Wonder Woman Beyond #10

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WONDER WOMAN BEYOND #10

“Family Matters” Part Two

Written by Dean Grey
Edited by Joel Sawyer


In the late 2040’s, Ares, the Greek god of war, fueled by the wars of the world, gained control of the mighty Amazons. As he led them in battle, Ares toppled Mount Olympus and destroyed the Olympians that did not flee.

When Wonder Woman tried to stop him, she began to fall under Ares’ powerful control as well. The few remaining gods petrified Princess Diana’s form so the war god could not use her against them.

As a last stand against Ares a new hero was chosen. With Aphrodite’s help, Wonder Woman’s awesome powers were removed and given to a modern day descendant of the Amazons. Her name was Natalie Nemos-Nikolaos. Just an average 27-year-old woman, a military widow who became something more....something wonderful. Now she was the new Wonder Woman!

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Her shoulder-length, dark brown hair was a bit of a mess but, at this point, she could care less. She was just too exhausted. Natalie Nemos-Nikolaos fumbled with her house keys and dropped them on the cold ground. It had been a long, long night and as the morning started to hit its stride she’s just glad to finally be home.

“I don’t care how good you think you feel, young man, at least go lie down and take a nap. You’ve been through a lot.”

“A nap? I’m fifteen, Aunt Lee, not five.”

As Natalie and her nephew, Nathan, disagreed their way into the slightly messy living room, a familiar face stopped them in their tracks. The most beautiful blonde-haired woman the pair had ever seen was hunched over on the tan couch. Dressed in her own airy, Grecian top and a borrowed pink skirt, she looked a bit worn and tired.

“Aphrodite!” Nathan Nemos shrieked in a girlish manner as his boyishly cute face lit up. The skinny teenager hugged the Greek goddess of love and beauty at her side as his jet black hair became lost into her golden curls. “You’re back!”

Aphrodite smiled at Nathan’s enthusiastic embrace but something was off. Her heart wasn’t completely into it. She seemed distracted....worried.

Of the three of them, Natalie was easily the “plain Jane” of the group. She placed her house keys on the small stand next to the holo-vid. “What’s wrong, Aphrodite?” she asked, having slowly removed her winter coat which revealed a simple blouse and dress underneath. “What happened?”

“Yeah, didn’t your little vacation turn out well?” Nathan wondered.

Aphrodite couldn’t even look at them. She just hung her head while her bright hair spilled over her face. Tears were in her dazzling blue eyes. “I’ve failed you and I’ve failed the Olympians,” the love goddess said in a cracked voice. “I saw him. He’s planning something none of us anticipated and I don’t know how we can stop him now.”

“Slow down, okay?” Natalie comforted as she sat down on the other side of Aphrodite. “Who did you see?”

Aphrodite picked her head up and looked Natalie dead in the eyes. “I saw Ares. Now that the other Olympians are gone he plans to gain control of the world....and he has the means to do it.”

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Far away, at an undisclosed location swearing could be heard from outside an elaborate temple. Deep inside its grand halls, the air was cool....almost cold. The darkness was kept at bay by a multitude of hot, crackling torches that lined the smooth marble walls. In one of its hidden rooms stood Ares, the Greek god of war.

The flickering torchlight illuminated his Grecian-styled armor in a rhythmic fashion. The sculpted breastplate, greaves, gauntlets, and the rest of his dark blue, dark violet armor reflected the dancing flames. From underneath his horse-plumed helmet, the war god’s glowing red eyes stared at a lone statue in the room.

“Troublesome gods. I still cannot set my granddaughter free,” Ares growled. His deep voice became loud and enraged. “Athena, you pig! Even with you dead I cannot break this spell.”

The statue that had Ares’ attention was of a tall, shapely woman frozen in a semi-twisted pose, arms outstretched as if stopped in mid-movement. At one time this most beautiful woman was born from clay, changed into flesh and blood, but now had been turned to solid stone. The petrified female form was Princess Diana, the original Wonder Woman.

Ares touched Diana’s granite-like face with his icy fingers. “There must be something I can use to undo this. Even without your powers you could lead your “sisters”, my daughters, into battle. I’ll find a way to return what was stolen from you.”

Just then, an Amazon warrior walked into the room. Though dressed in bright golden armor there was a darkness about her. Her eyes glowed a faint crimson, her movements were controlled, and her voice was monotone as if in a trance.

“Lord Ares,” the Amazon said while she saluted the war god, “you have a visitor. Your son wants to see you.”

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Gateway City, the Nikolaos household.....

Nathan Nemos had just come back from his bedroom where he changed into a fresh t-shirt and jeans. He sat on the living room couch alongside Aphrodite and his aunt.

“So what’s a “Doom’s Doorway”?” Nathan asked.

Aphrodite’s beautiful face looked quite serious. “It was a place where all the worst evils of the world were imprisoned by the Olympians,” the love goddess explained. “Thankfully its opening was destroyed long ago with the original Wonder Woman’s help. But now Ares plans to reform the entranceway.”

“Can he really do that?” Nathan sheepishly wondered.

“Yes,” Aphrodite replied quietly having turned towards Natalie. “I don’t know how to stop him now.” The goddess of love and beauty slapped her own knee in disgust and added, “I’m growing weaker and weaker every day.”

The frustration in Aphrodite’s voice was evident as she threw her hands up in the air. “Great Gaea, why was I the one chosen to help you, Natalie? It shouldn’t have been me. Athena’s brilliant mind would have come up with thousands of strategies. And at least she could of trained you how to fight.”

“I thought you said it was Athena’s plan to send you to find me, right?” Natalie tried to reassure her. “If you think that highly of Athena, then trust that she made the right choice. You are the right Olympian for this job.”

Aphrodite shook her head no and replied, “But what have I really done? If it wasn’t for me--”

“--If it wasn’t for you I probably wouldn’t have become the new Wonder Woman,” Natalie said quite seriously. She placed a hand on Aphrodite’s slender shoulder and her voice grew softer, like a soothing whisper. “It was your loving heart that helped me see the connection between my husband and my brother’s deaths with the wars Ares helped cause.”

Natalie’s voice steadily raised again. “Who better to stop a god of war than a god of love? Who else knows Ares so intimately than you? His weaknesses? His faults?”

“I suppose that’s true, but--”

“--No buts,” Natalie interjected. “Let me be really honest here. When you first came to my doorstep and said I was chosen to be the new Wonder Woman, I didn’t want it. I’m not a superhero, I’m just an everyday woman trying to make it in this world like everybody else. I did it for Jason and Mark but also because you believed that I could do it.”

Aphrodite smiled the most perfect smile. “Thank you for that,” the love goddess said though her face still looked a bit somber. “I’m still not sure how to stop Ares now that he’s trying to reopen “Doom’s Doorway”.”

“We’ve come this far haven’t we?” Natalie replied. “We’ll figure something out.” She grabbed one of Aphrodite’s hands while Nathan took hold of the other. “Believe me, Aphrodite,” she said, “together we WILL stop Ares.”

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Back in the temple which was far removed from the rest of the world, Ares waited.

He was seated in the royal chambers on an elaborate throne made for a warrior queen. He impatiently tapped his fingers on the padded armrest then stopped once he felt his son’s presence.

“Why have you come back here, Phobos?” Ares angrily asked.

Out from the eerie shadows, the young man came into the lively torchlight. His build was slim compared to Ares, but the dark blue Grecian armor which concealed his body was noticeably similar.

“I’ve come to see if the rumors are true, Father,” Phobos said from underneath his dark, two-horned helmet. “To see if you’ve really taken someone new as your champion.”

When Ares’ son first appeared his attention was solely on his father. But having been in the decorative room for a few moments, he finally noticed the young woman off to the far left of Ares.

Her black costume remained partially hidden in the darkened corner but Phobos could still see her features. She was perched on a small stool like a bird and had large black wings with long feathers on them. The type of feathers found on a swan....a black swan.

Phobos’ shadowed face snarled while he pointed at the winged woman. “So it’s true, Father! You’ve replaced me with this girl!”

Ares aggressively stood from the throne clearly enraged. “You dare waste my time with your jealousies?!”

“I am a god, Father! A god! And yet you take this mortal as your champion!?”

“Do you forget who you speak to?!” Ares yelled as spit sputtered from his clenched mouth. He walked up to Phobos in forceful steps. Father and son only inches apart. “I’ve given you enough chances and you’ve wasted them all.”

“A mortal, Father? A mortal over your own son?!”

The war god slammed his armored foot on the stone floor. “Enough of this!!” Ares shouted as his eyes suddenly smoldered like fire and shined a more intense red. At that moment, twelve Amazons, dressed in their clanging golden armor with equally glowing crimson eyes entered the chambers. “Remove yourself from this place, my son....or I shall have you removed.”

Ares’ son angrily stared down the Black Swan in the distance, then glanced at the dozen Amazons, and finally looked his father face to face. Not another word was spoken. Phobos backed away several feet not breaking eye contact with Ares. In a flash of violent light, Ares’ son instantly sparked away.

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Seated on the couch in the comfortable living room of Natalie Nemos-Nikolaos, the trio’s discussion had managed to calm Aphrodite’s nerves. Her worries about Ares were gone at least for today and she felt better now. Thankful for their words of encouragement, the goddess of love and beauty gave Natalie’s hand a soft squeeze then faced Nathan and did the same.

“By Olympus, what happened to your neck?” Aphrodite asked while she stared at the small bandage on the side of Nathan’s throat. “I was so caught up in my own troubles I didn’t even notice until now.”

At that moment the telephone rang in the other room. “Let me get that,” Natalie said. She got up and as she headed towards the kitchen Natalie called out from the next room, “Nathan, why don’t you fill her in, dear.”

“Oh my God, Aphrodite, you’re not going to believe what happened.”

“What happened?”

“When we were walking home from dinner last night me and Aunt Lee had gotten attacked by the Cheetah. You know that crazy cat-woman she fought over a month ago?”

“She did that to your neck?”

“Yeah, but Aunt Lee stopped her. You should’ve seen Aunt Lee in action, she was so schway! But after the Cheetah cut me I don’t remember much else. Aunt Lee said the wound was really big and that I lost a lot of blood. The doctors said I was fine though."

“It doesn’t hurt?”

“No, I’m fine,” Nathan reassured her while he gently tapped the padded gauze on his thin neck. “The doctors were even impressed with how quickly I recovered. But....there’s something else.”

“What?”

“When the Cheetah first tried to lunge at us Aunt Lee was trying to transform with the Magic Lasso. I tackled Aunt Lee to safety just as the lasso almost reached the ground, during mid-transformation.” Nathan’s light blue eyes lit up and his voice got excited. “I felt it....the Magic Lasso. It tingled through me and felt so warm, like it was alive.”

“I felt, I don’t know, strange after that,” Nathan continued. “At first I thought it was me being riled up after the attack, you know, and then the doctors closing the wound in the hospital, but now I’m not so sure. Now that I’ve gotten home and had a chance to calm down I still feel that tingling. Almost like a part of the lasso’s magic never left me.”

As Aphrodite pondered what Nathan told her, Natalie had just walked back into the living room and said, “Well, now I have some news of my own.”

“What is it, Aunt Lee?”

“That was your stepmother on the phone just now.”

Nathan Nemos got up from the couch and crossed his skinny arms. His pretty face looked irritated. “What does she want?”

“When the hospital found out I wasn’t your legal guardian, they called your stepmom early this morning and informed her about what happened.”

“So?” Nathan asked.

“So,” Natalie repeated, almost in a mocking way, “she was wondering how you were doing. She wants to see you to make sure you’re okay.”

“Can’t you just tell her no?” Nathan replied clearly annoyed. “This is your house after all.”

“Watch your tone, young man,” Natalie corrected. “I’m not going to tell your stepmother she’s not allowed to visit her only stepson. It’s only for a little while.”

“How long is a little while?” Nathan questioned a bit heatedly.

Natalie braced herself and paused before she answered. “A week.”

“A week?! Oh my God, Aunt Lee, you can’t be serious! What about Aphrodite? Did you think about that?”

“Maybe Aphrodite can become invisible or--”

“--I’m sorry, Natalie, but after my last visit with Ares I’ve lost the ability to remain unseen by mortals.”

Nathan smirked, his arms still crossed. “We can’t exactly hide her in the closet the whole time now can we?”

Natalie started to look angry now. She didn’t even respond to her nephew’s last remark. “Let me call Judith back real quick. I’ll simply tell her that an old friend from college is staying with us as well. Hopefully if I don’t give too much information she won’t ask a lot of questions. Your stepmom can have my bed, Aphrodite will be in the spare bedroom as usual, you have your room, and I’ll sleep on the couch.”

The problem being solved made Nathan more frustrated than before and he let out a “hmmph”.

Natalie walked over to her nephew and lightly tugged on his small chin. “You and your stepmother are just going to have to work things out and try to get along. Like it or not, you two are family.”

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Star City State Penitentiary, Star City.....

Baqir Al Asad had been planning his escape ever since he was first sent to this place. His resources here are limited, almost nonexistent. The other inmates hated him for having ratted out former associates even though the confession was forced from him by the new Wonder Woman’s use of her Magic Lasso.

But Asad is no fool. He’s been in tighter spots than this and still managed to not only survive, but thrive. While on his one hour of free time, Baqir Al Asad waited near the maximum security prison’s rec room for his only available contact here.

A tall, thin inmate dressed in a matching orange jumpsuit walked up. The same nationality as Asad, the two men began to quietly speak in Arabic.

<“I gave them the message, Mr. Asad. I won’t know if they’ll agree to it until tomorrow.”>

<“Oh they’ll agree,”> Baqir Al Asad said while he leaned his large frame against the nearest wall. <“I’ve supplied them with enough weapons and finances over these last few years to kill an entire army. They’re going to get me out of here. They owe me.”>

Asad’s scarred face smiled as he smoothed back his black hair with a damaged hand that missed two fingers. He spoke English now and in a slightly heavy Arabic accent added, “I help them, they help me. That’s the way it works. We’re like family.”



............To be continued.