The banquet hall in Athena’s palace was the site of a lavish feast. Long wooden tables were piled high with savory sturgeon, bread, cheese, figs, pomegranates, and honeyed wine. After subsisting on little more than gruel for weeks, the Amazonian initiates eagerly dug into the generous spread. Silver goblets and cutlery clinked as the fit young women chattered brightly amongst themselves, often with their mouths full. An elevated dais, garlanded with fresh flowers, looked down upon the festivities. Moonlight poured into the chamber from a marble archway behind the raised platform. Flutes and lyres contributed to the merriment. A roaring fire kept the winter chill outside. Drooling warhounds prowled the floor, searching for scraps, or else gnawed on bones before the hearth. The delicious aroma of the feast wafted through the air.
Not that Mary was in any position to enjoy the repast. Disguised as a lowly scullery maid, wearing nothing but a coarse burlap smock, she shuffled from table to table, refilling the other women’s goblets from a heavy clay amphora. Her mouth watered, and her stomach grumbled, at
the sight and smell of the tempting delicacies. Still, at least nobody seemed to be paying any attention to her....
“Watch what you’re doing, Cinderella!” Harley Quinn exclaimed as Mary slopped some wine over the edge of Harley’s goblet. The blonde was seated next to Holly Robinson at one of the benches facing the tables. Harley grabbed on to Mary’s hair and yanked her head down onto the table. “Relax,” Harley whispered under her breath. “I’m just reinforcing your cover, pretending to punish the clumsy slave girl.”
Mary’s cheek was flat against the grainy tabletop. “Hating you right now,” she whispered back. She held on tightly to both the amphora and her temper. Her jaws clenched as she forced herself to count to ten. Mission or no mission, Harley’s lucky I don’t have my powers anymore.
' * “Bad slave!” Harley scolded, to the amusement of the other girls at the table. She let go of Mary’s hair and roughly shoved her away from the table. “No more spilling the wine or I’ll bop you on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper!”
The derisive laughter of the Amazon wannabes scalded Mary’s ears as she stumbled over to the next table, laboring beneath the weight of the wine-filled vessel. That infiltrating the palace as an anonymous servant had all been part of Queen Hippolyta’s plan did little to ease her humiliation. Talk about pride coming before the fall, she thought. Getting made fun of by the Joker’s psycho ex was proof positive of just how far she’d sunk since accepting Black Adam’s toxic gift. Although I suppose it’s nothing more than I deserve. ...
She still wasn’t sure how much of her recent misbehavior could be attributed to Eclipso’s influence, Black Adam’s darkness, or her own human failings. Probably some combination thereof, she guessed, but that doesn’t really let me off the hook. I’m still accountable for my own actions... and for letting other people lead me astray.
The jeers and laughter died away, and an expectant hush fell over the banquet hall, as Athena herself, in full regalia, entered through the archway. The false goddess strode to the front of the dais. Her voice rang out over the assembly.
“After weeks of training, I know in my heart that the proud women in this room would rather drown in their own blood than yield an inch to their oppressors. Time and time again, each of you has proven her valor to me and to each other. Athena salutes you and embraces you all as sisters. Here you have been schooled in the noble art of combat. Here you have been given the skills to survive. And one day soon you will pick up your swords and thrust them into the hearts of our enemies.” Her voice soared as she held out her arms in benediction. “You fight like warriors. You bear the scars of warriors. You eye the world around you as you would an adversary. Soon you shall be ... Female Furies!”
Cheers erupted from the feasting women. They raised their goblets to toast the glorious future Athena had just laid out before them. But something about Athena’s stirring oration didn’t sit right with Mary.
Female Furies? Mary felt certain that she had heard that term before, but she couldn’t immediately remember where. Times like this she wished she could still rely on the wisdom of the gods, as opposed to her own fallible mortal memory. Not that that vaunted wisdom stopped me from losing my way in the end. . .
Athena snapped her fingers, summoning four young women via the archway behind her. Each of the quartet sported handcrafted armor of unique design. A crested helmet concealed the features of one initiate, whose six-foot frame was encased in lacquered black plate metal. Fearsome tattoos marked the face of a dark-skinned woman whose satiny, two-piece outfit had an exotic South Asian look; jewel-studded blades jutted from her knees, elbows, and collar. A miniature skull, chiseled from a glittering emerald, was lodged in her navel. Bladed Indian weapons known as katars rested upon her hips. Beside her stood a pale, deceptively slight-looking woman boasting a shaved skull and skintight blue leather. Artificial wings, and silver chain mail, gave the fourth and final woman the intimidating aspect of an avenging angel or Thanagarian. The women spread out behind Athena, standing stiffly at attention. Their faces bore looks of grim determination and/or unquestioning obedience.
Mary heard Holly gasp in surprise. “Tricia?” the Gotham girl murmured. Holly stared wide-eyed at the black girl on Athena’s right, the one with all the lethal ornamentation. Guess there’s some history there.
“Today,” Athena proclaimed, “these four of your sisters will show you the path ... as our first full Amazonian Furies!”
Mary wondered why Holly and Harley hadn’t rated 'such status yet. Could it be that Athena still had doubts regarding their loyalty? That doesn’t bode well....
The other initiates greeted their comrades’ elevation with enthusiasm. “FURIES!” they chanted, pounding their goblets upon the tabletop. Holly and Harley joined in the raucous chorus, the better to blend in with the rest. If anything, Harley whooped it up more than anybody else. She bounced up and down upon her bench. “FURIES! FURIES!”
Athena silenced the cheers with a gesture. “Heed my words, my sisters. The days ahead will sorely test our resolve. Brutish warriors from Man’s World will attempt to crush our spirit. Every nation will be arrayed against us. But take heart! They cannot conquer women such as we. Our strength and fury will drive them into the ground until rivers of blood flow—”
“That’s enough!” Mary hurled the amphora to the floor, where it shattered loudly upon the marble tiles. She just couldn’t take any more of this, watching all these gullible young women fall for Athena’s lies. “Are you people crazy? She’s trying to seduce you with flowery rhetoric about the glories of war and vengeance. I’ve heard this kind of talk from Eclipso—and this so-called goddess is manipulating you the same way!”
One table over, Holly buried her face in her hands. “Oh no, she is not doing this... !”
“She isn’t?” Harley gulped down the last of her wine. “Sure sounds like it to me!”
Athena was unfazed by Mary’s accusations. “Oh dear, it seems we have a disgruntled servant among our ranks.” She turned to the newly anointed acolytes behind her. “Furies, kill her!”
“With pleasure!” The one named Tricia launched herself from the dais. She plucked her katars from her hips. Defenseless, Mary braced herself for the Fury’s attack. Her back was up against a colossal stone caryatid. She realized she didn’t stand a chance.
' * I don’t regret a word, though.
“You’re not killing anyone, Trish!” Holly sprang from her seat, intercepting Tricia in midleap. Her fist collided with the other woman’s jaw.
Harley executed a backward flip off her bench, landing directly in front of Mary. “Keep behind me, big mouth!” The tall Fury in the ebony armor charged at Harley and Mary. “We have traitors among us!” she snarled. “Kill all three of them!”
“Wait!” Mary pleaded, even as Harley defended her from the armored stranger. The blonde parried the Fury’s blows with her Amazon bracelets. Mary shouted over the din of battle, “This is stupid! Athena is just using you!” Landing atop one of the banquet tables, Tricia recovered from Holly’s punch. She glared murderously at the impertinent redhead as she massaged her bruised jaw. “You dare attack me! One of Athena's Elect?” She slashed at Holly with her katars. The blades sliced the air as Holly dodged the strikes as nimbly as a cat. Cups and plates clattered to the floor as the two women dueled upon the cluttered tabletop. Food and drink spilled over into the other Amazons’ laps. Tricia’s tattooed face turned a livid
BDilTliSi 2BS
shade of purple. “I’ll gut you and feed the pieces to my dogs!”
Less than ten paces away, Harley flipped the black knight directly into the path of the pale, bald-headed Fury, who found herself knocked off her feet by her own comrade. Confusion reigned as the tangled Furies bowled over several of the jostling spectators as well, Harley laughed uproariously at the slapstick spectacle, and Mary had to admit that the irritating flake knew how to fight. “Come on, ladies!” Harley called out to the scattered initiates, who seemed tom between fleeing the violence and competing with each other for the best view. They crowded around the combatants, adding to the chaos. Harley wagged a finger at her audience. “What happened to the whole ‘Sisterhood of Paradise Island’ vibe we had going here?” “
> The same thing that happened with my best friend and soul mate, Eclipso, Mary thought bitterly. It was all just a scam to take advantage of vulnerable young women. . . and turn them into killers.
“Is that the best you’ve got, Tricia?” Holly ducked beneath the Fury’s katars and delivered a solid uppercut to her chin. Tricia toppled backward onto the tabletop, landing flat on her back amidst squashed cheese and figs. “Don’t you get special training points for brownnosing Athena?” ~ ‘ "
The winged Fury flapped angrily above them, looking for an opening. Holly grabbed a silver platter from the table and hurled it like a discus at the second-rate Hawk-girl impersonator. The spinning tray clipped the soaring Fury in the skull, throwing her off course, and she crashed headfirst into a nearby column. “Thank you for flying Air Paradise!” Holly quipped. “Happy landings!”
Up on the dais, the goddess finally lost her composure. “Why is this taking so long?” she screeched. “Kill them, my Furies! Kill them now!”
A new voice interrupted Athena’s tirade. “If anyone dies today, pretender, it shall be you!”
Hippolyta marched through the archway onto the platform. An unsheathed sword occupied her right hand. A gleaming shield, embossed with the emblem of a magnificent eagle, rested upon her strong left arm. Her purple cape rustled behind her.
“You!” Athena blurted. Her startled face betrayed her shock. “You can’t be here!”
“I’ve been away too long!” Hippolyta advanced on Athena. Her sword flashed in the moonlight. “This island is not your personal training ground! The gods bestowed it upon us as a place of peace and harmony!”
“Awesome! It’s the queen!” Harley pumped her fist in the air. “Kick her phony-baloney ass, your majesty!” Hippolyta swung her sword at Athena, forcing the false goddess to retreat to the very edge of the dais. “Peace and harmony are for weaklings!” Athena sneered. Bright orange bolts of energy blasted from her fingertips. “You should have stayed away, Hippolyta! You no longer rule here!”
“That’s where you’re mistaken.” Hippolyta jumped above the destructive blasts, which reduced a portion of the dais to splinters instead. Smoke rose from the charred timbers. “Show them who you really are! Reveal the true face of the deceiver!”
Her blade slashed past Athena’s defenses. The sword’s point sliced across the goddess’s porcelain features, drawing a crimson line upon her cheek. Athena squealed in pain. “My face!” she cried out—as a carefully crafted illusion shattered.
Athena’s regal fa£ade blurred and wavered, like an out-of-focus television signal, before blinking out entirely. The elegant, silk-draped goddess vanished, replaced by a stocky figure very different in appearance. Where Athena had been, there now stood a craggy-faced harridan whose matronly frame was corseted into studded leather armor. A mane of thick white hair framed her scowling face. Cruelty and contempt were etched upon her deeply furrowed countenance. Icy blue eyes peered out from beneath bristling black eyebrows. Scaly green chain mail protected her stout legs. A dark red cloak with a raised collar was clasped to her shoulders. Glowing energy-gauntlets hummed upon her wrists. Mary recognized the hideous crone at once.
Holy Moley! It’s Granny Goodness!
The name, bestowed upon the evil New God by Darkseid himself, was one of the Dark Lord’s crueler jests. Granny Goodness was infamous for the hellish orphanages she administered upon Apokolips, whose sole purpose was to mold the lost children of Armagetto into bloodthirsty minions of Darkseid. Mary’s heart sank as she suddenly remembered why the term “Female Furies” had sounded so familiar. The Female Furies of Apokolips were Granny’s prize students, the cream of her sadistic crop. Now, it seemed, she’d expanded her vile franchise to Paradise Island.
Did Eclipso know about this? Mary worried, disturbed to discover that she had not yet escaped Darkseid’s malign ambitions. Were she and Granny working together, or were they competing for the Dark Lord’s approval?
“Evil child!” Granny croaked hoarsely. Reddened fingers came away from her injured cheek. “You actually hurt your Granny!”
“You’re no kin of mine!” Hippolyta shot back. “And that wound is but a precursor to the punishment that awaits you!” Her shield deflected another blast from Granny’s gauntlets. “Alone against you, I knew I might not prevail, but with good, strong women at my side, you falter like the coward you are!”
“No! Damn you!” Immortal blood dripped down Granny’s face as she hastily depressed a button upon her gauntlet. A. thunderclap shook the palace as a swirling vortex opened up in the air above the dais. Fearing Hippolyta’s wrath, Granny darted into the vortex with surprising speed. She disappeared into the shimmering Boom Tube.
“Witness!” Hippolyta commanded all present. She raised her sword in victory. “Defeated, she flees with her tail between her legs!”
Mary breathed a sigh of relief. Had the evil infesting Themyscira been routed so easily? Abandoned by their goddess, and stunned by the revelation of her true appearance, the Female Furies looked floored by Granny’s retreat. Their arms drooped slackly at their sides. Tricia’s katars slipped from her fingers as she stared numbly at the vortex that had swallowed her divine leader. Like the other Furies, she didn’t seem to have any more fight in her.
It’s over, Mary thought.
Or maybe not.
“Hey!” Harley protested. Bounding onto a table, she ran the length of the table toward the lingering Boom Tube. “That ugly broad scammed us all! We can’t let her get
away!”
' > She dived into the vortex after Granny.
Maty and Holly exchanged disbelieving looks. “She didn’t...” Holly muttered.
“Yeah, she did.” Mary took a deep breath as the Boom Tube began to fade from sight. Within moments, the portal would be gone for good, along with Harley Quinn. Mary glanced at Holly. “You wanna ... ?”
Holly ran toward the Boom Tube even as she shook her head in dismay. “I swear I’m going to kill her one of these days!”
“Not if I get her first!” Mary insisted. She sprinted after Holly, quickly catching up with her. Side by side, they raced for the portal, which was closing up right before their eyes. Infuriating or not, Mary thought, Harley did save my life just now.
Holly seemed startled to find Mary accompanying her. She looked dubiously at the unarmed girl. “Are you kidding, Mary? What are you going to do?”
The Boom Tube loomed before them, filling up Mary’s vision. She glimpsed a shimmering corridor, lined with bizarre, unearthly circuitry. Coruscating energies hummed and crackled. Her skin tingled. The scent of ozone invaded her nostrils. Nightmarish memories of Apokolips sent a chill down her spine.
“I’ll figure it out later,” she said.
They threw themselves into the unknown.
The vortex closed behind them with a resounding boom.
Despair burned freely from the planet’s core, fouling the atmosphere. The entire world moaned, a sound that chilled the soul with its dull emptiness and infernal malevolence. Walls a thousand feet high enclosed a sprawling megalopolis that burst upward like a pestilent boil as charnel winds extinguished the pallid stars from view. On the horizon, towering techno-temples rested on the halfcalcified bones of a billion failed genetic experiments, thrusting upward into the smoky black sky, while across this revolting graveyard of the universe, the muffled, maddening, and monotonous whine of blasphemous wails rose from inconceivable subterranean torture chambers. Gigantic Fire Pits belched enormous gouts of flame.
Donna gazed out over the hellish cityscape. The hot air scorched her lungs. “On my list of the worst possible places to be, this is number one.”
Along with Ray Palmer, the Challengers stood atop the roof of a concrete workhouse in the filthy Armagetto. Donna recognized the dismal setting from past battles against Darkseid and his minions. Turning away from the ugly spectacle, she confronted the Monitor. “Why exactly are we on Apokolips?”
She kept her guard up. Ever since Solomon’s brutal execution of that alternate version of Barry Allen, she didn’t trust the Monitor one bit. He may very well have the safety of the entire universe in mind, she thought, but he’s inade it all too clear that he’s willing to sacrifice any one of us to achieve his aims.
So did that make him a dangerous ally—or a mortal enemy?
“Yeah. What’s the scoop?” Jason demanded. He methodically polished his knife while keeping a wary eye on their surroundings. So far their arrival had gone unnoticed, but that wasn’t likely to remain the case. “Why this detour to Darkseid’s backyard?”
“That is no concern of yours,” Solomon said brusquely. 'His armored hand was clasped firmly onto the Atom’s shoulder, lest his latest recruit attempt to elude them once more. Ray’s winter jacket was soiled and tom from the battle back on Earth-51. His red-rimmed eyes held a haunted expression. “Suffice it to say that I have business on this accursed globe—as does Ray Palmer.”
“Me?” Ray blurted. “Are you out of your mind? I don’t want anything to do with this place!”
Donna wondered if he was having second thoughts about joining their bizarre expedition. Not that I blame him, she conceded. I’m starting to question whether this was such a good idea myself. Prophecy or no prophecy.
“Hold it together, Palmer,” Jason said irritably. He glared at Solomon. “I’m sure our red-eyed buddy has a good reason for bringing us here. At least he’d better have.”
“As I said,” the Monitor replied, “that is my own affair.” To Donna’s surprise, a column of light suddenly cut off Solomon and Ray from her and Jason. Solomon consulted a display screen on his gauntlet. “Come, Ray Palmer. We can tarry here no longer.”
“Hey!” Jason shouted. He lunged at the glowing figures.
but they had already grown too immaterial to grab on to. Donna watched in dismay as the Monitor and Ray began to fade from view. Jason kicked the rooftop in frustration. “What about us?”
“You have served your purpose for now,” Solomon declared, even as his sepulchral voice diminished in volume. “Our paths part here.”
On Apokolips?
“Wait!” Donna called out, but it was already too late. The Monitor had vanished, taking the Atom with him. She and Jason were on their own, and stranded on the most dangerous planet in the Multiverse.
With no way home.
“II was foolish to follow me!” Granny Goodness cackled. She stood upon the bleachers of a vast assembly hall within the forbidding confines of her infamous orphanage. Ugly gray masonry, barren of any ornamentation, testified to the soul-destroying bleakness of Granny’s infamous institution. “I cannot believe that I thought you mortal trulls had the potential to join my Female Furies.” The genuine articles were perched on the wide cement tiers behind Granny, while a squadron of armed Parademons fanned out before her. “Now my true Furies will rip you to pieces! Kill them, girls!” she exhorted her lethal favorites. “Do it for Granny!”
“Are you kidding?” Harley jeered back. She and Holly and Mary crouched behind dense concrete columns, which provided them momentary shelter from the sizzling blasts of the Parademons’ energy-rifies. The unleashed firepower chipped away at the pillars. Bursts of orange energy burned through the barriers, narrowly missing the three women. Harley shouted over the din, “I don’t know the meaning of the word /ear!”
“Harley,” Holly quipped, her back pressed up against a column, “you don’t know the meaning of most words.” Mary rolled her eyes. “I hate to interrupt your oh-so-funny banter, but is there a plan we should be following?” / can’t believe I'm back on Apokolips again, she thought. And without my powers this tune. Unlike her armored companions, Mary had only a tattered smock to protect her from their enemies and the elements. The interior of the orphanage was cold and drafty, the better to toughen Granny’s unfortunate charges. The chilly cement floor leeched the heat from Mary’s bare feet. Smoky fumes rose from mounted torches. The stale air reeked of old sweat and fear. Mary shivered uncontrollably. What was I thinking, jumping through that Boom Tube after Harley?
Paradise Island was light-years away now. Mary briefly - wondered what had become of Hippolyta, who had stayed behind to restore order to Themyscira. No doubt she had her hands full dealing with an island full of confused Amazon wannabes. Mary figured they couldn’t count on the Amazon queen coming to their rescue. Hippolyta had no way to get to Apokolips even if she wanted to.
We ’re on our own, Mary realized. And up against an entire planet of evil gods.
“Plan?” Holly shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I didn’t book this trip.”
Granny continued to rail at them from behind the massed Parademons. Mary didn’t have the nerve to peer around the comer of the pillar, but she could readily imagine the crone’s livid face. “If you’ve come to free the gods, you’re going to fail miserably!”
Free the gods? Mary exchanged a startled glance with Holly. “Did she just say ... ?”
“Ha!” Harley gloated. Her face lit up with glee. “I knew this was a good idea.” She gave her accomplices an unmistakable I-told-you-so look. “Say something mean to me now!”
“Very well,” an amused voice replied from behind the Earthwomen. A flexible steel band whipped out and wrapped itself tightly around the lower half of Harley’s face, gagging her. A muffled gasp barely escaped the wide silver ribbon. “I’m going to tear your head off and feed it to my plasmid eels!”
Spinning around, Mary saw three Female Furies charging at them from behind, having obviously circled around them via the orphanage’s labyrinthine passageways. She recognized them as the elite of Granny’s hand-trained warriors. Although she had never fought them before, she knew of their vicious reputation. They gave Supergirl a rough time a while back.
“The name is Lashina,” the leader of the Furies declared as she yanked Harley off her feet, “for obvious reasons.” Chrome-colored strips accented a dark blue bodysuit that fit tightly over her athletic figure. A sleek black ponytail whipped about behind her head. A horizontal metal band divided her face in two, protecting her nose. Cruel blue eyes gleamed above the steel noseguard. Contempt dripped from her ruby lips. “Allow me to introduce your friends to Stompa.”
The latter was a veritable behemoth of a woman, the size of Solomon Grundy or Gorilla Grodd. A double-breasted brown leather uniform encased her hefty frame. A skull and crossbones was imprinted on the brow of her hard plastic helmet, which made her look like the world’s largest roller derby contestant. Tinted brown goggles concealed her eyes, but not the outrage in her voice. “Which one of you skinny bitches hurt our Granny?” she demanded as she stamped her heavy antimatter boots upon the floor.
An earthquake shook the assembly, knocking Mary off her feet. A deep crack snaked across the quivering cement floor. Dust rained down from the rafters. Mary heard Holly crash to the ground as well. The other girl swore.
A third Fury sprang toward Mary. “I’m Mad Harriet!” She laughed maniacally. Her crazed grin and wild green mane immediately reminded Mary of the Joker, if the Joker were an alien madwoman with jaundiced yellow skin, chartreuse hair, and bulging green eyes. A metallic breastplate shielded her torso, while a lime-colored loincloth flapped between her legs. Her fur-trimmed boots matched her green hair. Shining steel gauntlets were equipped with razor-sharp claws. “And you made my Granny upset!” “Granny is god!” Stompa picked up the refrain. “We worship our Granny!”
Holly scrambled to her feet, but Stompa lowered the boom again. Another earth tremor rocked the corridor, sending pulverized stone into the air. A loud rumbling noise drowned out Mary’s gasps. Sprawled backward upon the bucking floor, she was tossed about helplessly, which saved her life, ironically enough. The jarring vibrations threw off Mad Harriet’s attack, so that the lunatic’s claws missed Mary by a hair. The gleaming razors slashed the empty air Only inches away from Mary’s face.
Talk about a close shave!
“Wow,” Holly said sarcastically, leaping toward Stompa. Unlike Mary, the former Catwoman used the earthquake to nimbly propel herself toward the hulking Fury. A steel-toed Amazon boot kicked Stompa in the teeth, causing the gargantuan woman to reel backward. She teetered precariously atop her bulky legs. “You must scare the crap out of cockroaches...
Holy Moley! Mary thought, impressed and encouraged by her ally’s fighting skills. Out of the comer of her eye, she spotted Harley grappling with Lashina. Spinning like a dervish, Harley had somehow managed to unwind the lash about her head. “Hold still, curse you!” Lashina hissed as Harley ducked and dodged the Fury’s whistling namesakes. “Stop jumping about like an accursed bug!”
“I got a better idea,” Harley said brightly. She snatched up a piece of fallen rubble and flung it at Lashina’s head. The rocky fragment smashed against the woman’s nose-guard, pelting her eyes and mouth with flying pieces of stone. “Hold this with your face!”
Was that enough to defeat Lashina? Mary had no time to find out as Mad Harriet came at her again. “Slice and dice! Dice and slice!” Still shaken by the tremors, Mary backed away fearfully on all fours, but the insane Fury was too fast for her. She pounced on Mary, pinning her to the ground. A cold metal gauntlet closed around Mary’s throat. Sharpened claws pricked her flesh, barely breaking the skin. Harriet’s leering face was mere inches away from Mary’s. Spittle sprayed her cheeks. The Fury’s hot breath smelled like sour milk. “Choppy choppy, little girl!”
Only heartbeats away from being turned into heroine salad, Mary played dirty. Harriet squealed in pain as Mary bit off the tip of the Fury’s long, pointy nose.
Ugh! Mary spit the nauseating morsel onto the floor even as Harriet leapt away from her, clutching her mutilated nose. Blood sprayed through her clawed fingertips. “You bad toy, you!” she howled, no longer grinning like a loon. Deranged eyes spun in their sockets. “I’ll kill you! Kill! KILL!” '
Mary wasn’t going to stick around to give Harriet a chance to get even. Rolling over onto her hands and knees, she hastily stumbled to her feet. She looked anxiously for her companions, but saw that the girls from Gotham were still caught up in their own life-or-death battles. Holly was sitting piggyback astride Stompa’s brawny shoulders, her arms locked around the Fury’s throat. “Ungh!” she grunted as she fought to topple the larger woman. “Why won’t you
fall?” ..........' '
“Release her!” Four surly Parademons arrived to reinforce the Furies. They aimed their rifles at Holly.
“Okay!” Holly flipped Stompa over so that the huge Fury slammed head over heels into the gun-wielding guards, who scattered like bowling pins. “She’s all yours!” The assembly hall shook as Stompa hit the ground with tremendous force. Holly somersaulted onto the floor, springing up just in time to see Lashina deliver a vicious blow to Harley with her trademark metal whip. The flashing silver ribbon smacked Harley across the face, knocking her onto her butt. “Oh no,” Holly gasped.
“How pathetic!” Lashina towered over Harley, who, straggling up onto her knees, wiped the blood from her split lip. Lashina’s whip spun like a propeller blade as the pissed-off warrior woman prepared to deliver the coup de grace. “You were supposed to be a Fury?” Lashina snorted in derision. “You’re not worthy of—”
“Shut up!” Holly leapt to her friend’s defense. Her heel collided with Lashina’s jaw.
Good one, Mary thought as she raced away from Mad Harriet, who chased her down an adjacent corridor. “My face! My beautiful face!” the injured Fury shrieked. She bounded after Mary like a bloodthirsty hyena.
“Do they not have mirrors on Apokolips?” Mary wondered aloud. Mad Harriet had been no beauty even before Mary gave her an impromptu nose job. Mary’s feet pounded against the cold stone floor as she ran for her life. Glaridng back over her shoulder, she saw the vengeful Fury gaining on her. Bloody claws reached out for the defenseless young woman. “I am so missing my powers right now!”
“Miserable meat bag!” A trio of Parademons appeared before Mary, blocking her path. They hefted their rifles at the sight of the fleeing girl. “Gun it down!”
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding!” Mary exclaimed. Thinking fast, she hurled herself facedown onto the floor, so that the soldiers’ guns targeted Mad Harriet instead. The startled madwoman skidded to a halt as she suddenly found herself facing an Apokoliptian firing squad. Muzzles flared.
“Wait!” she hollered, but not soon enough. A merciless hail of energy beams shredded Mad Harriet’s flesh, reducing her to a gory wreck on the hallway floor. Whimpered moans informed Mary that Harriet was still clinging to life. Was it even possible to kill a New God?
The scorching gunfire was over in a second as the trigger-happy Parademons realized their error. “Uh, that was ill-advised,” one of them gulped. He sheepishly lowered his weapon, all but forgetting about Mary as he contemplated the enormity of what they had just done. “Granny’s going to eviscerate us, isn’t she?”
A finger tapped his shoulder from behind. “If I were you, I wouldn’t worry about Granny,” Holly advised as she and Harley ambushed the distracted Parademons. Mar>' climbed back to her feet as the other two women made short work of the guards and confiscated their rifles. The unconscious soldiers soon lay in a heap upon the floor. “We need to get out of here ASAP!”
Harley winked at Mary. “Nice moves for a serving wench.”
“Ha-ha,” Mary replied. She wished Harley would drop the slave-girl jokes; still, she couldn’t complain. Compared to Mad Harriet, Harley seemed positively sane.
The pigtailed blonde lobbed the spare rifle over to Mary. “Just like a camera,” Harley promised. “Point and shoot... preferably in the direction of evil.”
“Forget it.” Mary tossed the weapon aside. She had already come too close to the dark side, under Eclipso’s insidious tutelage, to compromise her values once more. “No guns. And I’m not killing anyone either.”
I may not be Mary Marvel anymore, she vowed, but I’m not going to take after Black Adam again. No matter what.
Harley stared at her like she was the crazy one. “You believe this kid?”
Holly shrugged. “Let her do it her way.”
Thanks, Mary thought, glad that the redhead didn’t try to talk her out of her decision. She opened her mouth to say as much, only to be distracted by a peculiar buzzing at the back of her mind, almost like a chorus of whispered voices straining to be heard. Now that the fighting had died down for a second, she could almost make out what they were saying.
Come, Mary Batson. Deliver us from evil. ...
“What... ?” Mary whispered under her breath.
Her companions failed to notice her bemused state. They had other things on their minds. Harley slung her
wn m
rifle over her shoulder. “Okay, let’s go put Granny in a retirement home.”
Holly nodded grimly and started off down the corridor. “Guys?” Mary called out to them. “There’s... Well, I don’t want to say ‘voices,’ but I’m hearing what sounds like...”
“Voices?” Holly supplied.
Harley frowned. “What voices? I can’t hear anything.” She eyed Mary skeptically. “Does somebody need her daily dose of thorazine?”
Mary recalled that Harley had been a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum before becoming one of the inmates. “The gods,” she insisted, knowing just how crazy that sounded. “I hear the voices of the gods.”
It was true. This wasn’t like before, when Eclipso had insinuated her voice into Mary’s thoughts. Mary recognized the voices of the gods from the good old days, when they had freely bestowed their wisdom and power upon her. Before everything went wrong.
“The gods?” Holly shrugged again. At this point, the streetwise Gotham girl seemed inclined to take just about anything in stride, no matter how far-fetched. “This should be interesting.”
Barked contemplated the figurines upon the chessboard. Discarded pieces, including Eclipso and Mad Harriet, rested in a box alongside the board. Silence hung over the gloomy war room until a sudden flash of light heralded the return of his opponent. He raised his smoldering gaze from the game to greet the Monitor as he transported into the chamber.
“Welcome back, Solomon.” Darkseid gestured at the board before him. “Shall we resume our game?” He spied a red and blue figure in the Monitor’s right hand. “Ah, I see you have recovered your missing pawn.”
“No thanks to you,” Solomon replied sourly. “Or my fainthearted brethren.” He placed a miniature replica of the Atom upon the board, not far from the figures representing Jason Todd and Donna Troy. “But I am prepared now to pit my strategy against yours—for the sake of the universe.”
Darkseid nodded. “The endgame is upon us, Monitor.” He moved the Jimmy Olsen figure across the board. “Despite your added pawn, you will note that I have placed you in the Lucena position.” He smiled craftily. “Check.” Solomon appeared unalarmed by his opponent’s move. His fingers lifted “Mary Batson” from the board and placed her closer in proximity to Granny Goodness. “While the Innocent is still in play, I am not yet defeated.”
A transparent play, Darkseid thought, and one I had already anticipated. He laughed out loud at the Monitor’s audacity. “Good to see that you still have some fight in you, Solomon. It will be interesting to see how your gambit plays out.”
“Could you have picked a more heavily guarded place?” Holly complained.
A half dozen moaning Parademons were sprawled upon the steps leading up to an enormous steel door. Scorch marks blackened their helmets and uniforms. Smoke rose from their twitching bodies. Rifles in hand, Holly and Harley kept their eyes and guns focused on vanquished guards, just in case any of them were playing possum.
Harley nudged one of the unconscious guards with her foot. “Yeah, seriously, Mary, what’s up?”
“I swear, the gods are here!” She ran barefoot up the steps to the imposing gray door. Iron rivets studded the face of the door, which was large enough to admit an elephant provided you knew the secret password. “I can hear them calling to me. Just behind this door!” She shoved against the barrier with her meager mortal strength, but the ponderous door wouldn’t budge. “But how can we open it?”
“No problem.” Harley cranked her rifle up to full power. “Step aside, short stack!”
The muzzle of the weapon flared brightly. Mary dived
out of the way. Energy crackled loudly as a bright orange beam blew open the door. Mary threw up her arm to protect her eyes from the flash, but as the glare faded, a stronger, even more intense light emanated from whatever lay beyond the ruptured door. She stepped uncertainly into the effulgent glow. The pure white light bathed her wide-eyed face.
“Wow.”
She squinted into the light. The dazzling illumination was almost too bright to look at directly, but she could vaguely make out a multitude of humanoid figures suspended in some kind of high-tech alien vault. Arcane symbols, pulsing with mystic energy, were engraved upon the crystalline walls. A pair of mammoth braziers flanked the vault, spewing flames toward the ceiling. The very air seemed charged with static electricity. The light seemed to come from the figures themselves, while the vault appeared to stretch on for miles. The figures hung in midair, held in place by blinking strands of circuitry and raw energy. They looked like fireflies caught in a futuristic web. Agonized voices echoed inside her brain.
Help us, Mary Batson. Free us from these hellish bonds.
Holly and Harley entered the vault behind Mary. “That’s them?” Holly asked in a hushed voice. “The gods?”
Mary nodded. “The entire pantheon.”
“I don’t suppose they have any all-knowing advice on how to pick the lock?” Harley asked, showing no more reverence in the presence of genuine deities than she ever did. “ ’Cause I left my cosmic keys in my other armor.” She raised her rifle and took aim at a flashing piece of apparatus at the center of the matrix. “Aw, what the heck? Let’s just blow the thing up....”
“Hey!” Holly reached out and lowered the barrel of the rifle. “Enough with the guns already!”
“What?” Harley protested. “It worked before! I was all zzzakkkkl And the door went all—”
“Harley!” The redhead’s voice took on a warning edge.
Her companions’ bickering barely registered on Mary’s consciousness. She murmured softly as the trapped gods called out to her from their unholy captivity. “Really? But I’m not... I mean, I don’t have that power anymore.... All right, if you say so ..
“Please tell me you’re talking to them and not to yourself,” Holly said. She looked like she was having second thoughts about this whole escapade. Mary couldn’t blame her; they were a long way from the East End of Gotham. Holly was definitely out of her element.
“Don’t worry,” Mary said. “I know what to do, but you might want to move back in case this actually works.” Without further explanation, she knelt before the glowing matrix and bowed her head in respect. She took a deep breath. Despite the gods’ urging, she wasn’t absolutely convinced that this wasn’t a waste of time. She whispered
* tentatively. “Er ... Shazam?”
Thunder boomed in the alien vault. Lightning struck from the heavens.
And Mary Marvel was reborn.
Not the dark Mary Marvel, bom of Black Adam’s tainted magic and Eclipso’s seductive wiles, but the bright and shiny Mary Marvel of old. The World’s Mightiest Maid rose triumphantly from her knees. Her grimy smock had been transformed into a pristine white dress that wasn’t nearly as tight as the slinky black sheath had been. A gray thunderbolt was emblazoned on her chest, perhaps as a reminder of her brief flirtation with darkness. A short white cape with golden trim framed her trim figure. A golden sash belted her waist. Golden boots and wristbands completed the outfit.
“Great,” Harley cracked. “I don’t think I’ll be able to smack her around anymore.”
Mary felt the untainted power of the gods coursing through her. Her throat tightened. A single tear traced its way down her cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered.
No longer confined within the vault, the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece appeared before the awestruck women. Their luminous figures towered above Mary and the others, transcending the confines of the spacious chamber. All-powerful Zeus, King of the Gods, stood in the forefront of the pantheon, while the other Olympians spread out behind him. Athena—the real Athena—reigned at her father’s right hand. A magnificent crested helmet graced her head. Her sacred Aegis shone as brightly as the Golden Fleece. An owl, the eternal symbol of wisdom, perched upon her strong right arm. Her cool gray eyes regarded the women before her.
“The faith of your kind has been the gods’ ever-present joy,” the goddess said warmly. “Now our imprisonment has come to an end, and vengeance will be wrought upon the head of our captors.”
“Whoa!” Holly exclaimed. “She is so much more impressive than that phony.”
' * Harley backed away nervously. “I hope this was a good idea.”
“I came as quickly as I could,” Mary said. Staring at the gods in all their glory, she couldn’t help wondering how Darkseid and Granny Goodness had managed to capture them in the first place. Were the New Gods truly that powerful? Mary felt out of her league. “I still find favor in your eyes? I thought you had forsaken me.”
Athena spoke for the gods. “You were tested, child, not abandoned. Your trials were perilous and, for a time, you strayed from the light, but having freed us, we grant you absolution.”
“Now, hold on one minute!” Harley objected. “We totally helped! And there was plenty of peril on our end.” She stepped up beside Mary. “I mean, we fought, like, a gajillion ugly-faced monsters and whatnot!”
Holly looked utterly mortified and appalled. “Harley, shut it! Don’t piss off the gods!”
Two more goddesses came forward from the pantheon. “The feisty one, known as Harley Quinn, amuses Thalia,” said a redheaded, curly-haired deity whose sly face bore an impish smile. Her pink cheeks were flushed with merriment. She clutched the Mask of Comedy against her bosom. “And these mortals have not yet completed their trials.”
Diana, goddess of the hunt, agreed. Bangs of light brown hair hung above silver eyes that gleamed like moonlight. A quiver of arrows was slung over her shoulder. Anger colored her voice. “The foul New God who imprisoned us yet prospers.”
“Though you have fared well thus far,” Thalia declared, “no mortal flesh can stand against a New God and survive.” She glanced at Zeus, who gravely nodded his approval. “So shall we grant you power to combat our enemies and see them punished for their transgression!”
Rays of divine magic shot from the goddesses’ eyes at Harley and Holly respectively. Twin nimbuses of golden light enveloped both women, briefly hiding them from Many’s view. She stared in wonder at the unexpected miracle taking place before her eyes. Okay, this I didn’t see coming.
The light withdrew back into Thalia’s sparkling green eyes. “Harley Quinn, I grant you a small portion of the cunning of Thalia, muse of comedy!”
“Ohmi... gods!” Harley burbled in delight. Transformed by the muse’s gift, she now wore a comic variation on the Amazon armor that bore a distinct resemblance to her old super-villain costume. Her bright yellow pigtails poked through the dome of a bright red helmet with two large eye holes. Intricate engravings on her banded steel collar depicted slapstick scenes from ancient Greek farces. Her breastplate and leather skirt gleamed as though brand-new. The toes of her boots curved upward in a pix-ieish fashion. Her stolen rifle had been replaced by a ridiculously oversized mallet, so that she looked like a cross between a female gladiator and a clown.
That sounds about right, Mary thought.
“And I, Diana,” the other goddess proclaimed, “grant Holly Robinson a portion of my strength and skill as a huntress!”
The redheaded runaway had also been transformed. A lightweight tunic of the finest white doeskin showed off her lithe figure. A quiver of silver arrows rested against her back. A polished wooden bow now occupied her hand. But more than just her attire and arms had changed; Holly herself had undergone a subtle metamorphosis. Slitted yellow eyes, tapered ears, and sharpened fangs gave her an unmistakably feline appearance. No longer just a sidekick or surrogate, Holly was now truly a catwoman.
“Uh ... thanks?” she said uncertainly.
A blazing yellow bolt of lightning tore apart the turbid red sky, momentarily lighting up the wretched city below. 'Thunder reverberated across the Armagetto.
“Whoa!” Jason exclaimed. “That’s not regular lightning!”
It most certainly is not, Donna thought. She and Jason watched the fireworks from the roof of the workhouse. The intense glare left spots dancing in her vision, but that wasn’t all; Donna had dwelt too long among the Amazons, as well as the Titans of Myth, not to recognize the power of the gods at work. She had seen lightning like this before.
“Shazam,” she whispered.
Jason’s eyes widened behind his mask. “You think... ?”
“Yep,” Donna said. For the first time since the Monitor abandoned them, hope surged inside her. “I do.”
Jason scratched his head. “But what would Captain Marvel be doing on Apokolips?”
Raising her hand to shield her eyes from the stormy sky above, Donna squinted at a forbidding stone edifice several blocks away. As nearly as she could tell, the mystical thunderbolt had struck one of Granny Goodness’s notorious orphanages. Smoke and flames rose from the damaged building. A sign of the gods’ displeasure?
“Let’s find out,” Donna said. Lifting Jason into her arms, she soared off the roof of the workhouse toward the site of the disaster.
Here’s hoping lightning doesn 't strike twice.
Granny Goodness fled her orphanage. An honor guard of Parademons accompanied the distressed crone as she scurried through the squalid alleys of the Armagetto. “This is a travesty!” she fumed aloud, aghast at the sheer ignominy of her retreat. “I can’t believe those miserable vermin actually freed the gods!”
“Hurry, Granny!” the commander of the guard urged her. His goggled eyes nervously swept the vicinity. “We must get you to a safe location. Ahead lies Darkseid’s keep, and no force in the universe, not even the Terran gods, can penetrate its defens—AWK!”
A silver arrow pierced his shoulder, cutting off his pleas. Granny looked up in dismay as Mary Marvel and her allies descended from the rooftop of an adjacent techno-temple. “Who you calling ‘vermin,’ you ugly old goat?” Holly jeered as she drew another arrow from her quiver. The three women fell upon the startled Parademons like the champions they were. Energy-blasts exploded uselessly against Mary’s chest as her fist struck with the strength of Hippolyta herself. Harley swung her clown-sized mallet with devastating effect. Arrows flew from Holly’s bow with superhuman speed and accuracy. Holy Moley, Mary thought. She could give Green Arrow a run for his money!
“Hey, Granny!” Harley hollered. “Why don’t you act your age and die?”
The girls’ startling transformations did not escape Granny’s notice. “The gods ... they gave you ...”
“Superpowers!” Harley crowed. She walloped another Parademon with her mallet. “Pretty neat, huh?”
Granny abandoned her guards. “Sacrifice your lives for Granny!” she exhorted as she fled as fast as her aged legs could carry her. Rallying to the cause, the remaining guards formed a line to defend Granny’s retreat. They aimed their rifles at the female invaders.
“Fire!” the highest-ranking lieutenant commanded. “For Granny!”
An arrow struck him in the forehead and he toppled lifelessly onto the pavement. His sudden demise shattered the resolve of the surviving Parademons, who broke ranks and fled frantically into the nearest murky alleys. Their dead and wounded comrades were left to the tender mercies of their foes.
“Holly!” Mary cried out in protest. “I said no killing!” She had been counting on Holly to keep Harley’s homicidal tendencies in check, but it seemed that the redheaded catwoman had acquired some of the ruthlessness of Diana the Huntress along with her new weapons and abilities. This could be a problem, she thought.
Holly shrugged. “Get over it, kid. We’re at war.” “Umm, guys,” Harley interrupted. She peered down the grungy avenue before them. Clouds of noxious smog obscured the view. “The disease-ridden toilet-licker has run off.”
“No problem.” Holly sniffed the polluted air. “I’ve got her scen t.”
Harley made a face. “Eww! ”
A low growl escaped Holly’s lips as she sprinted down the alley after Granny. Harley hurried after her on foot, while Mary soared above the grimy pavement. “But seriously now,” Harley asked, “you can really smell the old bag’s trail?”
“Yes,” Holly snarled, “and, actually, she does smell like a disease-ridden toilet-licker.”
Mary found that to be way too much information. “Do I want to know how you know what that smells like?”
“I used to be a junkie,” Holly admitted casually. “In another life.” Her slitted eyes narrowed as she spotted her prey. “And there’s our heifer, hoofing for that big building up there.”
Darkseid’s somber fortress loomed ahead of them. Mary suppressed a shudder as she recalled her previous visit to the Dark Lord’s inner sanctum. Had that been only a few weeks ago? She flew faster, anxious to catch up with Granny before the evil old woman gained the safety of the stronghold. New powers or not, Mary was in no hurry to take on Darkseid himself again.
To be honest, she wasn’t entirely sure what to do with Granny if and when they ran her to ground; it wasn’t as if they could exactly turn her over to the local authorities. Maybe we can just teach her a lesson before forcing her to send us back home? She hoped, for the other girls’ sake, if not for Granny’s, that she could stop Holly and Harley from killing Granny in the name of the gods. I can’t let them get carried away with their new powers the way I was.
But before the women could intercept Granny, a blinding light suddenly manifested in the desperate harridan’s path. The intensity of the glare was such that Mary was forced to avert her eyes, but not before glimpsing the silhouette of a masculine figure at the center of the light. For a second, Mary thought that maybe Zeus himself had decided to personally punish Granny for her sins, but she sensed nothing familiar about the presence before her.
“Umm, who is that guy?” Harley asked. She and the other girls halted in their tracks, daunted by this unexpected new development. They backed away instinctively.
“I don’t know,” Holly said, “but I hope he’s on our side.”
Me too, Mary thought.
“You ... ?” Granny blurted. Judging by the quaver in her voice, she recognized the newcomer. She threw up her gnarled hands in defense.
The unearthly voice that issued from the incandescent figure was not one that Mary had ever heard before. “Granny Goodness, your orphanage is in ruins; your world is on the brink of becoming something entirely new. The Fourth World ends and with it comes the extinction of the New Gods!”
A searing bolt of golden energy engulfed Granny, incinerating her instantly. Squinting into the glare with watery eyes, Mary caught a fleeting glimpse of the crone’s charred skeleton before Granny’s remains disintegrated into ashes. Suddenly, stopping Mary’s companions from killing the old woman was no longer an issue.
Granny Goodness was no more.
His work done, the luminous figure launched himself into the lurid red sky above, swiftly disappearing from sight. Mary didn’t even think about flying after him.
Holy Moley! she thought. What was that all about? The three girls stared speechlessly at the smoldering embers, “Wow!” Harley said finally. “It’s like when the big fish eats the little fish and then a bigger fish eats the big fish. I know, ’cause I used to feed goldfish to Mister J’s piranhas.”
Holly sighed wearily. “Shut and up and stay away from that fire.”
“I have powers now,” Harley pouted, “so be nice!” Mary’s eyes gazed up at the heavens, where no trace of the killer’s glowing trail remained. “Who was that?” “Who cares?” Holly lowered her bow. “He saved us the trouble of offing Granny ourselves.”
“That’s great and all,” Mary said. “But wasn’t Granny our ticket home?”
Silence ensued as the truth sank in. Granted, Mary figured she could probably fly all the way back to Earth if she had to, like she had after defying Eclipso. But, despite their sometimes annoying personalities, she wasn’t about to leave the other two girls stranded on Apokolips. Besides, she thought, last time, I had the magic of both Black Adam and Isis to speed me home. This time I wouldn’t be able to rely on any powers other than my own.
Harley could only manage to take their dilemma seriously for a moment or two. “Not to worry; we’ve got powers, remember? We can find another way.” Turning away from Darkseid’s fortress, she blithely took off down a random alley. “C’mon.”
The humor in the situation was not lost on Mary. She exchanged a wry look with Holly. “We’re back to following her again?”
Holly shrugged. “The good news is she tends to fall into—”
They rounded a comer and skidded to a halt, almost bumping into Harley, who was staring goggle-eyed up at the sky, where an attractive brunette in a sparkly black leotard hovered above the alley. Her bare arms cradled a young man wearing a black leather jacket. A crimson domino mask concealed the youth’s identity.
“Mary Marvel?” Donna Troy gasped in surprise.