Disclaimer – All rights belong to Marvel and DC. I own nothing.

Chapter 26 – Iron Man

Stark's Mansion, Malibu, California – May 17th, 2010

"I'm waiting for an explanation, Tony," Pepper demanded, fixing her powerful glare on him just as Tony knew she would.

He wouldn't even brag about predicting that, though, because the number of weird things that had happened in the span of a few hours would leave anyone full of questions, especially someone clever like Pepper.

It wasn't like a Grootslang had popped up in the middle of the house, no, but weird nonetheless.

"Um, you're gonna have to be a little more precise, Pepper," Tony delayed. "What exactly do you want me to explain?"

She raised a single eyebrow.

"Let's see… Why, yes, the fact that you knew Stane would try to murder you, for one."

"I didn't know that," Tony immediately countered. "I swear, Pepper, if I had known that's why he wanted to come here, I wouldn't have let you stay."

Her expression softened a bit.

"But you knew he was behind your kidnapping?" Pepper insisted.

"I… strongly suspected," he admitted. "I've been investigating some people in the company after I found out weapons were being sold under the table. Stane was one of the investigated people. I didn't have proof, but some of the talks I had with him, well, you can imagine."

There was a minute of silence, as Pepper absorbed the new information.

"And why did he confess it like that?" she finally asked. "Why was that rope glowing? When did you learn to fight like that? Why did Diana have blood on her dress?" She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Is she some kind of government secret agent?"

"Um, not as far as I know," Tony stammered. He didn't think so, no, but she definitely knew some, he would bet.

Pepper, however, wasn't finished. No, she ended her tirade with one very pertinent question:

"What the hell is happening?!"

Tony sighed, looking down. Well, there it was, the time to make a choice. Trust Pepper – like one day he trusted Stane – and share Diana's secret? Or don't trust the woman he wanted to start a relationship with and risk destroying what they might have?

He opened his mouth to speak.

Before he could say anything, however, Diana entered the room, agitated.

"Tony, Stane just escaped!" she announced, urgently, showing her phone as if to tell him how she knew that. "And there was an explosion at Stark Industries Headquarters not too long after that."

Anything else Tony had been thinking was simply wiped out when he heard that; his entire focus was on this now.

"How?!" he exclaimed.

Stane wasn't a soldier or a secret agent, as Pepper would say. How the hell did he escape SHIELD's grasp like that? Did someone break him out?

"He had help," Diana explained, confirming his suspicions. "Someone attacked their car while they were en route to the airport."

"Is Agent Coulson alright?" Pepper exclaimed, eyes wide.

"They are all fine, but Stane was taken. And I think we both know where he is."

Stark Industries Headquarters, Tony's mind provided. There was no way that Stane's escape and the explosion weren't related somehow. He didn't know how exactly, but he knew they were connected.

"Suit up, Tony. We will use my jet," Diana said, already leaving the room.

Tony was frozen for a second, then he turned to Pepper. Without hesitation, he kissed her.

"I swear to you I'll explain everything. Call Happy, tell him to come here right now. Jarvis? Engage all defense protocols, nobody enters without my or Pepper's approval!" He looked at her. "I'll call you when I find out where the hell Stane is."

He was already running to the lab before Pepper could answer.

En Route to Stark Industries Headquarters, Los Angeles, California – May 17th, 2010

When everything seemed to be going alright, Natalia called and shared the bad news: Stane had escaped. Or he had been taken, the information was not accurate on this, but the important part is that he was no longer under Agent Coulson's watch.

And then there was an explosion at Stark Industries Headquarters, less than half an hour later. Diana was not alone in thinking those two events were connected somehow.

Everything seemed to be going so well, Diana thought, as she flew her invisible jet over the city. Stane confessed and was arrested, she made sure his mercenaries would never hurt anyone again – Natalia had promised to send someone to get rid of the bodies once Agent Coulson was no longer investigating, so attention would not be drawn to her – and Tony seemed to be doing well, even after the betrayal.

Then, everything derailed in a matter of moments.

Did she miss any of Stane's mercenaries and they went back to rescue him? Did he have other allies? Natalia seemed to think Stane was not rescued, but kidnapped, or so Agent Coulson theorized by Stane's behavior during the events, but there was no way of knowing for sure.

Another thing that bothered her immensely was the manner used to free Stane: a sword formed from purple smoke.

Diana had absolutely no idea what that meant, but it sounded a lot like magic. But what sorcerer would bother to rescue – or kidnap – Stane? Did he truly have friends – or enemies – in the magical community? If so, how did he not recognize her? Diana, liking it or not, was famous in certain circles, but Stane did not even have a flicker of recognition when he looked at her, so it was unlikely.

Her hypotheses were brought to a halt when she heard Tony speaking on the phone behind her.

"Rhodey, I know we need to sit down and have a serious conversation," he said, forcefully, "but if you're really my friend, I need your help."

There was a moment of silence.

"Of course I'm your friend, you dumbass! Where is this coming from? What do you need?"

She pretended not to notice when Tony breathed, relieved.

"I need you to go to my house. Stane just tried to kill me–"

"WHAT?!"

"–He failed and was arrested, but he escaped. I'm going after him in my, um, 'prototype for training exercises'… But Pepper is back home, probably with Happy and his team, but I'm not sure. I need you to go there and look after her while I deal with this."

"Tony, you–"

"Rhodey, 'yes' or 'no'?" Tony interrupted.

There was a moment of silence.

"I'm already getting in the car," was the answer. "Just, be careful, alright? You have no idea what we went through when you disappeared."

"I will. Thanks, Rhodey."

He hung up. Tony stood in place for almost a minute, then walked back to the seat by her side.

"So… Are you friends again?" Diana asked, smiling, forgetting about the crisis for a moment.

"It would seem so," Tony answered, nodding. He tilted his head. "We'll talk more after we deal with Stane."

Diana rolled her eyes, but allowed Tony to have the last word. This time.

The jet flew fast over the buildings, invisible to the eye and to any equipment that might pick up their location, courtesy of Howard's visionary design; the design Tony was dying to improve once he had the time. For now, though, it was enough and it allowed them to fly unbothered directly to their target.

Stark Industries Headquarters, already visible from afar.

"There it is," Tony mumbled. He was clad in his suit, only his face visible. "There's a heliport east of that tower on the back, you can land there. I'm going to check the place while you're at it."

"Tony! We do not know what is down there," Diana warned, as Tony got up and put on his helmet. "Remember your training: always have a plan of attack."

He nodded and punched the button to open the cargo door.

"I have a plan of attack: attack!"

Then he jumped out, firing his repulsors to fly away from the jet. Diana rolled her eyes.

"I have a plan of attack: attack!" she mocked in a falsetto voice.

Starks!

Stark Industries Headquarters, Los Angeles, California – May 17th, 2010

"Jarvis, access the security cameras, find where they are," Tony ordered, as he flew above his own company headquarters.

"As you wish, sir."

There were flames coming from a portion of the building – the underground lab's storage, according to the blueprints on his HUD – and a tower of smoke made its way to the sky. It was a good thing that most people had already left and the place was empty, because Stane had already done enough damage.

"There is a person still at the explosion's origin point, sir," Jarvis announced.

"Stane?"

"Negative, sir. According to the facial recognition software, it appears to be Raza Hamidmi Al-Wazar."

"What?!" Tony exclaimed, powering his thrusters and starting his descent.

Impossible! How was that guy still alive? Tony remembered very vividly when he buried him under a ton of rocks back in Afghanistan; it felt good to kill that son of a bitch, especially after what he did to Yinsen.

Apparently, however, he hadn't done the job properly, because he was back and he was helping his old partner in crime to escape justice.

Well, Tony wasn't about to let that happen.

Without slowing down, he went through the roof, his suit breaking it like it wasn't even there, and made his way to the lab storage in a straight line, firing his repulsors to make way through the floors, never steering from his flight path.

The floor of the lab storage cracked when he landed, the metallic noise echoing through the dark room.

"I have been waiting for you, Tony Stark," a voice that he knew well spoke.

It truly was Raza, Tony realized, raising his hands to take aim. The man, seemingly unbothered by the gesture, simply walked until he stopped in front of him, maybe ten feet away, close enough for Tony to confirm his identity.

And to realize half his face was in pretty bad shape. Huh, maybe he hadn't missed too badly back in the cave.

"Still alive, Raza?" Tony spoke. "Guess we'll have to fix that. Though half of your face is already in Hell, so that'll save us some time."

The man gave him a chilly smile.

"I could have erased this mark as if it had never existed, Tony Stark, but I chose to keep it as a reminder."

"You're sure you just didn't think it was better than the original? Be honest," Tony mocked, unsure of how exactly he would have done that. No plastic surgery in the world would fix that mess.

"A reminder to repay you tenfold for this," Raza continued, completely ignoring Tony's interruption.

"Yeah, alright, conversation's over," Tony said, powering up his repulsors, the loud menacing sound taking the whole place. "Tell you what: give me Stane and surrender and I won't blow up the rest of you. The game's up, you lost."

Raza was one man, one unarmed man, and the entirety of his terrorist cell couldn't handle the power of his first suit, the one he made with spare parts and junk. Now, he was facing something much deadlier, something that made the latest, most advanced weapons in the world seem like toys.

Tony was a little bit surprised when the man laughed without a care in the world, he wouldn't lie.

"Is that what you think? That Stane is my ally?" Raza asked, amused.

"Seriously, you're gonna try to deny it? Is that what you're gonna do?" Tony countered. "I know he was the one who sold me out to you guys, that's why you had to take him from a car full of government agents."

"You misunderstand, Tony Stark. I do not deny Obadiah Stane betrayed you. He did. But he also betrayed me." Raza stepped forward, raising one hand to point somewhere. "Or do you not recognize that?

Repulsors still aimed at Raza, Tony turned to look at what he was pointing; and immediately widened his eyes. It was the suit he and Yinsen built in Afghanistan, to escape the Ten Rings' grasp: the Mark I. The very same he left scattered in the desert after he put enough distance between him and Raza's men, only to almost die in the crash and, subsequently, almost die of thirst under the hellish sun right after.

What the hell was that doing there? How?

"I recovered the fragments," Raza answered his unasked question. "I put them together using the blueprints you left behind. And I approached Stane with an offer: I would hand him the suit and blueprints and, in return, he would gift me an army of Iron Soldiers."

Tony, still staring at the old suit, said: "Let me guess, he sonic tased you."

There was an unamused smile on Raza's face.

"He refused my offer, only to try to kill me later. He failed in that, but he did succeed in stealing the suit and the blueprints." Raza walked to the suit of armor, touching it. "And after all that, he still could not make it work, not without you, Tony Stark."

Of course he couldn't. The suit of armor was, by itself, a technological marvel, that was true, but one that could be pieced together with enough resources and the right minds working together. Powering it, though, that was another story entirely.

Without the Arc Reactor, it was nothing more than decoration. And Tony was the only one able to make a miniaturized Arc Reactor.

Which kinda of explained why Stane was desperate enough to try to rip it off his chest earlier that day.

"So you see, Tony Stark," Raza continued, "Obadiah Stane is not my friend."

Tony turned to him. "What's this, then? Why are you here? Did he piss you off so much that you thought it was a good idea to come all this way to kill him?" He looked at the Mark I. "Or did you come for this?"

Raza turned his back to the Mark I, eyes on him.

"I have come for him," he confirmed. "And you. As for my gift of Iron Soldiers… My army already has its first warrior."

"Is he stuck inside that pile of junk?" Tony mocked, pointing at the Mark I.

Instead of a verbal answer, however, Raza looked back, a grin on his face; there was a loud sound, metal and pistons and something heavy moving. And before Tony could even think of any possibilities as to what was happening, the steel wall behind Raza was simply shred to bits.

And an immense suit of armor landed in front of him, the eyes on the mask glowing red.

It was a behemoth of pure metal, clearly inspired on the Mark I design, but much bigger and equipped with a bunch of high-tech weapons, like a metal giant. It dwarfed his own Mark III, both in height and width, and the visible weapons attached to the hull gave it a menacing look as it stood to its full size in the middle of the room, more like a bipedal vehicle than a proper suit of armor, if he was being honest.

The most impressive thing, though, the thing that had Tony's pulse accelerated, was the fact that it was moving. The suit was moving, without an Arc Reactor to power it.

How? He knew for a fact that Stane hadn't found a replacement for it, otherwise he wouldn't have tried to steal the one in his chest. And he was absolutely sure that if Stane – with Stark Industries' resources and top scientists – hadn't found a way to replace an Arc Reactor, then Raza and the Ten Rings hadn't as well.

And yet, that metal monster was moving. The suit was being powered by something.

Or, as he found out a moment later, by someone.

The metal suit opened, lifting the helm, the chest piece parting and lowering to reveal just who exactly was in it: Obadiah Stane.

Except that he clearly wasn't there by choice.

The man he once considered a friend, the man who had just tried to murder him, was naked inside the huge suit, as wires connected to the interior of the armor pierced his skin in several points, not unlike IV lines of the kind one would see in a hospital, but in much greater number and attached everywhere.

Arms, neck, chest, even his face and head… The wires would pierce his skin, linking Stane to the armor as if he were in fact a part of it, much like the Arc Reactor was attached to his own chest. An unwilling part, that was, if the expression of pure horror and torment etched on Stane's face was anything to go by.

"Kill me…" Stane whispered, his wide, maniac eyes fixed on Tony.

The suit closed itself once again.

"The first of my Iron Soldiers, as I said," Raza announced, snapping Tony out of his stupor. "A punishment and a reward for a traitor and an Iron Monger."

"What have you done?" Tony asked, his voice hard, not a trace of mirth in his tone anymore.

Raza stared at him.

"You need a power source to fuel your suit, do you not? You have an Arc Reactor to power yours… My Iron Monger has Obadiah Stane." He paused, caressing a ring around his finger. "Lifeforce and blood are tremendous sources of energy, it turns out, when properly harvested."

Magic, it had to be. Magic powering technology. The very concept would've tied Tony's mind into a knot not too long ago, but ever since Diana showed him that magic existed, combining the two of them was something that he constantly theorized about. He had no idea how Raza achieved that, but he had.

He was seeing it with his own eyes, after all. And as much as he hated Stane, as much as he wanted to see him punished for what he did, he wouldn't wish that on anyone.

Tony raised his hands and pointed them at Raza again, powering his repulsors.

"Surrender and release Stane. Final warning."

Before Raza could answer, however, the titanic Iron Monger Armor lunged forward, in a display of speed so impressive that one would almost forget that the thing must've weight a few tons. Tony prepared himself to dodge.

That's when Diana dropped in front of him, going through the ceiling like a cannon ball, landing with her shield raised in front of her.

The metal fist collided against the shield, the sound echoing in the room, but Diana didn't budge even an inch; and with a ferocious battle cry, she moved the fist to the side and unleashed a powerful blow against the Iron Monger Armor, using the very shield she just used to deflect the attack.

It was almost comical. Diana looked absolutely tiny next to the metal behemoth, but the moment she struck, the whole thing was thrown away, her godly strength more than enough to toss tons of metal like a ragdoll. The noise when the suit collided against the wall, breaking everything in its path, was incredible.

And without waiting for the Iron Monger Armor to put itself back together, Diana lunged against Raza, drawing her sword.

Diana became a blur, her Amazon armor leaving afterimages of red and blue and gold, and Raza only had the time to widen his eyes before the blade came down upon him. But instead of flesh, the sword met only air, as he disappeared into a glow of violet light.

The Amazon frowned for a moment, no doubt as confused as Tony was, but her hearing probably picked up noises nearby and so she jumped up, breaking the ceiling; taking a moment to get his head back in the game, Tony followed her, powering his repulsors to fly all the way to the roof.

Raza and Diana were there, staring at each other.

"Diana of Themyscira, Daughter of Zeus," Raza greeted, looking a bit disheveled – and a little bit surprised, he noticed – by the teleportation stunt he just pulled.

Diana raised a single eyebrow.

"And where did you hear that? Has Mandarin been telling tales?" she asked, her voice acquiring a commanding tone that Tony had never heard directed at him.

"I am no longer a part of the Ten Rings," Raza announced with pride. "I follow another Mistress now. One that gave me the tools to carve my place in this world."

As he said this, he raised his hand, showing a single ring. There was a glow and a cloud of smoke started coming out of it. The purple smoke moved as if it had a will of its own, twisting, until it finally took the form of a woman with violet skin and eyes.

Tony was speechless for a moment.

"Is that a genie?!" he exclaimed.

"You have no idea what you have in your grasp," Diana warned, her eyes serious. "Djinns are not to be trifled with."

"Is that fear I hear from you, Godkiller?" Raza laughed. "Ah, to strike fear into a descendent of Zeus…"

"I do not fear for me," Diana retorted, calmly, eyeing the naked purple lady with attention.

"But you should!" Raza barked. "You should all fear me! I have been betrayed, cast out and hunted like an animal. But now, now I have the weapon to fight back. Against even you, Godkiller, and you, Tony Stark. And then Mandarin himself will die!"

The calm and calculating man was gone, and in his place was a maniac. His eyes were wide as he raved to the skies, promising retribution on everyone that stood against him, vowing to make them all suffer.

Knowing just how powerful Diana was, this should look ridiculous; except it didn't, not when Tony could see her tension. Whatever that Djinn was capable of, it had her worried.

"Hear me, Djinn!" Raza yelled. The purple genie turned her violet eyes to him, her expression impassive. "Grant me power to kill a god!"

His wish was her command, Tony realized when the Djinn lifted her hand.

He was expecting anything. A beam of energy, a flash of light, even for a lightning bolt to strike Raza out of nowhere. What he was not expecting, was to see Raza widen his eyes and fall to his knees, arms closing over his stomach as if he was experiencing terrible agony.

His stomach that had become severely bloated.

It was only the beginning. Following the stomach, his face also bloated, a pustule-like thing growing and distending his skin, deforming his features. A tumor of the size of a balloon was next, growing from his shoulder, and then his chest inflated.

Tony had no fucking idea what was going on, but Diana probably did, because she advanced so fast that his eyes only managed to see her when she was already there.

The Djinn didn't even glance as Diana passed through her, back to staring at nothing as if she couldn't care less about what was happening, and Diana reached Raza in a split second; but instead of attacking, instead of drawing her sword and striking him as she tried before, Diana grabbed the Lasso of Hestia.

And in a display of sheer speed that left Tony dizzy, Diana started to run around Raza, tying him up with the golden lasso; or, more likely, completely enveloping him with it, as if she was weaving a cocoon around him, using the Lasso of Hestia to do so.

He watched, stunned, as Diana covered every inch of Raza's body with her Lasso, the golden rope growing longer as needed, moving so quickly that Tony could barely keep up. Before he noticed, in Raza's place stood a golden cocoon made with Hestia's Symbol of Power.

Then Diana threw the cocoon to the skies.

Tony thought that their little training sessions had given him an idea how strong Diana was, but the power behind that throw surpassed any of his theories. Raza wasn't simply tossed, he was launched up like a rocket aimed at the moon, parting the clouds with such violence that it seemed a missile had been fired at them, until Tony finally lost track of the golden cocoon, except for the extremity of the ever growing rope Diana was still firmly holding on, probably to keep the cocoon firm and tight and, of course, so she wouldn't lose the Lasso.

And before Tony could ask what the hell was going on, there was an explosion.

The noise and the flash were humongous, lighting up the whole night sky as if day had arrived early. The cloud formations were banished as if a tornado had hit them head-on and everything shook, so much that it seemed Los Angeles had been hit by an earthquake. That was a powerful gush of air, making the wind howl when it arrived between the buildings, bending trees, forcing Tony to stand his ground so he wouldn't fall back.

As soon as it started, it was over. And a deep silence followed.

The Golden Lasso started to fall back, glowing with the same red aura that Diana had displayed during their fight against the Grootslang – probably to enhance even further its durability – and still surrounded by smoke.

It took Tony a few seconds to realize what happened, to realize how close they – and the entire city – were from being annihilated. Raza Hamidmi Al-Wazar made a wish to the Djinn: "grant me power to kill a god."

So the Djinn turned him into a bomb powerful enough to kill one.

It gave the phrase "be careful what you wish for" quite the new intensity, Tony decided.

Breathing fast, he glanced at Diana, who was already wrapping the Lasso of Hestia back on her waist. Holy shit, Tony silently cursed; if Diana wasn't there, if she hadn't used the nearly indestructible Lasso of Hestia to contain the explosion and then tossed Raza so far that he pretty much was in orbit in his last moments, Los Angeles would've been ashes now. Hell, that was a conservative estimative.

What did it take to kill a god? How did the Djinn interpret such wish? The power of an atomic bomb? Two atomic bombs? One thousand? As far as he knew, Raza's wish could've very well destroyed not only the city, not only the country, but the entire planet.

He looked at the Djinn, in the form of a nude woman with purple skin, still standing in silence a few feet from them; how powerful was that thing?!

Still in silence, Diana turned and walked until she was between the Djinn and Tony; the Djinn fixed her luminous violet eyes on her.

"Your master is dead," Diana announced. "The seal he used to enslave you is broken. You have no more reason to stay in this dimension. Go back to your home."

There was a long silence, as the two powerful entities stared at each other; then, out of nowhere, the ground began to shake.

Tony and Diana jumped away right at the moment the Iron Monger Armor erupted from the ground, its enormous structure almost too heavy for the roof to support. Without any warning, he raised the metallic right arm, the one with a six-barreled gatling gun mounted on it.

He opened fire.

Diana moved fast, deflecting the bullets away from them with her bracelets, while Tony took the chance to aim his repulsors. He charged and fired, right against the gatling gun, sending pieces of it everywhere.

"We have no quarrel with you, Djinn!" Diana shouted, dodging a metal fist. "Cease this attack and be gone!"

The Djinn either didn't understand or simply ignored her, watching the fight with the same indifference as before; to someone watching without context, it would seem that the Djinn wasn't doing anything against them, but the fact that the Iron Monger Armor was attacking was proof enough that the Djinn was doing something.

By what he'd seen previously, Stane was little more than a battery to power the armor. He might hate Tony, certainly, but he wasn't the one in charge there; Tony wondered if he was even aware of what was going on, if he was capable of thinking and making decisions while being drained of his blood and lifeforce through an extremely painful method.

Probably not. The Iron Monger Armor was, by all accounts, a weapon wielded by the Djinn. Or, at the very least, a wish the Djinn had granted Raza and now there was no one to unwish it.

Tony flew against him, unleashing a powerful punch against the helmet; the blow staggered the metal giant, but it did nothing beyond that, to his surprise. Well, not to the Iron Monger, at least, because if left Tony's guard opened for a second.

Enough time for a supersized fist to hammer him at the right side; Diana had warned him that his guard was lacking there, he remembered as he winced in pain.

The roof broke under him, but before he could fall all the way down back to the lab's storage, Diana grabbed him by the arm and tossed him up; not great for his growing dizziness, but it gave him the time to power his thrusters and hover.

"Do not face him head on!" Diana reprimanded, not unlike an army sergeant, while she traded blows with the Iron Monger. "He is heavier and stronger than you. Use your flight and agility. Show him that bigger does not mean better!"

"Huh, phrasing!" Tony countered. "People are gonna have the wrong idea about me!"

If anyone else in the world had said that, Tony would surely think it was a joke. Diana, though… Sometimes she was too innocent for her own good.

It was not the time for distractions, however. And they needed to take this fight somewhere else. The roof was built to easily withstand a helicopter's weight, but the Iron Monger Armor was significantly heavier and Diana's blows against it were not making it any easier for the roof's structure, that was for sure.

Maybe realizing that, Diana switched from brute force to deadly grace; moving like a dancer, Diana dodged one punch, drawing her sword and bringing it down in the same movement. The godly sword went through the right metal arm as if it were cutting a piece of butter, ripping it off.

And before the severed arm could touch the ground, she grabbed it and used it to smash the Iron Monger Armor, completely destroying its helmet, revealing Stane underneath it.

The sight made them both stop, as they stared at him with equally horrified expressions.

Stane, pierced all over by wires, didn't even react to them or to anything around him. All he could see was pain, as his demented eyes darted from one point to the other, never focusing on anything. He was pale, drenched in sweat, veins popping up across his entire skin, constantly moaning in pain, like a tortured spirit from a horror movie.

But most disturbingly of all, he was skeletal.

Obadiah wasn't a small man and the easy life of luxury helped him build a considerable amount of fat over his bones; all that was gone, as if drained from him, leaving a husk of the man he'd seen completely healthy not too long ago. Hell, he didn't look like that a few minutes ago, Tony exclaimed, internally. He looked frightened and in pain back in the lab's storage, but aside from the wires he still looked just like before.

Now, he was reduced to a wraith.

Before they could regain their senses, there was a pulse coming from the Iron Monger Armor and even more wires seemed to appear out of nothing, latching on Stane, piercing his emaciated skeletal body, making him scream in agony.

And in front of their very eyes, the armor began to rebuild itself, the metal growing like living tissue, remaking the helmet and the severed arm – gatling gun included – until there were no traces of any damage.

As soon as the Iron Monger Armor was whole again, the behemoth attacked.

Or at least it tried to, because Tony blasted the roof underneath it, allowing gravity to do its work.

It was like seeing a tower collapse. The Iron Monger Armor leaned backwards and gravity pulled it down, unforgivingly. The immense metal suit tried to hold to the roof and then to the walls, but it was simply too heavy, its fists breaking wherever it touched as if the whole building was made with sand and spit.

When it finally collided against the ground, Tony felt his own legs tremble, the dry noise echoing.

"AAAHHHHH!" Diana screamed suddenly, startling the hell out of Tony.

And she jumped from the building, sword raised, ready to impale the blade through the Iron Monger Armor and put an end to Stane's suffering.

At the moment the sword was going to make contact, however, a purple sphere of energy was fired against her, coming from above, clacking the air around it as if it were made of concentrated electricity.

Diana twisted midair and redirected her sword towards the ball of energy, deflecting it to the sky; then she landed, looking up. The Djinn was floating over the building, looking back at her.

Not with indifference anymore, but like a warrior ready to fight.

Which didn't make any sense, according to what Diana told him about Djinns during their travel back from South Africa. Without a seal – a "magic lamp" – and a master, a Djinn had no business in this world. In fact, the very fabric of their reality was uncomfortable to a Djinn; not deadly, but enough to repel them and to ensure that they wouldn't want to spend any more time than necessary there, not unless forced.

Tony and Diana reached the same conclusion at the same time: Raza was not that Djinn's master. And the seal that bound it to their world had not been destroyed.

Aeaea, Mediterranean Sea – May 17th, 2010

Circe almost laughed herself to tears when the Djinn turned the mortal into a bomb and obliterated him from existence; she did warn him, did she not?

Djinns granted what you wished for, not what you wanted. Careful wording was essential.

Still chuckling, the Queen Goddess sat straighter on her throne, eyes fixed on the large mirror of water in front of her. The mirror that allowed her to watch every single interesting bit happening in Los Angeles, as Diana faced her Djinn.

She smiled, caressing the seal ring around her finger; as if she would grant any mortal a Djinn just like that! What a foolish creature, Circe remarked, to be so easily tricked. A few inspirational words, a nice cleavage, a trick of the light and a fake ring and BAM, she had herself a loyal worshipper, ready to do her bidding, just like back in the day. All she had to do was order the Djinn to follow the mortal's commands – as long as Circe approved of them first – and the stage was set.

Circe never expected him to live much, true, not when pitted against the Godkiller, but still… A day?! If it were not so funny, she would have been severely disappointed. Oh, well, he at least did the bare minimum, which was establish contact with Diana and get things moving. That was enough. Her Djinn would take it from there.

Seeing Diana leap from the building, about to kill the mortal powering the metallic monstrosity with his lifeforce, Circe channeled her power through the seal ring, forcing the purple runes to appear; she could not allow things to end that easily, could she? Diana's mortal deserved a bit of fun too, while the higher beings played another game.

"Fight Diana of Themyscira," Circe ordered.

And then she leaned back, a glass of ambrosia in her hand, ready for the spectacle.

Stark Industries Headquarters, Los Angeles, California – May 17th, 2010

Diana raised her sword, her entire attention on the Djinn floating in the sky up above, ready to fight.

This was not good. Djinns were unbelievably powerful beings, utterly unpredictable and entirely unconcerned with collateral damage of any kind; this was not their world, after all, and they were rarely there on their own accord. Why should they care about it or its inhabitants? What the Djinn did to that ex-member of the Ten Rings proved it.

If Diana had not done anything, the damage would have been catastrophic.

The problem was that Diana did not even know who the Djinn's master was, nor what he or she wanted. Clearly, the man the Djinn blew up was not the one in charge and the ring he was using to control the Djinn was not the real seal. Someone had either tricked him into that or the man was simply delusional.

Either way, it made things way harder than what they already were.

Djinns had few weaknesses. They could not be killed – not by any means she possessed at the moment, anyway –, they could not be banished – not as long as they had a seal anchoring them – and they did not have to worry about fatigue, injuries or even food and air.

No, their weakness – if they even could be called that – was in their seals.

Each seal was unique. Not because of the object used to sustain them, but because of the enchantment placed on them. Different sorcerers created different enchantments, and different Djinns reacted differently to the seals, to the point that it could be said that there were not two identical seals.

A seal that was too weak would grant the Djinn too much power; a sure way of having the Djinn turn against its master. On the other hand, a seal that was too powerful would restrict the Djinn's powers too much, making the whole endeavor of finding a Djinn, opening a temporary path through Agamotto's barrier and bringing said Djinn to their world, pointless.

Some needed time to recharge and they used the Djinn's own energy to do so. Meaning that the Djinn had to go back to its seal periodically to recharge the enchantment, otherwise it would crumble and the Djinn would be free. An hour, a day, a month… The time varied, but it had to be respected, otherwise the seal would break.

Other seals reacted to their own world, infusing the Djinn with strengths and weaknesses that were not previously there. Cold, heat, sunlight, darkness… The seals could make the Djinns vulnerable to the elements of their world, creating aversions to some of them.

The Asgardian God of Thunder had defeated a Djinn using such weakness, or so the tales Diana heard had told, by fighting a Djinn that relied on sunlight for an entire day, until night came and drained the being of its powers. A feat that rendered songs even beyond the Nine Realms.

Or, of course, they could be defeated by using a more powerful seal than the one currently binding them. In that case, the most powerful seal would steal – for the lack of a better word – the Djinn and make it submit to a new master.

Problem was, Diana had no idea what this Djinn's weakness was, if there was any.

Well, she would have to find out the hard way. Glancing back, seeing the giant suit of armor where Stane was trapped starting to stir again, Diana grabbed her shield and looked back up; she trusted Tony to deal with that, while she dealt with the Djinn.

Without further delay, Diana jumped, her legs breaking the ground as she launched herself up, sword raised to attack. The Djinn remained in place, floating in the sky, eyes fixed on her; she did not move, did not raise her guard, did not conjure a weapon. She just waited.

And when Diana was about to make contact, the Djinn simply disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke. Which would have been fine, a simple evading tactic, not something Diana would be unprepared for.

Except that it was not a simple evading tactic, because the cloud rearranged itself into a giant hand, grabbing her.

And before she could do anything to free herself, the hand tossed her back down.

Not to the ground, but through a portal that the Djinn had just willed into existence.

Diana had no way to stop her trajectory, no way to evade the circular portal, and suddenly she was falling from the sky, but over a very different landscape. She was not in Los Angeles anymore, not over a city, she was not even in a place with the same time zone; it was night before she crossed the portal and now she was greeted by the sun.

She could only fall, fast, seeing the portal closing itself as the ground got closer by the second.

As if by reflex alone, Diana clicked her Winged Sandals twice, activating the thrusters a moment before hitting the ground. She stopped midair, hovering for a few seconds, then deactivated them once again, finally landing on the sand.

Without even noticing, Diana twirled the Sword of Athena between her fingers, as she looked around, trying to find out exactly where she was. The short answer: a desert. A desert where a bright sun was shining upon an ocean of sand, completely empty in every direction, except to East, where Diana could see a line of mountains growing side by side.

Why exactly had the Djinn sent her there?! Was it to get her out of the way? Was Tony the real target?

The very idea of a Djinn alone with Tony made her blood chill; he could deal with Stane and that armor of his, but a Djinn was too much for him. It might be too much for her. She needed to find a way back immediately, but without even knowing where she was, that was proving a little bit difficult.

Her rising panic settled when the Djinn materialized herself in the desert, in front of the mountains to the East; she sighed, relieved that Tony was not being forced to deal alone with such a powerful foe.

Diana's relief was short lived. Without saying anything, the Djinn raised both her arms.

And with them, the entire line of mountains behind her were raised as well, the rocks breaking at the base with a thunderous noise as the Djinn willed them up, not unlike a meteor field floating in the endless dark space.

A moment later, the Djinn brought her arms down; the mountains were hurled in Diana's direction.

"Hera, give me strength!"

Stark Industries Headquarters, Los Angeles, California – May 17th, 2010

"Okay," Tony mumbled, taking a deep breath. "Alright."

Diana had just vanished when a giant purple hand tossed her through a portal. An honest to god space rift opened by a Djinn in the middle of the sky, right in front of Stark Industries. And the Djinn disappeared into a flash of light, presumably to wherever Diana had been sent.

That was alright, Tony repeated inside his head for the tenth time. It was okay.

A normal day in the life of a Goddess and he would have to get used to it at some point if he wanted to keep hanging out with Diana. He just needed to take another deep breath and focus at the task at hand.

Defeating a living suit of armor that was powering itself by eating the lifeforce of his ex-friend, Obadiah Stane.

"Jarvis, scan the Iron Monger Suit for any weaknesses," Tony ordered, using the window of opportunity while the Iron Monger Armor was still down. "I also want a list of every weapon that thing has."

The rules of the game had changed a little bit, but the game was still the same. Avoid the strengths, strike the weaknesses. And by all accounts, Stane was the weakness of the Iron Monger Armor; take him out, and the suit would turn off, just like the Mark III would if his Arc Reactor was removed.

There was, of course, the very pertinent question if the problem wouldn't solve itself eventually.

Stane, for the lack of better words, was being eaten alive. And it was happening fast. Minutes ago, the first time Tony saw him inside the suit, he was still his usual self; terrified, in agony and begging for death, but mostly the same as he was back in his house, before he was taken by Agent Coulson.

In a matter of minutes, Diana managed to open the suit once again, and what greeted them was a living skeleton.

A living skeleton that was even more drained right after, to rebuild the parts of the Iron Monger Suit that were broken during the fight. So the question was: what if Tony didn't do anything? What if he simply waited for the problem to fix itself?

It was a possibility, one way to deal with the problem. But he couldn't help but remember a passage he read from one of Diana's old books, one of the several she gave him to help him understand magic.

It spoke about the Chinese Terracotta Army, the many sculptures that depicted the forces of the first Chinese Emperor, a guy by the name Qin Shi Huang.

They were famous throughout the world, a bunch of terracotta statues of Chinese soldiers that had been, supposedly, buried with the emperor to protect him in the afterlife. Well, according to Diana that was bullshit. The terracotta army wasn't made to protect the emperor after he died, it was made to serve him while he still lived. It was a real army, capable of moving and fighting and killing, created by the Emperor's sorcerers.

And powered by souls.

Each and every one of those terracotta statues once had a person inside them – volunteers, or so the story went, that were too weak to fight but still wanted to serve his army –, powering the statues with their blood and lifeforce; until there was no more blood, lifeforce or even a body anymore. And all that was left was a soul.

Even then, the statues continued to do the Emperor's bidding, his soldiers fighting even after death. An army that didn't eat or drink, get tired or feared anything, much like the Iron Monger Armor Tony was facing.

Who's to say the Iron Monger Armor wouldn't continue to fight even after Stane was completely consumed? Not using his blood, but his soul to do so. If that was true, then how the hell would Tony stop it? He could take away Stane's body from inside it, but a soul was a bit trickier.

He was working against the clock here. If he decided to let things play out, and the gamble paid off, then fine, he would win with minimum risk to himself. If not, then the only weakness he could see on the self-repairing suit would disappear.

Tony was usually reckless, but this time he would play safe. And what he meant by that, was that he would meet the Iron Monger Armor head-on and try to defeat it as fast as possible.

It was a nice plan – if it could even be called that – but things got a little derailed before he even began when the firefighters and the cops arrived on the scene, drawn no doubt by the explosion Raza caused when he broke into Stark Industries.

The sight of the two suits of armor facing each other in the middle of the chaos, understandably, caused a bit of panic.

The police cars stopped fast, sirens blaring loud, and the cops got out waving their guns.

"Put your hands in the air!" a police officer yelled, pointing his gun at him. "Right now!"

The order, predictably, simply pissed off the Iron Monger Armor – as weird as it was that an armor could even get pissed off. Probably finished with its repairs after falling from Stark Industries' roof, the Iron Monger got up, like an enraged metal gorilla.

Tony turned to warn them.

"Okay, listen, you need to get out fas–"

BANG! The bullet hit him straight between the eyes, deflected up by his helmet; it didn't hurt him, in fact he didn't even feel it, but the shock of being shot in the head made him stop.

"Seriously?!" Tony exclaimed. "You're really shooting m–"

BANG, BANG, BANG! The cops took his outrage as an order to open fire and Tony was suddenly hit by a barrage of bullets, each and every one of them deflected away by his suit without leaving so much as a scratch, but Tony wasn't worried about that.

He was worried about the much more powerful, and much deadlier, weapons taking aim from the opposite side; Iron Monger's weapons.

"GET DOWN!" Tony yelled, jumping in front of Iron Monger's gatling gun.

Unlike the cops' bullets, those did leave a mark. The gunshots came with such power that Tony couldn't stand his ground, pushed back until he was finally thrown, right against the police car.

The weight of his suit folded the entire thing, destroying the windshield, forcing the suspension down until it hit the ground. The cops taking cover by the doors jumped away in fear, thankfully stopping to shoot him for a moment.

And while Tony was down, the Iron Monger raised the other arm, the one with a grenade launcher strapped to it.

Tony acted by reflex alone, shooting his repulsors at the Iron Monger just at the moment he fired, screwing up his aim. The explosive shot passed inches above the car, hitting the empty street just behind them.

Without bothering to recharge and fire again, the Iron Monger Armor decided to get physical, lunging against Tony like an enraged bull.

An enraged bull made of metal and weighting a few tons.

The car under him was reduced to scraps when the Iron Monger clashed, grabbing him as he continued his path forward. For Tony, it was like being hit by a train, the blow so powerful that he felt the shockwaves in his own body even through the suit; but he had already been hit by stronger blows, even if they came from much smaller fists.

Ignoring the pain, Tony used the Iron Monger's strength against itself, using the momentum to pull the big suit over him; then he activated his thrusters at full power, turning midair so he was now over the Iron Monger, launching him away.

Right in the middle of a busy street, he realized, too late.

The Iron Monger Armor went through a truck, hitting the middle of the vehicle and breaking it as if it were a toy – thankfully missing the driver – and finally fell on its back. A bunch of cars swerved to avoid the metal monstrosity, but an unlucky one hit him straight on, only to be backhanded to the side like a fly.

Tony needed to take him to a place without people, right away.

Unknown Desert – May 17th, 2010

Diana focused, flaring her godly energy, feeling the familiar burning of the violent and untamed vortex of power inside her. The red aura surrounded her entire body, bursting the sand around her away, vibrating with pure and ferocious bloodlust.

And then she clashed her Bracelets of Submission together, unleashing the entirety of her divine power.

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Diana screamed, feeling the energy that had been built up being released like a tsunami, the great red wave taking the entire horizon.

The red energy clashed against the mountains just as they were about to fall over Diana, disintegrating them, turning tons and tons of stone into dust nearly instantly. The sound was unbelievable and shockwaves resonated throughout the entire landscape, coloring the desert completely red, from the sand to the very sky, until there was nothing left.

But the mountains were not the only thing Diana's energy blast hit.

The wave of divine power went on after destroying the mountains thrown by the Djinn, following its path after Diana's bracelets gave it a direction, going to the place where the mountains stood before being ripped apart and levitated. The desert's sand parted and what was left from the mountains' base was obliterated.

Until the red wave of godly power hit something that should not be there: an invisible wall.

And just like that, as if a spell was broken, the empty horizon was no longer empty. Piece by piece, building by building, a city began to appear, previously hidden behind what seemed to be a magical barrier.

Before Diana could even so much as take a guess about what happened, a city revealed itself, uncloaked by her own blast of energy.

Breathing hard, still feeling her body burning with the extreme amount of energy she just let out, Diana widened her eyes, surprised. What was that? Better yet, where was that? Cities hidden behind protective barriers were rare in this day and age, but they did exist. Ancient places that remained cloaked by enchantments, either to protect them or to protect people from what was in them.

The city that just appeared before her very eyes, however, was a mystery to her.

It was surrounded by a green oasis, its color clashing against the reddish of the desert, the sound of water so out of place in that inhospitable land that it sounded odd. A big wall encircled the city, tall and thick, and the buildings made of brick were carefully aligned within it. And in the middle of it all, standing taller than everything else by a large margin, was a temple in the form of a ziggurat.

Diana's mind was racing with the possibilities, but before she could even attempt to solve that mystery, the ground began to shake. Ready for battle, she looked around, searching for the imminent attack; only to widen her eyes once again when she saw what was coming.

It was like the entirety of the desert sand had risen, like a gigantic wave, coming from every direction. Except from the direction where the city was.

Without thinking twice, Diana dashed forward, running with all her speed towards the recently revealed city, trying to outrun the sand tsunami that was coming for her. The waves grew so much that Diana felt as if cornered by walls of pure sand, the noise so terrible that it made her run even faster, her feet leaving a cloud of dust as she moved. Faces and maws of horrifying creatures began to form on the waves, shaped by the sand, extending themselves to try to bite Diana.

The city was almost there, but the waves kept coming, dwarfing the city walls, ready to swallow everything. There was only one point high up enough to be safe, the large ziggurat temple overseeing the entire city; Diana made up her mind immediately.

She jumped, avoiding by inches as one of the sand creatures lunged with its mouth opened, and clicked her Winged Sandals, powering the thrusters as much as she could to fly up to the temple, out of reach of the sand wave. The creatures formed on the edge of the wave extended their necks and claws to try to hit her, but Diana used her own flight ability to increase her speed.

When she disengaged, she turned around midair, focusing her powers; and clashed her bracelets again, unleashing another red blast against the sand wave.

The entire sand tsunami broke down, losing its power, the creatures' faces disappearing as the wall crumbled over the city's walls and outer buildings. Diana, however, barely saw that, twisting so she could land on the top of the ziggurat temple, her hand already drawing her sword. She looked around, searching for her opponent, but there were no signs of the Djinn.

What her eyes saw, however, was a big statue at the base of the temple. A beautiful regal woman, completely nude apart from a single ring, with a pair of immense draconic wings coming out of her back and six long horns crowning her head. Diana gasped.

It was a statue of Lilith, the Dark Mother.

Which meant she was standing on a Temple of Lilith. And given that Lilith was an Annunaki, a pantheon worshipped mainly in Mesopotamia, it made sense that the city she was in was situated somewhere in that region; in modern days, it corresponded to parts of Iraq, Kuwait, Syria and Turkey.

The main question, however, was: why had the Djinn brought her there? To a Temple of Lilith of all places? Lilith was, after all, known as the "Mother of Djinns", but for a very different reason as to why she was known as the "Mother of Demons"; while she had created – through the manipulation of demonic energy from other planes, magic and her own biology – entirely new demonic species, like the Succubi, the Incubi, the Lilin and the Mazikim, the Djinns were a different story.

They were not sons and daughters of Lilith; they were her slaves. Beings from another dimension captured and sealed, forced to obey her every wish.

And for some reason, the Djinn she was facing decided to bring her there, of every possible location.

Before Diana had any sort of answer whatsoever, the entire temple began to tremble. She braced herself, looking at all sides, trying to identify the newest attack, but there was nothing she could see.

That is, until the entire ziggurat left the ground, raised in the air. Not by magic this time, Diana realized with a surprised gasp, but by the Djinn's own hands.

She finally saw it, a pair of gigantic purple fiery hands grabbing the temple by its sides, lifting it alongside a good amount of the ground, not unlike a little girl would lift a dollhouse. The Djinn had enlarged herself, taking the size of a mountain, towering over Diana like a skyscraper, no longer in her female form, but as a black skeleton surrounded by solid purple flames.

When the Djinn finally had the temple all the way up, firmly held in her two hands, she looked down to Diana. And manifested two more arms, summoning an equally big purple scimitar, ready to be brought down.

Diana snarled and prepared herself.

Stark Industries Headquarters, Los Angeles, California – May 17th, 2010

Tony flew against the Iron Monger Armor, throwing him out of the way, giving time for the people in the cars to either get around them and speed away or to abandon their vehicles and flee. The street was a mess of crashed cars and people screaming, panicking at the sight of two suits of armor battling in the middle of the city, but so far no one had been seriously hurt.

That could change at any minute, he knew, so it was time to take some of the Iron Monger's teeth away from him.

Every relevant piece of information about his opponent showed on his HUD, as Jarvis highlighted the strong and weak points of the armor. The hull was made of omnium steel, an alloy developed by Stark Industries that possessed astonishing resilience. There was an arm equipped with a six-barreled gatling gun and the other with a rotatory grenade launcher, and Jarvis estimated that the suit was stronger than the Mark III, which could lift approximately 50 tons.

All in all, a technological terror capable of unleashing a tremendous amount of destruction; but anything had weaknesses. The Iron Monger Armor was no different.

For one, it relied too much on its sheer size and the toughness of the omnium steel. So much, that differently from his Mark III, it possessed several exposed parts, like the pistons over its shoulders, behind the arms and over the knees – that no doubt added to its already remarkable strength –, and some circuits loosely covered under the neck area. Nothing that could be damaged from afar and without extremely precise – and powerful – weaponry, but the Mark III was not exactly a common enemy, certainly not the kind of enemy the Iron Monger Armor had been designed to face.

Quickly dodging a car that the Iron Monger tossed in his direction, Tony hit him with his repulsors, staggering him; and then, against Diana's advice, he moved for close quarters combat.

The Iron Monger unleashed a powerful punch, but Tony avoided it easily, used to much faster punches, and then he fired his thrusters, jumping over Stane's suit. He held as he could, hands around the armor's neck, trying to ignore the constant shaking; and then he started to pick his targets.

A powerful blast against the back of the neck area fried a bunch of wires and circuits, a punch against a piston behind the right arm broke it, leaving the entire limb weakened, and another against the piston over the shoulder screwed up his entire upper area mobility. Dropping down, Tony fired against the knees, breaking the pistons that controlled the leg mobility, grinning when the huge metallic monstrosity fell on one knee.

Taking his chance, he tried to open the suit to remove Stane from it, but the still working arm was making things difficult and the broken parts were beginning to mend, fast, using blood as fuel.

Well, it was time for Plan B: omnium steel was strong, but it was certainly not made to be used in high altitudes. The Mark III didn't have that problem.

Punching Stane's suit once again, Tony fired his thrusters and flipped over it, locking both his arms around a single one from Iron Monger's – under the armpit area and over the shoulder –, grabbing him from behind the only way its enormous size allowed him to.

"Jarvis, I want full power on my thrusters!" he yelled, struggling to keep the enormous armor from getting away.

And just as ordered, his thrusters fired like a rocket being launched to space and Tony left the ground, taking the Iron Monger Armor with him. The thing was heavy as hell and his suit was strained to the limit by the load, especially since he was using only one pair of thrusters and said load was trying its best to escape, but Tony didn't let go, not once. They began to gain altitude, fast, and the temperature began to drop; little by little, the Iron Monger's struggle began to fade.

Until it finally stopped, as the systems froze completely, the omnium steel unfit for such low temperature. That was his chance.

Letting him go, Tony allowed the Iron Monger Armor to fall, quickly flying to catch up, this time holding on its front. And without wasting any time, he sunk his armored fingers between the neck and chest and pulled, using all the strength of the Mark III. The icy crust broke, the omnium steel bent and suddenly, the Iron Monger was opened, revealing a nearly mummified Stane, covered in wires all over.

"Jarvis, fire at those wires!"

The mini-guns over his shoulders appeared, quickly taking aim and firing at will, breaking the wires. At the same time, Tony used his own hands to rip them off, pulling them out from Stane's skin as if he was dealing with parasites.

At the moment Stane was free, Tony grabbed him and pulled him out, leaving the Iron Monger Armor to fall by itself.

Temple of Lilith – May 17th, 2010

The summoned scimitar, tall as a building, clashed against Diana's bracelets with a thunderous noise. She had her arms crossed over herself, one knee bent for support, and her muscles strained with effort, even when the magical armor absorbed most of the impact. The stone under her feet cracked under the pressure, but Diana did not waver.

Instead, she focused her power again, and pushed back.

The scimitar was thrown up, broken in a thousand energy shards, and the Djinn staggered, thrown back, making the whole temple tremble as consequence. Diana barely noticed any of this, already jumping, the red aura of her divine power channeled through her sword.

She blurred in the air, landing on top of the Djinn's face, her feet steeping over the solid purple fire as if it were stone; and then she sunk her blade into the Djinn's head, unleashing a blast of her power through the blade.

The Djinn's black skull blew up, as if loaded with explosives, the purple flames going everywhere.

For a moment, the mountain-sized Djinn flickered like a candle's flame about to be snuffed out. The temple in its hands toppled, nearly falling, and the immense fiery body wobbled, its feet bashing the ground all the way down as if trying to remain standing.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the immense Djinn disappeared into a giant purple cloud, losing its solid form; the temple, however, remained in the sky, held by a mass of smoke. And so did Diana, quickly activating her Winged Sandals again.

The cloud twirled for a moment, compressing, until it rearranged itself in the small, female form once again, floating in front of Diana, apparently completely fine even after its head was impaled and subsequently blown up; there was not even a mark to show, as if Diana had, literally, hit smoke.

But she was already expecting that. Djinns, after all, were not susceptible to normal injuries, not when having a corporeal form at all was a choice for them. She needed to find a real weakness and Diana knew just where to begin.

Using her Lasso, Diana wrapped the golden rope around the Djinn's neck. Knowing it would take but a moment for her to turn to smoke and escape, Diana willed the Lasso to grow and lassoed her again and again and again, moving so fast that she was a blur, until the Djinn's entire body was enveloped.

It did not resemble a Lasso anymore, but a golden net. And Diana focused her own power, the red divine aura, to close the gaps of the net, making sure the Djinn could not pass through them.

The Djinn turned into smoke, but a moment too late, crashing against the red aura around the net, unable to flee. Seeing her plan work, Diana grinned and activated the Winged Sandals, flying at full speed up, dragging the captured Djinn with her.

Cold would be the first test, Diana decided, hoping that it would also be the last.

The heat of the desert quickly disappeared as they went up, the wind turning increasingly icy against her skin. Her Olympian physiology made sure that Diana remained unbothered by any of it, but she was hoping that whatever magic it was cast to make the Djinn's seal might have left unplanned side effects.

Aversion to cold was a pretty common one, Diana's research told her.

The Djinn screamed from inside the golden net trap, its voice like a burst of fire, and Diana had to redouble her efforts to keep the red aura closing the gaps, because the Djinn began to expand its smoke form. But it was already too late, Diana knew, as she laid eyes on the Earth's curvature.

And finally, they arrived in the cold, dark and empty space.

The lack of air bothered Diana for a moment, before she started to use her own Olympian energy to sustain her body, no longer needing to breathe; it was a bit uncomfortable, but far from being the first time Diana had to use that trick, not when it was so useful for reaching deep under the ocean. She turned to look at the Djinn, curious as to how it would be affected by the cold.

To her disappointment, nothing changed. The Djinn remained as powerful as ever, still trying to escape her grasp.

If cold did not do it, then maybe heat would.

Thinking fast, Diana turned upside down, facing the blue planet under her; and lunged forward, starting her descent, the thrusters of her Winged Sandals powered to their full capacity. Feeling her skin beginning to get warm, the burning glow beginning to shine, Diana used her own flight ability to speed up even more.

The temperature quickly rose as they clashed against the atmosphere like a meteor, an aura of heat and light around them. Still flying down, Diana turned to look at the Djinn, trying to see if the extreme heat was affecting it any more than the cold did. Her hair whipped her back as they flew, the flight speed filling Diana with glee even under the current circumstances.

But the Djinn remained unaffected to that as well. And it finally decided to fight back with intelligence, rather than brute force.

Too busy looking at the Djinn, searching for any sign of weakness, Diana failed to notice the portal that opened right in front of her, out of nowhere; the portal that took them right back at the Temple of Lilith when Diana failed to change their trajectory in time.

Diana was surprised at the sudden change of scenery – surprised at the Djinn's insistence in bringing the fight there, to the Temple of Lilith –, and that surprise cost her when the Djinn assumed its mountain-sized form once again, forcing the net with such strength that Diana lost her control over the red aura closing the gaps.

When the first gap opened, the Djinn took her chance and slipped out in its smoke form, immediately transforming again.

Into an extremely big and menacing purple snake. A snake that lunged in Diana's direction and closed its immense mouth over her, the sharp teeth missing her skin by inches when she held the mouth apart, using the bracelets to shield herself from the razor-like fangs.

The Djinn's goal, however, was not to shred her to pieces; it was to hold Diana until they finally crashed back on the ziggurat temple.

Diana felt the stone break under her body, a huge crater forming, and she groaned in pain, the impact dazing her. The Djinn, however, avoided the same fate, turning into smoke just at the moment she would touch the ground; perks of being incorporeal, Diana thought, feeling her entire body hurting.

Before she could even get up, the purple smoke rearranged itself again, taking the mountain-sized skeleton form once more.

The Djinn looked at Diana from all the way up and conjured another pair of arms. Then another, and another, and another, until a hundred powerful arms were formed, like the Hecatoncheires of old; the "Hundred-Handed Ones", the giants sons of Gaea with a hundred arms that helped Zeus overthrow the Titans.

And as if they were one, the one hundred arms unleashed their power, coming upon Diana like a storm of giant fists.

The blast did not simply crash Diana against the ground even more, widening the crater she had fallen into; it sent her through the temple roof, turning stone into dust, sending Diana flying to the temple's innards.

Diana did not even see what happened, in too much pain and too dizzy to notice how her body broke through floor after floor, falling deep into the ziggurat, shattering everything in its path with her Olympian body. Dust filled the path she made, as the stone of the temple gave in, being pulverized under her.

Until she finally landed at the center of the temple, her back cracking the floor but not breaking through it, forcing the air out of her lungs. Diana groaned, feeling every inch of her body ache.

Taking a moment, Diana forced herself up, getting up with trembling legs; she focused her power through her body, pushing the wounds to heal immediately, so she could be prepared for what was coming next.

Not heat then, Diana thought, spiting a rock that had somehow ended up inside her mouth. What could she test next? Electricity?

Diana decided: she would grab the Djinn again and toss it in the heart of a storm, the vengeful thoughts making her feel a little bit better after being used as a battering ram against the ancient temple.

Her wounds finally healed, and the pain was gone; she allowed herself to look around for a moment, at last noticing the room she was in, realizing that she must have fallen deeper than she previously thought.

This was a ritual room, by the looks of it, surrounded on all sides by big statues depicting Succubi, Incubi, Lilin and Mazikim, each one standing in a different position, as if worshipping the bigger statue in the center.

A statue of Lilith, her massive wings fully opened as if she was about to take flight, completely nude like the other statue she saw; except by the one ring around her finger, on the arm she had lifted up.

It took Diana a moment to realize that the ring around the statue's finger was not a part of the statue, it was an actual ring, made of some kind of metal instead of sculpted from stone like every other aspect of the statue.

Curious…

Whatever conclusion she might have drawn from this was postponed, however, when the demonic statues around her suddenly became alive, moving towards her with their intentions clear, if their claws and blades meant anything.

Diana was starting to become really annoyed by that Djinn.

Stark Industries Headquarters, Los Angeles, California – May 17th, 2010

Tony landed nearby to the crater the Iron Monger Armor created when it crashed, close to Stark Industries' adjacent streets, holding Stane in his arms. Obadiah Stane, that had passed away right after Tony got him out, after becoming the very thing he tried to steal from Tony.

A power source, to fuel a high-tech weapon of destruction.

He didn't know it that could be considered ironic or simply fucked up; maybe something in-between, probably.

In silence, Tony looked at the ruined man held in his arms, not knowing exactly what to feel.

Stane had betrayed him… No, that wasn't true at all, because a betrayal would imply that he had been, at some point, a friend. He wasn't and he had never been, that was the truth. Stane used him, preying on his grief for losing his family, playing the part of a friend, of family, simply to reap the rewards of Tony's genius. And when he became inconvenienced by Tony, he decided to sell him out, to be tortured and killed.

When that failed, he tried to murder Tony with his bare hands, murder Pepper and Diana too, and steal his legacy so he could sell weapons to the world. Tony owned him absolutely nothing but a lifetime of loathing.

Even so, Tony couldn't help the pang of sadness as he looked at Stane's corpse. Sadness for the friend he thought he had, truth be told.

Carefully, he put Stane down, closing his eyes. Whatever he might be feeling, it was over now. Time to move on from the betrayal and the sadness, because Stane was no longer a factor in his life.

Walking away from Stane, Tony finally turned to the crater created by the Iron Monger. There were no signs of movement, no noise, nothing. Was it truly defeated? Logically, it should be, since its power source was removed, but Tony was still reluctant to use that word when magic was involved; he stood by his statement that there was no such thing as the supernatural, that everything in existence was, by definition, natural.

But he wasn't anywhere near to understand magic like he understood conventional science, so who could tell?

Readying himself, Tony began to approach. Behind him, on the street where he and the Iron Monger briefly battled, a group of people was congregated, walking amongst the crashed cars as they watched Tony from afar; sometime between their clash and the battle moving up to the sky, the people had returned for their cars.

Or they had been attracted by the Iron Monger's thunderous crash, curious as to what was going on.

What was with people and their need to watch disasters? They were treating a life-and-death battle like they did a car crash, too interested for their own good, unable to realize they were in danger and should run far away. Tony could hear police sirens in the distance, probably the backup those cops the Iron Monger tried to kill had called.

Well, it was time to finish this and get away, Tony realized, before the reinforcements started to shoot him again.

The earth trembled and a loud metallic noise made him stop, raising his repulsors. He waited, holding his breath, eyes fixed on the crater in front of him. Suddenly, a big metal hand appeared from it, grabbing the edge.

Slowly, almost painfully, Tony watched as the battered Iron Monger Armor crawled out of the crater, every movement difficult, as if the thing was finally realizing how much it weighted. The suit of armor was dented, severely smashed in several points, the chest area still half-opened; one of the arms was bent in the wrong direction and the left leg had its knee area cracked.

And even after all that, without a power source, that damn thing was still moving, eyes glowing red; Tony didn't know if he should be impressed or afraid.

It took a few seconds, but the Iron Monger finally crawled out of the crater. Then it stopped, completely still. Tony was beginning to wonder if it had finally run out of juice, when the Iron Monger suddenly lunged forward, activating its thrusters and jumping, back on attack mode.

Not attacking him, though; attacking the mass of people watching the whole thing happen from back on the street.

It was looking for a new power source, Tony realized. Another person to drain blood and lifeforce, so it could piece itself back together; another victim to kill, just like it had killed Stane, draining his blood until there wasn't anything left.

Oh, no, not on his watch.

Tony raised his arm and aimed. And when the Iron Monger was about to go over him, he fired his little tank-buster missile. The explosion surrounded the entire metal monstrosity, tossing it back to the ground with a noisy blast; the crowd watching yelled in fear and then cheered.

He was beginning to think there was something wrong with them.

Firing his thrusters, Tony flew to where the Iron Monger had fallen down, hovering above it, checking the damage. The tank-buster missile opened a hole through the armor, ripping apart one of the arms, the debris scratching the entire metallic hull; it seemed the omnium steel was no longer as tough, now that it hadn't a power source anymore.

And even then, the Iron Monger Armor was still trying to get up, moving towards the people, dead set on feeding once again.

Seeing that thing in front of him, doing anything it could to kill people, made Tony really think about his change of heart about Stark Industries. That was the pinnacle of the weapons' business, a suit of armor capable of mowing down entire armies, something capable of untold destruction in the wrong hands. Something that he wouldn't have hesitated to make and sell once upon a time.

Now, more than ever, Tony was glad he decided to follow another path.

"Jarvis, divert all the power to chest R.T!" Tony ordered.

As he ordered, he turned off his thrusters, falling from the sky with a direct punch against the Iron Monger's helmet. The big armor was tossed back a few steps and Tony opened his arms, pointing his chest at him.

An immense energy blast erupted from his suit's chest, hitting the entire upper half of the Iron Monger Armor, enveloping all in a flash of light. When the light finally went out, all that was left from his opponent were its metallic legs. Everything else was now molten steel.

There was a moment of stunned silence. Then the crowd began to cheer once again.

Tony sighed, tiredly. The Iron Monger Armor was finally defeated, but he refused to celebrate before Diana returned; because she would return, he had no doubt about that, even against a Djinn.

Igniting his thrusters, Tony took off, flying back home. He was sure Agent Coulson and whatever agency he worked for could deal with all this. His responsibility right now was to find Diana as quickly as he could and help her if she needed help.

Maybe Jarvis could access the tracking device he had installed on her Winged Sandals. Diana wouldn't like one bit when she heard about that, but Tony didn't care, not when it would help him to find her.

He was lost in the desert once and he would've given anything to have one of those back then. If it were up to him, no one he cared about would suffer like that.

It was time to find Diana.

Temple of Lilith – May 17th, 2010

Diana grabbed a Succubus statue by the horns, pulling its head down, straight against her knee; the stone shattered into a million pieces, leaving the statue headless, and Diana finished it with a blow of her sword, right against its back.

Without even looking, she raised her shield and deflected a blow from an Incubus' blade, immediately moving it to the side and striking back with her shield, a hit so powerful that the Incubus was sent flying against a fellow demonic statue, both of them shattering.

She parried a Lilin's blade with her sword and quickly strapped her shield on her back, blocking a swipe of the deadly claws of a Mazikim statue; Diana kicked the Lilin against the leg, breaking it, and then used her bracelet against the Mazikim, taking its head off.

The ritual room was filled with shattered parts of the demonic statues, as Diana fought waves of them at the same time. Succubi, Incubi, Lilin and Mazikim, all fell against her might, except the statue of Lilith herself, bigger than all others, watching all from the center; the only statue that had not came to life yet.

But Diana knew that none of that meant anything, not when the Djinn could easily put them back again; reality warping was a trifle for a being literally made of chaos energy, even when said being was weakened in their universe and shackled by a seal. She could go on and on until no statue was left standing in the entire temple, but unless she found the Djinn's weakness, it would mean nothing.

Diana really did not want to keep fighting until the Djinn exceeded the time-limit she had outside her seal. Who knew how long that would take? Who knew if she could even keep up if the time-limit was too long? Not to mention that she did not know how Tony was faring in his own battle. What if he needed her help?

Thor was famous for defeating a Djinn using this method, but he had the entire might of Asgard to come crashing down upon the Djinn if he had failed; Diana was alone. No help would come if she needed.

And that is why she could not fail. Whoever was controlling that Djinn had no good intentions, and Diana would not allow them to come to pass.

She broke one last statue and twirled her sword between her fingers, waiting for the next. Before any of them could attack, however, the temple trembled and dust fell on top of her, coming from the hole on the ceiling, the last of the broken path Diana made with her own body after being punched by a hundred fists. She glanced up and immediately rolled back.

A second later, a giant purple spear hit the spot she had been standing on, impaling itself in the floor; a spear so big that its full length probably went all the way up to the roof.

Then, the entire spear dematerialized into smoke and that smoke transformed into the Djinn herself, once more in her Sila form. Staring at Diana, she raised both arms, summoning two scimitars, one in each hand.

"At last," Diana said, grinning in anticipation.

The three statues still left standing advanced first. Diana slammed the bottom side of her shield on the floor, pointing it at the three demonic statues, and then bashed her bracelet on top of it, unleashing a blast of her power.

The red aura was given direction by the shield and the resultant beam of energy completely obliterated the statues on its path, before finally colliding against the Djinn.

Or it would have, if the Djinn had not blocked the blast with a magic barrier. She glanced at the cracked her barrier for a moment, before allowing it to vanish; then she stared at Diana. Diana felt the exact moment when the telekinetic grasp closed upon her, trying to pull her into the Djinn's direction, but she was quick to dispel the hold with a blast of her aura.

It was unwise to allow anyone, let alone Djinns, to will their power upon oneself; Diana knew if she was not prepared to defend herself, she would be one thought away from being lifted or blasted away, cursed or even transformed.

Like it happened to Raza, someone without the power to defend himself against a Djinn's "wish granting"; Diana did warn him that he did not know what he was dealing with.

Not to be deterred by this, the Djinn attacked, swinging both scimitars with great skill. Diana met her in the middle, allowing herself to enjoy the swordfight even if the situation itself was not an enjoyable one, using only her blade and her bracelets.

The Djinn was good, really good, but this was Diana's territory.

Swinging the sword, Diana opened the Djinn's guard and attacked, taking her hand off. The Djinn did not even react, but Diana grabbed the purple scimitar before it fell and used it to impale the Djinn, finishing with a powerful headbutt.

An attack that would kill most beings, but the Djinn simply reabsorbed the scimitar made with her own essence back inside her. The arm grew back, and another scimitar was summoned.

Or, better yet, dozens of scimitars were summoned, floating around the Djinn as if they had a will of their own. Great, Diana thought, just great.

And then they came flying at her.

Diana moved as fast as she could, using her sword, shield and even her armor to defend herself, twisting and turning so quickly that she was but a blur. The scimitars encircled her, attacking from all sides, but they had yet to hit her once. And if it were up to Diana, that would not happen, she thought, focusing her power.

She unleashed a blast in every direction, destroying the scimitars, forcing them back to purple smoke. There was a brief silence, where the Djinn simply stared at her, without making any move.

That is, until the smoke from the destroyed scimitars took the form of chains, moving fast, holding her arms and legs.

Giving enough time for the only statue in the room that had not been brought to life, to move.

The statue of Lilith lunged against the temporarily shackled Diana, attacking from behind, and her hand closed around her neck, pulling Diana close to her, the draconic wings enveloping them both like a cocoon. Diana roared and fought back, bashing the back of her head, her feet and her back against the statue, each blow cracking the magically reinforced statue, but the statue of Lilith kept holding her, using the hand around her throat and her wings to do so.

The other hand, however, was not being used to keep Diana in place. It was being held in front of Diana's face, as if showing her something.

There was only one thing of notice on that hand: the real ring Diana had previously found to be curious, since it was not a part of statue itself, but something placed on it. Mind still racing about it, Diana kept fighting, struggling, still using her feet and head to bash the statue of Lilith.

It took her a moment to realize that the statue was not harming her. It was simply keeping her immobilized.

And showing the ring to her, insistently, for some reason.

When Diana finally understood why, she stopped her struggle, too shocked to keep fighting.

She knew that ring. She had seen the runes that adorned it, the Black Moon signet etched on it, the silver color of the metal… There were ancient books with that exact ring drawn upon its pages.

It was the Ring of Solomon.

The Ring crafted by Lilith and given to her lover, King Solomon, so he could defend his reign against demons and gods and whatever entity dared to attack his kingdom. The Ring that was lost after King Solomon's death, as if it had vanished without a trace.

The Ring that was said to be the first – and the most powerful – chaos magic seal every created, capable of controlling any Djinn.

And it was, quite literally, right in front of Diana's eyes.

With renewed strength, Diana flared her aura and broke the grasp Lilith's statue had on her, immediately shattering the stone hand as soon as she was free. And in one quick move, Diana took the Ring of Solomon from the statue's hand and put it around her finger, turning to the Djinn advancing in her direction with swords raised.

"STOP!" Diana ordered, her shout echoing in the room.

Against all odds, that was exactly what the Djinn did. But that was not all it happened.

The several tattoo-like markings on the Djinn's purple skin began to move, the lines twisting like tiny serpents, weaving new symbols: the same runes etched on the surface of the Ring of Solomon. And when every rune was marking the Djinn, her skin also began to change, losing the purple color as other one took its place.

The very same red of Diana's divine aura.

Diana instinctively knew that she was the Djinn's master now. She had claimed her loyalty with a more powerful seal, the Ring of Solomon, breaking the hold that her previous master had on her.

She was not sure how she should feel about this.

The Djinn kept staring at her, the eyes no longer violet, but red as well. And she had not moved since Diana commanded her to stop, nor had the statue of Lilith, now lying half-broken on the ground. How was this possible? How could such a coincidence happen?

But it was not a coincidence, Diana knew, thinking back. The Djinn had guided her there every step of the way.

The Sila opened a portal in Los Angeles and threw her directly into the desert where the temple was located. She lifted several mountains and used them as weapons, forcing Diana to unleash a great deal of her power to crush them, a power that had also hit the barrier keeping the city safe and hidden, breaking it. She had refused to allow Diana to choose the battleground, bringing the fight back to the temple every time Diana thought about going elsewhere. She quite literally tossed her inside the temple of Lilith, right into the very chamber where the Ring of Solomon was located.

And then she brought Lilith's statue to life and almost slapped her face with the Ring itself, until finally Diana noticed it.

This was no coincidence, it all happened according to the Djinn's design. She gave Diana the only weapon capable of beating her.

"Why?" Diana exclaimed, looking at the Djinn. "Why have you led me to the Ring of Solomon? How were you able to go against your master?" The Djinn simply kept staring at her. "Answer me!"

The Djinn allowed the two scimitars in her hands – now colored red, like the rest of her – to vanish.

"I was ordered to fight you… I fought." the Djinn said, in a near whisper. "I would prefer to be bound to anyone other than my old master."

Her voice was low and feminine, but also clearly not human. Every word sounded as if spoken through the crackling of a flame.

"You allowed me to go home, when you thought you had defeated my master and broken my seal," the Djinn continued, probably compelled to give a complete answer. "Even after I attacked you and your mortal, you did not try to seek revenge or to enslave me for my power."

For the first time, there was flicker of emotion on the Djinn's expression: surprise and admiration.

"I have never met someone capable of such kindness to a Djinn, in this plane. If I am to be bound to someone, I would prefer to be bound to you."

Diana honestly did not have the words to describe how sad that was. But her main concern, right now, was not this conversation, it was Tony.

"I need you to stop the suit of armor attacking Tony Stark," Diana said.

"The suit has already been destroyed by your mortal," the Djinn answered.

"It was?" Diana asked, filled with pride. She knew he had it within him. "What about the mortal trapped inside the suit, Obadiah Stane?"

"He was drained of his lifeforce to power the suit," the Djinn answered, impassive. "He died."

Well, Diana would not pretend to be saddened by it, but she was sorry that Tony had to be the one to face him last.

Relieved that Tony was alright and had been victorious, Diana turned the conversation to more unsavory subjects.

"Who is your previous master?" Diana asked. "How did you end up in the hands of that terrorist? Why were you attacking us?"

"I cannot say," the Djinn answered, simply.

Diana stepped closer, enraged.

"I order you to tell me!"

"I cannot say, because I have no memory of it," the Djinn explained, surprising Diana. "My old master commanded me to not retain any memory of my time there, only to follow orders."

"You remember nothing at all?" Diana exclaimed.

The Djinn looked down, pensive.

"Fragments of unconnected situations…" She looked at Diana. "I remember agony and I remember fear."

Diana frowned, waiting for the Djinn to go on.

"My race is unfamiliar with such terms. Pain, terror, death… We do not even have words for them, for they do not exist in our plane." The Djinn stared back at Diana. "My old master taught me the meaning of those words quite extensively."

"You were tortured?" Diana asked, horrified. Why would anyone do that to a being already bound to them?

"My master wished for me to know what pain was, what fear was… So the wish was granted. I tormented myself."

Without realizing what she was doing, Diana touched the Djinn's face, carefully, trying to comfort her anyway she could; the Djinn seemed surprised by the gesture, but did not move away, either because she did not want to or because she could not. She left her hand fall back down.

"Is there anything else about your master that you can tell me?" Diana asked. "Anything that would help me to find him or her? Can I wish for your memories to return?"

The Djinn tilted her head slightly.

"Differently from what mortals believe, I cannot grant every wish. The memories cannot be returned because they have never existed. The fragments… They are an example of the limitation of my own abilities. Even trying to, I could not block every memory, so some were retained. A failure."

"Maybe, but that 'failure' might be able to help me find your old master. Tell me about those flashes."

The Sila closed her eyes for a long time. Then she opened them.

"I remember power… A power greater than my own. And a voice… A woman?"

"A woman more powerful than you?" Diana asked, stunned. She had seen what the Djinn could do, after all.

"Magic is not always about raw power," the Djinn said. "Most times, it is about what you can do with that power. Skill, imagination, knowledge… Sometimes, that is enough to defeat even the most powerful foe."

The Djinn turned her eyes to the fallen statue of Lilith.

"You need not look further than her," the Djinn said, once again showing a bit of emotion, this time rage. "Lilith could never face the might of the Djinns with her power alone, and yet her knowledge of magic allowed her to enslave my race and use our own power against us. The Annunaki empire was built upon the free will of my people."

Dilmun, an empire powerful enough to stand amongst the likes of Olympus, Heliopolis and Asgard, built in great part, as the Sila said, by the chaos magic of the Djinns. Chaos magic that had also left a mark in Mesopotamia, the Annunaki foothold on Earth, connected to the far away planet of Dilmun via several portals. Portals opened, and frequently guarded, by Djinns.

"How long have you been in this world?" Diana asked, looking at the Sila.

"Thousands upon thousands of years. I was brought here by Lilith herself," the Djinn said, emotionless. "Time has little meaning to us… But I am tired. Your plane is nothing like mine. It is immutable, tame, full of universal laws that command everything. Everything has a form, a purpose, everything is bound to a physical shell. This is not a world, it is a prison." For the first time, there was a spark in her eyes. "Our universe is pure chaos, ruled by nothing and no one, an entire dimension made of flames and pandemonium. We answer to no one there."

Diana could barely understand a universe like that, could not conceive how it would be to live in such a place. And that was exactly the point: she was not supposed to. It was a dimension so different from theirs that even if she could survive there, it would be like nothing she knew.

Just like their dimension was to a Djinn.

She took a deep breath.

"If I free you, what would you do?" Diana finally asked. "Tell me the full truth."

The raw shock on the Djinn's face broke Diana's heart. It was like she never expected to be free again, never expected that a person would willingly break her shackles and allow her to go. And the sad thing was that most people would not prove her wrong on that account. Few would throw away the chance of having anything they might want in their grasp, all the power they could dream of, all their wishes granted.

The fact that all that came at the cost of enslaving a person did not mean much to most.

It did to Diana.

"I would return home," the Djinn finally said, slowly. "Immediately. And I would never return to this dimension."

"What about revenge?" Diana asked.

The Djinn's eyes glowed with something akin to fear.

"I would not face my old master if I had the choice. And my other masters are long gone or dead."

Diana was beginning to worry; someone capable of scaring a Djinn – of all things –, that much, was someone to be wary of.

She lowered her eyes, fixing them on the Ring of Solomon. Diana had made her decision.

"You are free. Go back home."

Saying this, she took the Ring from her finger and tossed it up; then she drew her sword and slashed, cutting it in half with one strike. There was a thunderous noise and a release of pure energy that cracked the walls of the temple.

That Ring was the tool of a slaver. Diana would never abide to that.

Immediately after the Ring of Solomon was destroyed, the markings on the Djinn's skin began to fade, finally disappearing. She raised her arms, looking at herself, shock etched on her face. The red color on her skin also began to fade, not replaced by any other, as if her own physical form was disappearing.

The Djinn looked at Diana one last time.

"Thank you. I will never forget what you did for me."

Saying this, she disappeared completely, leaving no traces of herself behind.

Diana sighed, tired. It had been a long day, a long battle, and she longed for a few moments of peace. She glanced down, looking at the two separate halves of the Ring of Solomon on the ground with disgust. How many lives had that thing destroyed? How many slaves had it made? How many beings lost their free will forever because of that Ring? Forced to battle and then enslave their own race, unleashed upon innocents, tortured, used for the amusement and gratification of their masters?

Too many to count. And if Diana had anything to say about it, that one would never be used to do so again.

She grabbed the broken pieces of the Ring of Solomon and looked up, preparing herself for a long flight back to Los Angeles; Tony really deserved all the praise for those Winged Sandals, they truly made a difference in her fight and they would be her ticket back home, now that the Djinn left back to her dimension.

Maybe she should have asked for a way home before destroying the Ring, Diana sighed. As she was about to click her boots, the entire temple trembled.

And then started to fall, tossing Diana like a ragdoll up to the ceiling.

Of course, without a Djinn to sustain the levitation magic keeping that thing in the air, it was a matter of time until it fell. The day just kept getting better and better, Diana sighed, flipping and throwing herself up the ceiling hole, activating her Winged Sandals.

Hopefully there would be no more surprises that day – or that month, she dared to wish –, Diana thought as she flew away from the falling temple.

Washington, DC, Peggy Carter's Apartment – May 18th, 2010

"You've all received the official statement of what occurred at Stark Industries last night. There have been unconfirmed reports that a robotic prototype malfunctioned and caused damage to the company's building. Fortunately, a member of Tony Stark's personal security staff…"

Diana, Peggy and Natalia watched as Colonel Rhodes gave the "official version" of the events of last night, sipping tea and biscuits.

"He's good," Natalia mentioned. "I can almost believe him."

"I would like to see he try to explain things if Diana's battle against the Djinn happened in the middle of the city," Peggy chuckled, browsing the newspaper. "They are calling him 'Iron Man'. The security staff member that saved the day."

"It is catchy," Diana commented, trying the new name a few times. "Though Tony most likely will point out that the suit is not made of iron, it is made of gold-titanium alloy." She glanced at Natalia. "Are you sure Agent Coulson is handling this? Tony can be a little difficult."

After finally arriving in Los Angeles last night, flying all the way back from the Temple of Lilith, Diana and Tony discussed what happened and what they would do, because things were crazy everywhere.

Tony's house was in chaos, Pepper, Happy and his team, and Rhodey demanding to know what was going on. Stark Industries Headquarters even more, with several vestiges of their battle, a destroyed suit of armor and a dead body, not to mention all the witnesses and the cops.

How would they explain all this? They decided to keep it simple.

Stane tried to murder Tony, Raza tried to murder Stane and Tony, and Tony managed to stop them both with his new prototype. No mention of the Djinn – the purple mist and the "earthquake machine" that Coulson witnessed were simply an unknown piece of tech –, no mention of a blood-sucking suit of armor.

And definitely no mention of Diana, anywhere.

Pepper, of course, would receive a more detailed explanation later, that was understood by the powerful glare she had on Tony during all those lies, but no one else would know anymore than they needed to, especially Agent Coulson.

To their surprise, it had actually worked.

SHIELD stepped in to sweep everything under the rug, Diana grabbed her invisible jet and made herself scarce, and Tony and Pepper followed Agent Coulson to Los Angeles so they could give the official explanation to the public; and provide, obviously, a forged alibi created especially for this occasion, so that Tony would not become exposed.

Of course, nothing was perfect. SHIELD now knew – with certainty – about Tony's suit and so did the Army, and they would not give him a moment of peace after this, but it could have been worse.

It could have been a lot worse, Diana thought, remembering how tough the battle was. She would still have to find the Djinn's previous master, true, but for now things were fine.

"Coulson can handle Stark," Natalia said, rolling her eyes. "This isn't his first rodeo."

She hoped so. Diana deserved a little peace after such a busy month, maybe a couple of months with nothing of consequence happening, no hunting terrorists, no Grootslangs, no Djinns, no sadistic Djinn's masters, no living suits of armor… Just a peaceful and relaxing time that she could spend with Natalia, Peggy and Tony.

Diana smiled. Maybe it could happen. Why wouldn't it? What other surprise could be dropped on them, anyway?

"I am Iron Man."

The table cracked under Diana's hands. She turned to the TV.

"That son of a–"

Temple of Lilith – May 18th, 2010

Circe walked through the ruined temple, her bare feet dancing over the dust and debris as she hummed an old tune, happy.

She had spent centuries looking for that place. Centuries wasted on quests to find and capture Djinns, centuries wasted on trying to make them spill the information, centuries wasted on Djinns that did not know the location of Lilith's temple.

Until she found one that did; and yet, the Sila could not speak of it, a gift that Lilith had imparted on her slave.

No amount of magic could undo that wish, so Circe had to find another way to force the little Sila to give her the location of the temple. A long and hard and quite painful way… For the Djinn. Quite simply, Circe had unleashed such torment upon her, that the little Sila would do anything to see herself free from it.

Even if it meant being bound in servitude to another.

The Sila was forbidden by Lilith to give the location of her main temple, true, but like any Djinn, the little Sila was fond of finding loopholes when granting wishes. Circe ordered her to fight Diana of Themyscira.

Why, then, could she not fight Diana of Themyscira near the Temple of Lilith? And if by some awful coincidence the city housing the temple was revealed – say, maybe by a blast of energy from the Godkiller, as she tried to avoid an attack from the Djinn –, well, that was not her fault, was it? And how could the little Sila be blamed if Diana herself fled to the top of the temple when pursued by a living sandstorm? And then fell into it as consequence of their battle?

Diana had not asked for the location of the Temple of Lilith to her, after all, and she revealed nothing. She fought Diana of Themyscira, that was all; the fact that Diana found out about the temple as a result was not her fault.

Nor was the fact that Diana apparently stumbled upon the Ring of Solomon.

Loopholes after loopholes, just like Circe would expect from a Djinn. And the little Sila played right into her hands. They all did. The Sila, Raza, Diana… It was not easy, but there she was, in the Temple of Lilith she had sought all those years.

Circe laughed, stepping over a broken statue, her beautiful singing voice echoing. It was always nice to see a plan come to fruition. They had all played their part perfectly. The Djinn, doing everything she could to trick her and even so, doing exactly what she wanted. The mortal, Raza, serving as cannon fodder and distraction.

And the lovely Diana, so good and so incorruptible, that she had managed to convince a Djinn to just give itself to her, offering the ultimate leash to bond them to each other.

The Ring of Solomon. The very relic Circe wanted all along.

So Diana had slashed it into two? As if that was enough to undo such powerful magic! It was nothing that could not be fixed. And until the time came, Diana would keep it safe for Circe.

The Godkiller had not disappointed, she was everything Circe hoped she would be. Which was good, because had she been anything less, the Djinn would have probably killed her. Circe would have been severely disappointed if that happened.

She owed Diana, after all. They all did, for the civic duty she performed when she killed Ares.

The mortal Raza was a fool for thinking she would send him to murder Diana. For one, it was foolishness to believe that a mortal could ever succeed in such endeavor. Not even with a Djinn.

And, of course, gods did not solve things by killing each other like plebeians. That was for animals like Ares. It was bad form to kill a fellow god, rude beyond belief. No, proper gods solved things in the civilized way.

They could find champions and pit them against each other, support different sides in a mortal war, destroy a city that worshipped the rival god, curse their Nymphs and priests, topple their temples, a little public humiliation or a bit of torture or banishment…

But not by killing each other. There were consequences to killing a powerful god and they rarely were worth the deed.

So no, Circe did not want Diana dead, far from it. After such a display, the Godkiller would feature heavily into her future plans; and she had many. Once Diana stopped playing with mortals and finally bound herself to a Domain, who knew? They could even become real friends.

Until then, Circe would continue as planned. The time of the Prophecy was drawing near and preparations needed to be made, Godkiller on her side or not. She had a Grootslang egg, the Ring of Solomon…

Circe was no Goddess of War, but that was starting to sound like the beginnings of an army.

Humming happily, Circe danced through the Temple of Lilith. Maybe there were some magic scrolls and artifacts to be found there, other than the Ring of Solomon. It was worth a look.

Washington, DC, Diana's Apartment – May 19th, 2010

Diana opened the door to her apartment, her head in the clouds since the last day, still filled with all sorts of things she would say and some she would like to do to Tony when she met him again.

"'I am Iron Man'… Idiot!" she sighed, closing the door behind her.

After all they did to keep his involvement a secret… Well, nothing could be done now. They would deal with the problems as they arrived, no sense worrying themselves before. He would still listen quite a lot from her when Diana finally managed to go to Malibu again, but until then, she would try to put it out of her mind.

Whatever she was thinking, however, was quickly forgotten when Diana noticed there was someone in her apartment.

How could she have been so distracted? To fail to notice she was not alone… Her aunt, Antiope, would have been furious with her. Prepared to fight, Diana entered her living room and turned on the lights.

Director Nick Fury was sitting on a chair in the middle of her apartment, with a dangerous being that looked very much like a cat purring on his lap.

Diana sighed. Had she provoked any deity lately? It was certainly beginning to look like it.

France, Normandy – June 6th, 1944 – D-Day

Steve glanced at his men on the boat, taking in their nervousness as they approached the shores. By their side, thousands of other landing crafts, filled with soldiers, sailed with them, ready to finally begin to change the tides of that war.

Diana smiled at him when their eyes met, taking her place forward, by his side.

When the boat finally hit the sand, it opened and they advanced, shields raised to block the barrage of bullets. The Howling Commandos and James Howlett followed.

It was time to take Europe back from the Nazis.

Hey guys, as promised, the new chapter. It got a bit longer than I imagined at first, so I hope you like it ^^

To the people I still haven't managed to answer the PMs or reviews/commentaries: I'm really, really sorry, this week was crazy and I barely had time to write the chapter, much less to answer all of you. But I will.

Anyway, really hope you enjoy this one. Hope you're all doing great!