Wonder Woman – Volume 3 – 31

Synopsis

On Themyscira, Alkyone watches secretly as the Amazons gather on the beach below. She sees Hippolyta greet the Bana-Mighdall Amazons as part of the tribe, which Alkyone cannot believe. Just then she hears Ares behind her that says that perhaps the queen is trying to heal the rift amongst her sisters. The Amazon replies that she knows he has no love for the Amazons and not to flatter her. He tells her that in fact he favours them – her most of all. She then asks him if the queen will survive and Ares replies that Zeus intends all the Amazons to receive his “gift” – he means for all of the them to die. “You are alone” he tells her. She replies that there are three others and the God of War asks if she expects him to free her sisters for her. He adds that she must be desperate to call upon his services and that no bargain with him ever works out quite the way imagined.

Alkyone replies that she is desperate but that he will honour his side of the bargain – so that she can keep her oath to the Amazon Queen.

“All of us, everyone, will die before an enemy touches a lock of the queen’s hair, that is our sacred trust” quotes Ares almost mockingly. As they spar with words, Alkyone warns him that if he betrays her he will feel the point of her sword. He assures her that he has no such intentions and says that he has a gift for her…what looks like a small clay puppet doll…

Back in Washington DC, Wonder Woman visits Montgomery Hospital to check on Etta. She is met by Tamika, one of the doctors, who says that the city is in shock after the recent slaughters at both the Two Rivers Mall and the Department of Meta Human Affairs. But it is Etta’s conditions that concerns her more. She is catatonic, breathing on her own but not responding to much. “Quite frankly she’s beyond us”. Tamika adds. “If I were a silly woman, I’d day someone ripped her heart out with their fingernails.”

Wonder Woman can barely hold back her tears, trying not to show her sadness and Tamika assures her that nobody is looking and that it is good to let it out. She then tells Diana that she has to find a smile for Etta and that she seems to like it when someone holds her hand. Just then Morrow hands her a box of tissues nervously and says that she might want to use them in case her face had gotten dirty during the flight over here. She thanks him and takes one, dabbing the tears from her face.

Just the she hears a familiar voice and turns to see Tom dressed in a hospital gown. They hug each other warmly and he says that he will take her to Etta’s room. Tom then spots Morrow standing behind her and angrily asks what the scientists is doing here? Wonder Woman calmly replies that he is here to help her kill Genocide.

As they walk down the corridor to Etta’s room she apologises to him for the injuries he has sustained and he jokes that he’s been here so often now they have named a casserole after him! He continues to tell her that while she was away, things have been happening fast. Wherever thee is a military stockpile or political gathering, Achilles and his Greek soldiers turn up and shut them down.

At that very moment in New York, Achilles, astride a flying elephant, leads his men towards the United Nations Building. As he dismounts he is warned by one of his comrades that the weapons of this era are fierce indeed and to be wary. The surrounding troops open fire but Achilles uses his incredible speed to dodge the bullets and ploughs through the blockade. He then summons his elephant and uses it to smash a hole through the wall allowing him to enter the main chamber. He stands up on the podium and instructs the shocked delegates that that have all failed, speaking of peace but delivering only death. They no longer even worship the gods. But he warns them to believe this – that he will remake the clay of the world and that which does not shape will shatter. Demonstrations of this will follow and he warns them to heed them…and bow…

Back at the hospital Wonder Woman and Tom reach Etta’s bedside. Tom begins to speak as they look sadly down at the lifeless Etta but Diana cuts him short. “Please don’t say this isn’t my fault Tom. Somehow I don’t believe I am in the mood to hear that right now.” She then asks to be left alone for a few minutes.

She sees a bunch of flowers by the bedside and reads the tender words on the card, written by Steve Trevor. She sits down and takes her friend’s hand, thinking to herself “This many tears. And then no more. This many. And no more”.

Just then she hears Tamika’s voice behind her say “You have already admitted defeat in your heart. That was our mistake.” Puzzled, Wonder Woman turns and sees that Tamika is standing almost trance like in the doorway. She continues to tell Wonder Woman that they had seen a world no longer fit for them and that the gods had passed their point of usefulness. Wonder Woman stands and asks who is speaking through Tamika.

The possessed Tamika continues to tell the Amazon Princess that she had had a vision the night before the New Gods came. In this dream she saw a world in which Ares had won. He had defeated all the other pantheons and had killed the super heroes of the world too. He had unlimited power and resource and his taste for humiliation and pain had only grown. Diana had thought all along that she was the one who had been singled out for special torment but she was never in fact the true target. She and her Amazon sisters were only the instrument. Their suffering was meant only to be the sword that cleaved the heart of another. Zeus. It was his father that Ares hated the most.

At last Wonder Woman realises that this must be Athena and says that she had been told the Goddess had died. Athena replies that she had used an old trick to deceive the other Gods, transforming into her bird form and flying away – a form which she has taken on many occasions – the night of Diana’s creation – and again to save her life on the night Alkyone and her sisters had tried to murder her in Hippolyta’s chambers.

Athena continues to explain that Areas is a jealous creature. He hated the love and faith the Amazons still had the temerity to show his father and the rest of the Olympian Gods. So he set about creating something to love and worship himself without question. He had the raw material – the corpse of a magnificent warrior – and he gathered without their knowing, villains to create his lover, bodyguard and worshipper. Faust, Magnus Morrow, Cheetah. And thus Genocide was created – twisted and altered and filled with poison and mistrust and the spirit of murder from a century of fanatics. It desires only the death and pain of the innocent.

Wonder Woman kneels before her patron and asks what she is supposed to do with this information? Athena replies that she has not told her everything yet. Her dream had not been a dream at all – it had been a vision of their true future! And genocide is from that future. Achilles and his men are in Russia right now just outside Moscow. They do not know it, but Ares has chosen them to start the conflict that will destroy the world in the name of peace. Genocide is the new Prometheus…and the corpse, the great warrior that she was made from…is Wonder Woman!!!

The Amazon Princess stares in horror at Athena, and then looks at her friend lying on the bed. “I…did this? I killed all those people? Crippled my friend?” She visibly sags at the news and Athena assures her that it was all Ares doing. Genocide is filled with his Godly essence and no longer knows any part of Diana. Wonder Woman replies that she cannot believe this to be true but Athena reminds her that who else could command the golden lasso forged only for her hand? She then kisses Wonder Woman’s forehead gently and says that in trying to create peace, the Olympians will start the Earth’s final war in fifteen minutes. “I am sorry Diana…but you know your duty. Go save us all daughter.”

Meanwhile at the missile launch silo in Russia, Achilles and his men have already overpowered the Russian troops guarding the facility. Just then they see a red blue and gold streak approaching across the sky. Wonder Woman ploughs into Achilles taking care of the rest of the Olympians. Achilles gets back up and grabs her around the throat but she hurls him over her shoulder. She throws a punch but he dodges it easily. Realising his incredible speed, she decides that it will have to be wrestling instead. She grabs him and muscling him to the ground, wraps him in some barbed wire.

She tells him she cannot let him and his men occupy this base as they have no idea of the war they are starting. He replies that she misunderstands and that they seek to destroy the firepower – not use it. Just then the whole ground shakes and the air is filled with the war of rocket engines as an ICBM launches from its silo. Wonder Woman zooms into the air and pursues the projectile, allowing it to reach the upper atmosphere before detonating it harmlessly in the vacuum of space.

As she returns to the base she sees that Achilles and his men have departed – to face the near consequences of their good intentions. She thinks how Athena had told her that she had already admitted defeat in her heart and the Goddess was right. But Wonder Woman is no Olympian. She does not follow the path blindly. She is an Amazon by blood and birth. And she will find Genocide and defeat it.

“And then, flesh of my flesh or not, I will put that restless atrocity in it’s eternal grave!”