[Paradise Island, Themyscira — ]
The sudden disaster shattered Paradise Island's long-standing peace.
Anger. Sorrow. Confusion. The emotions surfaced on face after face as warriors were carried back from the shoreline, their wounds joining the growing count of injured across the island. Sisters helped sisters, arms around waists, hands pressing cloth to bleeding gashes. A heavy, mournful atmosphere settled over everything like fog.
At the entrance to the Amazonian palace, guards stood in the main hall, weapons drawn but held low.
Menalippe gripped her spear with white knuckles, her face ashen as she stared at Jack Kadere lounging on the throne. She didn't dare move. None of them did.
A low moan broke the silence.
Diana stirred beneath the throne, consciousness returning in fragments. Her armor had been destroyed somewhere during the battle and the dragging that followed—nothing remained but scraps. Dirt caked her skin, her hair tangled and filthy.
She opened her eyes. The crackling azure light binding her registered first, then the figures beyond it.
"Mother. Antiope."
Diana snarled and threw herself against the electric restraints. The bands flared brilliant white.
Her scream tore through the hall—raw, ferocious, agonized. She collapsed against the stone floor, muscles seizing, breath coming in ragged gasps.
"I will kill you." She forced her head up, glaring at Jack Kadere through strands of matted hair. "Ares. I will kill you."
Ares?
Menalippe's expression shifted from fury to shock. The God of War himself? Every Amazon knew the history—the betrayal, the slaughter, Zeus's final act to protect them.
"I'm not that old man." Jack Kadere didn't move from the throne. "My name is Jack Kadere. I'm a time traveler from the future. A group calling themselves the Legends decided I'd altered history, so they dumped me here while they ran off to fix whatever 'errors' they think will restore the timeline."
Diana stared at him, her mind struggling to process the words. "Legends? Time traveler?"
"Lies!" Menalippe's voice rang off the stone walls. "Ares has always used deception to manipulate others!"
Jack Kadere regarded her with an expression of mild pity—the kind reserved for someone who'd said something profoundly stupid.
"Every breath you're taking right now exists because I allow it. What would be the point of lying to you?"
Menalippe's jaw tightened. "Even if you aren't Ares, you are still an enemy of Paradise Island."
"So you're emphasizing our antagonistic relationship to remind me I should exterminate my enemies completely?"
The general froze. That wasn't what she'd meant at all.
"I actually like this place." Jack Kadere's tone shifted, almost conversational. "The scenery, the culture—I'd love to experience it properly. Take a vacation while I wait for the Legends to come collect me. Unfortunately, my very first request was refused." His gaze drifted to Diana. "Everything that followed stems from that rejection."
He tilted his head slightly.
"I didn't kill everyone. I didn't destroy the island. It's probably asking too much, but—if I let Antiope and your mother receive medical treatment, if I promise not to kill anyone else here, would you forgive me?"
"Never." Diana's voice came out low and hard. "I will never forgive you for what you've done to Paradise Island."
"Pity."
Jack Kadere sighed, then smiled and crooked one finger.
The electric restraints yanked Diana upward, forcing her onto her knees before the throne.
"Sorry—you're too tall standing up. Hurts my neck to look at you. Since you won't forgive me, I suppose I'll have to commit fully to being your nemesis."
He leaned forward.
"I'm formally notifying all of you: you are now my slaves. If anyone disobeys, if anyone resists, I will slaughter every last one of you and reduce Paradise Island to rubble."
"Do you understand?"
Divine power erupted from him like a physical force.
Thunder cracked overhead. The air itself seemed to thicken, pressing down with crushing weight. Menalippe staggered backward, her knees buckling despite herself. The guards collapsed one by one, driven to the floor by pressure alone.
"You—" Diana's voice came through gritted teeth. "Don't even think—"
She bore the full weight of it. Her muscles screamed. Her bones ached. But she refused to break.
Something deep inside her chest ignited.
Golden light exploded outward, flooding her body with warmth and strength she'd never felt before. Diana's eyes widened—then narrowed with fierce satisfaction.
This power.
She planted one foot against the stone. Pushed. Her knee lifted. She rose, inch by agonizing inch, until she stood upright.
Then she launched herself at him.
Her fist drove forward with everything she had—every ounce of divine strength awakening inside her, every fragment of rage for her sisters, her home, her mother. Golden radiance blazed around her like a second sun.
The impact of their powers meeting detonated outward.
Menalippe and the guards were hurled across the hall, slamming into walls and crumpling to the floor. Stone cracked. Columns buckled.
The palace collapsed.
Massive chunks of roof plummeted downward—and disintegrated into powder before they could land, crushed between the two clashing divine forces.
In the settling dust and rubble, Jack Kadere held Diana's fist in one hand.
He smiled gently at the disbelief on her face.
Then he twisted his arm.
Divine power several magnitudes greater than hers roared outward in a concentrated wave.
Diana shot backward like a cannon shell. Her body smashed through wall after wall, through ancient trees, through everything in her path—
Splash.
She plunged into the sea and vanished beneath the waves.