We wasted no time in leaving the Forge, gathering everyone we could (including Arthur, Victor, a resurrected John, Wally and more), explained what happened, and go straight to Themyscira. Again, VEGA couldn't take us there outright, the island had the same protection as the Forge, but again that didn't mean we couldn't just appear right at the edge of said barrier, even if it was under the surface of the Aegean. None of us really cared except for Mecha.
"Next time warn us, man!" Weird for him given he didn't even have lungs nor the quintessential worry about rusting and/or water shorting him out.
All the while both Pausanias and Ayame, especially the former, kept focusing on me, and me alone. The mere fact one of the most powerful creatures they both knew of was folded by a powerful but otherwise mundane space marine made them think.
Those who could fly or simply jump very high followed me and Rachel, while the rest simply charged into the barrier, even Wally. That the barrier still stood despite everything meant the work of magic, alright
Cyclopes, laestrygonians and other living monsters of greek myth, undead aberrations brought out of their tombs, and even the odd human, many looking little different from your average Bronze Age monster or bandit, but a good chunk armed with guns, all doing their best to wipe out the themysciran resistance. The women of Themyscira might have been warriors blessed by the Three Goddesses, but this was the first time in three thousand years since a serious attack on their home by a foreign army, much less one with automatic weapons with nothing but swords, spears and bows.
An army brought there with a singular purpose: help free their master and conquer the world of men, and exterminate the Amazons while they were there because they could, something they were a damn good job on given the hundred or so corpses of armored women strewn around.
A pity they chose that day to invade and get between us and our goal. No, scratch that, a pity they chose to exist, period.
"Do we kill them?" I heard Steel ask.
Rather than responding outright, I fired on them with the cannon, ripping even the giants to shreds. Notably I didn't ask them to go for the kill outright, but those who came to Tamaran had long learned the difference between a perp and active combatants who couldn't be left alone.
"Figures." With that the fight for Themyscira turned around.
One of the cyclopes had the bad luck of being right where I landed, his guts and fluids flying everywhere.
"Who the hell are they?!"
"Keep fighting, for the glory of Ares!"
They were brave and competent for worshipers of a craven coward, I have to give them that, but after an army of interstellar demons led by a lesser god from an alien death world, and not in the mood for being slow about killing them, they might as well have been target practice, especially given we had brought damn near everyone on the League, even Bruce; he didn't kill, and neither did Barbara or Dick, but that didn't mean he stopped us from doing so. Indeed, you'd be surprised how strong Wally actually is, and how many (or rather, how few) punches your average greek ogre could survive.
This was also Victor's first rodeo with the League as Glacier. That cryo gun of his turned out to be more than capable of freezing a living organism from the inside out, and thanks to some tinkering with Steel, he was strong enough to punch a hole through a giant's skull, plus a plethora of other functions, including jet boots, a shield made of ice particles, and more I won't bother listing. He also proved to be pretty damn good at getting physical, even taking the suit into account. Apparently Bruce had given him classes in CQC just in case, enhanced by the fact he WAS quite willing to kill. Not that he was better than the others, mind you, just noting the previously cold Mr. Freeze could practically roar.
Of course, Arthur did his fair share of damage. If he wasn't cutting them up with the hook, or impaling them with the trident, he was striking them with water. Have any of you ever watched Avatar (the series, not the film)? Well, similar in concept to waterbending, except water flying at high sufficient velocity can cut even stone in half, so imagine the effect it had on flesh and bone creatures.
I don't really have anything to say about the rest, except the fact they didn't raise a fuss at actually killing someone despite their beliefs. They knew what was at hand, and
But Kara... She stole the spotlight, alright.
Kara was only below us three, to the point Clark might had even fainted if he saw what she did given these weren't parademons, but fully sapient beings. Not that anyone could blame her, since her adoptive parents were in mortal danger, but it gave one something to think about... especially given what her much stronger cousin could do if pissed off enough, something that I knew Bruce realized too.
In resume, we all but exterminated the invaders.
Imagine the Amazon's faces of shock when they realized most of their reinforcements were men, before they resumed the fighting. At that point, any aid to protect their home was welcome, no matter their gender, although I was pretty sure I saw a couple of them etching away from Pausanias.
"Ladyland, uh?" Patrick noted after expanding inside a cyclops, not caring that he sported a bit more red than usual, and that a laestrygonian "Never was that high in mythology, and in fact can't remember why I took it, but aren't they supposed to have only one tit?"
"Less talking, more fighting." John replied as he smashed a gunner's head with the butt of his gun in a rage-fueled frenzy. Now that he had a body, he was pretty eager to pay Faust in kind, without the possibility of becoming a ghost.
At this point, we were already moping up the survivors alongside the amazons, who did not really know what to do now that their city island was safe, aside of not incurring our wrath given what they had seen
And then a certain blonde who I won't bother actually naming forced her way through the crowd, furious at the mere presence of the 'wrong' gender on her home, none of her friends being fast enough to stop her. The fact I was covered in blood and mere seconds prior proved what I could do meant nothing to her as she raised her sword in a show of stupidity.
"A man dares to-" Aresia only had enough time to spew her bile before Rachel grabbed her and gagged her with darkness.
"I. Am. In a bad. Mood." And that mood got a bit worse just by letting this misandrist bitch live out of 'politeness', much less when I knew what she did in another universe disturbingly similar to this one out of sheer hatred for men. Fortunately, Rachel had the mind to just throw her away. "Where's the gate to Tartarus. Talk, or we'll tear this place apart." You don't stand between a lioness and her cub... nor a lion, for that matter.
Naturally, the amazons did not take kindly to their companion being treated like that by one of their own, their fear and unease replaced by righteous anger, raising their weapons and forcing us to do the same, but before we decided to just force our way and tear the place apart, a voice rang out from above.
"Stop!"
We all looked up to see a raven-haired amazon flying above us, sword and shield not dissimilar to Pausanias' hanging from her hips, both bloodied.
Wonder Woman herself, or rather just Diana of Themyscira, wearing her cartoon drappings, including that rather tacky leotard, the bulletproof bracelets, and the Lasso of Truth. She landed between both groups with her arms raised in an applacatory pose, but her gaze made clear she would fight if we attacked.
"Diana, you're not supposed to wear it!"
Diana just gestured around. "Desperate measures, sister." Then, she turned to us. "I am Diana, daughter of Hippolyta."
"The Justice League."
"And a Son of Hephaestus." Pausanias interjected. "And before you ask, no, I'm not here for vengeance or some stupid crap you might have thought of. I'm part of his group, and my father asked me to help him."
Some were obviously angry at the remark, but most of the Amazons fidgeted. Pretty sure one of them was looking at their son, and all remembered why the enmity.
"Why did you come? Don't misunderstand me, we appreciate the help, but, well, never expected anyone to come." She glanced at Aresia while saying 'anyone', making clear where she stod.
"We didn't come to help you. Ares wants to free Hades by doing something with my son and her parents." I explained as I gestured to Kara. "We're here to stop that from happening, no matter the cost."
"You're willing to die, then?" Diana asked.
"And kill." Steel replied, gripping his hammer. "Most of us would rather just incapacitate and let others handle the fallen, but as you can see we can go for the head if we have to."
Behind him, I saw Bruce look away. It didn't take a psychic to know what he was thinking about, about borderline breaking his oath of taking no lives himself, and being unable to stop others like him from doing it. It wasn't going to stop him from helping us, but it did make him think.
"Now could you tell us where this guy is so we don't feel even worse by being forced to take lives?"
Diana looked at me with a furrowed brow. I doubted she could realize she was looking at something only Zeus had any chance of fighting evenly "The Gate is right below us, protected by several blessings and our best warriors, but the entrance proper is at the Temple of Hera
"Below us? As in, straight under our feet? What are we waiting for? Grundy then began to punch the tiles under him, hoping to open the ground... but nothing happened, aside from shaking the place. "What the hell?"
"It's never easy, ain't it?"
"At least I tried."
Diana ignored him. "My mother is there. I was supposed to help her, but I saw you fighting and needed to find out who you were."
"Well, now you do. Now, take us to the entrance."
"Hades is the God of the Dead. No mortal can fight a god and expect to survive, man or not."
"We don't give a damn at this point. Besides, I'm kind of a god myself." Grundy then demonstrated his power to the amazons, making a sequoia to sprout right in the middle of the agora, in less than ten seconds. Indeed, the sight of that giant-ass tree miraculously growing in their home was enough to shut them up. He then pointed at Rachel. "And so is she, but differently. You don't want to piss her off... more, nor me for that matter."
We made our way to the temple, and frankly, the place had seen better days: even without the bodies of Ares minions and amazons strewn everywhere, the place looked more at home in a wasteland
"Hades' taint is already coming out." Diana growled at the sight.
"I thought Hades was a neutral guy?" Mecha wondered outloud.
Before Diana or the Amazons could answer Mecha, Pausanias turned to him, but not in anger. "He was, but Zeus' attitude and treatment after getting out pushed him back to Cronos during the Titan War. Have in mind that, according to my father, this happened in just three weeks. Oh, and he was trapped longer than the others in Cronos' stomach. Might not seem that much, but it ought to tell you something."
"Yeah, the Olympians are a bunch of cunts." John remarked before realizing he was simplifying it too mich. "Aside from Daddy Hammer, who's a chill bloke, and of course Hestia, ALL the others are inbred fucks. Kinda like Dionysius, though."
Understandably, many Amazons were very unamused by this strange man instulting their pantheon, but given the circumstances and the fact he was right, they kept it to themselves.
Zeus was part of the problem, but he hadn't done anything, at least yet... but that could change, given everything that was going on. First, though, to get Garfield.
"Grundy, Flash, John, Supergirl, Spartan, Wolf Princess, you come with us. The rest of you" I turned to everyone else. Seeing them look at me, even the Amazons, made me feel a bit of pride surge in my chest. ", you'll be the second line in case something goes wrong."
"Why are we listening to a man?" I heard the unmistakable voice of Aresia all but scream.
"Does anyone care about what she says?" Wally asked. "What with a possible hellgate about to open through human sacrifice?"
"Hell?"
Diana stood in front of me. "I'll be going with you. My mother needs me, and you'll need more hands in case Hades does break out." She assumed whe had a way to seal him back.
However, before we could enter the temple, John took us aside.
"You guys spare us a minute? Is about the sealing, and no Z, you can't help with this."
He brought us away from the group, enough that they wouldn't be hearing what he had to say.
"John, better be quick." I warned him.
"An awful lot of people is coming down with us, none of whome have an idea of what you really are." He warned me. "You realize what can happen, don't you? If that guy manages to free Hades..."
"We can take him." Rachel assured him.
"That's what worries me; they don't know that. And if they find out you two can kill gods without help-" I stopped him from talking. We had told him about Kalibak, but he brushed him off as some alien dreg.
"John, I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to save Garfield, and if that means revealing my true nature to people that shouldn't know, then so be it."
John seemed to want to say something, anything, but then sighed before muttering 'fuck it', pulling out his flask, pouring a bit of its content on the ground, then throwing it away.
"At least I'll get to see a god die a brutal death."
It would also be the catalyst of a series of incidents that would reveal my true nature as Doomguy and my full power, including, among others, the execution of Joker, and travelling to yet another universe to save its Earth, but that would happen much later.
First, though, we had to stop Faust from freeing his master and army from Tartarus and, in case they escaped anyway... kill Hades.
Which of course ended up happening.
No, Hades won't get the God of War treatment right in the next chapter, nor that particular treatment either, I have something more... personal. As for Aresia's treatment, mix of impatience and me hating her archetype.