"Most curious . . . most curious indeed."
It was to these words, spoken in a strange, rasping screech tinted with a Greek accent, that Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, awoke to. Her eyes blinked, assaulted by the blinding light. Wonder Woman turned her head from side to side, trying to shake the pounding in her skull.
Hippolyta attempted to move, but realized that she could not; her hands and legs were bound together, pulled away from her body until she was stretched out completely across a cold, limestone slab. She struggled against the bonds, but they were too strong. Her limbs felt like lead, heavy and impossible to move. Her eyes widened in shock.
Gaea, no . . . Wonder Woman flexed her muscles, but the strong shackles would not budge. They were very heavy, but her Amazon strength should have been able to shatter them with little difficulty. It could not, which meant only one thing.
A man had bound her.
A curse placed upon the Amazon race by Aphrodite, when the other gods felt that they were damaging to the balance of mortal powers; any Amazon who allowed her bracelets to be bound together by a man was stripped of her powers until she was freed. Hippolyta glanced around, to see Fury bound nearby, next to Ka-Zar and a host of Fall People warriors. Vertigo stood against the wall, straight like a soldier alongside Amphibius, Lupo, and a heavily bandaged Barbarus.
Thank the Fates Helena is safe . . . and that Dinah and Shiera were able to evade capture! Shanna must be with them as well. But I cannot count on them rescuing us . . . I've got to get out of here by myself.
"Ah . . . our star-spangled queen has awoken. Good day, your majesty," that same voice, like flint against stone, stabbed at the Amazon's mind. She looked up, to see a creature from nightmares, a winged monstrosity, with emerald scales and a jutting beak. It seemed a hybrid between a man and the same pterosaurs that had borne the heroines here. And yes, those accursed amber eyes glinted mirthfully at the bound Amazon Queen from a thin reptilian face.
"Who are you?" Hippolyta responded. "Why have you captured us?"
The creature shook his saurian head from side to side, a chuckle echoing from his jagged beak. "So demanding! Imperiousness must be an epidemic amongst you queens . . . or is it just an ingrown trait?"
"It takes an icy response to snap fools out of their insolent idiocy, beast!" Hippolyta snapped. "Now . . . answer me. Or do I have to carve the answers from your hide?"
The monstrosity hopped towards her, gliding across the stone floor of the cavern until he was inches away from Hippolyta's slab. For the first time, she glimpsed an extensive array of computers and machinery on the far wall, the futuristic devices a sharp contrast to their primitive surroundings.
"Somehow I think you'll have trouble doing that without your weapons!" Sauron cackled, waving his talons towards the side. The magic lasso lay coiled on another slab, Hippolyta's gleaming broadsword beside it. She longed to take it by its ancient, golden hilt, and ram it between Sauron's damned eyes. The beast lazily picked at his long ebony talons. "Well . . . while we're waiting for your friends to attack, we have plenty of time to waste. I suppose I should tell you a little bit about myself. My name is Karl Lykos . . . but I prefer the moniker 'Sauron'. I pilfered it from a good, former friend of mine, who happens to be using it in a book he's writing. Anyway . . . I've always felt separated from my peers, different in some maddeningly obscure way . . . I had few friends as a child . . . "
<"Being a scaly freak can do that to you,"> Helena hissed angrily in Greek.
Sauron rolled his eyes, glaring at the bound girl. <"Such a superficial little child . . . and so angry. I suggest undergoing psychiatric observation . . .">
<"Says the dinosaur wannabe,"> Helena replied angrily. <"Say . . . what do you eat? People or rodents?">
<"Well . . . I live off of the energy I siphon from captives. I developed this unique ability at the tender age of fourteen . . . It made me stronger and faster than any of my peers. And draining the life force of a superhuman?"> He floated upward, spreading his impressive wingspan to cast a shadow over the young heroine. <"Turns me into this!">
Wonder Woman glared at him. "So you brought us here as a sort of stock for your soul-vampirism?"
"Yes! But you have proven most troublesome . . . I was most looking forward to draining one of the most powerful heroes alive, but you seem to have lost your metahuman abilities. Yet . . . your little friend here served me well. She seems to draw her strength from somewhere else, and her body replenishes it easily."
Judging from her own stories and her frightening transformation, I have discerned that Helena was possessed by the Erinyes. Little does she know, but her slim frame is a focus point for some of the most awesome, and terrifying, powers in the cosmos . . . perhaps that is what this beast from Hades is ranting about?
Hippolyta was given no more time for contemplation, as Sauron moved towards her bound protégé. "Gaea, no! Get away from her, rejected by Hades! Aphrodite help us . . ."
Suddenly, the cave wall exploded, showering Sauron with a hail of stone. The monstrosity screeched as he was buried beneath the refuse of his own fortress. Several shapes swooped into the cavern; Shanna, the Black Canary, and three warriors poured over the jagged edge of their entrance hole, while Hawkwoman flitted about the high caverns of the room.
Black Canary vaulted onto Hippolyta's slab, straddling the Amazon queen. Hippolyta noticed with pride that her teammate had donned her tiara.
"Dinah! Oh thank the goddesses!" Her response was the Canary's characteristic smile.
"No Polly, thank you for all your lessons!" The canary emblem at the martial artist's throat was removed as Dinah began working it into the keyhole on Hippolyta's bonds. With a click, the shackles were gone, and Wonder Woman instantly felt her Amazon strength flood into her limbs. Dinah flipped over to Fury as Hippolyta burst free, shattering the shackles at her feet. Sauron burst free from the mass of rubble, screeching like an enraged eagle and fluttering about.
"Now . . . you face the rage of an Amazon unbound!" Wonder Woman declared, hefting her slab above her head. She hurled it into the air like it was a pebble. Sauron dodged to the side, causing the massive projectile to sail harmlessly past. However, it wasn't the maddened monstrosity Hippolyta was aiming at; it was his underlings. Lupo and Amphibius were agile enough to leap free, but the slab smashed into Barbarus' midsection, driving the grotesque giant into Vertigo and knocking both unconscious.
Hawkwoman dove, smashing her mace against Sauron's skull. He squawked in rage, and the winged heroine was forced back to avoid being skewered by a flailing talon. He glared at her, preparing to cast a veil of hypnosis over her mind. However, a piercing wail struck him like a solid wall, driving him from the air. Black Canary gave a thumbs up to Hawkwoman as she finished freeing Fury, and leapt away to join the battle.
Lupo leapt at Helena, mouth gaping to reveal rows of needle-sharp teeth. She rolled to the side, entwining her strong fingers in the scraggly fur behind his head. Screaming in Greek, she drove his face against her slab, and hurled his limp frame into the attacking Amphibius.
Sauron shakily stood to evaluate the tides of battle, only to discover that there was no battle. The raiders were strewn about the floor in varying states of injury. His mutates had been dispatched like children by a group of upstart, self-proclaimed heroes. A growl of frustration escaped his long beak, and he flared his leathery wings in preparation for combat.
However, Shanna and Ka-Zar stood to his left, brandishing an axe and a spear respectively. Wonder Woman stood beside Fury at his front, wielding her broadsword, and Hawkwoman and Black Canary stood at the right. His scaly back was pressed against ten feet of solid granite. His hypnosis could not affect all of them at once, and for all his speed and strength, he was not much of a physical fighter.
"Brainchild!" he cried, sweeping away Ka-Zar and Shanna with a massive wing. The duo crashed into the wall as Sauron charged past. Fury screamed and lunged at him, only to have the beast take flight. Hippolyta leapt up, crimson boot colliding with his midsection. Sauron hit the ground, scales grating across the smooth stone as he skidded backward. "Unleash Fireye!"
Hidden beneath a console, another mutate emerged, a short man with a bulging, misshapen cranium. He tapped at the console that had shielded him from view during the short battle, and the earth shuddered beneath their feet. Part of it opened up, and a massive steel cylinder emerged.
"Gods . . . the metal in that could create weapons for all the tribes," Shanna murmured. Suddenly, it opened, to reveal a massive creature that resembled a tyrannosaurus, only its emerald back was lined with spikes that trailed down to its sweeping tail. Its eyes were literally aflame, sparking and dancing as it surveyed the cavern, stepping confidently from its boundaries.
"Great Hera!"
"Greetings Master Sauron," the creature said, its voice like a thousand peels of thunder. "More hairless apes for me to dispose of?"
Sauron's beak twisted into his equivalent of a sadistic grin as he leapt into the air, alighting beside Brainchild. "Yes . . . especially the females!"
Fireye snapped his cavernous maw. "Gladly."
His head dipped towards the ground, snapping at Wonder Woman. The Amazon was too quick, darting between its massive legs.
"Dinah help me combat this beast! The rest of you help get the other captives out of here!" Wonder Woman commanded. Her lariat lashed out, entangling Fireye's slashing tail. The dinosaur swung its massive appendage, managing to pull Hippolyta from her feet. She crashed into the wall as Black Canary unleashed another scream. Fireye staggered backward as Hawkwoman took flight, diving past with an avian shriek. Suddenly, the flaming eyes unleashed a blazing beam that Shiera barely avoided. It ripped a massive hole in the cavern roof, causing sunlight and fresh air to spill into the hideout. Wonder Woman dove at her lasso, but it was pulled from her reach as Fireye danced across the floor, shaking the very earth with his movements.
"Fine, beast . . . If you won't listen to Aphrodite's love, you shall be forced to listen to Athena's might!" Hippolyta cried. She grabbed her broadsword, digging its glittering silver edge into the beast's ankle. Amazon steel sunk through pebbly skin and tendon. A hiss of pain escaped Fireye's massive mouth and he lashed out, sending Hippolyta sailing backward. The Amazon Queen hit the ground, rolling into a defensive position. The fiery energy spurted forth once more, crashing into Hippolyta.
Light blossomed like a falling star, filling the cavern, followed by a thunderous roar and an explosion of thick black smoke.
"Polly!" Dinah cried, already sprinting towards her fallen comrade. When the smoke cleared, Hippolyta lay at the bottom of a deep crater, stunned. Smoke curled up from her bracelets; she had managed to raise them in time to defend herself from the blast. Fireye launched his attack again, but the Black Canary leapt in front of the assault.
"Dinah, no!" Hippolyta protested weakly. A keening wail erupted from Black Canary's crimson lips, the air itself wavered before her, colliding with the force beams. Her concentrated blast of pure sound smashed into the blast like an invisible wall, managing to halt the attack.
The Canary Cry was like none ever heard; the shrill sound was enough to easily devastate the cavern. Focused though it was into a concentrated beam, the shriek still caused several of the inhabitants in the room to cover their ears. The cavern vibrated with the rebounding force of the cry. Still, Fireye's beams were too powerful, gradually pressing back the sound waves. Soon, the sheer force of the eye beams would overcome Dinah's Canary Cry. Despite her sonic power, the martial artist would not be able to withstand the assault.
Great Hera . . . Dinah cannot keep such a Herculean effort up for long! Hippolyta thought, leaping from her crater. She darted past the distracted Fireye and grabbed her lariat, still wound tightly around his thrashing tail. He can't hear me over Dinah's wail! Aphrodite's lariat won't have any effect . . . Everyone else is out . . . Gaea protect us, this is the only way!
Hippolyta tugged the lasso with all her strength, yanking Fireye off balance. His wild eyebeams devastated the far wall, and Dinah's cry slammed into the mutated dinosaur, sending him crashing backward into the wall. Thunder, both from the beast's roars and the crumbling of stone, echoed through the cavern as massive chunks fell like raindrops. Wonder Woman withdrew her lasso, coiling it back to her hip, and sprinted forward with all her speed. A golden blur, she swept up Dinah, and, swifter than Hermes, Hippolyta had borne her teammate from the crumbling cavern. The duo was now outside, away from the cool drafts of the cavernous hideout and into the humid air, their teammates awaiting them.
"Polly!" Helena cried, rushing forward. Concern glittered in her icy eyes, an emotion Hippolyta hadn't thought the stubborn heroine capable of. Realizing that her new mentor was fine, Fury's gaze turned to Dinah, laying stunned in Wonder Woman's arms. <"Is she all right?"> she asked rapidly in Greek. <"Last I checked she was the one battling that monster . . .">
"She's fine, Helena . . ." Wonder Woman replied as she carefully set the Black Canary on her feet.
Dinah shook her head, obviously dazed from her effort. "Y-yeah . . . I'm fine . . ." she said. Her voice was scratchy and strained, and the smallest utilization of her vocal cords caused her face to spasm in pain. "Feels like my throat was ripped out . . ."
She attempted to pull Hippolyta's tiara from her forehead, but the Amazon Queen gently stopped her. "No, Dinah . . . You deserve this honor."
"There's Sauron!" Hawkwoman cried. Her wings flared out, feathers quivering as she prepared for flight. Sauron was a tiny jade speck against the endless sky, rapidly vanishing yet visible to Hawkwoman's avian eyesight.
"Don't bother," Shanna said, stepping forward. "His mutates are our prisoners . . . He's nothing without them."
Ka-Zar nodded, stepping forward. "Yes . . . you four were godsends to the Savage Land. On behalf of all, I'd like to thank you, and repay you in any way."
Fury's eyes lit up at the word 'repay'. <"Polly . . .">
Hippolyta rolled her eyes and interjected her protégé. <"Helena, we don't accept rewards . . . We're heroines; our reward is the satisfaction of helping others.">
Helena sighed, pouting. Her arms crossed over her chest in exaggerated disappointment. Shanna laughed, guessing at the exchange between the two women. She stepped forward, slipping a string of wickedly curved fangs around Helena's neck.
<"Too cool!"> the heroine admired, plucking at one of the fangs.
"They are the teeth of a Curved Claw, the most vicious and lightning quick dinosaur in our lands," Ka-Zar explained, grinning at Fury's excitement. "Wearing a garment made from the body of an creature invokes the skills of that creature as their spirit enters your body."
Hippolyta translated for the young Amazon. "Well, Ka-Zar, much as I would like to stay, our colleagues must be worried terribly about us . . . I am afraid we must contact them and leave."
"I regret to see such amazing warriors leave," Ka-Zar replied. The Lord of the Savage Land bowed to the Queen of the Amazons, his blonde tresses falling over his face as he did so.
"Here . . ." Wonder Woman added as an afterthought, slipping one of her circular crimson earrings off and pressing it into his palm. "If you are ever in need of my assistance, hold that close and pray to Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty. She will hear your plea and summon me to your aid. And worry not . . . we shall keep the knowledge of your primeval paradise forever clandestine, Ka-Zar."
"Many thanks . . . the Savage Land is forever indebted to you, Queen Hippolyta. May you fair well on your journey home."
Hippolyta turned, gathering her teammates. Side-by-side, the heroines marched from the Savage Land, from the enclosed valley of ancient wonders and lush jungles to the biting Arctic.
Next: Wonder Woman teams up with the Shadow in All-Star Comics #7!