Countdown (32 page)

“Escape? This reality?!” Her voice skirted the edge of hysteria; this was obviously too much for her to take in all at once. She tore herself away from his grasp, her tearful blue eyes staring at him like she didn’t know who he was anymore, not that she ever really had. “Ray, listen to yourself! Don’t you realize how crazy this sounds?”

No crazier than a fanatical alien crashing our Christmas party and killing Barry,
he thought. He stepped forward and gently took her in his arms.
If only I had more time to prepare for this...!
“It won’t happen again, Jean. I promise.”

She still didn’t understand. “What won’t happen? What do you mea—”

“Palmer!” An entire section of the ceiling disintegrated and the Monitor descended through the gap. He hovered above the floor of the basement, glowering down at the cornered humans like the Angel of Death. “This is journey’s end, Ray Palmer. You have nowhere left to run!”
That’s what you think,
Ray thought. He frantically adjusted the controls on his belt, but the minute he let go of

Jean, she bolted in panic away from the Monitor. “Wait, Jean! Come back!” His mouth went dry with fear. His heart pounded against his rib cage. “You won’t shrink with me if I’m not holding you!”

The Monitor turned his attention to Jean. “Is this insignificant female the reason you refuse to accompany us?” he asked Ray. Without waiting for an answer, he aimed his gauntlet at Jean, who was now cowering behind the bulky iron furnace. “Very well. In a moment, nothing more will bind you to this world.”

“Leave her alone, you monster!” He launched himself at Solomon, but the powerful being effortlessly knocked Ray aside. He crashed into boxes of unpacked lab equipment, piled high against a wall. An avalanche of heavy cardboard boxes tumbled onto him. Dazed, his head ringing, he shouted for help. “Donna! Jason! Somebody!”

'* As though in answer to his desperate cries, a shimmering column of light materialized between Solomon and his helpless target. Ray’s eyes widened in surprise as
another
Monitor emerged from the flickering transporter beam. Unlike Solomon, this alien was clean-shaven and wore his long black hair tied up in the back. He looked mad as hell.

“Hold, brother!” the newcomer commanded. “This woman is under my protection. You have inflicted enough damage on my world.”

Solomon reacted angrily to the other Monitor’s interference. “Stay out of this, Nix Uotan! You cannot hide Ray Palmer from me any longer!”

“What transpires on this Earth is none of your concern,” Uotan replied. “I was under no obligation to divulge the Atom’s whereabouts to you.” He glanced at the bruised figure beneath the boxes. His inhuman red eyes held a hint of sympathy. “If I chose to grant him refuge on my world, that was my prerogative.”

Solomon clenched his fists. “But I have found him nonetheless!” Throwing out one arm, he blasted a hole in one wall. Plaster and masonry flew apart, exposing a charred patch of frozen earth beyond the walls of the basement. The explosion alarmed Jean, who let out a frightened shriek. The Monitor let the impact of his demonstration sink in before speaking again. “Surrender Ray Palmer to me now or I will reduce this placid Earth of yours to a wasteland!”

“Not so fast, pal!” A Bowie knife bounced off the back of Solomon’s skull. Jason Todd dropped down through the gap in the ceiling, followed immediately by Donna Troy. A split lip and bruised forehead testified to the severity of her clash with the berserk Monitor, but she looked ready for more. Jason drew an automatic pistol and took aim at Solomon’s head. “I’m supposed to be the trigger-happy one around here, remember?”

“Do not try my patience further!” Solomon barked at his traveling companions. “This is now between my onetime brother and me.” He advanced aggressively toward the other Monitor. “Well, Nix Uotan? Shall we resume our duel?”

“Gladly!” the other Monitor said. He extended a glowing palm before him. “You must pay for transgressing upon my domain!”

Crawling out from beneath the heap of boxes, Ray hastily assessed the situation. The Monitors faced off against each other, each powerful enough to reduce the entire neighborhood to rubble, if not all of Ivy Town, while Donna and Jason stood poised to join the conflict as well. Ray could only imagine the devastation in store, with Jean trapped at ground zero.
This is all my fault,
he realized. Barry’s gruesome death tore at his conscience.
There’s only one thing left to do. ...

“Wait!” he shouted at Solomon. “I’ll go with you—-if you’ll leave this world alone!”

His offer caught the ruthless Monitor’s attention. He cocked his head in Ray’s direction. “You consent to join our crusade? You will fulfill your destiny?”

“Yes, you murderous bastard! Yes!” Ray clambered to his feet. He pleaded hoarsely with the looming alien.

“Take me back to my own Earth. Throw me into another cosmic Crisis. Just leave Jean and the rest of this world alone!”

Solomon nodded gravely. “These terms are acceptable to me.” He turned back toward the other Monitor. “So, Nix Uotan, are you still prepared to fight me for this mortal’s sake?”

“Perhaps that will not be necessary.” Lowering his guard, the second alien gazed sadly at Ray. Something about him made him seem more humane than his merciless kinsman. “My apologies, Ray Palmer. In light of your past sufferings, I was willing to overlook your presence here, even going so far as to conceal your location from my fellow Monitors, but my true duty is to this universe and its native inhabitants. I fear it is time you depart this realm ... for all time.”

' Ray felt his heart die a second time. Yet he stood up straight, stoically facing his fate. “I understand,” he said. “I don’t belong here. I never really did.”

“Ray! What are you saying?” Overcoming her fear, Jean stumbled out from behind the furnace. Her eyes were red from crying. Mascara streaked her cheeks. Soot smeared her purple sweater. “You can’t go with these ... creatures! You belong here ... with me!”

“I’m sorry, Jean.” He resisted the urge to go to her, knowing that if he held her in his arms again, he would never be able to let her go. “There’s no other way.” He smelled Barry’s scorched bones smoking upstairs and prayed that Iris and the others had gotten away safely. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if anyone else got hurt because of his deception. “I’ll never forget the time we had together.” He started to choke up, but somehow managed to get the words out. “You gave me back something I thought I’d lost forever.”

And now I’ve got to throw it all away again.

“Ray, no!” She started toward him, but the kinder, gentler Monitor grabbed on to her shoulders, restraining her. She struggled to get free, but could not break loose from the alien’s powerful grip. “Let go of me!” she wailed. “I want to go with him!”

‘That cannot be allowed,” Uotan said sorrowfully. “The immutable laws of the Multiverse have already been violated enough. You must remain on this Earth, where you belong, while these others must return to their own universe at once.”

“NO!” Jean shrieked. She writhed in the Monitor’s iron grasp, like a madwoman caught in a straitjacket. Loose black hair fell across her face. Crazed blue eyes implored Ray. Saliva sprayed from her lips. “Don’t do this to me, Ray! Don’t leave me! RAY!”

Ray felt like he was trapped in a never-ending nightmare. He couldn’t stand another minute of this. “All right,” he told Solomon bitterly. “You win. Let’s go.” Why drag this torture out a second longer? He could only pray that he hadn’t just condemned another Jean to madness, that she would somehow recover from this ordeal in time. “Take me back to Earth-One.”

“About time,” Jason muttered. He retrieved his knife from the floor. “The sooner 1 get back to Gotham
—my
Gotham—the better.”

“You are mistaken,” Solomon informed them. He pressed a stud upon his gauntlet and a shimmering golden sphere surrounded Ray, Donna, Jason, and himself. “We are returning to our own universe, but not to Earth. Ray Palmer’s destiny awaits elsewhere.”

“What?” Donna blurted. Fists raised, she eyed the Monitor warily. “Where are we going now?”

A cryptic smile appeared on Solomon’s face as he revealed their true destination.

“Apokolips.”

12 AND C0DNTIN6.

'•HUII3E iSLJMB.

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 c
lin
ked 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

EsamifisfP 111

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!”