Wonder Woman Beyond #7

[Glippernip]

Wonder Woman Beyond #7

A (Wonder) Woman’s Work Is Never Done

Written by Dean Grey
Edited by Joel Sawyer


“Do not fail me,” he warned in a deep voice underneath his dark, horse-plumed, Grecian-styled helmet.

“I will not, Lord Ares,” the quite young, raven-haired woman submissively replied. Her voice was pitchy and metallic and she had a Middle Eastern accent.

“Then go my Black Swan, strike down Aphrodite’s champion.....kill the new Wonder Woman!”

[Glippernip]

Downtown Gateway City, CA, Mid-October 2046.....

It has been over a month since Natalie Nemos-Nikolaos met Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, and officially became the new Wonder Woman.

In the past several weeks, Natalie, as the new Wonder Woman, has managed to help capture arms dealer and drug trafficker Baqir Al-Asad, fought the new Cheetah, and just days ago gave a successful peace talk in the war-torn country of Kasnia. Kasnia, the very place where both her brother, a Red Cross worker, and her husband, a U.S. Marine, were killed only months apart not more than a year ago.

But amidst the gods, goddesses, criminals, cat-women, and all the rest, today is a very different day for this 27-year-old woman. You see, after she banked up and used her entire vacation this past month, it was now Natalie’s first official day back at work and she couldn’t be happier.

She’s on the 3rd floor of Bellenson LLP, a leading Gateway City accounting firm. Natalie and her co-workers are management accountants in the wonderful world of corporate finance, or as her co-workers joke “death by numbers”.

Dressed in a red suit jacket and skirt, Natalie had spent her early morning and now early afternoon, having filed documents, processed accounts, and other typical, mundane things. With a broad smile on her just average looking face she was in full swing and thankful for the first real, normal, and quiet day she’s had in a long time.

“Oh hey, you’re back,” a voice called out near Natalie’s cubicle.

“Hi Susan,” Natalie replied back with a wave from her desk. “Yeah, I took the whole month off.”

“So did you do anything exciting? Go anywhere interesting?” Susan asked, her eyes lit up.

Natalie paused for a moment. “Oh you know....same old, same old.” Trying to change the subject she asked Susan, “So what are you doing here? What brings you to our floor?”

“Oh Mike called in sick today, so I’m sorting and handing out everyone’s mail. Well, good seeing you again Nat,” Susan replied with a smile and a wave as she pushed her cart down the aisle.

[Glippernip]

Four hours into her workday, having bumped into almost every fellow co-worker under the sun, Natalie sat and took a short reprieve at her slightly messy desk. She put her dark brown hair in a pony tail, closed her dark blue eyes, and just took it all in. She listened to the sounds of copy and fax machines near the far end of the floor, co-workers on the phone with clients, computer keypads being typed. The sweet sounds of normalcy. No war gods, no love goddesses, no superpowers, just normalcy.

At that moment, with her eyes still closed, Natalie heard a familiar voice off to the side.

“How goes your first day back at work?” a lovely female voice asked.

“Oh no,” Natalie muttered under her breath. She hesitantly opened her eyes and saw a familiar face.

Standing next to Natalie, in her already small cubicle, was Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. Curly and full, bright blonde hair, stunning blue eyes, a figure and face to die for, all currently being made visible only to Natalie. Natalie had a perturbed look on her just average looking face.

“What are you doing here?” Natalie asked slightly loud just as Susan had walked past.

Susan, a touch annoyed, turned to Natalie and replied, “I told you, Mike was sick today so I’m giving everyone their mail instead.”

Natalie let out a nervous laugh and waved at Susan. “Oh, uh right, I forgot.”

After Susan once again wheeled her cart down the aisle, Natalie checked to make sure no on else was walking by, then finally asked in a hushed tone, “Aphrodite, what are you doing here?”

Aphrodite, dressed in a long, clean, white trench coat, crossed her delicate arms. She leaned against the cubicle’s wall and stared at one of the lightly flickering, fluorescent lights overhead. “I was bored. With you at work and Nathan at school, I had no one to talk to.”
Several co-workers walked by. Natalie, still sitting at her slightly messy desk, picked up her phone and pushed down the hold button. She pretended like she was talking to someone on the other line, while really talking with Aphrodite.

“What about watching TV?” Natalie asked almost whispering.

“I couldn’t understand what I was watching,” Aphrodite explained with a look of concentration on her extremely attractive face. “Some type of drama play, one after the other. As the world’s children’s lives turn, or something.”

“Yeah, soap operas are hard to follow if you haven’t kept up with them,” Natalie smiled, in her softened voice, still pretending to talk into the phone. “Well, what about going for a walk?”

“That’s what I did. That’s how I ended up here,” Aphrodite explained. The love goddess, with soft hands on her stomach, curiously stared at someone getting a snack from a nearby vending machine. “Certainly your employers allow you time to eat, right?”

Natalie put down the phone and checked her watch. “Good timing, I take my lunch break in five minutes. Let me put some of these papers away and then we can eat together somewhere. How’s that sound?”

“Good,” Aphrodite said somewhat relieved. “The more I lose my powers each day, the hungrier I become. Sometimes I now have to eat two times a day and I grow tired just like you other mortals. Even my feet hurt today.”

From over slender shoulders Natalie shook her head and quietly shot back, “Yes, we “mere mortals” do need our food and rest. And in these heeled shoes, well, my feet hurt too.”

[Glippernip]

Aphrodite raised an eyebrow and lightly smiled the most perfect smile, having sensed Natalie’s sarcasm. “Oh I meant nothing by it, it’s just.....nnmph--”

Aphrodite suddenly collapsed to the floor and almost hit her head on Natalie’s wooden desk. On the carpeted ground, her voluptuous body was clenched in a fetal position. Aphrodite’s attractive face twisted in pain as she held her stomach and moaned.

Natalie sprung out of her wheeled office chair, kneeled next to the love goddess, and fervently whispered, “Aphrodite what’s wrong?!”

Aphrodite writhed on the floor in discomfort and locked eyes with Natalie. “It’s Ares....nnh....he’s here....he’s in Gateway City, I can feel it.”

“Here?!” Natalie quietly asked in disbelief.

Just then, a large explosion, as if a bomb went off, could be heard outside several miles away. “Aphrodite, can you make it? Meet me outside behind the building, in the alley, okay?”

Aphrodite through visible pain nodded. Natalie shot up, grabbed her purse, and ran to the front desk near the elevators.

“Valerie, I’m taking my lunch break. Be back in forty-five minutes.”

Natalie quickly took the elevators down and dashed out the Bellenson LLP building, while most of her co-workers stared intently out the large office windows, as more thunderous explosions were being heard in the not so far distance.

Once outside, Natalie Nemos-Nikolaos hurriedly went around the outside of her office building, through the gangway, to the back alley. The shadowed alleyway had a nauseating stench from the several large dumpsters that lined up along the building’s back wall.

From the same direction, yet another explosion that vibrated the very ground. But outside it was clearer. Natalie could’ve sworn it sounded like a shrill, metallic scream just before the actual boom.

“My God, did that come from a human or some kind of animal?”

Natalie refocused and quickly pulled out a glowing, golden lariat from inside her purse. Better know to most of the world as Wonder Woman’s Magic Lasso. She took the mystical lariat and whirled it over her head, like a cowboy before lassoing a stray herd animal. Natalie brought the Magic Lasso’s loop down over her body towards the pavement.

In a shimmering display of golden light that danced and sparkled, Natalie’s silhouette glowed and changed. Gone were the “plain Jane” looks as Wonder Woman’s gifts took effect, most noticeably Aphrodite’s great beauty. Every physical flaw was instantly fixed so that once the Magic Lasso’s loop reached the ground, a much more attractive, taller, toned, curvaceous version of Natalie Nemos-Nikolaos appeared. Her work attire was now replaced with Wonder Woman’s patriotic red, white, blue, and gold costume; tiara, silver bracelets and all!

Aphrodite materialized to the left of Natalie and stumbled. She caught herself on the brick building’s back wall.

“Are you okay Aphrodite?”

“Yes,” Aphrodite nodded as she caught her breath and tried to straighten herself up. “It just came all at once. Ares’ power caught me off guard, that’s all.”

Another booming, sharp, metal-tinged scream somewhere overhead followed immediately by another explosion.

“Go Natalie, go,” Aphrodite urged having leaned against the building’s brick wall, hand on her flushed forehead. As the new Wonder Woman was about to leave, Aphrodite extended her unsteady hand and added, “Be careful.”

Natalie took Aphrodite’s hand and softly squeezed it. The new Wonder Woman gave the love goddess a comforting smile then flew off into the chaotic sky towards the explosions.

[Glippernip]

Less than a mile away she anxiously waited. Her almost all black silhouette stood out against the gray-blues of the fall sky. The whitish, full clouds that slowly sailed by were completely oblivious of the young woman’s deadliness.

Large, dark, feathered wings on her back steadily flapped and kept the quite young woman stationary in the air. The plumage on the wings was all black except for small, white tips at the very edges, which were only visible while she was in flight.

Dark olive skin, long raven hair, this 19-year-old was dressed in a form fitting black body suit. It hugged her petite frame, covered her entire body, and ended at the curve of her slender shoulders, scooping down to the top of her small chest. The dark as night costume was adorned with accents of color here and there. The rims of her black heeled boots and several small bands on her arms were a bright orange-red, as was the thick belt on her thin waist and the choker on her neck.

Sharp eyes, one dark brown, the other an eerie, glowing orange-red, stalked those still caught outside who desperately ran to safety in the business district down below. She watched with contempt as the small group of people stumbled over debris in the city streets. “Pigs,” the young teenaged woman cursed under her breath.

Also in the air, a courageous voice could be heard just behind the raven-haired winged beauty. “I don’t know what you’re trying to do here, but it’s going to stop....now.”

The angry young woman smiled as if her waiting was over. Her large and black feathered wings pulled in then opened back out, which turned her petite body around to face the woman behind the confident voice.

“So you’re the new Wonder Woman?” the black-winged young woman asked, in a pitchy, metallic Middle Eastern accent. “You’re the one Ares sent me to kill.”

“Then, maybe Ares isn’t here,” the new Wonder Woman thought. “Aphrodite must’ve felt this woman’s presence instead.”

“How are you connected with Ares?” the new Wonder Woman asked as her long, curvaceous body slightly shifted up, then down while she hovered equally as high in the air.

“I’m the Black Swan. I’m Ares’ new champion,” the young winged woman boasted, once again in a shrill, metal-tinged Middle Eastern accent. “Once I kill you I’ll be allowed to finish what I started in Tel Aviv.” The raven-haired, 19-year-old grinned. “That makes this battle that much sweeter.”

[Glippernip]

“Tel Aviv?” the new Wonder Woman wondered. But before Natalie could finish her thought, the young raven-haired woman known as the Black Swan fully extended her large, black feathered, white-tipped wings. She arched them, then swooped right into the new Wonder Woman. In an instant the Black Swan had her pointed, talon-like hands on the new Wonder Woman and flew both of them into the nearest of the skyscrapers down below.

Like a thrown rock through glass, the Black Swan forced the new Wonder Woman, back first, into the large windows on the 63rd floor of the Intrepid, Inc. building. Office workers screamed and fled as the two women loudly crashed through their workplace. The Black Swan simply pulled up her black feathered wings and stopped in midair, let go of Natalie’s arms, the momentum of the flight doing the rest.

The impact of flesh and bone colliding into a row of solid oak desks wasn’t as noisy as initially crashing into the skyscraper’s sleek facade, but to Natalie it felt just as painful. It took her a few moments to get off the floor as she pushed through remnants of the wooden desks. She stumbled at first, but then the new Wonder Woman assumed a fighting stance. Tensed hands out in front of her below her chin, as silver, polished bracelets on her wrists defiantly gleamed.

Near the large opening where the pair entered, the Black Swan pulled in her black feathered, white-tipped wings and lightly landed on the debris-covered floor about 15 feet away. Overhead lighting loosely dangled and occasionally sparked. All the office workers on the floor managed to get to lower or higher levels. The raven-haired, winged beauty smiled a devilish grin, clenched her fists and said in a sharp, metal-tinged Middle Eastern accent, “Let’s see you stand after this.”

The Black Swan snarled her face, took a deep breath, and screamed at the top of her lungs. The sound that erupted from the young winged woman’s mouth was unnatural. Booming, metallic, and piercing, it almost sounded like a bird screeching but magnified a thousand times. The sonic scream hit the new Wonder Woman in pulsing waves and exploded with such speed and power that everything around her, including herself, was forced out the other end of the office building, crashing back outside.

How many miles down? She wasn’t sure. The new Wonder Woman slammed into the street down below along with several destroyed desks, office equipment, shards of glass, and parts of the skyscraper’s exterior. About ten car alarms went off in unison from the impact.

On the 63rd floor of the Intrepid Inc. building it looked like a bomb had went off. Powdery residue softly rained from the now misshapen ceiling and smoke lazily made its way through the maze of debris. Among the unrecognizable rubble of this tattered office space a black-winged young woman laughed to herself.

[Glippernip]

The Marston Arts Academy, North Side of Gateway City.....

The commotion of the stirring high school students was noisy as they were being led out of each class. Since the school wasn’t that far away from the fight happening in downtown Gateway, teachers weren’t taking any chances and are moving all students into the lower levels of the building’s basement.

Nathan Nemos and his dance class gossiped while they went down the stairwells. For the most part Nathan’s dance class was more girls than boys. The handful of male students that were there are all similar to Nathan; skinny and girlish. The sudden news of the chaos downtown resulted in a rush by teachers. The dance class still had their dark navy leotards and white ballerina shoes on.

Walking side by side with Nathan was fellow classmate and best friend Jamesina Dawson. Braided black hair, dark brown skin, she stood about an inch taller than Nathan, who was just under average height for a 15-year-old boy.

“Did you hear what’s happening?” Jamesina asked Nathan as the pair headed down another flight of steps.

“Some kind of fight downtown or something,” Nathan said.

“I heard it’s the new Wonder Woman,” Jamesina replied enthusiastically, her dark eyes lit up. “She’s supposed to be fighting some bad guy.”

“The new Wonder Woman?” Nathan sheepishly asked. His pretty, boyish face looked worried. As the students made their way to the basement, Nathan looked up towards the direction of the sky and whispered to himself, “Be careful Aunt Lee.”

[Glippernip]

Downtown Gateway City, Business District.....

Sprawled out on the now indented city street, a cacophony of sounds brought the new Wonder Woman to consciousness and hurt her already ringing ears. Police cars and ambulances everywhere. Their sirens could be heard all around the city as they tended to those in need. She listened to frightened bystanders while they talked amongst themselves, huddled under building doorways, scaffolding, anything to provide shelter. The small crowd was relieved when the new Wonder Woman slowly but surely got to her feet.

Natalie’s head throbbed so heavily it felt like it would burst from the pressure. Thankfully, her golden tiara took the brunt of the impact. The new Wonder Woman pressed her dust-covered hands to her ears to try and stop the pain. It didn’t help. She felt a warm liquid. When she pulled her hands away Natalie stared at her now blood-covered palms. Her ears were bleeding.

“You’re tougher than you look,” a pitchy, metallic Middle Eastern voice could be heard overhead. Orange-red accented, black body suit, long raven hair, the Black Swan was about 25 feet above the ground. She casually flapped her large, black, white-tipped wings which sustained her petite form in the air. The young winged woman laughed and added, “Another chance to practice my new powers I suppo --umphh.”

A stinging pain hit the Black Swan’s jaw all at once and she held the side of her face. She looked on the street down below at the new Wonder Woman who had her right hand out. In seconds, a two-pointed golden tiara, a red star at its center, arced back into the heroine’s hand.

The Black Swan spit out two teeth from the back of her mouth into her palm. While the new Wonder Woman placed the tiara back on her forehead, the Black Swan through pain and anger, mixed with blood and saliva muttered under her breath, “Bitch, you’re going to pay for that.”

[Glippernip]

The Black Swan pulled in her black feathered wings and swooped down towards the new Wonder Woman at an alarming pace. Familiar with this move from the first time, Natalie was ready. Just as the Black Swan was about to make contact with her talon-like hands, the new Wonder Woman pulled her strong arm back and punched the young winged woman square in the face.

The still huddled crowd gasped as the Black Swan went flying and smashed face first onto a parked car nearly three blocks away. By the time the young winged woman barely got up, the new Wonder Woman was already standing close to ten feet in front of her, hands on curvy hips.

“You’re not going to win Black Swan. We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

The Black Swan fully outstretched her black feathered, white-tipped wings and took to her element, the sky. The new Wonder Woman flew up and chased right after her.

Fifteen miles away, the Save The Savannah Foundation office building (Gateway City branch).....

“I can not believe this,” one man said to the other. “Did you hear those school children volunteering with the Save The Savannah Foundation saw the new, female Captain Marvel....twice!”

“Yeah, while in Kahndaq, right?” the other man replied clearly bored, while he typed on his computer. “How come all the other branches get to have all the fun? How come nothing like that ever happens here?”

Just then, a loud, booming, piercing metallic scream could be heard and felt outside. The new Wonder Woman crashed through the windowed storefront of the Save The Savannah Foundation building and rolled for several feet. She quickly got up from the floor and brushed the debris from her colorful, patriotic costume. Once she could see no one was injured the new Wonder Woman flew right out the opening towards the sky. The two men, now hiding under their desks, stared at each other wide-eyed, mouths fully opened.

The Black Swan aggressively flapped her large, black, white-tipped wings and hovered in the cloudy gray-blue sky. With her sharp eyes, one dark brown, the other an eerie glowing orange-red, she stared down below waiting for her prey. A quick blur raced past the young winged woman and she was hit from the left, from the right, then in the stomach almost simultaneously. Black plumage everywhere, the Black Swan clumsily dived from the sudden attack, but managed to get her wings out in time. She arced back up into the autumn air and unsteadily landed on a nearby rooftop.

[Glippernip]

The new Wonder Woman appeared twenty feet away from her in the air. The Black Swan stumbled on the rooftop and backed away as she tried to get a second wind. Natalie noticed that part of the Black Swan’s black costume ripped in several places from the tussle. Most noticeably, the orange-red choker around the young winged woman’s neck had fallen off, revealing a silvery, metallic box where her throat should be.

“Could that voice box be giving the Black Swan her sonic scream? Her voice definitely sounds metallic, but how could something so small generate so much power? Maybe Ares is amplifying the voice box. Either way, if I can stop that sonic scream I know I can beat her. All I have to do is get close enough, which means preventing the Black Swan from flying.”

The new Wonder Woman floated stationary in the air, toned arms crossed, with a perfect smile on her extremely attractive face, directed right at the Black Swan. Natalie was baiting her and tempted the young winged woman to use her sonic scream again. The Black Swan, contempt in her eyes, took the bait. The raven-haired winged woman took a deep breath from the rooftop and with all her might let out an immense, shrill, metallic scream.

The new Wonder Woman with great speed flew high into the cloudy gray-blue sky, far away from innocent bystanders or buildings. From the rooftop, the Black Swan turned her head in tandem. Her pulsing sonic scream chased right behind the new Wonder Woman who soared along the horizon in one long sweeping line. The billowy, whitish clouds didn’t stand a chance and vaporized as screeching waves raced through them.

After close to twenty seconds the Black Swan stopped to finally take a much needed breath. In mere moments, the young winged woman was kneed in the side. The new Wonder Woman took hold of the Black Swan from behind. The raven-haired winged woman resisted and the two women twirled up into the air. While Natalie had the advantage she grabbed the Black Swan’s left wing and snapped it in her hands.

The young winged woman yelped in a broken, sharp, metal-tinged tone and wrestled free from the new Wonder Woman’s strong grip. Long black feathers scattered in the frenzied air as the Black Swan quickly spiraled out of control from the sky and smacked into a nearby alleyway below. The young winged woman pushed through small piles of trash and painfully picked herself up.

She knew with her broken wing she couldn’t fly, so the Black Swan began to prepare another sonic scream. The new Wonder Woman, faster than the human eye could follow, was already there. She took hold of the Black Swan’s cold, metallic throat and squeezed it tight. Natalie felt the metal voice box as it crumpled underneath the pressure. With talon-like hands, the young winged woman frantically clawed the new Wonder Woman’s arms and freed herself.

[Glippernip]

The Black Swan fell backwards into a grouping of half full, metal garbage cans. She gasped repeatedly and held her damaged throat. She’d stand up, stumble back a few feet, then fall, several times in a row, gasping heavily for air the whole way. Natalie knew the young winged woman could breathe, it was just hard for her to do so at the moment.

“She certainly can’t use her sonic scream now, that’s for sure,” the new Wonder Woman thought as she stood there and watched the Black Swan hopelessly try to crawl away. Natalie felt sorry for this young woman. “How did she get caught up with Ares?”

The Black Swan backed into the cramped alley’s corner. Half leaning, half sitting, still panicked, she desperately took in as much air as her ruined metallic throat would allow. The new Wonder Woman calmly walked towards the young winged woman. “There’s nowhere for you to go now.”

The Black Swan, with what was left of her sharp, metal-tinged voice forcibly whispered, “Ares....save me....please....save me....”

With her keen ears, the new Wonder Woman heard this. She took the Magic Lasso from the side of her waist into her hands and raced to snare the raven-haired winged woman. In an instant, the Black Swan was bathed in red, crackling light and was gone.

“Ares,” the new Wonder Woman disapprovingly said to herself. She stood where the Black Swan had been and watched the last remnants of red, crackling energy dissipate from sight.

[Glippernip]

A half hour later, Bellenson LLP building, 3rd floor.....

Natalie Nemos-Nikolaos entered her workplace clearly exhausted. She had cuts, scrapes, and bruises all over her average looking face, though her red work clothes remained untouched. At the sight of Natalie several co-workers rushed to her aid. Her boss was the one nearest to her.

“We heard you went out to lunch just before that fight erupted outside. Your face, Natalie, are you okay?”

“I’m fine Mr. Bellenson. I was caught up in the whole mess and....was hit with some debris. I’m fine really.”

“Well just to be safe I’d like a doctor to look at those cuts.”

Natalie’s boss went to the front desk and could be heard asking the receptionist, Valerie, to call and have a doctor come in. Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, materialized next to Natalie. She made her stunning form only visible to Natalie and though she already knew the answer still asked, “She got away?”

Natalie, with several co-workers around her, lightly nodded and mouthed the name “Ares” to her.

Aphrodite’s extremely attractive face was quite saddened. “I don’t think that is the last we will see of her,” the love goddess said. “How could a child so young have such hate in her heart?”

Just then, Natalie’s fellow co-worker, Susan, whom she’d talked with earlier in the day, came up to her.

“Oh my God Natalie, when we heard you were out there in that commotion we were all worried,” Susan said. “Your face, it’s all scratched up.”

“It’s fine Susan, really. It just looks worse than it is.”

Susan tried to give a comforting smile but looked more worried and concerned instead. “Of all the days for you to come back to work. What a day, huh?”

Natalie looked at Susan, then at the invisible Aphrodite, sighed, and said under her breath, “Yeah....same old, same old.”