Whatever Happened To Wonder Woman: The Amazons free porn video

Despite quitting the Justice League and retiring from being a superhero, everyone believed her to be Wonder Woman, yet she had so far avoided meeting Wonder Woman's people, the Amazons, worried they would realise she was an imposter. But no meeting can be put off forever.... (Note: This story is part of a series. If you haven't read the others then, at the very least, you should read WHATEVER HAPPENED TO WONDER WOMAN? before reading this one.) WHATEVER HAPPENED TO WONDER WOMAN: THE AMAZONS by BobH (c) 2020 All characters are the property of DC Comics. - 1 - WHO IS HELENA DAVALOS? asked the headline on the business pages of the L.A. Times. The story beneath revealed her to be the new CEO of the Maximus Corporation, the world's largest privately-owned multinational and one that had its fingers in almost everything. Its founder, diminutive Greek-American billionaire Alexander Maximus, was apparently stepping down from both his company and from public life and had retreated to his enormous Bel Air mansion. Which since he was eighty-six years old and not in the best of health made a lot of sense. What had the business world in a tizzy was that no one had ever heard of Helena Davalos before the announcement she was taking over. Which *is* intriguing, I suppose. I turned back to the front page. INCREASED TENSIONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST was the headline, a hardy perennial you could use in almost any year, in almost any decade, unfortunately. Yawning, I put the newspaper down, stretched, and got to my feet. I'd finished my breakfast some time ago and I had an important appointment this morning, one I didn't want to be late for. Leaving the pool-side table, I took the stairs down to the garage level, got into the car, and set off. An hour later I was sitting in a chair, surrounded by manicurists attending to my nails, make-up artists who could barely conceal their joy at having such a perfect face to work on, and stylists performing wonders with my hair. I absolutely adored being the centre of all that attention. When the door to the studio opened and my sister Donna walked in she found me smiling contentedly. She waved and gave a little smile of her own then took a seat, happy to wait and watch until the process was complete. Despite not being blood-relatives we bore a striking physical resemblance and she could easily pass as a younger version of myself. Donna Troy aka Wonder Girl didn't visit Los Angeles often, but a Titans case had brought her here so she was taking the opportunity to touch base. It had been three weeks since we'd last seen each other at a New York fundraiser and she was eager to see her big sister again. She had phoned me while I was eating breakfast to arrange things. Since I had a busy day all planned out I'd told her to come to the studio. I'd also warned her that she'd have to remain quiet if I was still getting my hair and make-up done when she arrived. Artists of the calibre of those currently applying their talents on my behalf demanded quiet as they worked their magic. So much so that they barely batted an eyelid between them at the sight of Donna in the black boots and red, gold-starred sleeveless jumpsuit that was her superhero costume. Fortunately they were almost done, and when they had finished I swivelled to face Donna. "Well?" "You look amazing," she said, with just a hint of envy in her voice. "That's down to the art director, Adam Hughes. He oversees hair, make- up, lighting - basically every element that contributes to the final image." "And the torn sleeve and fake blood? What's that all about?" "It's all part of Adam's artistic vision," I said, holding up my left arm. "He's says it'll look amazing in the ad, so I believe him. I can't wait to see the finished thing." "You're putting a lot of faith in this guy." "Yeah, I am, but having seen loads of his earlier work I think it's justified." "I can't believe how calm you were sitting there when they were all fussing over you like that. You wouldn't have been once upon a time." "What can I say?" I said, shrugging. "As you've noticed, I loosened up about a lot of things after my retirement. When I actually gave it a chance I discovered that being pampered like this is fun. I know as an Amazon warrior I'm not supposed to care about such things but giving full rein to my feminine side these past few weeks has been joyous." "So this is for a perfume ad?" "Yes, my first Wonder Woman fragrance and the first of a range of high- end products Wonder Woman Enterprises will be launching over the coming months." "'Wonder Woman Enterprises'?" "As always, the Wonder Woman Foundation will handle my charitable work, but Frank Becker set up Wonder Woman Enterprises to handle all merchandising and other commercial opportunities for me." "This could make you very rich." "That's the plan." The necessity, actually. The mansion I was living in was on 'permanent loan'. In order to support the lifestyle I was living, and for it to become as lavish as I wanted it to, I needed a substantial income to start coming in. "Oh, I almost collided with Lars on my way in," said Donna. "I was surprised to see you're still with him. I mean it must be a whole three weeks now. You've usually gone through a couple of men in that time." Lars Gundersen was my latest lover, or 'Lars the Viking' as the gossip mags liked to refer to him. Since he was six foot ten inches of solid muscle there weren't too many like him around so of course Donna had recognised him. But she was exaggerating. I'd only known Lars *two* weeks. "What can I say," I chuckled. "I like men and I have a healthy appetite for them. Mock all you want, but now I've found one who can keep up with me in the bedroom I intend keeping him around for a while, or at least until a particularly gorgeous new man catches my eye." "Well, you seem very happy with your life." "Oh I am, Donna. In fact I've never been happier," I said, going over and hugging her. "And one of the things that makes me happy is that I have a sister like you." And it really did. As an only child I'd always longed for a sister, and Donna was wonderful. "I love having you for a sister too, Diana", said Donna. She believed me to be the woman she had always known, but I'm not. No, that woman was now living my former life as Maggie Jones, a middle-aged truck stop waitress in rural Iowa. And she was happy doing so, believing the decision to swap lives with me was her own. It wasn't. My son Frank Becker - now my business manager - switched our bodies then used his persuasion power to convince her of that, the same power he had used on Donna when we first met so that, no matter what, she would accept me as the same sister she had always known. The actual photoshoot took about an hour, and then we headed out to the parking lot and over to my car. "I never would've imagined it, but you seemed to be in your element during that photoshoot," Donna observed, as we pulled out on to the road. "And a good thing too," I said, "since I've got a major shoot with 'Vogue' next week." "Vogue?" Donna was surprised. "You've always turned down requests from them in the past." "Yes, but now I have a line of branded clothing I'm developing with a couple of major designers, and this will be publicity for that." "My sister the businesswoman," said Donna, sounding impressed. "I never saw that coming. Your love-life seems pretty healthy, too." "Yes, Lars is quite the hunk, isn't he? Tonight he's taking me to some new club that's just opened, which should be fun." I then enquired after her fiance Terry, which led to us being deep in girly conversation by the time we reached my mansion. "Wow, swanky!" said Donna as we passed through the gates and she caught her first sight of it. "But kinda big for one person." "Yes, it is. Frank Becker stays here when he's on the west coast and has a room of his own. It would make me very happy if you'd accept one. I'd love it if you stayed with me when you're out this way, too." "I..I don't know what to say." "Say 'yes'." "Yes, yes, of course! I'd love nothing more than to stay with my big sis when I'm here." As we rounded a corner on the drive up to the mansion so the lower terrace came into view, as did what was parked there. "Your invisible jet!" exclaimed Donna The lower terrace was a paved area where the jet sat until such time as it was needed, soaking up the solar rays that fuelled it. "I see the damage it sustained when Dr Cyber took control of it has been repaired." "It has," I agreed, "though a lot of it was superficial I took your advice and had the jet fly back to Paradise Island where our Amazon scientists did a first rate job of patching her up. She was back here within two days." The ability of the plane to fly itself was an incredibly useful one. Parking the car in front of the garages, we climbed the stairs to the upper terrace, to the level where the house and its swimming pool lay. No sooner had we taken chairs at the poolside table where I usually ate breakfast than my maid Conchita had appeared. "Ah, good," I said, "please bring us a bottle of champagne in an ice- bucket." "And your Themyscreen, if you don't mind," said Donna. "When I saw mother on Paradise Island a few weeks ago things got... complicated. I know she's worried about me. I should have called her before this and I may not get the chance to do so again for a while." "Of course," I said. "Conchita knows where it is, don't you?" "Yes, your highness. I'll fetch it out with the champagne." The Themyscreen was an Amazon device with inbuilt telepathic circuitry. About eight inches by ten, it looked like an ornate picture frame, one whose moving images of individual Amazons you could scroll through by tapping the first of three studs on the side. It was also a communicator. Call up an image of the woman you wanted to contact, tap the middle stud, and you could leave a telepathic message she could access at her end. The third stud allowed direct, person to person telepathic communication in real time. I'd used the second setting to inform Hippolyta of my intention to become an American citizen, but I hadn't dared use the third setting. When Conchita scurried off I fished my cigarettes out of my purse. "Y'know, it was strange seeing you smoke at first," said Donna, as I lit one, "but I think I'm getting used to it now." "Part of me retiring as a superhero was in order to be able to openly explore the many pleasures of man's world," I replied, exhaling, "and this is definitely one of the better ones. So why were you on Paradise Island a few weeks ago? A social call?" "No, sadly. My teammate Gar Logan - Changeling - got badly injured. I told the other Titans we needed to get him there so that Paula could use the Purple Ray to heal him. He wouldn't have survived if we hadn't. Raven, Starfire, and I dropped down from the T-jet carrying Gar. While the boys jetted off on another mission, we girls unexpectedly got embroiled with the titans of myth, the elder gods that Zeus had banished long ago." "What happened?" I asked, genuinely curious. I'd been dubious about all this gods and goddesses stuff with the Amazons at first, until I thought about what was in our holy books and how unlikely that stuff might all seem to them. And now here was Donna saying she'd actually met some of those gods and goddesses. "The titan known as Hyperion, a sun god, managed to escape from Tartarus, the underworld where Zeus had imprisoned him and the other titans thirty thousand years ago. He then appeared in the skies over Paradise Island, soaking up the rays from the sun and blocking the solar collectors powering the Purple Ray that was healing Gar. I flew up to confront him and he put some sort of love spell on me." "Oh, Donna," I said, "did he...?" "No, nothing like that, nor did he physically harm me in any way. Even so, the sense of violation...." I nodded sympathetically and placed a hand over hers. "To cut a long story short, Hyperion freed the other titans, who then marched on Olympus with me at Hyperion's side intending to challenge their children, Zeus and the other Olympians. Battle raged, the Amazons arrived with Starfire and Raven, and eventually the titans and Olympians reached a peaceful accord. My teammates stayed on at Paradise Island for a while but I fled back to New York and into Terry's arms. He was the only one who could comfort me after an ordeal like that, but it was still selfish of me. I should have considered mother's feelings too, and how worried about me she must have been." "I'm sure she'd understand." "I'm sure she would too, but I've still waited longer than I should have to talk with her." Right on cue, Conchita returned with champagne and the Themyscreen. I opened the bottle and poured out a glass each for Donna and I while she took the Themyscreen and called up Hippolyta's image. "That's odd," she said, "I can't establish contact with her. Let's try Aunt Antiope." That too proved fruitless. "Maybe Paula," she said. "Still nothing." She threw back her drink then started speeding through the pictures trying to establish contact with randomly chosen Amazons. Nothing. "Something's wrong." "There might be an innocent, perfectly logical explanation," I suggested, taking a final drag on my cigarette and stubbing it out in the ashtray. "Possibly it's just some sort of technical problem with the Themyscreens." "Maybe," said Donna, biting her lip, "but I won't be able to rest until I know. The invisible jet will get me to Paradise Island faster than any other method. Do you mind if I borrow it?" "Of course not. Be my guest." "Thanks. I'll report back to you when I get there. I hope you're right and there's nothing wrong." Unfortunately, there was. - 2 - When Donna had gone I contemplated the bottle of champagne. "Looks like I'm drinking you all by myself," I said, lifting it out of the ice-bucket, "so I'd better get started." I poured myself another glass of bubbly, then picked up my phone. I had no desire to get involved in Amazon affairs, but if there was even a possibility of that happening then I needed to review what I'd been told about them in order to refresh my memory. Shortly after I switched bodies with the original Diana, Frank had instructed her to tell us about all aspects of her life and I'd recorded this. Though I'd since made a copy of the recording, one securely stored elsewhere, the original was still on my phone, broken down into smaller sub-files to make it easier to find what I wanted. It was also concealed behind several levels of encryption. I opened the menu and selected audiofile Amaz01, the first of several on the subject at hand, and pressed 'play'. "The Amazons of Themyscira were the foremost warriors of the ancient world," said my predecessor in her then newly-acquired raspy voice, "until the man-god Herakles - or Hercules as he's better known, and came to prefer - arrived on our shores with his strongest, fiercest warriors. Stung by taunts that he could not conquer the Amazon women, he was determined to prove otherwise and challenged my mother to personal combat. With the magic girdle given to her by Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, Queen Hippolyta knew she could not lose, so she accepted the challenge. She defeated him, but Hercules, through deceit and trickery, managed to secure the magic girdle, and enslaved the Amazons. These events, in very distorted form, appear in mythology as the ninth labour of Hercules." "At first Aphrodite, angry at Hippolyta for having succumbed to the wiles of men, would do nothing to help them, but eventually she relented. With her help, Hippolyta stole back the magic girdle from Hercules. The Amazons then overcame their masters and stole their entire fleet from them. Aphrodite's condition for her aid was that the Amazons must leave the world of man behind and establish a new one of their own. So they set sail across the ocean, eventually establishing a new Themyscira on an island in what we now call the Bermuda Triangle, one that would be forever hidden from the eyes of men. Here they devoted themselves to peace while still training in the arts of war. The Amazons referred to their new home as "the paradise island", and over time came to actually call it Paradise Island. Aphrodite granted us immortality, though we would lose it if any man ever set foot on this new island. Any Amazon who voluntarily travelled to man's world would also lose her immortality, as I have. Aphrodite decreed that we must wear the heavy bracelets fashioned by our captors, as a reminder of why we should ever remain aloof from men." He might get portrayed as a hero on TV and in the movies these days, but the real Hercules sounds like a complete dick. Puzzlingly, all this happened two or three thousand years ago, yet Maggie claimed that her coming to man's world as Wonder Woman was their first contact with us in a *thousand* years. I never asked her about that. Now I wish I had. When Frank first contemplated the problem of the Amazons, he hadn't entirely worked out how we should proceed. "There's the matter of the Amazons to deal with," he said. "As well as Wonder Woman's strength and speed you also have the means to send a mental summons to her mother. So sooner rather than later you need to do so. Then I can use my power on Queen Hippolyta in order for her to believe her beloved daughter and respect her wishes when you tell her you want to take American citizenship and stay in man's world for the rest of your life, never to return to Paradise Island." Exactly where this meeting would take place is something we could never figure out. As a man Frank wasn't allowed on Paradise Island and, as an Amazon, Hippolyta couldn't set foot in man's world. Sighing, I poured myself another glass of champagne and opened the second audiofile, Amaz02: "After we had established ourselves on Paradise Island, Athena, Goddess of Wisdom, gifted us with a mystic sphere. Through this device, Queen Hippolyta was able to view events in Man's World from the present and past, and sometimes even forecast the future." "So she can use it to spy on you?" said a voice I recognized as my own. For obvious reasons, this had worried me. "She could, but she would not. No Amazon would ever commit such a personal violation. With these visions of the future, the Amazons were able to far surpass the inventions of man-made civilization. Not only were we stronger and wiser, but our weapons were more advanced, and our flying machines were faster. Much of the credit for creating these must go to our chief scientist, Paula von Gunther, a formerly mortal genius adopted into Amazon society who has laboured tirelessly on our behalf ever since. She usually does her work and tests her creations on what has come to be known as Science Island, a small isle about half a mile off-shore from Paradise Island." As I remembered it, Amaz03 contained stuff on Amazon culture and on the flora and fauna of Paradise Island. None of this seemed immediately relevant, nor did what I recalled of the other Amaz files, so I didn't play them. I decided to have a nice long bath then take my time over getting ready for my date with Lars that evening. This I did, and I was just putting the finishing touches to my make-up when the telepathic equivalent of a telephone ringtone started it's insistent throbbing in my head. I picked up the Themyscreen and Donna's image appeared. "They're gone," she said. "Mother and all the other Amazons have disappeared. Paradise Island is deserted." "How is that possible?" "I don't know. There are some signs of a struggle, but that's all. There's nothing to indicate who might have done this or what happened to our sisters, but I found this lying on the ground." She held up a golden girdle. We both knew what it was. "Well, have a final look around to see if you've missed any clues then come back here," I said. "Between us maybe we can figure out what to do next." "Yes, I'll do that. Thanks, Diana. Donna out." With that the screen went blank. I was a lover not a fighter, nor was I a superhero, so what I'd be suggesting to Donna when she returned was that we boot the problem 'upstairs' to the Justice League. They had resources we didn't, so let them sort it out. I might have told Donna we could maybe figure out what to do next but, realistically, what could we do? Neither of us were detectives so our chances of discovering what had happened to the Amazons were slim to non-existent. I turned my attention back to my makeup. When it was done, I checked my appearance in a full length mirror, and nodded approvingly. I was wearing a full-length, sleeveless and boat-necked evening dress, that was sparkly grey and slit up to mid-thigh, with matching heels and purse. I looked stunning, of course, but then I always did now. I blew my reflection a kiss and headed out. The club where I was meeting Lars was so new it didn't even have a name yet. Like many such exclusive establishments it had been deliberately located in a not particularly fashionable part of town in order to maintain the discretion of its clientele. Its blank, all black facade revealed nothing, only the presence of a pair of large bouncers in identical tuxes on the door hinting it was even a club. When I pulled up outside and rolled down my window one of them came over and leaned in. "I'm a guest of Mr Gundersen," I said. "He asked me to meet him here." "Ah yes," he said. "Princess Diana." He snapped his fingers and a valet emerged from somewhere to take my car away and park it who knows where. The bouncer who had talked to me then opened the club door and ushered me in. "Mr Gundersen is seated at table number four," he said. A short hallway beyond the door opened out into a luxuriously appointed space - which turned out to be a strip club. Two women were slowly stripping on the small stage while a third, wearing only nipple tassels and a thong, gyrated on a pole. Oddly, they were performing to classical music that was both understated and not too loud. The place smelled faintly of fresh paint, suggesting this genuinely was as newly-opened as Lars had claimed. For a strip joint it was really odd. The furniture would not have been out of place in a gentleman's club, with its leather armchairs, and drinks being served on silver trays by men who looked and acted more like butlers than regular wait staff. Those watching the show reeked of money, and a third of them were women. All were middle-aged or older except for Lars, who rose from his table to greet me, his gorgeously muscular body sheathed in a very sharp dark suit. "Diana!" he said, grinning broadly. "So glad you could make it." He indicated the armchair next to his at the table, not sitting down again until I was seated. "A strip club, Lars?" I said. "I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't that." "Oh, it's much more than just a strip club," he said. "Take a closer look at the dancers." Frowning, I did as he asked. Then I gasped. "Niobe, Eurus, and Nysa!" I said. "They're all Amazons!" "Ah, so you *do* recognise them. I had wondered if you would." "What's going on, Lars?" I asked, heart sinking as I realised he must be involved in whatever had happened on Paradise Island. "They really shouldn't call me 'the Viking', you know," he said, "not when 'the Olympian' is so much more accurate...." "What? I don't...." As I watched so his blond curly hair and beard turned dark, while the planes of his face shifted becoming harder, crueller. There was only one person he could be. "Oh crap," I said. Lars Gundersen was Hercules. - 3 - "What's going on here?" I asked him as calmly as I could, calling on every last iota of my acting skills to appear composed while inside I was terrified. "Let's go upstairs and see the club's owner," he said, standing up and putting a powerful grip on my bicep. "She'll explain everything." My mind was racing as I tried - and failed - to make sense of everything that was happening, not least of which was that the man I'd been having sex with these past two weeks was a god. Hercules led me upstairs to the office, which was also surprisingly well-appointed. The heavy oak desk its occupant was standing behind, gazing out the window, was clearly an imported antique. She was a tall-woman, dressed in an immaculately- tailored grey trouser suit over whose shoulders her long, thick blonde hair cascaded. She turned to face us, and my jaw dropped "Hello, daughter," she said, grinning. She seated herself at the desk then beckoned us to take the two chairs facing it. "Queen Hippolyta?" I said, finding my voice. "How is this possible?" "You seemed to be enjoying yourself in man's world, so I decided to join you here. I'm setting up a chain of strip clubs across America which - since I'm their queen and they have to obey me - the Amazons will be performing in for me." She took a large cigar from the humidor on the desk, snipped the end off with a cutter from her waistcoat pocket, and picked up the heavy desk lighter. "Ah, Cuban cigars!" she sighed, after playing the flame over the end, puffing it to life, and exhaling. "You're not Queen Hippolyta," I said, stating what was now obvious. "This is her body but no, I'm not. And you're not her daughter." "Wh..what?" "Don't deny it," said Hercules. "When I went in search of Princess Diana I did not find her. After two weeks of our mutual pleasure it was obvious you could not be she." "Our little friend has been struck dumb," chuckled the woman. "Why don't you tell her how this all started and I'll pick up the story from there." "It began three months ago when the Amazons marched on Olympus, which was then under attack from the titans, the elder gods who had broken free from their imprisonment in Tartarus. I was incensed that the Amazons had had the audacity to involve themselves in the affairs of their gods, as was fleet-footed Hermes. With the silent aid of another, he and I decided to punish this effrontery. On Paradise Island he stole the magic girdle that is the source of her power from Queen Hippolyta, and between us we imprisoned them. A spell rendered them pliable and suggestible." "Which is where I come in," said 'Hippolyta'. "Who *are* you?" I demanded, finding my voice. "Helena Davalos," she said. "Or at least that's the name I'll be using from now on, a legal identity that has been carefully constructed." "Oh god, you're him!" I said, the penny dropping. "You're Alexander Maximus." "Very good. I was approached two weeks ago about a supply of 'pliable' immortals and the means for others to switch bodies with them. They were all women, but if it meant being immortal.... I was offered my pick of them by way of a demonstration. Naturally I chose the queen. Given the option I would not have chosen a female body, but this one is wonderful! I have youth, strength, vitality, and over the past week I've grown to appreciate what I see in the mirror, too. I'm sure you felt the same." I gave a little nod, but said nothing "It was immediately obvious to me," she continued, "how best to exploit this opportunity. I would establish a chain of high-end strip clubs, with one in every major American city, whose actual purpose was not titillation but to serve as a showcase where a highly select chosen clientele of super-wealthy potential buyers could view the merchandise before purchasing. And those buyers are not just women. In fact most are male. Not only is almost all the big money in the world in the hands of men, but it turns out that when it comes to a chance at immortality they don't consider the gender of the donor bodies any more of an impediment than I did." "The Amazons are no longer on Paradise Island," I said, "so why would they still be immortal?" "Aphrodite ruled that any Amazon who left voluntarily should lose her immortality," said Hercules, "but they did not do so. Hermes and I abducted them." "It turns out that godly edicts are as precise in their wording as legal contracts," said Maximus, who was leaning back in her chair, languidly blowing smoke rings. "Which in a sense I suppose they are." "And you? Why did Hercules come to you to help bring an end to the Amazons?" "I had the means and the organisation necessary to get strip clubs up and running across the country within two weeks. Throw enough money at a problem and it's amazing what can be accomplished." "Other rich people could've done the same," I persisted. "So why you?" "Because although we pretend to be Greek-Orthodox for the sake of appearances, my family never lost our faith in the old gods as so many others of our people did. We have always worshipped them, and they have rewarded us with prosperity, prosperity I've taken to another level with the Maximus Corporation." "And the real Hippolyta?" I asked. "Where is she now?" "At a small lodge in the grounds of my Bel Air mansion, where she'll live out her remaining days in my old body, believing herself to be Alexander Maximus and happy to have handed everything over to me." "Very similar to what you must have done with the real Princess Diana," said Hercules. "I came looking for the two Amazons I hadn't yet captured, Diana and her sister, and instead I found you. Wonder Woman was the prize Hermes demanded for aiding me in conquering the Amazons, but you are not she." "So what happens next?" "Now we have to decide what we should do with you," said Maximus. I reached into my purse, took out my cigarettes and lighter, lit one, inhaled deeply, held the smoke in, exhaled slowly, and regarded them thoughtfully. The point of this little performance was that it gave me time to think. I learned a long time ago that if you do this people tend to watch you, that where you might otherwise only have three or four seconds to respond to them this can give you up to twenty seconds, depending on how much you drag it out. And I needed those extra seconds. My mind was racing as I tried to see a way out of this situation. Then I had it. "I want in," I said. "What?" said Hercules, looking puzzled. "I want a piece of the action. There's a lot of money to be made here, and we can help each other." "How?" said Maximus. She looked both surprised and intrigued. Which is when I knew that I had her. "You're right about me. The original Wonder Woman is living my old life and believing herself to be who I used to be. Just like Hippolyta. You have a *lot* of Amazons to process, which will take time. Given my own body-swap it must be obvious to you that I have the means to help you spread the load and halve that time, which will make for happier customers." "Yes, it would," said Maximus, looking at me thoughtfully, "but why should we trust you?" "Because I want to be rich, and this seems like a fast track to achieving that." "It's true," said Hercules. "Much of our pillow talk was about her desire for great wealth and how to acquire it." "Then I think perhaps we *can* work together," said Maximus. "I'll need my business manager Frank Becker to negotiate the details," I said. "What is this?" thundered Hercules. "Are you planning deceit?" "Please calm yourself, my lord," said Maximus in a soothing voice. "It's how we do things in the modern world, and a perfectly reasonable request." "Frank's in DC at the moment but I can get him here by tomorrow to hammer out the details." "OK, then we'll reconvene here tomorrow evening." "Oh, and one other thing?" "Yes?" "The body-swapping, the mind-altering, and Hercules's magical disguise: you have a magician of some sort working with you. I'd like them to be there too, so we can each see who we'll be working with." Maximus and Hercules exchanged glances, then he nodded. "The sorceress Circe shall be there," he said. "I have one other thing, too," said Maximus, sucking on her cigar. "I want you to wear your Wonder Woman costume." "Why?" "Just humour me, please." "OK," I said, shrugging. "Excellent, but leave the magic lasso at home. That way there's less chance of an 'accident' occurring." "I'll escort you back to your car," said Hercules. "If you try to flee before tomorrow's meeting, know that I will find you." - 4 - "I'm sorry I dragged you into this," I said, biting my lip. "Don't be silly," said Frank, giving my shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "You did the right thing. What sort of a son would I be if I didn't come to your aid?" Frank had just got in from DC, so I'd picked him up at the airport and been filling him in in the situation on the drive home from LAX. "Did you get any sleep last night?" he asked, concern in his voice. "Not at first," I said. "My dreams were filled with visions of some ancient, unnamed god plunging the world into eternal darkness. But they went away, and after that I slept surprisingly well. I woke at seven, ran a couple of laps of the estate and worked out for a bit in the mansion's gymnasium, like I usually do. I had a light breakfast then I drove to the airport." "It's so weird thinking of you exercising like that," chuckled Frank, "particularly given how sedentary you were before." "Yes, well, I used to be middle-aged and overweight and exercise hurt my joints. Now that I'm bursting with youthful energy I've discovered I really enjoy the endorphin rush I get from exercising. It's actually kind of addictive. But never mind that; we have other things to worry about." "Alexander Maximus," mused Frank, "or Alexander the Great. You give a kid a name like that and of course he's gonna want to conquer the world, only these days you do that by creating a mergacorp rather than through force of arms. Also, it's classic little man behaviour to over- compensate like that." "Not a little man anymore," I said. "Now he's a tall, statuesque woman." "Hmm," said Frank, "I wonder what his wife thinks about that?" "That's a very good question." A former model, Cindy Maximus had married Alexander twenty five years ago when she was thirty and he a mere sixty-one. It was her second marriage and his fifth. Tall and always thin, she now looked scrawny and emaciated, as if age had sucked the last of the juice out of her. It didn't help that several rounds of plastic surgery spent vainly attempting to arrest the march of time had left her face a stretched and expressionless mask. Passing through the gates of the mansion we drove up past the terrace where the invisible jet was once again parked. "It was there when I got up this morning," I said, "but there was no sign of Donna." "That's not good." "No, it's not. I mean, she *could* have had to rush off to be with her team...." "But if so she'd at least have left a note." "Exactly. I'm worried they have her, Frank." In the mansion, he and I took a chair either side of the main dining table and worked out a plan. "So to recap," said Frank. "Since Circe and I apparently have the same powers, I have to get the drop on her, to use my persuasion power and command her to obey me before she can do the same to me. Then she and I turn our attention to Hercules and hope that one of us can put the fluence on him while you do your best to restrain him. Once he's been neutralised, Circe and I can then use our powers to free the Amazons and reverse the body switch between Maximus and Hippolyta, that being the only one that has so far taken place so far as we know." He sounded dubious, and I couldn't blame him. "I didn't say it was a great plan," I said, "but can you think of a better one?" "Not really," he sighed. "What worries me the most about it is you having to restrain Hercules. You might just have the strength, but you're not a fighter and you don't have the training or the will." "I also don't have any choice. He's the one that's a direct threat to me. I'm not brave and I don't want to do this, but if we can't somehow eliminate that threat now I don't think I'll ever be safe." "Circe," said Frank, "there's something about Circe that worries me." "What?" "Assuming this is the same Circe known to the ancient Greeks who's somehow managed to survive to the present day, the fact that she was this 'other' whose 'silent aid' enabled Hermes and Hercules to take down the Amazons worries me a bit. For gods to work with a human on something like that suggests she might be something special." "So are you," I reassured him. "Long-lived or not she's still only human, and I'd bet on you against another human any day of the week." "Thanks for the vote of confidence. Let's hope you're right." Frank spent the rest of the day putting together a contract laying out the terms of a deal between me and Alex Maximus. The terms outlined by him represented a more generous offer from us than we would have made had we been negotiating a real deal, but we weren't. No, this was intended as an offer so good that Maximus couldn't refuse it, the object of the exercise being to get us to the hand-shaking stage as quickly as possible so that we could put our plan into motion. It only had a slim chance of success, but a slim chance was better than none at all. That evening I drove us back to the strip club. Hercules and Maximus - who was wearing an exquisitely tailored white trouser suit today - were waiting for us in the office, along with three women. My eyes were immediately drawn to one of them. "Donna!" I said. She was sitting in a chair, hands in her lap, only able to move her eyes. "What have you done to her?" "Me? Nothing," said Maximus. "But Circe here used her persuasion power to have Miss Troy sit there and not make a sound while the grown-ups are talking." The woman she indicated was a tall, dark-haired beauty who reminded me a lot of the young Cher. Looking at her made me uneasy for some reason. There was something about her that just seemed... off. "She has the stench of titans upon her," said Circe, frowning at Donna. "So you keep saying," said Maximus, holding her hand up and snapping her fingers. At this signal the third woman stepped forward. She was dressed head to toe in studded black leather, with five inch stilletto heels, a spiked choker, and black lipstick and eyeshadow, her hair pulled back severely to form a long ponytail. "Cigar," said Maximus, whereupon she took one from the humidor, snipped off the end, then played the flame of the desk lighter over the end, puffing it into life. She then handed it to Maximus, who had been running her eyes over my body appreciatively since we walked in. "Mmmm-mmmm," she said, sucking on the cigar. "Seeing you in that iconic costume makes me want to indulge in some mother-daughter incest." "That's Paula von Gunther!" I said, finally recognizing the leather-clad woman and deliberately ignoring Maximus's comment. "Indeed it is. I always think 'leather dominatrix' when it comes to German women, don't you?" "Not really, no. Why is she here?" "A recently retired senator from one of our great Southern states bought her body in yesterday's auction. I think the costume helped with the sale, I really do. We'll help him establish a new legal identity, arrange for transfer of property and the like, and then we can do the body switch. In the meantime I enjoy having her serving me here in the club." "And Donna?" "A present for my wife. She plans to get the college education she missed out on first time around, while having sex with lots of college boys. Assuming new identities is an instant divorce, so she gets that body in lieu of any alimony. I haven't told her that Miss Troy isn't immortal, of course, something she'll learn for herself in the fullness of time, the bitch." She eyed me appraisingly. "Cindy's body has seen better days, let's face it. Any qualms about Miss Troy spending the rest of her life in it?" "None at all," I lied, shrugging. "She means nothing to me. Now can we get down to business?" "Of course," said Maximus. "Let me see your proposal." Under the wary eye of Hercules - who had been standing there like a statue, his arms folded, watching everything with an expression of disapproval - Frank took the documents he had drafted from his briefcase and handed them to Maximus, who read them over carefully. While she did so, I put my hand to my head, which was throbbing uncomfortably. There was something about Circe that was making me feel queasy, something that reminded me of last night's dreams. "Who...who *are* you?!" I croaked, surprising everyone as I pointed an accusing finger at the sorceress. She smiled, baring her teeth. And then there was another, larger presence in the room, which suddenly seemed unaccountably darker. "Circe is the vessel through which I have worked my will to the extent I was able these past centuries," said Circe, in a voice that was not her own, one which radiated immense power, "but now the heavens are in alignment and it is finally time for the world to know me in all my glory. Before the Olympians, before even the titans, there was me. I am Nyx, Goddess of Darkness, and before me there was only the void." I looked across at Frank in dismay. I had overplayed our hand. And now we were going to die. - 5 - To my surprise, Frank lunged forward with astonishing speed and grabbed Circe's hand. To my even greater surprise, a look of horror spread across her face. "This cannot be!" screamed Nyx through her lips. "You have the dead god's power!" And then everyone in the room froze. We could move our eyes but nothing else, watching as Frank and the sorceress, still locked together and glaring into each other's eyes, began to glow. There was a sudden, blinding flash of light, and Hercules was hurled across the room, landing in a heap at my feet. He held up his hands. "Enough, Amazon!" he said, panting, his eyes wild. "I yield to you." And then he vanished, accompanied a tiny thunderclap as air rushed in to fill the space where he had been. "The coward has fled back to Olympus," said Donna, who was now on her feet. "That was amazing, Diana! I didn't think anyone could give Hercules a beating like that." Huh? "Why am I dressed like this?" said another voice. "And what is that disgusting taste in my mouth?" "Mother!" said Donna, rushing over to Hippolyta, who was clearly now back in her own body. I turned to Frank who was staring down at the unconscious form of Circe. Then he looked at me and put a finger to his lips, indicating I shouldn't say anything. Paula, too, had gone over to Hippolyta, and both were now looking my way. "I have seen Diana fight before, your majesty," she said, "but not like that. Never before has Hercules been so soundly defeated. He fled back to Olympus with his tail between his legs like the cur he is." "Diana offered to surrender herself to him willingly if Hercules could defeat her," said Donna, "with the Amazons going free if she was victorious. She saved us all!" Hippolyta came over to me. "Daughter," she said, laying a hand on my face, "once again our people owe you everything. I could not be more proud of you." "I only did what had to be done," I said, wondering what the hell was going on. "But now you have to go," Donna told her. "If you tarry at all that could constitute being away from Paradise Island willingly, and we daren't risk that. Is Diana won freedom for the Amazons, the villain who stole your body agreed to give you an old freighter his company owns in New Orleans on which they can sail home, and to have tickets to that city waiting at their local airport for every Amazon who's been held in clubs like this one across the country. But you and Paula can get home faster than that." "The invisible jet," I said, realizing what Donna meant. I tossed her my car keys. "There's no time to waste." "Is there at least time for me to find other clothes," said Paula, "only I'd like change." "Please don't," said Hippolyta, smiling and stroking her arm. "I find this garb... intriguing." Hippolyta and Paula, eh? Being on an island with no men for all those centuries it was pretty obvious the Amazons had to have been getting it on with each other, but there was no time for this right now. "Go!" I said. "Every second you delay you're risking your immortality!" Hippolyta hugged me. "Farewell, daughter," she said, and then Donna hustled them out of the club. I let out a long sigh and turned to face Frank again. He had a very self-satisfied smile on his face. "What the hell just happened?" "It turns out my power is like an iceberg," he said. "The bit you see is what I can access, but nine-tenths of it is below the waterline. When I faced Nyx I could suddenly access all of it. I not only had had the power to banish her, but in that moment of banishment, while I still had it and could also draw on hers, I used it to make those in this room believe they had seen you fight Hercules, to reverse Maximus's theft of Hippolyta's body, to make it so he had already made all those travel arrangements Donna outlined, and to have Donna take charge of explaining everything. Best of all I made everyone believe you've always been Wonder Woman, and to continue to believe it no matter what. And I do mean everyone. In that moment I was able to send that command around the world. Everyone who ever met the original Wonder Woman will believe it, including all her Justice League colleagues. The only exceptions are us, Maggie, Dr Cyber and Dr Moon. Dr Cyber because of her promise to keep other villains off your back, and Moon because making him forget would alert Cyber to what I'd done, which might not be a good idea for a variety of reasons. As for the Amazons, they will also now respect your wish to only speak English to you and accept their princess's decision to become an American citizen." "Then I'm safe?" "Yes, finally. The moment I had all that power, the power of two gods, passed as it had to if I wasn't to be destroyed by it, and I can tell I'm now back to only being able to access the power I always have, which is good. The temptation *that* gives me is already more than enough." "Nyx said your powers come from a 'dead god'. Do you know which one now?" "I do. In fact what I know now is a bit disturbing, but I'd prefer to get into that back at the mansion, so let's call a cab." "What about Circe?" I said, indicating her still unconscious form as we turned to leave. "Her link to Nyx has been permanently severed. Unless you plan on involving the police in all of this I think it's best if we leave her to go on her way when she wakes up." - 6 - Later, back at the mansion, after we had both showered and changed, we were at last able to relax in the comfortable surroundings of the drawing room, he with a Jack Daniels and me with a twelve year old malt and a cigarette. "Alexander Maximus must have gotten a shock when he found himself back in his old body," I said, leaning back in my high-sided leather armchair. "I'm sure he did," agreed Frank, "but like Donna Troy and Paula von Gunther he believes he saw you wipe the floor with Hercules before that happened, so I don't think he's likely to risk bothering you again." "And this 'dead god'. Who was he?" "Uranus, the father of Cronus, grandfather of Zeus, and great- grandfather of Hercules. I now know the reason his power was even out in the world was to banish Nyx when the time came, as he knew it must. This was all set in motion decades ago, with the power growing ever stronger and passing from person to person. Every time it did so it got ever more anonymised, its origins ever more obscured." "You mean like money-laundering?" "Something like that, yes, but Uranus was father to the titans and as such however anonymised the power became it was still going to have some of their spoor on it. So when the moment arrived there needed to be someone else in the room with that same spoor on them to mask this from Nyx." "Donna," I said. "Yes, Donna." "So you think that was arranged somehow?" "I do. Think of all the things that came together today, and just how improbable it was that they did. In order to get 'dipped' in the spoor of the titans, Donna had to be on Paradise Island at the exact moment Hyperion escaped from Tartarus, an escape he had been working on for millennia. But she wouldn't have been there when she was if her teammate hadn't been mortally wounded, a very rare occurrence for super-heroes. It was the march on Olympus by the Amazons to rescue Donna that so incensed Hermes and the Hercules, and their plan to capture and punish them that drew in Circe, and by extension Nyx. I had Uranus's power but I had no connection to Donna, not until we swapped your body with Wonder Woman's mere weeks later." "Surely that's all just coincidence?" "Maybe, maybe not. Hercules came looking for Wonder Woman but found you. When you told Maximus you wanted a piece of their action you were believed. Which is why I was in the room when Nyx decided the time for to fully manifest had arrived, and completely banishing her became possible. Had Hercules captured the original Wonder Woman and brought her before Maximus she could not have made the same pitch because no one would have believed her. No, it had to be you. Only with all these things coming together could banishing Nyx have happened. Had they not done so then she might have fully manifested on this plane, with apocalyptic consequences for the whole planet." "So you're saying that me being Wonder Woman, and being in the right place at the right time, helped save the world?" "Yes, I am. What puzzles me is why I still have my powers." "What do you mean?" "Well if the purpose of the power of Uranus being out in the world was to banish Nyx then that purpose has now been fulfilled, so why are they still out here at all? Or perhaps wheels have already been set in motion to remove them from me and from the world." "Set in motion by who or what? You said everything coming together might not have been an accident, so what do you think it was?" "Fate, or perhaps 'the Fates'." "Huh? Come again?" "I still have all those books you saved for me when Mister Walesca died and his relatives dumped them outside his trailer for everyone else in the park to help themselves to. One of them was a book on Greek mythology and it talks about the Fates, three old women who weave the tapestry of destiny with each thread of that tapestry representing an individual life. Now, I don't know if that's *literally* what happens or if they're just a metaphor, but it's hard not to think there was *some* force at work today ensuring that destiny played out the way it did. And if there was, does that mean we don't have free will? I honestly don't know what to think." "What I think," I said, standing up and stubbing out my cigarette, "is that I'm going outside to swim a dozen lengths of the pool." "What? But Diana, it's after dark!" "So?" I said, and padded out to the swimming pool. Standing beside it I undid my robe and let it drop down me, pooling at my feet. Naked, I stepped away from the robe, raised my arms to the sky, and took a deep breath. It was a long way from the trailer park to this mansion, to having sex with a god, and to helping save the world, yet amazingly I had made that journey. And it was glorious. I dove into the pool, loving the sensation of the cool water sliding over the smooth, sleek, lines of my taut and perfect body, feeling more alive than I ever had. So do we have free will, or don't we? I don't know, and I don't care. That big picture, meaning of existence stuff matters to Frank, but what matters to me is that thanks to him no one will ever question who I am. I'm Wonder Woman, I'm young, I'm beautiful, and I can have any man I want. What more could any woman could ask for? *** The End. *** Notes: 1. My Frank Becker sequence: A. Powers (3) B. The Producer (4) C. Whatever Happened to Wonder Woman? (1) D. Whatever Happened to Wonder Woman: The First Day (7) E. Whatever Happened to Wonder Woman: The Investigation (2) F. Whatever Happened to Wonder Woman: The Villain (5) G. Whatever Happened to Wonder Woman: The Amazons (8) H. The Politician's Wife (6) I. The Politician's Widow (9) - coming soon, hopefully. Numbers in brackets are the order in which the stories were written. Letters indicate the reading order. 2. Donna Troy and the other Titans faced the Titans of myth in NEW TEEN TITANS #11 & 12 (Sept/Oct 1981). As already stated elsewhere, the Maggie/Diana switch occurred shortly after WONDER WOMAN #285 (Nov 1981) with WHATEVER HAPPENED TO WONDER WOMAN: THE VILLAIN showing how the switch altered the events of WONDER WOMAN #287 (Jan 1982) as depicted in that comic. The next Wonder Woman story appeared not in #288 but in a special insert in DC COMICS PRESENTS #41 that led into #288 and began artist Gene Colan's (sadly uncollected) run on the title. In that insert, Wonder Woman visits the Amazons only to discover that Hercules and Hermes have robbed Hippolyta of her magic belt of strength, and now have all the Amazons chained and helpless. Wonder Woman defeats the pair and frees her sister Amazons. That's what originally happened, but in my altered timeline she was not there to save them. What had the pair intended to do with their captives? We're never told, which was my starting point for this story. Surprisingly, the Silver Age Circe didn't appear until WONDER WOMAN #302 (April 1982), and was identified as such until #305, so this constitutes their actual first meeting in my altered timeline. Nyx working through Circe in post-Crisis continuity gave me the idea of her doing so in this tale. 3. Although it might appear things leading up to this tale were carefully planned out in advance, they weren't, not even Lars secretly being Hercules. At the time I wrote his first appearance in WHATEVER HAPPENED TO WONDER WOMAN: THE VILLAIN, I had no further plans for him.