Post by DiscipleofBob on Apr 17, 2015 14:46:46 GMT -5
Issue 16, Masquerade, Part 3
It was all a trap. How much of it Fire and Ice had been aware of beforehand, Wonder Woman couldn't say for sure, but she doubted they were truly responsible. The masks were the key. Every party guest and servant, including Fire and Ice, wore one. The puppetmaster, who called herself Mask as well, spoke through each vessel, often switching between them at random or even simultaneously, showing off her level of control.
Ice had mentioned earlier how her partner had been behaving strangely recently, and around the same time she had started uncharacteristically donning a mask on their nightly vigilante acts. If her hunch was correct, this Mask was somehow responsible, and was not only capable of planting suggestions for when the masks came off, but had been setting up this ambush for weeks beforehand.
The puppetmaster herself admitted that her strings were similarly being pulled by her quarry, the Baroness. Once again the subject of her hunt had become the huntress, and once again the Baroness had provided the sacred treasures of Themyscira to her minions, seemingly just to taunt Wonder Woman.
Fire wielded the Blade of Hephaestus, said to be one of the last masterpieces forged in the smith god's forge. Ice had equipped the Shield of Perseus, a reflective shield used by the ancient Greek hero. On top of this, the rest of the party guests lined the room as effective hostages, their bodies unable to get to safety or do anything else other than watch passively.
"Well then, Princess of Themyscira, let the festivities begin!"
In the far corner of the room, a masked string quartet started to play a waltz in allegro. In perfect, synchronized rhythm, Fire and Ice leapt from the stairs and charged, both capable of fantastic aerial maneuvers with their respective powers. Their bodies moved completely differently from before. Instead of natural grace, their movements were awkward and disjointed like marionettes, but with no less speed and precision than before.
Fire swiped at Wonder Woman with the sword but it glanced harmlessly off her bracelets. At the exact same time Ice dashed to the side and tried to shield bash her. Wonder Woman managed to block it with her other arm, but only barely and awkwardly as there was no delay between strikes. Wonder Woman was even slowly being pushed back.
"You'll never be able to hit me with your drones!" said Wonder Woman, though even she was having trouble keeping up with her own body, her arms moving faster than she could keep up with just to parry the strikes.
"I know," Fire's voice replied.
"But it is impressive to watch all the same," Ice's voice continued.
Suddenly, Fire's free hand glowed with green flames and Wonder Woman barely ducked under the ensuing flamethrower. It was only a split second's opening, but it was exactly what Wonder Woman needed to punch Fire in the gut and send her hurling away.
In that instant the air above Wonder Woman cooled considerably and she backflipped from her position, just narrowly avoiding being frozen by the ice crystal that had formed at her position. Wonder Woman kicked off the newly formed ice crystal to perform a spinning jump kick to launch Ice away as well. From that bout alone Wonder Woman's arms fell limp, as sore as if she had just swam a marathon around Themyscira.
The two superhumans were briefly separated but hardly discouraged. Fire immolated herself, wreathing her body in an aura of green flames.
When she attacked again, just being near her was enough to singe Wonder Woman. Parrying just one attacker would have been easy for the Amazon by comparison, but to avoid burning the rest of her arms, and to give them a brief respite, she chose to simply evade the many burning slashes. Fire, or rather her handler, might have perceived as a vicious assault capable of slowly pushing Wonder Woman into a corner, as she gradually positioned herself near one of the catering tables.
Wonder Woman's leg suddenly shot up, trusting the protection of her footwear more than her bare hands, and kicked Fire in the cheek. While she was briefly stunned, Wonder Woman yanked the cloth from the table in one fluid movement and wrapped it around Fire to smother the flames. To further quench her, Wonder Woman also tossed a nearby punch bowl onto her.
While Fire struggled to break free, Wonder Woman gave into her body's sudden instinct to raise her arms and deflect a sudden blizzard of sharpened ice projectiles. Ice stood suspended on a freshly created frozen platform suspended from a nearby balcony, content to shower Wonder Woman in a hailstorm from afar.
Despite their number and spread, the ice shards lacked the speed or impact of bullets. Deflecting them was relatively simple. Any other opponent would be discouraged by the failure of their attacks, but right now Ice wasn't in her own mind. She didn't act rationally, but as a pawn without self-preservation. Her height might have been an advantage against any other opponent, but for Wonder Woman it was the same as if Ice was on the ground. Ice would've known that from their short time together. If she was in any control, she wouldn't have made that error.
Wonder Woman charged flying bracelets first at Ice. She shattered through the frozen platform. At the last second Ice raised the shining Greek shield, taking the brunt of the impact, but Ice was still sent careening into the balconies.
The Amazon landed gracefully, flexing the sore, tired muscles in her arms, and her shoulder which was unusually stiff even from bashing into Ice's shield.
As she stuck her landing the controlled crowd of onlookers erupted into applause. They all clapped at the exact same angle with the same artificial smile.
"Are you satisfied yet?" Wonder Woman spat. "Why don't you stop hiding and face me directly?"
"I will face you," said one guest.
"In my own way," said another.
"As many times," said a servant.
"With as many faces," said a musicians.
"As I need to," the voices continued from random people throughout the crowd. Anyone with a mask was
Green and blue serpentine dragons of fire and ice erupted from behind the crowd, spiraling throughout the ballroom, surrounding Wonder Woman as she braced herself. Slowly they surrounded her in a maypole of green and blue.
"If you want to fight me, fine! But let these people go!"
"They will stay for as long,"
"As I will them to stay,"
"They have nothing to do with this!"
"On the contrary,"
"A spectacle of this nature,"
"Demands an audience,"
The green serpentine flame lunged at Wonder Woman. She sidestepped just as the blue frozen one tried as well. She bobbed and weaved but the space was too confined for her to dodge much longer. They converged on her position, clashing in an explosion of heat and cold. The crowd 'oohed' and 'ahhed' at the spectacular display.
Wonder Woman was sent flying, half her body burning, the other half numb from the cold. She crashed through the front wall of the ballroom, leaving shattered marble and concrete in her wake. It was painful, but necessary if Wonder Woman ever wanted to move the fight outside and away from the crowds. She took her time to pick herself up from the ground. If Mask thought Wonder Woman was relocating the venue on purpose, the crowd of hostages might be at risk.
"Diana?"
Wonder Woman looked up to see Vanessa in her white dress from the night before, just as shocked as she was.
"Vanessa! What are you doing here?!"
"You invited me," Vanessa replied, slightly hurt. At that moment, a green comet erupted from one of the building's windows while Ice slid out on a freshly created platform from the opposite window, showering the streets with glass.
"Vanessa, run!" Wonder Woman yelled as the green comet of Fire veered around to charge at the Amazon, blade first. If Wonder Woman dodged, Vanessa would be at risk. She barely sidestepped Fire and grabbed her by her flaming legs. Instead of thrusting at Vanessa, blade first, Wonder Woman hurled Fire around in the opposite direction, sending her careening into the small building.
Vanessa was shaken from the sudden explosion of glass, but quickly turned and ran. However, the street was quickly cut off by a wall of ice. Ice landed behind Vanessa, leaving her no room to escape. "Ah, yes, the pet of the princess. We know very much about you."
"Ice? What's going on? Why are you talking like that? What's with the mask? Or the shield?" Vanessa panicked, asking as many questions as possible in a desperate attempt to stall as she looked for any possible escape. Clutching her purse behind her, she carefully withdrew a small capsule.
"There's nothing to be afraid of, child," Ice's voice said as she reached behind her and pulled out a spare mask. "Come now, let's join the party with the others."
Vanessa waited until the last possible second, shooting her pepper spray at the eyeholes of Ice's mask. But Ice was just too fast. She already put her shield up to block the now harmless aerosol. Vanessa didn't have a backup plan, nor did she have anywhere else to run. She could only watch in horror as Ice placed the ornate mask on her face.
"Get away from her!" Wonder Woman grabbed Ice from behind and hurled her away at full strength, but it was too late.
The mask was already affixed to Vanessa's face. The teenager collapsed to the ground as small electrical charges surged from the mask to her now tear-streaked face. "Give in, and be at peace," was all she could whimper as Diana tried to cradle her in her arms.
Rather than landing on the concrete, Ice somersaulted in midair, creating a frozen landing ramp before balancing her feet on the shield itself. The ramp wheeled around and slingshot Ice back in Wonder Woman's direction, now surfing at high speeds along the increasingly frozen surface area of the street. With her hands now free, Ice formed two frozen swords in her hands, already preparing to slice the Amazon in two.
Wonder Woman flew straight up, Vanessa still in her arms, as Ice swiped at air. Unlike Fire who could propel herself like a rocket, Ice needed a bit more momentum before she could change the trajectory of her ice slides and get altitude.
"Vanessa, please! Come to your senses!" Wonder Woman pleaded.
"Give in, and be at peace."
"No! You aren't getting this one, Mask! Let her go!" Wonder Woman's mind raced to try and think on how to disable the mind control device before it could fully take hold. She had been able to resist the influence of the mask. Was it because of her Amazon heritage? Was she and only she immune to its effects? She only had a few moments before Fire and Ice would catch up to her, possibly less time to cancel out the mask. Simply removing it would likely set off the explosive wired into it, or even inflict brain damage to Vanessa if she just tried to rip it off.
Something flashed through Wonder Woman's mind. An instinct, perhaps, though one she couldn't truly explain. In a desperate move, Wonder Woman removed her tiara and thrust it on Vanessa. She screamed and clutched the sides of her head. The mask surged and sparked, smoke streaming from the eyes. Wonder Woman was forced to lay her on the rooftop as she convulsed, until finally, the mask fell off as a useless hunk of circuitry.
"Vanessa? Say something!" Wonder Woman called out.
Vanessa's chest rapidly rose and fell. Her breathing wasn't called into question, but her consciousness was another matter. Her eyes will still glazed over from the effects of the mask, and her arms and legs shivered in terror from the experience. "Diana?" she managed to squeak out. "Wh-what happened?"
Wonder Woman could suddenly breathe again. Grateful to save at least one person, Wonder Woman helped Vanessa to her feet. "Can you walk on your own?"
"I... I think so."
Fire soared above the rooftop. Ice propelled herself up on a frozen platform. The brief interlude had passed. "Vanessa, you need to get away from here now!" The frightened young woman nodded and quickly hobbled to the rooftop access, her body still recovering from the ordeal. "Be careful! The building likely has more masked persons under her control."
"I understand," Vanessa said as she entered to relative safety. I understand exactly what I need to do. she finished the thought to herself.
"It's only a matter of time,"
"Before the girl is recaptured,"
"But she's not important,"
"The Baroness only wants you,"
Fire and Ice's voices alternated as they took position to flank Wonder Woman.
"Let's see what sort of toys my Lady has given us to play with," they said simultaneously. The protrusion on Ice's shield suddenly unfolded, revealing a bronze feminine head lined with snakes instead of hair. At the sight of it, Wonder Woman suddenly felt her muscles start to cramp and seize up. She started to try and evade its gaze, but her movements were sluggish and flying was suddenly difficult.
The Shield of Perseus, affixed with the head of the Medusa that the hero had slain. Wonder Woman could already feel her body begin the petrification process. With her reduced freedom of movement, Wonder Woman instead charged Ice. The closer she got the faster her body hardened, so before her body could become a statue she took a running leap. She crashed into Ice feet first, and her now much heavier body sent her flying off the roof. Wonder Woman collapsed to the rooftop, her body quickly returning to normal now that she was out of the shield's range.
Just in time too, as Wonder Woman whipped around to find Fire with the Blade of Hephaestus poised to lunge and glowing white hot. She moved her arm to block the blade with her bracelet. She was not prepared for the sudden searing pain in her wrist.
Where there should have been another deflected strike, the Blade of Hephaestus had stabbed clean through Wonder Woman's bracelet, a feat only a godforged blade could be capable of.
"So you're not invincible," Fire's voice said as she withdrew her blade. Wonder Woman's only consolation was that the wound was instantly cauterized. "My mistress will be very pleased." She raised the blade for another strike, aiming to take off Wonder Woman's head if she didn't expose her bracelets to more damage.
Still on the rooftop, Wonder Woman lashed her leg out. It wrapped around Fire's legs and knocked her off her feet. Before Fire could regain her balance midair and take to the air, Wonder Woman's other leg whipped up over Fire and slammed her into the rooftop.
A quick chop to the wrist, along with her disorientation, and the sword was dropped. Wonder Woman quickly grabbed the blade just as green flames exploded from Fire's body, sending Wonder Woman back over the roof's edge.
As Wonder Woman fell back down to the streets, sword in hand, Ice was in the process of snaking back up on her frozen slide. Wonder Woman caught her balance midair and started gliding circles around the winding frozen ramps. With the glowing sword in hand, Wonder Woman sliced through the ice, destroying her opponent's only support.
While Ice was falling, Wonder Woman flew up and grabbed her from behind. For once in this battle, the Amazon was on the offensive. Whoever was pulling the strings would struggle to keep up once they were on the defensive. That brief loss of control was what Wonder Woman needed to finally gain the upper hand. Although merely touching Ice numbed her skin, Wonder Woman still wrestled her in midair until she could pry the shield from Ice's arm.
Wonder Woman kicked herself free, making sure Ice had enough time even with the puppetmaster's influence to cushion her fall like before. She landed on her feet in the center of the road, Fire and Ice both regrouping to surround her, but this time the artifacts were in her hands instead.
"It doesn't matter who or what you or your Baroness send against me. I will not falter, no matter the obstacle before me. I will defeat you no matter how many masks you hide behind, and then I'm coming for your mistress!" Wonder Woman took her stance, this time armed with sword and shield as Mask's drones were suddenly much more hesitant to attack.
Vanessa Kapatelis made her way carefully through the building. The mask's attempt to wipe take control of her mind was unsettling to say the least, but almost as unsettling, though in a different way, were the images flashing through her mind. Maps. Diagrams. Strategems. Texts. The most vivid of which was currently a series of blueprints that, while not necessarily completely accurate maps of the building she was in, gave her a good idea of where everything was. Also, where someone would have to put some kind of control room.
It didn't take long for her to find two masked bouncers in tuxedoes standing guard outside what appeared to be a security office. She took a deep breath and marched forward, in full view of the guards.
They said nothing, but at the sight of her, they quickly cornered her and tried to force another one of the masquerade masks on her. Vanessa knew better than to struggle against two very large muscular guards with no control over their own bodies. She involuntarily flinched as the mask was placed over her face... and nothing happened. Several times the guards tried to place a mask on her, even trying different masks in case one was defective, but there was no reaction.
"You can resist my masks," one of the guards said in a monotone voice.
"How?" the other asked.
Vanessa gulped, knowing how pear-shaped this could all go at any moment. "I'm under the personal protection of Wonder Woman. As long as she's around, you can't do anything to me." It was a bold-faced lie, but whoever was in control hadn't made the connection with the tiara. All of their perceptions were secondhand through drones.
"But she's not here to protect you now,"
The guards grabbed Vanessa by the arms and led her through the reinforced door. Inside the security console had been rigged with extra controls and monitors. Panels had been dismantled to make room for all the necessarily exposed wires just to fit all of this equipment in one room. Two of the screens had Wonder Woman in their sight, and Vanessa realized that each screen instead of a camera was the view of a person, controlled by the Mask. Sitting in the chair was a woman, shorter than Vanessa, clad in an overly elaborate lime green dress, trimmed with peacock feathers and lined with patches of striped and spotted fur. A miniature red beret was affixed to her dark heavily styled hair at an intentionally awkward angle, and when she turned around, as Vanessa expected, she wore a diamond-encrusted domino mask. The only other drone in the room was one of the waiters, carrying a tray of filled champagne glasses. "Isn't it a little premature to celebrate?" Vanessa surprised herself with the boldness to say something like that. Especially when she knew very well how terrified was, and was right to be.
"You," Mask spoke with the same monotone voice as her minions. "You are special to Wonder Woman. Special enough to have received whatever protection she gave you. How? The princess evading my grasp is believable. Regrettable, but believable. Her non-Amazon pets should not be so capable."
"Well, maybe you're just underestimating what Wonder Woman is really capable of, just like your bitch boss and everyone else she sent." Again, Vanessa surprised herself by simply not cowering and pleading for her life.
Mask's gloved hand backhanded Vanessa across the lip. Vanessa could see her captor struggle to hide flashes of anger behind her mask, and even needed a few second to stop shaking from the insult. "It must be another artifact," Mask reasoned out loud. "Something we missed."
Vanessa took the opportunity to 'accidentally' glance at her purse several times. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Lies," Mask said as she snatched Vanessa's purse away and dumped the contents on an empty console space. "Which is it? Another disguised item like the Sandals or the Helm? Do you take me for a fool?"
"Hell yes!" Vanessa had stiffened her muscles the entire time she was being held by the bouncers. Something she had never thought to do before, but like many things, was suddenly coming to her naturally. She suddenly relaxed her arms and her skinny frame slipped from the grasp of the guards. They couldn't react in time, not without orders from their master who was too busy combing through personal effects. Vanessa knocked the champagne tray from the nearby servant's hand, breaking full glasses all over the console and exposed circuitry.
"NO!" The servant and guards suddenly collapsed to the ground, clutching their heads in agony. Mask swiped at Vanessa, but even she could duck under the angry diva's attack. She grabbed a bottle fallen from the purse, and quickly sprayed Mask directly in the eyes. "AAAHH!"
"Hair spray. Good enough to be backup pepper spray at least." Vanessa didn't bother with the entire contents of the purse. She grabbed her phone and wallet and ran.
Wonder Woman was surrounded by a dome consisting half of green flames and half spiked ice, their respective creators. Now that she had the two artifacts equipped, her opponents were much more wary to attack. The Amazon watched them carefully as there seemed to be a lull in their strikes, wondering if they were waiting for her to attack first, or if their puppetmaster was scheming her next move.
Suddenly both Fire and Ice fell to the ground clutching their heads. Their masks surged and smoked before falling off. Wondering exactly what happened, Wonder Woman rushed to their sides as the both slowly arose as if waking from a nightmare. "Are you all right?"
"Diana?" Ice said meekly. "What happened?"
"Do you remember anything?"
"Vague bits," Fire responded. "I remember dreaming... oh God!"
"Everyone on the ground, face-down and hands behind your back! Don't even think about your powers!" the voice yelled over the loudspeaker. The police had chosen only just now to try to intervene, likely because Wonder Woman had done all the hard work for them.
"Go," Fire told the Amazon. "We can't run away this time."
"What? I can't just leave you behind!" Wonder Woman protested.
"You have a mission to do. And people to protect. Us? We just have crimes to answer for," Ice said sadly. "Go."
"On the ground, now! That means you too, Wonder Woman!"
The Amazon looked regretfully at Fire and Ice, hesitating before flying straight up at top speeds. The police never even got a chance to fire.
Vanessa ran down the fire escape. Hopefully everyone in the building that would have posed a threat would either be unconscious or just waking up from control. All she had to do was leave through a side entrance before the whole place could be surrounded.
She still received flashes of, for lack of better word, brilliance. Blueprints and response times, maps and escape routes. Sometimes they were as annoying as they were helpful. Vanessa wondered if this was what Diana dealt with all the time, as they only started when she wore her signature tiara. She knew like much of Diana's equipment it was an artifact from Themyscira, she just never thought she'd be on the beneficial end of an artifact's effects, especially not after the Apple.
Vanessa made it to the ground floor, saw the neon exit sign, and bolted out into the alleyway.
That split second of freedom was cut off as something wrapped around her neck and lifted her off the ground, not enough to choke or break her neck, but enough to restrain her.
"Well, what do we have here?" growled the feral voice. Vanessa looked up to see a familiar form lurking on the ledge above like the predator she was, her feline irises glowing in the night.
Cheetah pounced down, her prehensile tail still holding Vanessa against the wall. "I remember you. Barely. You shoved one of those goddamn apples in my face while your friend drove a forklift into me. You know how much more I hate water now that I'm like this?"
Vanessa tried to scream, but the tail around her neck tightened just enough to make that impossible. "Nice jewelry," Cheetah said as she lifted Wonder Woman's tiara and twirled it around her claw. "Your new bestie lets you borrow her stuff? Nice."
Sirens flashed on the other side of the alleyway. "It's getting a little too crowded here. Come on. My boss wants to have a word with you."
To be continued...