Darkseid - The New Furies (Preview 2)

 Hi everyone. I am still here and believe it or not I have been writing pretty much non stop for over a month and this story is close but not quite there yet. Maybe another week. But why should you all wait that long. Here is a second preview that takes place pretty much right after the first one. It is unedited or even spellchecked so please forgive the errors. As always any feedback is appreciated. The time for any suggestions is over though. The writing is in the end stages now so not much room for any changes

Granny tugged and Diana fell in line behind her. She heard Powergilr sneer as the tug brought her some problems. Diana couldn’t hear anything from Starfire behind Powergirl She wondered ideally if she had been separated. Sparing a glance over her shoulder she noted that she was still there. A stoic and unyielding look on her face. The same on Powergirls face as well as a thinly veiled smile. At least they were in good spirits even after what they had agreed to. Diana brought her eyes forward once more just as Granny was tugging her harshly. Diana’s nearly tripped over a divot in the ground but caught herself and followed meekly behind the mad woman. The streets they passed through grew less and less crowded as they walked away from that market area. The streets were wide and seemed to be a mixture of dirt and steel that seemed to form something better then concrete. Diana could see in the distance they were getting closer and closer to something that was certainly more then five stories high. She had spotted it before in her fights here and even had the occasion to fight inside it once but coming at it from this angle was a sight to behold. Darkseids royal palace was massive. It seemed to be a city onto itself and indeed as they got closer it seemed ot be walled off with the obelisks serving as perimeter turrets along the way. Diana wondered why they hadn’t simply boomed into the palace ut as they walked closer the crowds which had thinned now became a massive throng of people. The streets which were wide enough for ten cars to drive side by side down were becoming increasingly filled with mostly the lower classes of Apokolips. The people here were hard and evil to the bone because they knew no better. They all wore tattered clothes and most were dirt smeared and underfeed. There was an increasing amount of parademons as well as they marched closer to the palace. They were being used as traffic cops and citizen wranglers and judging by how the citizens reacted when one got to close to them the para demons were as feared here as they were on Earth. Right now though they seemed to be just as interested in the three heroines as anyone else. Their wings fluttering taking them barely inches off of the ground, they all held their guns in one hand while they seemed to be reaching out to grab them as they walked by. Granny though got to the point were she had enough of it. She stomped her foot hard into the ground, dust going everywhere the bystanders and the demon soldiers stepped back.

“These are personal slaves of our Lord and Master Darkseid. Who dares touch them?” Granny screamed.

The crowd stepped back at least ten feet. Some even pushed out of the road such was the size of the crowd. Granny laughed and looked around. Holding the leash in her hadn like some sort of trophy she leered at them all.

“There will be more. Take them in….. they are but the first but soon we will be overflowing with new slaves. Not only for our Master but for the pits. If you go there now you will see four more of these Earth heroines about to learn what destiny truly is” Granny laughed and watched as a sizable portion of the crowd broke away and started to head back towards were they had come from. Diana thought with no doubt that they were heading back to wherever Zatanna and her group had been lead to.

With the crowd thinned Diana was a little more relieved. The faces of the people who remained were more of dismissal and even some awe on their faces. Wonder Woman had seen the lower rungs of Apokolips society before. They tore each other to shreds in order to be the fittest to suceed and now she saw that evil and ambition on the faces of them all as they stared at her barely clothed self. She could tell that Powergirl was gettign angry behind her. Never one to hide her anger she was not liking be gawked at but she so far had said or done nothing. Behind her Starfire simply walked. Like this was old news to her. Perhaps in a way it was. Though she had beenenslaved before it had not been at the hands of Darkseid and certainyl she had not undergone training the likes of which Granny will be putting them through. The only thing that saved Diana’s mind was the longer they could extend the training the more likely her friends who remained on planet could mount a counter attack or simply disappear. She knew this was wishful thinking but she didnt want to teb the one to bring them in. A deal was a deal and as a Hero and as a Amazon warrior she will abide by it and do her best. That didn’t mean though that she couldn’t wish for something else.

Diana’s thoughts were lost. A brutal tug on her leash told her that Granny had turned around and must not have been pleased to see Diana’s thoughts in her own mind. The brutal tug sent Diana going again through the crowd and towards the oversized palace. Approaching the massive wall and ramparts that guarded the palace Diana was amazed to see that from ground level standing at the base of the wall and one of the oblesiks she thought they might be even taller. The wall seemed ot be about fifty to maybe even sixty feet tall while the towers were easily double that. Diana looked back over her shoulder to where they had just walked from and looked at the other towers. They seemed ot be smaller and must have been much smaller then these. It made sense that the palace would have a more robust defensive perimeter but considering the amount of beings in the galaxy that could go toe to toe with Darkseid could probably be counted on one hand especially with Kal’el’s death it seemed a little overkill. Thankfully though the walls and towers here were not in the same dark red or browns of the other buildings. Here the wall was a solid black with little filaments of silver running through. Diana wasn’t sure what it was made of but there was a shine to it that almost seemed like an energy barrier of some sort. Again she wouldn’t be surprised if there was one. The towers were built from the same stuff but at the top the diamond shape was more a clear crystal with the dark feverish red in the center that served as the eye and defensive outlet. Granny took them right up to a reddish steel gate and waited for only a moment befor a squad of para demons appeared on either side of the inside of the gate and began to pull the massive gates open.

Led inside the palace grounds Diana was not interested in anything more then keeping her mind on right for the coming ordeals. She refused to look around and by the time she did look around she was inside. Granny had led them into a wide tunnel that looked to have been carved out of steel rather then forged by it. It was circular and shined but almost impassively. Diana couldn’t describe it in her mind much more then the walls looked more like a dulled blade. Every fifteen feet or so there was a sentry parademon. Fluttering in the air they eyed the prisoners as they walked past. Granny seemed to now even notice them. At the end of the long cavern like tunnel there was a large door cut right into the end. It was silver with a circular locking mechanism at head height on the right side. Diana saw Granny do something to the door and it slid open. Disappearing into the side of the tunnel. Granny tugged on the leash and the three heroines were pulled inside. Walking into the new room Diana felt a shimmer go through her. As if she had walked through a waterfall without getting wet.

The room was circular with little light beyond what was offered from the open tunnel behind them. Granny took them into what felt like the center of the room but it was impossible to tell and as they walked further in the light from the tunnel was fading. Granny stopped and behind them Diana heard a hustle. She turned in time to see the door was sliding back into place and what little light they did have was fading. It slammed shut with a thud and for a moment they stood in complete blackness. The moment seemed to drag so long that Diana idly wondered if she could attack Granny and somehow free herself. She was pondering the thought when light came on in the room. Blinding light even after only such a short time with no light caused Diana to flinch and brace her eyes with her mitten hands. When her vision cleared she looked around and wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. It was extremely large room. Seemingly part dungeon and part apartment.

“Welcome to the training room. This is but one of my training rooms but this is my best one” Granny announced. She turned around and walked towards Diana. With a deft flick of the chain on her collar she as untethered from the leash. Granny moved behind her and did the same with Powergirl. Leaving the leash to fall and flap against Diana’s thigh. Granny must have done the same thing to Starfire, Diana saw the Orange alien heroine walk up next to her. Hands still behind her in the mitten and all other restrains stil on but the three of them were no longer linked. Powergil came up to stand on the other side of Diana.

“What have we gotten ourselves into” She whispered.

“I have no idea sister but whatever it is we will endure it togetehr” Diana looked to both of the heroines on her flanks and smiled. Granny took in the little conversation smiled.

“Here you will be trained. You have said the wrods and called our Master, Master but you do not mean them. Here you will be made to believe them, to love them even” Granny sneered.

“Your wrong Granny. By the time you have even made a dent on us the other heros of Earth will have rised up against you” Karen stated. Starfire’s eyes glared at the mad woman god but seemed to reflect Powergirls words.

“Hmmm or perhaps you think by the time you are truly ready to serve you wont have to capture your friends because we will already have done it” Granny smiled that cruel smile and laughed. It was precisouly what Diana had thought and was working towards.

“All efforts to capture the other women and subdue your men are being put on hold until you are ready to act for Darkseid” Granny smiled.

“Then we have won. Our friends will wear you down by attriation” Kori blurted out.

Granny smiled and nodded.

“A distinct possibility…… However improbable whle we remain in this chamber” Granny replied with a sly smile.

“You seem sur of yourself Granny” Diana accused.

“Quite sure Princess…..” Granny looked Diana in the eye and then turned to look at Kori. “Or should I call you Princess?…..” Granny teased while turning her glare back to Diana.

“No, I think you are a Goddess aren’t you? So we have a Goddess, a Princess and A last daughter of Krypton from another age” Granny teased the three of them.

“I assure you what you hope for, wish for and plead for. An ultimate victory by your friends while you try and waste my time here is out of the question” Granny stated. It was gallign to Diana to hear her so eloquantly put her plan out in the open.

“Why is here so important then Granny” Karen demanded.

“An excellent question Power slave” Granny motioned with all of her hands taking in the whole of the chamber and looked at the three of them.

“Because in here my three charges, time moves differently. I trust you all felt that slight shimmer as you walked through. It is a time dilation field. For every day that passes here only two minutes pass on your pathetic world” Granny stated.

The implications were not lost on all three of them.

“Wait you’re tellign us that for every hour that passes on Earth a month passes here?” Karen jumped in. She was strangely analytical but there was desperation in her voice.

Granny smiled and picked up the lead that had been connected to the front of Diana's collar. She had discarded it on the floor before and now she took it and wrapped it in two in frton of her. Doubling the chain she smacked it in her hand like a flogger and looked at the three heros.

“That’s seven hundred and twenty days in here for a day out there. That’s almost years!!” Karen stuttered as she said it.

Granny chuckled and sucked in on her teeth.

“Still think you can hold out?” She teased.

Diana turned to her fellow heroines. First looking left and then right and saw reflected on their faces what she felt in her own heart. No, she didn’t think they could hold out.