“Aphrodite, this is your doing!” Ares shouted in a deep voice and angrily slammed his fist upon the seeing pool’s edge which made the scene ripple throughout. “You harlot, you are behind this new Wonder Woman’s actions.”

The torches that lined the smooth chamber walls seemed to burn especially bright now. They crackled and hissed and their light danced in a mad frenzy. And as the scene in Kasnia is clearly a joyous and peaceful one, Ares screamed, “This will not go unchallenged!!”

[Glippernip]

The very next day, late evening, at the Nikolaos household.....

The lock to the front door jiggled, turned, then unlocked. Behind the opening door walked in the once again, average looking Natalie Nemos-Nikolaos. Back in her long, red jacket she clumsily carried her luggage, one bag under each arm.

“Anybody home?” she asked having pushed the front door closed with her foot.

In from the other end of the living room rushed Nathan Nemos as he enthusiastically hugged his aunt which caused her to drop her luggage. “Hi Aunt Lee!” he said slightly hyper.

“Did you see me on TV?” Natalie grinned.

“Oh my God, you were sooooo schway Aunt Lee!”

“Yes, just incredible,” Aphrodite added having walked into the living room, with a perfect smile on her face.

“Thanks guys, I just hope it was enough.”

“Didn’t you see this morning’s paper?” questioned Aphrodite. She picked up the Gateway City Gazette from the side table near the couch and read the main headline out loud for Natalie, as Nathan beamed and held his aunt’s hand. “New Wonder Woman gives passionate peace talk in Kasnia. Cease fire begins.”

“You did it Aunt Lee! You did it!”

[Glippernip]

Almost 3,000 miles away and two hours later in the room of Leila Altair, Medical Unit, S.T.A.R. Labs, Metropolis.....

The Palestinian teen laid in a somewhat stiff bed and blankly stared at the small television located across the room on the uppermost corner, bolted into the wall. The nurses left it on for her in case she woke up and got bored.

Salty tears slowly filled up near the edges of her bloodshot eyes, then slowly rolled past her cheeks, to the sides of her metallic throat into her lengthy black hair. The news was on and the local reporter talked about her brief interview with the new Wonder Woman during yesterday’s big speech.

Leila Altair watched the footage of the new Wonder Woman and noticed how perfectly she looked. It reminded her of how the explosion in Tel Aviv disfigured most of her body. The 19-year-old turned away from the television and heard the guards outside as they shuffled slightly.

At times she could overhear their conversations. She found out that of the nearly fifty Israelis in the cafe with her last week that only one died from the homemade explosives. Only one. She had hoped to kill more than that.

Now she’s nothing more than a failed, broken, angry young woman. It won’t be long before she’s taken into police custody. The Palestinian teen grabbed her bed sheets tightly and cursed her unsuccessful attempt. She at least hoped that she would’ve died in the explosion, but she failed at that too.

Leila Altair let out several huffs and coughs as she tried to control her crying. The pitchy, hollow, metallic sound that spurted from her quivering mouth made the glass of water, that sat on a small stand next to her bed, vibrate and tremble.

Just then part of the reporter’s news broadcast caught her attention:

“I asked the new Wonder Woman if she knew anything about the reported sightings by soldiers overseas. Where they claimed to see an entity calling itself Ares, the Greek god of war. The new Wonder Woman had this to say.”

The scene on the TV switched to footage of the new Wonder Woman while she talked with a handful of reporters in Kasnia.

“Ares represents the very worst in us,” the new Wonder Woman said as photographers could be heard clicking their cameras. “He is war, he is violence, he is bloodshed. I plan to do whatever I can to stop those things.”

[Glippernip]

Leila Altair turned away from the small television again, her one good, dark brown eye filled with excitement.

Could Ares be real? the Palestinian teen wondered. The new Wonder Woman seemed to say he was and she’s certainly real.

Leila Altair took a few moments for herself. She felt her emotions rise up again. She bitterly forced them and the tears back and snarled her mouth. But all that she’d been through was too much to hold in and as she cried again Leila Altair tried to be quiet so the guards outside wouldn’t hear. She was unhappy, she was frustrated, she was angry.

She closed her eyes and quietly said out loud in a sharp, metal-tinged voice, “Ares....Ares, the Greek god of war....I will worship you. Make me whole. Give me power and I’ll destroy the world for you. Ares....I will worship you.”

For the next 30 seconds Leila Altair’s room had an unnatural and eerie silence. Suddenly, in a flash of red energy an imposing figure stood at the foot of her bed. He was fully dressed in dark blue, dark violet Grecian armor, complete with a dark violet cape. The Palestinian teen knew exactly who it was without even asking. It was Ares.

“Do you know what you ask for?” the armor-clad figure asked in a deep voice.

Leila Altair’s heart raced so heavily she could feel her pulse as it ran from her chest, through her metallic throat, to the side of her face. “Yes,” she responded in a shrill, metallic, Middle Eastern accent.

Underneath his dark, detailed, horse-plumed helmet she watched him smile. “Aphrodite has made the new Wonder Woman her champion, it is time I have my own as well.”

Leila Altair’s one good eye was opened wide as Ares walked up to the side of her bed. She was frightened and excited at the same time. “Look at you. Look how they bind you up as if an animal,” Ares said having gestured towards the restraints on the Palestinian teen’s bed. “To be punished for such a brave, noble act.”

He placed his disturbingly cold fingertips on her metallic throat piece then on her replacement sensory eye. “I will make you whole again,” Ares darkly stated. The war god raised his armor-clad arms over Leila Altair’s body. Red crackling energy manifested around her slim form.

“I will give you wings, so that you can fly as fast as the new Wonder Woman. I will give you a portion of my power so that you will rival her strength. You will be my beautiful swan.....my black swan.”

Nearly a minute later outside of the Palestinian teenager’s room sat two police guards. One asleep and the other not far behind as he dozed in and out while he tried to read the newspaper. An intense, high-pitched, metallic scream could be heard and felt, followed instantly by a large, thunderous explosion of some sort. It came directly from Leila Altair’s room.

With guns drawn the two men rushed and stumbled in. Things were strewn all about. Side tables upside down, dressers broken in two, glass everywhere. Even the bed Leila Altair was strapped into was overturned and ripped apart. It looked like a bomb had went off.

And where the windows used to be was nothing more than a giant blown-out hole with exposed beams and rafters that poked through its edges. The shocked guards looked out the opening, especially several floors down at the ground. No one in sight. No trace of the Palestinian teen at all.

The only thing that remained, which perplexed the police guards the most, were a dozen or so bird feathers scattered about with the debris. One guard curiously picked up a feather and twirled it by the quill in his fingertips. It was long and black. The type of feather found on a swan.....a black swan.




...............to be continued