^^ Wonder Woman ^^
— Erin —
"You work quickly." Diana spoke over my shoulder, looking at my equations with a curious eye.
I recovered from the tensing of my muscles at her unexpected entrance, and sighed. "Why do you say that?"
"Nightwing informed the League that you struck a blow against the Light... also facing off with Lady Shiva, and not only surviving, but winning. I am quite impressed, as was most everyone; even Batman, and he does not impress easily." She leaned against the holographic desk, and flinched when she fell right through it, and had to fly to avoid slamming into the ground.
"Careful, it's a hologram." I warned her blandly, and finished my work, spinning my chair to check on the progress of my Builder-Drones. The first one I'd put together myself, and after that it had been tasked with putting the rest together, which it did with incredible acuity, about 200 times faster than I could ever had done it. The quantum synthesizer copy, which I was currently using, worked just as quickly as the original, and without the troublesome limiters and monitoring software of the original. That one had gone into the Justice League Impound, where it belonged.
The little worker bot finished number 126 of its brethren, and released it, the tiny robot shaped exactly like a seagull fluttering off to join the other types of birds roosting in the beams above our heads. They were in their camouflage modes, currently, a form which emitted a natural amount of heat, as well as appearing to X-Ray vision as a normal bird, due to the use of less-dense materials than bird bones.
"So what do you plan on doing with an army of robot birds?" She asked, closely examining a finch that had landed on her finger.
"They will be monitoring the area, and helping me build my bigger equipment. Anyway, what did you need?" I asked, turning back to the holographic table, and examining my equation for the amount of rock I could tunnel out in a week, at median speed.
"Well, I was free, and I wanted to know if you were settling in Alright... I see I needn't have worried. Also, it's come to my attention that you may be either Kryptonian or Amazon from another dimension, which intrigued me." She hummed, and the bird leapt off her hand as she began levitating next to me in a mockery of sitting.
"True, though Kryptonian is the official story. That way people think they know my weakness, 'kryptonite', but in actuality it wouldn't affect me, beyond being radioactive. My real weakness is rather confusing, and I'd like your thoughts on it." I made a decision, and pulled the small cube out of the lead box Kaldur had given me for it.
She took it gently, examining it closely. "I see... AntiMatter? I wonder why AntiMatter would be your weakness..."
"Considering my abilities came from my trip through the Fold, which is entirely composed of Dark Matter, it's plausible that my own body is simply reactive with the Antimatter, and therefore the abilities that the Dark Matter give me are nullified as it protects me from the effects of the Antimatter. A reflexive shield, perhaps, that takes all of my powers' concentration. That's my current theory, but I can't get it open to tell." I shrugged.
She hummed. "Curious... that seems a valid hypothesis... should I open it, then? It does not drain my abilities."
"Sure, I don't think it hurts me, it just nullifies my strength and invulnerability." I nodded.
She drew a small blade from one of her wrist-guards, and carefully made an incision along the top edges. As soon as the knife pierced the containment field, a deep-seated pulse rocked my body, and I was reaching for it before I could stop myself.
She pulled away, but only succeeded in cutting my hand open, reopening the wound that had absorbed the extra-dimensional energy the first time. The glass box shattered in my grip, and the AntiMatter soaked into my hand, along with the glass, which was in fact not glass, but rather a hard-light containment field.
I stared at my hand for a moment, feeling the AntiMatter speed through my bloodstream, and then looked up at Wonder Woman. "Ah, hell..."
I shrieked in confusion when I fell into my own shadow, and then paused, breathing deeply as I realized where I was. I was back in the Fold, and I wasn't moving. As I was basking in the achievement, as odd as it was, a hand suddenly reached through the shadows above me, and I gripped it, allowing her to pull me out and back into the realm of light.
I looked at Wonder Woman as she clutched her arm, frozen visibly, and hissed sympathetically. "Are you Alright? Do you need me to get someone with more medical experience?" I asked slowly.
She shook her head, the color returning to her arm and the ice shattering off. "No... I am well, though a bit confused."
"Same... it seems that that AntiMatter was the last catalyst my abilities needed to come to fruition. Super-Human speed and strength weren't my abilities, just a by-product of them, a case of necessary secondary abilities. My time in the Fold seems to have made me connected to it... I wonder if I can make my way back where I came now, or if I should build the Boom Tube first..."
She shook her head. "First, you must learn to control your abilities; that is the most important thing you can do, as of right now."
"Hmm... I suppose that's the responsible course of action." I muttered, and sat down in my chair again. "Now if that's all, I'd like to finish this equation and then get some much-deserved sleep. We'll talk more, later. Maybe tomorrow."
She nodded, and turned to leave. "I will look forward to your progress, then."
"Thank you, Diana." I added quietly, realizing I hadn't thanked her for fishing me out. I didn't think I'd been in any danger, but she'd injured herself to help me, so a Thanks was required.
She smiled and closed the door, flying away no doubt, as I didn't hear her footsteps.
I immediately locked the door, engaging the sound-proofing, and laid on the bed. "Alright... let's try that again, slower this time. You, bot, chart a course through the shadow realm to the Island." I grabbed one of the drones, and focused on a shadow, thrusting it through.
After about thirty seconds, I pulled it back. "Did you gather the data necessary?"
"Insufficient Data. Point A- Accepted. Point B- Unknown."
I nodded. "Okay. I'm going to push you into the shadow. You will glide forward exactly four feet, equal to eight lengths of your body, and then I will exit you there. You will then use GPS to find your exact location, gather the data on the ratio, and report back."
"Affirmative."
I breathed deeply, and pushed my head into the shadow with the robot, sending it forward four feet and then letting it exit through another little 'portal'.
About fifteen minutes later, one of the other pigeons spoke up.
"Receiving transmission... according to current GPS location, Four feet is equal to exactly 64 miles, by fielded unit's calculations. Also, GPS location is slightly faulty after travel through the Fold, due to loss of location tracking. Recommend multiple test case scenarios. The fielded unit will arrive back at base in... 1 hour, at top speed."
I grinned and nodded. "Interesting... alright first, we need to make sure you can use GPS in the Fold... a localized beacon could give you your exact location relative to a predetermined location, making location a simple matter of comparing two points with a map of the planet... begin synthesizing a super-high-powered homing beacon, and give all of the drones access to its frequency, once it's activated. Leave it deactivated, for now."
The synthesizer got to work, and I sent several of the drones through the shadows, to gain more data while I waited. "See if you're capable of propulsion, in the shadows, to see if you can move about without my assistance." I told one, and watched as it flapped its wings, gliding forward slowly. A little too slowly for my liking, but it was progress.
The synthesizer finished the beacon's components, and the builder drone got to work, quickly and efficiently building the beacon, which was about as large as my abdomen. I got an idea, and sighed. "Build two more. We'll have to triangulate in order for the beacons to maintain their positions in the Fold."
The machine got to work, and I nodded, looking at the holo table. "Now, let's plot a course to the island, yes? We've got a distance-ratio, and direction does seem to be holding true, so let's get cracking!" I grinned wildly.
—
The three beacons were placed carefully into the shadow realm, the Fold, at about twenty feet away from each other, (translating to several hundred miles in this realm,) the central point of the triangle based in Star City instead of happy harbor, effectively preempting any attempt to use them to locate my base. Once they were placed, they were activated, triangulating off of each other and the small one-way beacon that periodically reported its location to them from the island so that they could follow as the earth orbited the sun, as well as spinning on its axis.
The drones were instantly capable of 99.99999% accurate location tracking, and I sent about half of them, 90 to be exact, out to scout the shadow dimension. I had hoped that they would be able to track the patterns, but it was quickly obvious they couldn't see them at all, so I sent them all back to digging out my laboratory and updating the island, then returned to the garage attic, and fell into my bed.
—
This time I was sure I was dreaming, because the shadow realm was fuzzy, indistinct. It didn't have the sharp lines I had always seen in its patterns, and in fact it seemed to be shifting. The patterns were visibly changing, accepting a new crack that stood out at first, but slowly mixed in with the others, spreading cracks of its own.
"You see? This is your disruption, here. You have disturbed the Balance, but the Balance is just that... it collects itself over time, and adjusts to new weights." Doctor Fate appeared to my left, a blindingly bright light in the shadows.
"And it has nothing to do with my ability to utilize the Fold for travel, and therefore I could theoretically go home without any outside assistance?" I frowned.
He shook his head. "You misunderstand. I take no pleasure in denying you your home, nor do I seek to manipulate you into staying here through some mind game or another. I seek to appeal to your Logical Brain, that you should see the dangers of upsetting the Balance any more than you already have."
"And you don't think you should take some responsibility, as the person who brought me here?!?" I growled.
"Doctor Fate did not bring you here, though his namesake... must have. Coincidences are entirely nonexistent in our view of the cosmos, after all, are they not?" He cocked his head a little, and I sighed.
"You're right... Cosmic chains of events are a proven theory. If you want to give it a fancy name, fine, but I agree with the basic concept that everything is a causal consequence of something else. But what chain of events brought me here? Do you have any idea?" I asked, inspecting my part of the pattern. It didn't originate with me, I realized, but rather tracking back towards the center, where it joined another, larger pattern.
"Judging by the patterns? I'd say your Bloodline originated in this dimension, in Themyscira... and then it left. Now you are returned. That explains why the Balance righted itself so quickly; you were never meant to be in that dimension, and so causal reality caused you to be in the right place and the right time to be removed and sent back to the correct timeline. An intricate solution, but not the most convoluted I've ever seen." He turned away from the pattern, and it faded, the surrounding area brightening slowly until we stood in a large room, apparently on the watchtower, according to the view of earth through the window.
I chuckled and leaned against the window. "I suppose that could explain some things, but now I'm just going to create the Boom Tube to spite you. I don't like being told what to do, and I like people telling me I can't do something even less."
"That is your prerogative, I suppose, but Boom Tubes do not access dimensions. You already have access to the Fold, therefore the need for the Boom Tube, which was only necessary as an access port to the Fold, is gone, is it not?"
"Correct. Now it's just to prove I can. I can and I will use Earth technology to create a Boom Tube, and then I'll win a Nobel Prize in Phyics for it." I grinned.
"Ahh, petty spite, that is understandable." He shook his head, and turned to stare at a mirror.
"Well... if I came from this dimension, or my great-great whoever did, do you have any idea who it was that went over? Does it have something to do with why the women of my family have always been... well, like me?" I gestured at my body, then flinched examining it, which surprisingly was much less buff than usual, more normally proportioned.
"I would assume the Amazon blood, of course, and as for your body, this is your Astral Form. It takes that form which you wish to have. Curiously, your face is not changed, nor anything else, only your muscle mass... you are incredibly self-confident. That is rare, and admirable." He nodded to me respectfully, and looked back at the mirror.
I nodded, examining myself for a moment, then looked back at him. "And you? What's your astral form look like?"
He hummed, and then nodded, stepping away from the mirror. As he moved, his body shimmered, and he took the form of a tall, bearded middle-eastern man with long dark drown hair streaked with grey. "I am Nabu, Lord of Order, and together with my host, Giovanni Zatarra, I am Doctor Fate."
"Ahhh, So that's why you won't go near Zatanna. You're possessing her father." I nodded.
He sighed, and sat down, the helmet reappearing on the table nearby. His voice ceased doubling, and I raised an eyebrow at its suppleness, a smooth and charismatic sound I much preferred over his usual tone. "Yes... that is why. It causes Giovanni great emotional Pain to see her, and yet not speak to her. I need his body, but I do not wish him pain, so I avoid his spawn."
"Why not just let him talk to her? He doesn't have to take off the helmet for you to allow him his own voice, no? Or a telepathic link?" I suggested.
He shook his head. "No, they would not be satisfied with that, and I am not cruel enough to dangle a grape in front of them, yet feed them sour greens." He waved a hand dismissively.
"I suppose there's truth to that... now, I suppose it's time for me to be going, hmm? Oh, and next time you want to talk? Ask, don't just kidnap my astral form, or whatever." I warned him.
He nodded. "Understood. I see your concern, and will not force astral contact again, without your permission. Until then, Sleep Well, Peace Keeper."
—
I woke up suddenly, and looked around, breathing deeply of the fresh air coming through the open window.
The room was stripped bare of the things I'd created with the Synthesizer, and the main device itself was gone, leaving only the sound absorbers, fiber-optics, a single Analyzing Tray, the second copied Synthesizer, and the bed I laid upon.
"Progress has continued at a steady rate. The living quarters portion of the Laboratory are nearly complete." A drone flew down from the rafters, and landed on the bedpost.
"Good. Continue work, and order the creation of more building drones, maxing out at 1,000 units of builders, and then 2,000 units of surveillance, half native sea-going birds and half native shallow-water fish. Blanket the island in a surveillance network, and watch for any intruders. Keep me posted." I nodded, and stood, stretching.
The door opened, and Zatanna squeaked again, turning around. "Oh god! Sorry!!! I swear this isn't on purpose!!!"
"I sleep in the nude, my dear. If you do not wish to see me naked, you may wish to stay on the other side of the door." I chuckled at her embarrassment, and pulled on some underwear and a pair of pants, including a loose-fitting sports bra so that I didn't scandalize her too much.
She peeked through her hands, and relaxed. "Sorry, again. I came to ask if you needed anything? I mean, I know you just got here, and you probably don't have-... you managed to get new clothes already?"
"I had them made, Yes. Did you want to go shopping, Zatanna? I wouldn't say no, I suppose, but be warned that my clothing tastes have more in common with an amazon than with a woman who wears makeup." I chuckled.
"I take offense to the suggestion that Amazons don't wear makeup." Wonder Woman leaned over Zatanna's shoulder.
"You do? Huh. I thought your eyes were just naturally Smokey. But no, I do not wear makeup. I could use some food, though, if you girls want to just go hang out somewhere?" I asked, pulling a shirt and jacket on, belting my gun on through my pants' loops.
"You can't wear a weapon in public, my dear." Wonder Woman shook her head.
"I have a concealed carry license. I can, in fact, carry my gun and knife in public... though, those probably aren't valid here... I'll have to file for new ones, if I'm staying here..." I hummed, and made a note to do that, giving the gun belt to a drone and keeping just the knife, which I hid along my spine. "Well? Where to, ladies?"