Beyond The Impossible

Themiscyra, 90,000 light-years from Earth

Anyone else would be terrified in this situation: defenseless and unarmed, trapped inside a prison, facing a group of Amazons charging with high-tech spears.

But as soon as the forcefield serving as prison bars disappears, Kari’s first instinct is to create nine other duplicates of herself to tackle the Amazons.

Her body glows pink, powered by her 10K rise. Split between her ten bodies, each one is now a thousand times stronger and faster than a regular human.

They coordinate to disarm the Amazons quickly; any blast released by their spears is intercepted and deviated by the Blood daggers created by Agony.

Queen Tecmessa watches her subjects fight with the Kari duplicates: each android is programmed with a nearly perfect knowledge of martial arts.

They are not quite as strong as her, but the Myridian is having trouble taking them down since her opponents can simply shut off their pain receptors.

The Queen remains an observer until Vesta moves behind her faster than her mechanical eyes can see, placing her in a headlock: hands strong enough to crush diamonds are seconds away from snapping the Amazon’s neck.

<Call off your soldiers. We just want to talk.> the goddess tells her.

<Amazons do not surrender.> Tecmessa replies. Her neck bends in an unnatural way for a humanoid, allowing her to slip away. Vesta is so surprised by this move that the Queen is able to use something that closely resembles judo to throw the goddess against the nearest wall, and with enough strength to crash through it.

Seeing this, Kari reabsorbs all of her duplicates: with the full power of the 10K Rise in a single body, she’s able to strike the Queen with a punch powerful enough to break almost anything.

Tecmessa takes a step back, then calmly readjusts her dislocated jaw with a loud cracking sound.

<You’re a lot stronger than the others.> Kari acknowledges, watching her back as the rest of the Amazons prepare to attack her from behind.

She doesn’t need to worry about them, though, because their hearts are pieced by Blood blades appearing out of nowhere. Their bodies leak sparks as they collapse, and Agony doesn’t waste any time attacking the Queen herself: she immobilizes her by tying her body with a Blood whip, then two shivs appear in front of her eyes.

<Let my people go or I’ll gorge out your eyes.> the Demon threatens.

<I’m not so sure it’s gonna help!> Kari warns her, watching the rest of the Amazons get back on their feet. The muscles on their faces twitch unnaturally, but they seem unharmed.

<Amazons do not surrender. The entire planet will fight you if necessary.> the Queen insists.

<You Amazons are as stubborn as ever. What do you think, Nori?> Vesta asks, her body surrounded by flames as she floats back inside the prison.

During all of this, Noriko Null has stayed silent. Without her weapons, and with her Golden Eyes unlikely to affect the Amazon androids, she has little to offer on a physical level.

<We surrender.> is the first thing she says.

<What!?>

<What!?>

<She has my people hostage!> Agony protests, refusing to back down.

<We have enough enemies as it is. I gave my word that I would avenge Hell, and that’s exactly what I’m doing right now. Let. Her. Go.> Null orders, with a tone that doesn’t leave much to debate. Agony reluctantly makes her weapons disappear.

<You better know what you’re doing.> she warns her.

<I accept your surrender. I should have all of you executed for this affront.> Queen Tecmessa tells Null, gesturing towards her soldiers to back off.

<But you’re not going to do that.> Noriko replies.

<What makes you so certain?>

<The fact that you haven’t left Themiscyra for thousand of years, even if you’ve been released from your vow to Vesta. And I’m pretty sure that you’ve been programmed to never surrender to anyone under any circumstance, is that right?>

<Amazons do not surrender.> the android repeats once more, as a programmed reflex.

<You would never follow Ares on your own and you’d rather be annihilated than surrender to his demands. That leaves only one reason for you to agree to keep Demons hostage: he offered something in return.>

<I imagine a planet without men would get boring after a while.> Kari jokes.

<Actually I think this might be the first time that a deal with a Greek god has nothing to do with sex, Kari. There’s only one thing Ares could’ve offered the Amazons: respect their wish to be left alone.> Null deduces.

<That’s correct. In exchange for our help, Ares has promised to leave us alone once he’s on the throne of Olympus.> Queen Tecmessa explains.

<And you believed him!?> Vesta exclaims.

<We had no choice. We would gladly fight to the last Amazon, but we cannot fool ourselves into believing we can defeat the God of War.>

<I have a better offer. I can make sure that nobody will ever set foot on Themiscyra again.>

<How?>

<I have the Key of Heaven. Two of them, actually. I can teleport your entire planet to a different galaxy where nobody will disturb you.>

Queen Tecmessa doesn’t answer immediately. Her artificial brain analyzes the proposition with enough intensity to require her body to stop the simulation of breathing for a few seconds.

<If I agree, what are your demands?>

<Just three things. First, you’re going to release all the Demons. Second, the Amazon army will fight alongside the Vanguard in our assault against Ares. And third, will somebody please get me some damn pants!?> Noriko says, adjusting the uncomfortably short skirt of her dress.

 

Parthenos, on the other side of the Galaxy

The room is very large, housing over a hundred technicians and officers of the Athenian Fleet; they are coordinating the information coming from the innumerable sensors spread throughout the Olympian Galaxy.

Standing at the center is Athena, supervising their operations. Dressed in her civilian yellow office suit, but still wearing the golden helmet above her head, she’s watching the gigantic screen that dwarfs everything else in the already huge room.

The screen is split in half. One details the position of the planets in the Apollo sector, along with data about the positions of his Oracles and the location of the invaders: both the Ares ships and the Demons appear as separate dots.

The other half of the screen attempts to provide data from the fight between Apollo and Ares, something hard to decipher with the frequency of stellar explosions.

<They are still fighting?> is the question of the only mortal not wearing a uniform: a man with a thick and unruly beard, addressing Athena almost informally.

<My half-brothers are very stubborn, Ulysses.>

<That’s an understatement. Do you think Apollo could win?>

<He has fought Ares to a standstill once. But it seems Ares has found a way around his weakness to extreme temperatures.> Athena acknowledges, gesturing towards the screen to remotely switch to a different side of data. It’s a closeup of his armor, along with a stream of information about its composition.

<Degenerate Neutral Matter. It seems that, even dead, Hephaestus still has ways to surprise us with metals that break the laws of physics.>

<I thought Hephaestus hated Ares. Why give him such a powerful artifact?> Ulysses wonders.

<It’s possible that Hephaestus planned to use it himself, but he wasn’t strong enough. I estimate that armor to weight several quintillion tons at the very minimum, possibly a lot more. It does not matter, anyway: Apollo is going to lose this battle.>

<You sound disappointed.> Ulysses notes.

<I will shed no tears for Apollo, but Ares must not be allowed to reach a position of power. They are dangerously close to the Mortal Republic: once Ares is done with Apollo, he’s going to attack.>

<Isn’t that why you have Null? She’s going to take care of it. We planned for this.>

Athena slowly turns towards Ulysses, giving him a look that makes him correct himself quickly:

<You planned for this.>

<I did not plan for Adrestia to be executed by Hera. Apollo was supposed to fight with her. Leiko Tanaka proved herself to be an unpredictable variable; as things stand now, an escalation of the conflict is completely inevitable.>

<All thanks to Tyche: her precognitive abilities are a liability, now that they are allies.>

<A fact for which I blame you, Ulysses.> Athena replies. For the first time in centuries, Ulysses can hear anger boiling beneath her unflinching façade.

<Lady Athena, I was…>

<If your agents had taken care of her, she wouldn’t have helped Leiko become a close ally of Hera. Helped by your former agent Vector, no less.>

<Should I take Tyche out, Lady Athena? I can still reassemble the Zenith to do so.>

<That would not undo the damage. Once Null dies after defeating Ares, as she is prophesized to do, Leiko will become the highest obstacle to overcome for my plans.>

<I… don’t understand, Lady Athena. Do you want me to kill Leiko?>

<Not at the moment. Fortunately for you, Leiko’s actions have also opened up an unexpected opportunity.> Athena says, conjuring up a small scroll that she hands to Ulysses.

As he opens it up, he recognizes it as a chart to a planet in the Ares sector.

<This world used to be under the jurisdiction of Adrestia. With her gone and Ares too busy to notice, you will recover an asset that will prove of vital importance.>

<A weapon?>

<A goddess. Possibly the most dangerous ever born.>

<I see. An ally to unleash against Ares, I presume?>

<No. There won’t be any need for that.> Athena replies, her body shining in golden light: when it disappears, the civilian clothes have been replaced by her full godly armor.

<I will deal with Ares myself. I have never had any trouble winning a war… but what comes after often requires a lot more creativity.>

 

Themiscyra, 90,000 light-years from Earth

A floating platform is flying above the surface, allowing the guests to appreciate the beauty of Themiscyra. Most of it is uninhabited: the hundred million Amazons don’t need much space. The environment is pristine and untouched; it would be easy to mistake it for a relatively primitive world, if it wasn’t for the cities of steel and crystal.

<This place is amazing!> Kari exclaims, looking through the semi-transparent platform.

<I heard you were technologically advanced, but you put the Lar to shame.> Noriko admits, glad that underneath her dress she’s now wearing pants. Queen Tecmessa is standing at the center of the platform, smiling as the wind blows in her hair.

<We have improved upon their designs. Our gynoid brains are superior to those of all alien races… with the possible exception of a Nexus host.> she admits, stopping when the platform reaches its destination: a castle floating in the middle of the ocean, suspended by its anti-gravity foundations.

<Here is where all the Demons are currently being kept in stasis.>

<You’re kidding, right? Don’t you have millions of them?> Kari asks.

<This is merely the part of the installation that extends into three-dimensional space. It used to be our dockyard before we stopped building ships.>

<You mean one of your dockyards, right?> Noriko asks.

<No, our only one. It has enough quantum printers to assemble an entire fleet in a matter of hours.>

<Hours!?> Kari exclaims, while Noriko looks almost teary-eyed.

<I think I just fell in love with this place.> she admits.