103 War

Wayne Manor, Gotham City

New Jersey

December 2006

"Man I can't wait to show Dick that I can do a double backflip now!" exclaims Jason as he runs out of the parked car and up the stairs towards the Wayne Manor entrance.

As I follow him out of the car, I take a moment to look at the overcast sky with a frown. Despite Poseidon and Zeus trying to hide it, it is easy for us to know that this weather is anything but natural. It is the product of Zeus' doing while Poseidon seems to be throwing a fit, causing the waves in the sea to be more turbulent than they should be. While Azula and I would love nothing more than to return the weather back to its normal pattern, doing so would result in a tug of war that would be worse than the current conditions.

"Coming?" asks Cassandra as she pulls my pant leg and shakes me from my thoughts.

"I am." I tell her with a smile as I lift her and place her sitting on my shoulders.

"They're not very subtle." comments Azula as she looks up at the sky while we walk towards the Manor's entrance.

"They wouldn't know subtlety if it struck them in the face." I answer. "I would not be surprised if the war began today." I say as Alfred opens the door and Jason impatiently rushes in.

"Little Cassandra, what a splendid surprise to have you here." says Alfred with a smile as he greets Cassandra.

"Hi Alfred." she says with a quiet voice as I place her down and she follows Jason inside.

"If I did not know any better I would think that the only reason you open the door is because you want to see the children and not us." I say teasingly as Azula and I enter the Manor followed by Bernard.

"What could possibly make you think so?" asks Alfred in his usual dry tone that he uses when he's joking.

"There is no need to hide it Alfred." comes Morgan's voice from the balcony. "Even Bruce knows that you favor the children."

"Not just Alfred." says Scáthach as she joins Morgan on the balcony. "Bernard seems to also favor them; almost as if they write his paycheck rather than I." she says with a small smile

"My dear Madam, your words do wound us." sarcastically answers Bernard with a roll of his eyes, causing us to laugh at his reaction while Alfred nods in the agreement.

"I see you made it on time." says Bruce as we make our way up the stairs towards the balcony. "Morgan and Scáthach didn't think that you would." he says with a smile.

"Yes, well next time I will make sure to leave them with the responsibility of getting Jason ready and see whether they make it on time without resorting to using their powers." I say as Bruce and I shake hands.

"You began raising Mordred from the same age, and Jason is the one that gives you trouble?" questions Morgan with a raised eyebrow.

"Please, Mordred was easy." I say with a scoff. "All I had to do was remind her that she wanted to be a knight and she would behave like an angel." I explain. "Jason on the other reminds me of Aiofe." I tell them as we make our way towards the lounge.

"Aoife?" questions Bruce with a raised eyebrow.

"Adoptive daughter from our home dimension. She was the granddaughter of Cu Cuchulainn." I inform him.

"Sometimes I forget that you're all at least one thousand years old." he tells us as we enter the lounge where the rest of the League is situated.

"They don't really act like you'd expect people from that far back to act." says Clark from his position on one of Bruce's loveseats.

"And I still have trouble believing it." adds John Stewart from his position next to Hawkwoman.

"Really?" asks Azula with a raised eyebrow.

"Really." answers John

"You're girlfriend has literal wings growing from her back, you're best friend can casually break the sound barrier in his sneakers, you're friends with a demigoddess from an island of Amazons that never age, an alien who harnesses the power of the sun, the king of Atlantis, a man who dresses like a bat to fight crime, and eternal youth is the part you can't believe?" questions Azula as she ignores Bruce's glare from how she described him.

"I gotta say, she has you there John." says Barry Allen, the Flash. "I mean, Diana is like two hundred years old." he adds. "Speaking of, where is she anyway?" he asks.

"She decided to stay at Avalon Hill." answers Azula.

"Not being able to return to Themyscira must be taking its toll on her." comments Clark with a frown.

"It is, especially since General Kalliope sent a message to her and her royal guard that Zeus ordered them to prepare for war against man's world." answers Bruce with a frown of his own. "She thinks that Zeus is threatening her mother to get her to comply." he says, earning looks of distaste from the rest of the League.

"What do you think?" asks Clark as he looks at Bruce.

"I think that whoever is leading the Amazons now isn't Hippolyta." he answers with narrowed eyes.

"What?" questions Barry. "How come?"

"Because she's a liability." I answer, drawing everyone's attention to me. "She has a conflict of interest considering her daughter is not only fond of 'man's world', but she would most likely protect it from any assault." I explain while Bruce nods in agreement.

"While threatening Hippolyta may get her to comply, it wouldn't stop her from indirectly sabotaging their side of the war." explains Bruce.

"Wait, are we really calling this a war? I mean, don't they only have like a thousand Amazons or something?" asks Barry.

"Five thousand." corrects Azula. "And that's without counting Olympus' personal army." she adds.

"What do the Olympians even want with Earth?" asks Hawkwoman.

"Zeus wants to return to the days when humanity worshipped them." explains Morgan just as I begin to feel the oceans become more turbulent and the storm brewing in the sky becomes more powerful.

"They're coming." says an alarmed Scáthach and Azula at the same time.

"Who?" questions Clark as the members of the League rise to their feet.

"The gods." answers Morgan as lightning flashes and thunder crashes in the distance.

"Suit up." orders Bruce as he makes his way to a hidden compartment in the lounge.

Following Bruce's order, John's ring appears in his hand before being followed by his Green Lantern uniform. Flash follows suit with his uniform popping out of his own ring, while Superman and Hawkwoman simply remove the top layer of their clothes.

"Wearing your uniform under regular clothes must not be comfortable." comments Flash.

"I manage." answers Superman with a shrug while Batman walks out of the hidden compartment.

"Leave the gods and their armies to us and focus on the civilians." says Azula while our formal clothes change into our armor. "While our magical defenses should protect the cities, we don't want to take any unnecessary risks." she adds.

"Are you sure that you don't want help?" asks Batman, his demeanor completely different from earlier when he was Bruce Wayne.

"This is above any of your usual work." answers Scáthach as we teleport out of the Manor and towards the Gotham docks.

Appearing in the sky over the docks, we notice an armada of Amazonian ships sailing towards Gotham with the help of the ocean. Summoning my trident to me, I raise it in the air and completely still the ocean while pushing the winds against the armada, blowing them back. While I do this, a bolt of lightning strikes down from the sky towards me. Not bothering to pay it any mind, I let Azula intercept it before returning it from the direction it came from.

As expected from Zeus, he doesn't take the retaliation lying down and appears over the sea in a bolt of lightning. Following Zeus' arrival, Poseidon appears in a swirl of sea water before, one by one, some of the Olympians appear and stand behind Zeus.

The first to appear after Poseidon is none other than Hera herself. She wears the same clothes as when we met, only with an added cuirass, greaves, vambraces, and a sword strapped to her waist.

The second to appear is surprisingly Hades. Unlike when we first met the god of the underworld, Hades now stands at nine feet tall along with the other Olympians. His power seems to be engulfing the area like his brothers and he actually looks healthy compared to his pale complexion from before.

The third and fourth to appear are, not surprisingly, the twins Apollo and Artemis. Other than facial features, the twins look nothing alike. While Apollo possesses gleaming blond hair glowing gold eyes, Artemis has midnight black and glowing silver eyes. And while Apollo seems cheery despite the situation, Artemis appears to be somber.

"Who dares defy Zeus, King of the Gods!" bellows out Zeus as he summons a bolt of lightning to his hand.

"Drama queen." whispers Azula to herself, earning a small chuckle from the rest of us.

"You dare mock me, seaspawn." says Zeus as he points to me. "Poseidon, take responsibility for your bastard and kill him." orders Zeus, shocking some of the Olympians behind him.

Before Poseidon can react to Zeus' order, Wonder Woman comes flying in and floats between us.

"Lord Zeus, please stop this assault." asks Diana.

"You defy me daughter?" questions Zeus with a frown.

"Mankind hasn't done anything to warrant this attack." she pleads.

"Mankind has grown arrogant in the absence of the gods. It is time for them to be placed in their rightful place." says Zeus. "They will learn to worship the gods or perish!" he exclaims, shocking Diana.

Before Diana can answer him however, a voice calls out to her.

"Step aside daughter." callously calls out the voice of Hippolyta from the leading ship.

"I cannot comply with that order." answers Wonder Woman.

As Hippolyta makes to answer, I turn my eyes to her and observe her. From what I can tell she looks the same as ever. Same height, hair color, and even the same physique. However, there is something about her that simply does not feel right. I cannot place my finger on what exactly it is, but I know that this is an imposter.

Summoning my spear to me, I ignore the questioning gazes from the others, the conversation between Diana and the imposter and simply send my spear hurtling towards her with a force greater than anything an Amazon should be able to defend against. The resulting throw creates a shockwave as it breaks the sound barrier on its way to the imposter. As expected, the imposter easily catches my spear with a minimal amount of effort.

"Perhaps it is time to stop hiding behind that disguise, Ares." I say as everyone's attention turns to Hippolyta.

"Not bad." answers the god of war with a dark chuckle. "How did you ever figure it out?" he asks as he throws the spear at me with the same amount of force.

"You never did have any compassion." I answer as I catch the weapon before returning it to my rune space and watch as Ares' disguise as Hippolyta begins to fall.

"It is a useless emotion." he replies as Hippolyta's blue eyes turn blood red and her body grows to nine feet tall before it slowly transforms into a fully armored Ares.

"Ares!" exclaims Wonder Woman with a frown. "What have you done to my mother?" she demands.

"You're gonna have to ask daddy dearest about that. I just kidnapped and replaced her following his orders." he answers as he cracks his neck as the Amazons below turn their eyes to Zeus with betrayal clear in their eyes while everyone else looks at him wondering what he has to say for himself.

"For her traitorous actions, I have sentenced her to Tartarus." he says, shocking everyone present. "Now step aside or suffer a similar fate." he orders.

Shocked beyond words, Wonder Woman simply floats there while staring at Zeus as tears slowly fall from her eyes. Seeing that she is not obeying, Zeus brings his arm up and prepares to send his lightning bolt at her. Before he can however, thousands of arrows strike his body as the Amazons finally rebel against the gods.

"You will not harm the princess!" screams an enraged Commander Pythia with bloodshot eyes before giving the Amazons the order to fire with arrows tipped in Greek fire.

"YOU DARE!" screams out Zeus before he turns to Hades. "Summon the Legion." he orders before attempting to send a bolt of lightning at the Amazons.

Before he can, Azula strikes him with a blue flame to the face that not only knocks him back but also makes him scream in pain.

"Zeus is mine." she declares before rushing the King of the gods with a sonic boom.

Af if Azula's assault had rung a bell, the situation dissolves into chaos as Hades opens a hole to the underworld and legions of monsters rush out towards Gotham city. Not far behind, Scáthach opens a boom tube that allows Azula's Amazons and her Valkyries to intercept the monsters.

"Scáthach, take care of Hades and Hera. Morgan, take Diana to Tartarus and retrieve Hippolyta. I will take care of the remaining Olympians." I order as I use the waves to send the Amazons of Themyscira to Gotham where they can aid against the monsters before lunging at Poseidon.

"Always the disobedient son." he says as he barely blocks my overhead strike with his own trident. "We could have gotten rid of Zeus and ruled side by side. As punishment I have slayed destroyed Atlantis" he claims as he sweeps his trident towards me.

"You wouldn't dare, they worship you." I answer him as I easily dodge his strike and plunge my trident towards his chest.

"I have no need of disobedient subjects." he replies as he blocks the attack with one hand and summons something to his other hand.

As I inspect the objects in his hands, I easily recognise them as the heads of Orin, Mera, Kaldur. Despite knowing that such evidence can be faked, something in me knows that it wasn't, that this is really their lifeless heads.

"I'll kill you." I tell him calmly as I unleash a series of unrelenting attacks against him.

Each blow is strong and faster than the last to the point that simply moving my trident creates gales of wind and every clash of my trident against his causes a shockwave. After blocking the first three blows, I decide that I will no longer hold back. My fourth strike summons lightning from the heavens that singes his entire body, the fifth is channeled with such force that his body struggles to block and creates such a powerful shockwave that it parts the sea under us. Taking advantage of his momentary weakness, I maneuver myself to his side and plunge my trident towards his throat.

Before I can however, I pull back in order to dodge four arrows sent to pierce me.

"As much as I'd love watching you skewer the old man, we can't let you do that." says Apollo as he and his sister knock more arrows.

Rather than answer him, I make a wave rise to grab them by the feet before plunging them into the sea. As they attempt to escape the ocean however, Bahamut appears from the depths of the sea and attacks them.

"You wish to fight with the sea? You wish to use MY domain?" roars Poseidon as he makes the sea grow more turbulent.

Without answering I fly towards him only to once again have to dodge an attack, this time from Ares. Flying over his sword slash, I turn in midair and slice his arm off, making him roar in pain. Before he can recover I grab him by the throat and plunge my trident through him as if his armor is nonexistent.

"You shouldn't be this powerful yet." he says with wide eyes full of fear as he struggles to breathe.

"And you should have remained in your prison." I tell him before moving my trident up and slicing him in half.

Watching the light leave his eyes and his body slowly disintegrating, I feel something within me snap. At first I pay it no mind and turn to face Poseidon, but as the seconds grow however I begin to hear the prayers in the back of my mind return full force. Some beg for justice, others ask for martial prowess, others ask for guidance in ruling, some pray for the knowledge of poisons, and some even pray for their wars to be blessed. The prayers are so much that I begin to feel my head pound in pain, and despite my attempts to return them to the back of my mind they continue to assault me.

Drowning out the world around me, I try to gain some semblance of control in my mind to no avail. Just as I begin to think that I'll never regain control, something plunges through my chest and the pain drowns out the voices.

Opening my eyes, I see Poseidon facing me with his trident piercing my chest.

"Never lose focus in battle." he says to me.

The situation is so ridiculous to me that I cannot help but laugh. Who would have thought Poseidon's wish to kill me would be what helps me in the end. Had he not done anything I may have gone mad from the pain and the voices.

"Have you gone mad? You are about to die." he tells me.

"You have my thanks." I tell him, shocking him.

Using his momentary surprise against him, I plunge my trident into his throat before using it to decapitate him. Similar to when Ares was killed, Poseidon's body slowly falls apart. With him dead, I remove the trident from my chest and watch as it begins to slowly heal. With the prayers no longer pounding in my head, I feel a mental fatigue that I have never felt before in my life. Hoping to recover quicker, I allow myself to fall in the ocean and watch as it slowly rises up to embrace me without my prompting it to do so.

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AN: Yeah Ares and Poseidon died quickly, but honestly at this point they pose no trouble for the mc and the others. The only ones that you guys should expect to really cause them trouble is Darkseid with all of those amps from the Source that he keeps stealing from other gods.

Also tell me what you guys think of this chapter. I'm personally not satisfied by it, but no matter how much I tried I couldn't find what was bothering me about it.