Countdown (35 page)

APOKOLIPS.

Barked contemplated the figurines upon the chessboard. Discarded pieces, including Eclipso and Mad Harriet, rested in a box alongside the board. Silence hung over the gloomy war room until a sudden flash of light heralded the return of his opponent. He raised his smoldering gaze from the game to greet the Monitor as he transported into the chamber.

“Welcome back, Solomon.” Darkseid gestured at the board before him. “Shall we resume our game?” He spied a red and blue figure in the Monitor’s right hand. “Ah, I see you have recovered your missing pawn.”

“No thanks to you,” Solomon replied sourly. “Or my fainthearted brethren.” He placed a miniature replica of the Atom upon the board, not far from the figures representing Jason Todd and Donna Troy. “But I am prepared now to pit my strategy against yours—for the sake of the universe.”

Darkseid nodded. “The endgame is upon us, Monitor.” He moved the Jimmy Olsen figure across the board. “Despite your added pawn, you will note that I have placed you in the Lucena position.” He smiled craftily. “Check.” Solomon appeared unalarmed by his opponent’s move. His fingers lifted “Mary Batson” from the board and placed her closer in proximity to Granny Goodness. “While the Innocent is still in play, I am not yet defeated.”

A transparent play,
Darkseid thought,
and one I had already anticipated.
He laughed out loud at the Monitor’s audacity. “Good to see that you still have some fight in you, Solomon. It will be interesting to see how your gambit plays out.”

10 AND COUNTING.

APOKOLIPS.

“Could
you have picked a more heavily guarded place?” Holly complained.

A half dozen moaning Parademons were sprawled upon the steps leading up to an enormous steel door. Scorch marks blackened their helmets and uniforms. Smoke rose from their twitching bodies. Rifles in hand, Holly and Harley kept their eyes and guns focused on vanquished guards, just in case any of them were playing possum.

Harley nudged one of the unconscious guards with her foot. “Yeah, seriously, Mary, what’s up?”

“I swear, the gods are here!” She ran barefoot up the steps to the imposing gray door. Iron rivets studded the face of the door, which was large enough to admit an elephant provided you knew the secret password. “I can hear them calling to me. Just behind this door!” She shoved against the barrier with her meager mortal strength, but the ponderous door wouldn’t budge. “But how can we open it?”

“No problem.” Harley cranked her rifle up to full power. “Step aside, short stack!”

The muzzle of the weapon flared brightly. Mary dived

m
Stum cii

out of the way. Energy crackled loudly as a bright orange beam blew open the door. Mary threw up her arm to protect her eyes from the flash, but as the glare faded, a stronger, even more intense light emanated from whatever lay beyond the ruptured door. She stepped uncertainly into the effulgent glow. The pure white light bathed her wide-eyed face.

“Wow.”

She squinted into the light. The dazzling illumination was almost too bright to look at directly, but she could vaguely make out a multitude of humanoid figures suspended in some kind of high-tech alien vault. Arcane symbols, pulsing with mystic energy, were engraved upon the crystalline walls. A pair of mammoth braziers flanked the vault, spewing flames toward the ceiling. The very air seemed charged with static electricity. The light seemed to come from the figures themselves, while the vault appeared to stretch on for miles. The figures hung in midair, held in place by blinking strands of circuitry and raw energy. They looked like fireflies caught in a futuristic web. Agonized voices echoed inside her brain.

Help us, Mary Batson. Free us from these hellish bonds.

Holly and Harley entered the vault behind Mary. “That’s them?” Holly asked in a hushed voice. “The gods?”

Mary nodded. “The entire pantheon.”

“I don’t suppose they have any all-knowing advice on how to pick the lock?” Harley asked, showing no more reverence in the presence of genuine deities than she ever did. “ ’Cause I left my cosmic keys in my other armor.” She raised her rifle and took aim at a flashing piece of apparatus at the center of the matrix. “Aw, what the heck? Let’s just blow the thing up....”

“Hey!” Holly reached out and lowered the barrel of the rifle. “Enough with the guns already!”

“What?” Harley protested. “It worked before! I was all
zzzakkkkl
And the door went all—”

“Harley!” The redhead’s voice took on a warning edge.

Her companions’ bickering barely registered on Mary’s consciousness. She murmured softly as the trapped gods called out to her from their unholy captivity. “Really? But I’m not... I mean, I don’t have that power anymore.... All right, if you say so ..

“Please tell me you’re talking to them and not to yourself,” Holly said. She looked like she was having second thoughts about this whole escapade. Mary couldn’t blame her; they were a long way from the East End of Gotham. Holly was definitely out of her element.

“Don’t worry,” Mary said. “I know what to do, but you might want to move back in case this actually works.” Without further explanation, she knelt before the glowing matrix and bowed her head in respect. She took a deep breath. Despite the gods’ urging, she wasn’t absolutely convinced that this wasn’t a waste of time. She whispered

* tentatively. “Er ... Shazam?”

Thunder boomed in the alien vault. Lightning struck from the heavens.

And Mary Marvel was reborn.

Not the dark Mary Marvel, bom of Black Adam’s tainted magic and Eclipso’s seductive wiles, but the bright and shiny Mary Marvel of old. The World’s Mightiest Maid rose triumphantly from her knees. Her grimy smock had been transformed into a pristine white dress that wasn’t nearly as tight as the slinky black sheath had been. A
gray
thunderbolt was emblazoned on her chest, perhaps as a reminder of her brief flirtation with darkness. A short white cape with golden trim framed her trim figure. A golden sash belted her waist. Golden boots and wristbands completed the outfit.

“Great,” Harley cracked. “I don’t think I’ll be able to smack her around anymore.”

Mary felt the untainted power of the gods coursing through her. Her throat tightened. A single tear traced its way down her cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered.

No longer confined within the vault, the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece appeared before the awestruck women. Their luminous figures towered above Mary and the others, transcending the confines of the spacious chamber. All-powerful Zeus, King of the Gods, stood in the forefront of the pantheon, while the other Olympians spread out behind him. Athena—the
real
Athena—reigned at her father’s right hand. A magnificent crested helmet graced her head. Her sacred Aegis shone as brightly as the Golden Fleece. An owl, the eternal symbol of wisdom, perched upon her strong right arm. Her cool gray eyes regarded the women before her.

“The faith of your kind has been the gods’ ever-present joy,” the goddess said warmly. “Now our imprisonment has come to an end, and vengeance will be wrought upon the head of our captors.”

“Whoa!” Holly exclaimed. “She is so much more impressive than that phony.”

' * Harley backed away nervously. “I hope this was a good idea.”

“I came as quickly as I could,” Mary said. Staring at the gods in all their glory, she couldn’t help wondering how Darkseid and Granny Goodness had managed to capture them in the first place. Were the New Gods truly that powerful? Mary felt out of her league. “I still find favor in your eyes? I thought you had forsaken me.”

Athena spoke for the gods. “You were tested, child, not abandoned. Your trials were perilous and, for a time, you strayed from the light, but having freed us, we grant you absolution.”

“Now, hold on one minute!” Harley objected. “We totally helped! And there was plenty of peril on our end.” She stepped up beside Mary. “I mean, we fought, like, a gajillion ugly-faced monsters and whatnot!”

Holly looked utterly mortified and appalled. “Harley, shut it! Don’t piss off the gods!”

Two more goddesses came forward from the pantheon. “The feisty one, known as Harley Quinn, amuses Thalia,” said a redheaded, curly-haired deity whose sly face bore an impish smile. Her pink cheeks were flushed with merriment. She clutched the Mask of Comedy against her bosom. “And these mortals have not yet completed their trials.”

Diana, goddess of the hunt, agreed. Bangs of light brown hair hung above silver eyes that gleamed like moonlight. A quiver of arrows was slung over her shoulder. Anger colored her voice. “The foul New God who imprisoned us yet prospers.”

“Though you have fared well thus far,” Thalia declared, “no mortal flesh can stand against a New God and survive.” She glanced at Zeus, who gravely nodded his approval. “So shall we grant you power to combat our enemies and see them punished for their transgression!”

Rays of divine magic shot from the goddesses’ eyes at Harley and Holly respectively. Twin nimbuses of golden light enveloped both women, briefly hiding them from Many’s view. She stared in wonder at the unexpected miracle taking place before her eyes.
Okay,
this
I didn’t see coming.

The light withdrew back into Thalia’s sparkling green eyes. “Harley Quinn, I grant you a small portion of the cunning of Thalia, muse of comedy!”

“Ohmi... gods!” Harley burbled in delight. Transformed by the muse’s gift, she now wore a comic variation on the Amazon armor that bore a distinct resemblance to her old super-villain costume. Her bright yellow pigtails poked through the dome of a bright red helmet with two large eye holes. Intricate engravings on her banded steel collar depicted slapstick scenes from ancient Greek farces. Her breastplate and leather skirt gleamed as though brand-new. The toes of her boots curved upward in a pix-ieish fashion. Her stolen rifle had been replaced by a ridiculously oversized mallet, so that she looked like a cross between a female gladiator and a clown.

That sounds about right,
Mary thought.

“And I, Diana,” the other goddess proclaimed, “grant Holly Robinson a portion of my strength and skill as a huntress!”

The redheaded runaway had also been transformed. A lightweight tunic of the finest white doeskin showed off her lithe figure. A quiver of silver arrows rested against her back. A polished wooden bow now occupied her hand. But more than just her attire and arms had changed; Holly herself had undergone a subtle metamorphosis. Slitted yellow eyes, tapered ears, and sharpened fangs gave her an unmistakably feline appearance. No longer just a sidekick or surrogate, Holly was now truly a catwoman.

“Uh ... thanks?” she said uncertainly.

APBKILIPS.

A
blazing yellow bolt of lightning tore apart the turbid red sky, momentarily lighting up the wretched city below. 'Thunder reverberated across the Armagetto.

“Whoa!” Jason exclaimed. “That’s not regular lightning!”

It most certainly is not,
Donna thought. She and Jason watched the fireworks from the roof of the workhouse. The intense glare left spots dancing in her vision, but that wasn’t all; Donna had dwelt too long among the Amazons, as well as the Titans of Myth, not to recognize the power of the gods at work. She had seen lightning like this before.

“Shazam,” she whispered.

Jason’s eyes widened behind his mask. “You
think
... ?”

“Yep,” Donna said. For the first time since the Monitor abandoned them, hope surged inside her. “I do.”

Jason scratched his head. “But what would Captain Marvel be doing on Apokolips?”

Raising her hand to shield her eyes from the stormy sky above, Donna squinted at a forbidding stone edifice several blocks away. As nearly as she could tell, the mystical thunderbolt had struck one of Granny Goodness’s notorious orphanages. Smoke and flames rose from the damaged building. A sign of the gods’ displeasure?

“Let’s find out,” Donna said. Lifting Jason into her arms, she soared off the roof of the workhouse toward the site of the disaster.

Here’s hoping lightning doesn 't strike twice.

Granny
Goodness fled her orphanage. An honor guard of Parademons accompanied the distressed crone as she scurried through the squalid alleys of the Armagetto. “This is a travesty!” she fumed aloud, aghast at the sheer ignominy of her retreat. “I can’t believe those miserable vermin actually freed the gods!”

“Hurry, Granny!” the commander of the guard urged her. His goggled eyes nervously swept the vicinity. “We must get you to a safe location. Ahead lies Darkseid’s keep, and no force in the universe, not even the Terran gods, can penetrate its defens—AWK!”

A silver arrow pierced his shoulder, cutting off his pleas. Granny looked up in dismay as Mary Marvel and her allies descended from the rooftop of an adjacent techno-temple. “Who you calling ‘vermin,’ you ugly old goat?” Holly jeered as she drew another arrow from her quiver. The three women fell upon the startled Parademons like the champions they were. Energy-blasts exploded uselessly against Mary’s chest as her fist struck with the strength of Hippolyta herself. Harley swung her clown-sized mallet with devastating effect. Arrows flew from Holly’s bow with superhuman speed and accuracy.
Holy Moley,
Mary thought.
She could give Green Arrow a run for his money!

“Hey, Granny!” Harley hollered. “Why don’t you act your age and die?”

The girls’ startling transformations did not escape Granny’s notice. “The gods ... they gave you ...”

“Superpowers!” Harley crowed. She walloped another Parademon with her mallet. “Pretty neat, huh?”

Granny abandoned her guards. “Sacrifice your lives for Granny!” she exhorted as she fled as fast as her aged legs could carry her. Rallying to the cause, the remaining guards formed a line to defend Granny’s retreat. They aimed their rifles at the female invaders.

“Fire!” the highest-ranking lieutenant commanded. “For Granny!”

An arrow struck him in the forehead and he toppled lifelessly onto the pavement. His sudden demise shattered the resolve of the surviving Parademons, who broke ranks and fled frantically into the nearest murky alleys. Their dead and wounded comrades were left to the tender mercies of their foes.