Countdown. Part 16

"This way." Eclipso led Mary into an imposing stone chamber. Tiny figurines were positioned atop a chessboard. At first, Mary thought she and Eclipso were alone in the room, then she spotted an imposing figure standing upon an adjacent balcony, his ma.s.sive arms clasped behind his back as he surveyed the stygian landscape outside the fortress. Either unaware of or unconcerned by the two women's arrival, he remained as still and silent as a statue. "My lord?" Eclipso addressed him.

The figure slowly turned around. Mary gasped out loud as she found herself face-to-face with the undisputed master of Apokolips. Darkseid's granite features reminded her of the petrified Sins at the Rock of Eternity, but were even more intimidating. His red eyes blazed like the Fire Pits outside. His deep voice rumbled from his chest. "Eclipso. What brings you here?"

Eclipso proudly presented Mary to Darkseid. "For your approval, Dark Lord, a powerful supplicant, newly versed in the ways of vengeance." She curtsied gracefully. "May she serve you well."

Huh? Mary thought, trying to keep up. Suddenly, everything was happening too fast. We're not here to fight Darkseid? Jean wants me to join him instead?

Eclipso gave Mary a discreet shove from behind, so that the confused heroine stumbled toward Darkseid. The sinister New G.o.d towered above Mary as he inspected her. "I-I'm not sure why I'm here," she stammered. "Jean said I was ready. . . ."

Despite her obvious uncertainty, she seemed to meet with Darkseid's approval. He held out his left hand. "Come to me, child. Know true darkness." A merciless smile sent a chill down Mary's spine. "I have many minions, but I can use a sorceress of your ability. I sense great potential in you."

"As did I," Eclipso said, quick to take credit for Mary's conversion. "She shall be a tremendous a.s.set to our cause."

"Not so fast!" Mary blurted. Now that she'd had a chance to get over her initial shock, she realized that Eclipso had been working for Darkseid all along. Glancing more closely at the chessboard, she spied a six-inch replica of herself among the deployed figurines, which also included miniatures of Eclipso, Zatanna, Black Adam, Klarion, and even her brother. Anger overcame trepidation as she finally grasped just how deliberately she had been played. "I don't care who you are," she snapped at both Darkseid and Eclipso. With a sweep of her arm, she dashed the figurines from the table. "G.o.ds or demons, you can't use human beings like toys!"

Darkseid frowned. "Your education is incomplete. The first lesson of power is that all beings are subject to the whims of their betters, even you!"

His eyes flashed balefully, and a pair of deadly Omega Beams converged on Mary, who blocked the attack with a s.h.i.+mmering force field. "Nice trick," she snarked, "but I saw it coming from a mile away." She stood her ground against Darkseid, even as Eclipso furtively signaled her to back down. Lightning crackled around Mary's upraised fists. "You want magic?"

Eclipso's bisected face went pale. "Mary, no!"

But Mary wasn't listening to the other woman, not anymore. "Try this!" she exclaimed as she flung a sizzling thunderbolt at Darkseid.

The blast, which shattered the stone tiles beneath Darkseid's boots, was powerful enough to blow apart an army of killer robots, but provoked only a grimace from the fearsome lord of Apokolips. "You have spirit, child," he conceded with what sounded like a hint of admiration, "but you are no match for me."

He stomped heavily upon the floor, triggering a seismic tremor that knocked Mary off her feet. Cowering behind him, Eclipso grabbed on to the game table to keep from falling. The scattered figurines bounced atop the quivering floor. Darkseid stalked toward Mary, crus.h.i.+ng her miniature replica beneath his heavy tread. Springing into the air, Mary hoped that wasn't some kind of omen.

Maybe I'm pus.h.i.+ng my luck here, she thought. As furious as she was at the villains for manipulating her, she wasn't sure she could take on both Darkseid and Eclipso simultaneously, and on their own ground no less. Perhaps a prudent retreat was in order?

"I'm out of here!" she announced defiantly. Fists first, she launched herself toward the ceiling, smas.h.i.+ng her way out of the dismal war room. Rubble rained down behind her as she punched her way through level after level of the alien fortress. Darkseid's booming voice rang out behind her.

"She is your charge, Eclipso! Return her to me!"

Over my dead body, Mary thought.

15 AND COUNTING.

Earth was a looong way from Apokolips. Despite having the speed of Horus at her command, Mary felt like she had been flying through s.p.a.ce forever before she finally glimpsed a tiny blue globe in the distance. The wisdom of the G.o.ds guided her toward home, while their divine endurance s.h.i.+elded her from the vacuum. Isis's magic had allowed her to traverse the dimensional boundaries separating Apokolips from the rest of the cosmos.

But even magic had its limits. Exhausted by her headlong flight across the universe, Mary paused for a breather in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It felt good to set foot on solid ground again. Craters and ridges distinguished the rocky surface of the asteroid, whose gravity was barely noticeable. She gazed longingly at the Earth, roughly three hundred million miles away. Home, sweet home.

A flash of purple light intruded on her reverie. She scowled as Eclipso materialized upon the asteroid, only a few feet away from her former protegee. d.a.m.n, Mary thought. I should have known that witch would catch up with me eventually.

"There you are!" Eclipso declared. Despite the lack of an atmosphere, she had no trouble breathing or speaking, which Mary chalked up to Eclipso's own magic. The two-faced demoness threw up her hands in exasperation. "Oh, Mary, what were you thinking? Why did you run away like that?"

"Because you sold me out!" Mary angrily turned her back on Eclipso. "You fed me all this bull about how we were so much alike, how you wanted to help me. Then you gave me to Darkseid as an . . . an offering!"

Eclipso came around to look Mary in the face. She leaned casually against a granite tor. "You misunderstand my intent. I presented you to Darkseid to be anointed in the ways of darkness."

"Are you crazy?" Mary asked indignantly. "What made you think I wanted to get mixed up with that kind of evil?"

"All a matter of perception, Mary." She held the black diamond up to her eye like a monocle, peering at Mary through its translucent depths. "Haven't you been called evil at times? Think of Madame Xanadu, Zatanna, even your own brother. Haven't they all turned you away?"

"That's true," Mary conceded. Uncertainty flickered across her face. Maybe Jean had a point? "They didn't even give me a second chance."

Eclipso nodded slyly. "Think, child. You have the power to topple G.o.ds. Draw close to the Dark Lord, use your power to seduce him, vie for concubine . . . and when the time is right, when he is falsely confident of his dominion over you, then we strike him down!" She sauntered over to Mary and insinuated her arm around the younger woman's shoulders. She whispered into Mary's ear, "Do you see now? I wasn't offering you to Darkseid; I was offering all of Apokolips to you!"

Her mentor's depraved proposal was like a splash of cold water against Mary's face. The startled heroine couldn't believe what she was hearing. "A concubine? A wh.o.r.e?" She shoved Eclipso away from her. "Is that all I am to you? A means to an end?"

"No . . . wait!" Eclipso stammered, grasping that she had said the wrong thing. "That's not what I meant... !"

Mary wasn't hearing any more of it. She kicked herself for giving Eclipso even a chance to weasel her way back into her confidence again. "Forget it!" She s.n.a.t.c.hed the black diamond from Eclipso's fingers and placed it before her eye just like she'd seen Eclipso do. "I can see the truth now, and you have nothing to do with it!"

A beam of violet energy shot from the gemstone, blasting Eclipso off the asteroid. The stunned villainess flew clear of the rock's meager gravity. She somersaulted backward through s.p.a.ce. Luck alone kept her from cras.h.i.+ng into one of the neighboring asteroids.

"Holy Moley!" Mary exclaimed. Despite herself, she was impressed by the gem's power. "I guess diamonds really are a girl's best friend."

Not yet defeated, Eclipso swiftly recovered from the attack. Halting her uncontrolled tumble through the asteroid field, she righted herself with respect to Mary. Her bisected face glared murderously at her onetime dupe, all pretense of friends.h.i.+p abandoned. "That's mine!" she snarled. Her outstretched fingers opened and closed convulsively, hungry for the stolen gem. "Give it back!"

Mary couldn't resist gloating a bit. She took off from the asteroid and flew toward Eclipso. She held up the glittering black diamond, flaunting it before her foe. "You know what they say," she taunted her erstwhile mentor. "'Possession is nine-tenths of the law.'"

"No!" Eclipso shrieked, sounding positively crazed by her l.u.s.t for the gem. She lunged at Mary with her fingers extended like claws. Her amethyst eyes were wild. "You can't have it! It's mine . . . MINE!"

She slammed into Mary, her momentum propelling them both into a nearby asteroid. Mary grunted with pain as they crashed into the rugged surface of the rock. Pulverized chunks of ice and stone forever escaped the asteroid. The impact jarred Mary, knocking the diamond from her grip, while her stunned body cus.h.i.+oned Eclipso's own collision with the rock. The frantic she-demon pounced eagerly on the gem. "Yes!"

"How . . . ?" A puzzled Mary rose from the center of a freshly carved crater. She had thought that Eclipso would be powerless without her precious jewelry. "How did you manage that?"

"Foolish child!" Eclipso fondled her accursed prize. "The black diamond and I are bonded. We are one." She floated off the asteroid so that she could sneer down at Mary. "How dare you attempt to come between us! We are Eclipso! We are one!"

A violet beam drove Mary face-first into the granite floor of the crater. The blow hurt like h.e.l.l, but she found the strength to climb back onto her feet. Eclipso's maniacal fixation on the diamond reminded Mary of a certain ring-obsessed fictional character. "That all you got, Gollum?" she challenged Eclipso, spitting out a mouthful of powdered silica. She hurled herself at the hovering woman like a missile. " 'Cause it's my turn now."

"I think not," Eclipso said. A second bolt of mystical energy halted Mary's charge, flinging her backward through s.p.a.ce. Mary clenched her teeth, holding back a scream, as the searing blast scalded her skin. Eclipso cackled like the witch she was. "Ungrateful whelp! We offered you the darkness-and look how you repay us!" She soared toward Mary, her feathered cloak spread out behind her like the wings of a raptor. "Very well, then. I'll have your power for my own, long before I intended to seize it!"

Her scheming words reignited Mary's anger at being manipulated. "You lying witch!" she exploded. "You're just like all the others! All you ever wanted was my power!" She rocketed to meet Eclipso's a.s.sault head-on. Lightning crackled in her eyes and fists. "Want my power, huh? Have a taste on me!"

She struck the deceitful villainess like a comet. A golden thunderbolt shredded Eclipso's lavender aura, blasting both women clear of the asteroid field. Locked in combat, grappling for control of the black diamond, they careened through s.p.a.ce at superhuman speed. They barely noticed Mars's ruddy brilliance as they barreled past the Red Planet toward Earth. Mary's fist was locked around Eclipso's throat, while the enraged demoness clawed at Mary's face with long purple nails. A hastily conjured force field blocked Mary's right cross. Eclipso held tightly on to her unholy gem. "Die, Mary Marvel!" she hissed. "And in death, surrender the power I crave!"

Face-to-face with Eclipso's naked malice and l.u.s.t for power, Mary shuddered in recognition. Is that what I looked like when I ransacked Zatanna's library . . . just to increase my own magical might? When I terrorized mortal criminals in the name of vengeance?

It wasn't a pretty picture.

I thought I was strong enough to contain Black Adam's darkness, but really it's been controlling me, making me dance like a puppet at the ends of Eclipso's strings.

But not anymore.

She tore her gaze away from Eclipso's fiendish countenance. Ahead of them, Earth shone in s.p.a.ce with a serene blue radiance that could not have been more different from the infernal glow of the black diamond. "You almost had me, Jean," she confessed. "I was almost just like you, corrupted beyond redemption, but now I've seen enough of the darkness to know that's not me."

"Brainless girl!" Eclipso mocked her. "Rejecting the only one who cared enough to show you how your power was truly meant to be used. Poor lost child! No friends, no family, no one to call your own." Hate contorted her elegant features. Spittle sprayed from her lips. "And no one to blame but yourself!"

They entered Earth's atmosphere, plunging toward the Atlantic Ocean like dueling meteors. The scorching heat of reentry tested Mary's invulnerability; her skin felt like it was on fire. Eclipso's feathered cloak erupted into flame, so that they left a blazing trail behind them as they descended into a clear blue sky. A cooling wind mercifully replaced the unbearable heat. The sea rushed up to meet them. Out of the corner of her eye, Mary thought she spotted a solitary island floating atop the surging waves below.

"It's over, Eclipso!" Mary felt more like herself than she had in weeks. Her mind raced back over everything that had transpired since she had naively accepted Black Adam's poisoned gift. "This power you crave has brought me nothing but misery. I don't want it anymore."

"No!" Eclipso wailed over the wind whistling past their ears. "Don't waste it! Give it to me!"

"Take it!" Mary shouted. She wrapped her arms around Eclipso to keep her adversary from escaping. The magic word erupted from her lips. "SHAZAM!"

A t.i.tanic thunderbolt struck both women. Eclipso convulsed in agony as the magical lightning charred her flesh, while Mary Marvel instantly transformed back into an ordinary teenage girl. A deafening boom drowned out Eclipso's screams. Unable to hold on to the flailing demon, Mary Batson let go of Eclipso. Gravity seized her and Mary quickly lost sight of the other woman as they plummeted helplessly toward the waiting sea.

She hit the water seconds later.

14 AND COUNTING.

PARADISE ISLAND.

Mary awoke upon a sandy sh.o.r.e. Waves lapped against her shoulders as she lay sprawled upon the sh.o.r.e, half in, half out of the ocean. Sand caked her face and hair. Clingy strands of wet seaweed were draped across her body. Her ragged T-s.h.i.+rt and jeans were soaked clean through, while her socks and sneakers had gone missing entirely. Her mouth tasted like brine. She felt sore and bruised all over. The hot sun beat down on her.

It was official. She wasn't Mary Marvel anymore.

Coughing violently, she retched cold salt water onto the beach. She struggled to lift her aching head from the sand. "Eclipso?" Her bleary eyes glanced from side to side, but found no trace of the treacherous witch. What happened to her? To both of us? Mary searched her foggy memory. The last thing she remembered was plunging into the sea after she gave up her powers. Guess I survived the fall, she deduced. Barely.

It seemed a miracle that she hadn't drowned before was.h.i.+ng ash.o.r.e . . . where exactly? She dimly recalled spotting an island earlier. Was that where she had ended up?

She dragged herself farther onto sh.o.r.e, out of the water. The effort exhausted her, proving beyond the shadow of a doubt that she was just plain old Mary Batson again. It's gone, she realized. I don't feel Black Adam's power, his darkness, anymore.

I'm free.

Water streamed from her drenched auburn hair onto her face. Mary wiped the hair and water away from her eyes. Climbing onto her knees, she crawled forward toward an uncertain future. Seabirds cawed somewhere overhead. A salty breeze chilled her trembling frame. Mary wondered if she had been marooned upon some nameless isle, or if maybe there was a beach resort just beyond the sh.o.r.e?

Metal clanked ominously only a few feet in front of her. A musky animal smell invaded her nostrils. A large wet nose sniffed her damp hair. A low growl froze her in her tracks.

Uh-oh, she thought. Welcome to the jungle....

Swallowing hard, she lifted her eyes from the ground-and found herself face-to-face with some sort of monstrous hound that looked like a cross between a mastiff and a pit bull. All it needed was two more heads to be the spitting image of Cerberus, the mythical three-headed dog that guarded the gates of Hades. s...o...b..r dripped from the hound's intimidating underbite. Ma.s.sive forepaws were planted in the sand only a few inches away from her. Bloodshot red eyes seemed to regard her as a prospective chew toy. A spiked collar was clamped around the giant canine's bull-sized neck. Tracking the dog's leash with her eyes, Mary saw that the beast was not alone.

A pair of fearsome women warriors glared at Mary from behind their oversized watchdog. Polished bronze armor, of distinctly Grecian design, encased their trim, athletic bodies. Crested Corinthian helmets concealed their features. Their burnished helmets, breastplates, studded leather skirts, and greaves gleamed in the bright afternoon sun. Sheathed swords rested against their hips. Disk-shaped s.h.i.+elds were strapped to their forearms.

Amazons. Mary identified the women at once. Wonder Woman's sisters-in-arms.

Suddenly, she had a pretty good idea where she was.

"Identify yourself!" commanded the Amazon holding on to the great hound's chain. The growling dog strained at its leash, eager to devour the intruder. "State your business!"

The second Amazon brandished a long metal spear. "You are trespa.s.sing on Paradise Island!"

Yeah, I kind of figured that out, Mary thought. The Amazons' tone was less than welcoming. Maybe giving up my powers wasn't such a good idea. . . .

APOKOLIPS.

"What is this place?" Jimmy asked.

After escaping from the torture chamber, Forager had led him to a secret lair deep within the bowels of the Armagetto. Hissing steam pipes and power cables crisscrossed the stark concrete walls and ceiling. Powerful engines thrummed in the background. Vermin scuttled through the dank tunnels beyond the cramped subbas.e.m.e.nt. The spartan furnis.h.i.+ngs consisted of a crude cot, a pair of rusty metal stools, and a portable stove. A hanging lantern provided just enough light to see by. An open footlocker held batteries, ammunition, and other supplies. Forager's bloodstained armor lay in a heap upon the floor.

"A hidden outpost for spying on Darkseid," she called out from an adjacent shower stall. The spatter of cascading water m.u.f.fled her voice somewhat. A grimy plastic curtain s.h.i.+elded her from his view. "I've used it as my base of operations on previous espionage missions here."

"I get it," Jimmy said. "Sort of your own private safe house." He changed into a suit of khaki coveralls he found hanging in a closet. "You've planned for everything, haven't you?" Taking a seat upon one of the stools, he heard the water shut off behind the curtain. "You know, I can't help thinking that maybe I'm slowing you down. If I'm keeping you from finding the lost souls of the New G.o.ds . . ."

His voice trailed off as, amidst clouds of billowing steam, Forager emerged nude from the shower. Jimmy tried not to gape, but found it impossible to look away from her alien beauty. Without her chitinous carapace, the svelte insect-woman looked surprisingly human. Her l.u.s.trous pink skin was invitingly sleek and unblemished. True, her supple legs ended in three-toed claws, but Jimmy wasn't exactly staring at her feet. His freckled face blushed crimson.

"Ah," she buzzed, "the filth of Darkseid's squalid dungeons is off me at last." She seemed not at all self-conscious about her nudity. Plucking a well-worn towel from a peg, she began to dry herself off. "And please cease apologizing, Jimmy. If you were a hindrance, I would not have brought you to Apokolips in the first place."

Jimmy swallowed hard, distracted by the lovely vision before him. "O-okay."

"I must tell you something," she continued. "When you pressed your mandibles to mine-"

He recalled the sweet taste of her nectar upon his lips. "We call that a 'kiss.'"

"Yes, when you kissed me," she clarified, "I finally realized why you possess such astounding powers."

Jimmy jumped to his feet. "You did?"

She strolled across the bas.e.m.e.nt, revealing a row of dorsal scales running down the graceful contours of her back. Jimmy realized belatedly that her wings had been artificial and merely part of the body armor she had worn before. "At that moment, I sensed within you the power of the G.o.ds."

"Whoa, there!" he protested. "I'm no G.o.d."

Her glittering compound eyes looked into his. Her slender antennae tilted toward him. "I said G.o.ds, Jimmy. Plural. You are, I believe, a soul-catcher."

A what? he thought.

PARADISE ISLAND.

"Disaster," the Queen of the Amazons said gravely. "Do you know where that word comes from? Comets. Falling stars. Ill omens from above." Hippolyta gazed upon Mary, who nervously endured the queen's scrutiny. The youthful castaway s.h.i.+vered in the chilly gloom of the cave. "Now you turn up on our sh.o.r.es, claiming that you fell from the sky like Icarus."

Mary didn't understand what was happening. She'd expected the female sentries to escort her to the Amazons' walled city elsewhere on the island, so she was confused to find herself in a murky cavern instead. A jagged stalact.i.te hung above her head like the Sword of Damocles. The spear-wielding sentries ensured her cooperation. Mary's damp clothes smelled like sea salt. She hugged herself to keep warm. At least they left the dog tied up outside.

"Tell me, Mary Batson," Hippolyta continued. "Did you try to fly too high?"

"Y-you know me?" Mary stammered.

The queen nodded. "Our paths have crossed before," she reminded Mary, "when divine power still coursed through you." Mary recalled fighting alongside Hippolyta during a big alien invasion a few years back, along with pretty much every other meta-human and magic-user on the planet. She was surprised that the Amazon queen recognized her out of costume.

There was no mistaking Wonder Woman's legendary mother, though. Her resemblance to Diana was striking. They had the same l.u.s.trous black hair, statuesque proportions, and piercing blue eyes. Now those eyes inspected Mary warily.

"I sense that blessing has been rescinded," Hippolyta stated. "So . . . how did you come to merit the G.o.ds' scorn?"

Mary blushed and stared sheepishly at the floor. "Jeez, where do I start?" she began. "When I was Mary Marvel, I had a family and a purpose. I felt . . . special. But then the power of Shazam was taken away, and I felt so empty and useless and lost." The guard on her right, the one with the incongruous Gotham City accent, nodded sympathetically. "I would've sold my soul to be a hero again . . . and I guess I did."

She spared them the messy details.