Chapter Eight
By Tuesday evening, the Amazon Princess with aspirations to move even higher had figured out a way to track Superman to his hiding place. She would dress in her most enticing Diana Prince garments and visit one of the night clubs on the west side of the city, entice one of the male patrons to follow her outside, and encourage him to handle her in a rough manner. As soon as she spotted Superman overhead, she would cry out for help against the brute and wait for her super-rescuer to arrive.
Then she would attach the tracker to his cape.
The tracker was a fingernail-sized device which was tuned to the brain waves of the user, and not only would it adhere to any surface it touched, it would conceal itself by taking on the color of the surface to which it was attached. The device was all but invisible, and he would not feel it if it were not touching his skin.
Much like her golden lasso, it was useless to anyone but herself. Since it was completely passive, transmitting no signal but a reflection of her own brainwaves, Superman would not know he carried it until she confronted him as Wonder Woman and revealed her cunning to him. And she would not do that until she had discovered his secret life.
She amused herself by imagining Lois Lane receiving the world-wide credit for revealing Superman’s secret identity. The woman’s profession was the correct one for revealing such a secret, and surely she would not refuse to print a story of such magnitude. It would certainly garner for her all of the praises and awards sought by her kind.
All the Princess needed now was a quiet night to put her plan into action.
*****
Superman flew over the city, watching both for crime and for a half-dressed, slightly nutty Amazon Princess. He hadn’t wanted to tell Lois all the details of his encounter with Wonder Woman that morning, but she’d sensed that there was more to the story and had cajoled the details from him after dinner.
And she’d surprised him once again. She hadn’t flown into a jealous rage, she hadn’t thrown objects around the living room, she hadn’t threatened to kill or maim or harm Wonder Woman (or, more to the point, himself) in any way. She’d simply nodded and said, “Well, now that we know what to watch out for, we can deal with her.”
He shook his head once again. Lois was so wonderful, so understanding, so brilliant. He doubted that there was another woman alive who could deal with the weirdness of being his wife. She consistently found ways to show him how much she loved him.
He sensed, rather than saw, another flyer beneath him. He peered through the darkness and saw Wonder Woman arrowing through the sky. She appeared to be on a mission, and he wasn’t at all eager to talk to her, so he didn’t try to attract her attention – although he was fairly certain she was trying to attract his attention.
If so, he would have none of it.
She disappeared from view not far from the west side club district. That area was nicer than the waterfront, where clubs which were thinly disguised fronts for gangsters, like the Metro Club, still operated, but it was still far from the best area of the city. He wondered for a moment what she was doing there, then he dismissed it from his mind. She was certainly able to take care of herself. He’d be over the west side in forty minutes or so, provided that he wasn’t needed elsewhere. Maybe he’d run into her again. Maybe he’d have another chance to tell her that he wasn’t interested in her.
Of course, Lois might have been right when she’d told Clark that people like Wonder Woman, who created reality according to their own preferences, didn’t react well when corrected.
*****
The man was a boundless fool. With her long dark hair in a single tight braid and a soft, revealing dress clinging to her curves, she had snared her dupe within minutes. Diana had not asked his name, nor had he asked for hers. All he wanted was a sexual encounter with an attractive woman whom he had never met, and when she had agreed to walk outside the club with him he could barely restrain himself from running out the door with her in tow. Had she not reminded him, he would have left the club without paying his bar bill.
As soon as they left the circle of illumination near the entrance, he took off his jacket and draped it over his shoulder. His other arm crept over Diana’s shoulders, and she suppressed her natural revulsion as she leaned closer. The man guided her toward one of the nearby city parks, one which Diana knew was patrolled by Superman.
He spoke of his work as a stockbroker as if he were a financial gladiator. She tried not to roll her eyes as he boasted of his regular workouts in a martial arts studio, and she made the appropriate “ooh” and “ahh” noises when he demonstrated his unimpressive upper body musculature for her. She was sure he could lift heavy iron disks off the ground, sure that his blue belt was fairly earned, and equally sure that he would not last fifteen seconds in a real fight against a knowledgeable opponent.
She managed to tell him nothing about herself, which was not difficult, as his goal was not to learn about her but merely to use her for his own pleasure. Apparently it was a social convention among these people to engage in consensual sex with a person one barely knew, and as long as no one requested payment, the legal structure was powerless against such socially destructive actions. Diana marveled once again that the city had not already imploded from the lawlessness and immorality rampant within it.
They came to a wooden bench and the man invited her to sit. It was nearly time for Superman to fly near, so she smiled and sat beside him.
Then she allowed him to grope her for a few moments. The experience was disgusting, far worse than her most hated childhood chore of cleaning the stables. She tolerated his clumsy assaults as long as she could, then she suddenly cried out, “No! No! Please help me! Get away! Help! Help!”
He apparently thought it was part of a game. “That’s it, baby. You make it better for me that way. Yell again!”
Astonished, Diana merely blinked at him as he pulled her to himself again. He was worse than a fool, he was suicidal! The one definite thing she had heard about situations such as this one was that the man was supposed to stop if the woman were to refuse his attentions. This imbecile seemed to interpret the word ‘No’ as encouragement. Each time she tried to push him away, he renewed pawing at her body.
She had become concerned that he might damage her clothing, and she did not want her future mate to see her in such a damaged state. She slipped away from the fool and stood, then pointed to him and commanded, “You will cease your assault at once!”
To her utter amazement and consternation, the man laughed! “Oh, baby, I don’t know where you come from, but I hope there are lots more down on the farm!” Then he leaped up and captured her face with his hands and tried to lick her vocal chords.
That decided things. She drew back her hand to deliver a crippling blow to his belly, but suddenly he simply wasn’t there any more. She stumbled and caught her balance, then looked up to see Superman hovering five feet off the ground, holding the man inches from his face.
The man was too shocked to speak. All he could do was blubber inarticulately and kick his feet as if he were running a sprint. Superman glared at him and said, “When a lady says ‘no,’ mister, she means ‘no’ whether you want her to mean it or not. You got me?”
“Buh-buh-buh-buh-buh – “
“Get out of here! And next time stop when the lady tells you to! Got it?”
“Buh-buh-buh-buh-buh – “
Superman slowly lowered the man to the ground and released him. His legs did not support his weight, and instead of climbing to his feet he began crawling away without his jacket. She caught the scent of urine and wondered about the source until she saw that the man’s pants were soaked.
Utterly disgusting fool. How was someone such as he allowed to live?
As the terrified stockbroker scrambled away, Superman turned to the woman he’d rescued and asked, “Ma’am, are you okay?”
Diana forced herself to behave as if she were frightened out of her wits. She pushed her voice to a higher than normal register and cried out, “Oh! The brute! I cannot believe what he – he – oh, it is so horrible!”
She dropped her head into her hands and emitted a stifled sob. Instead of moving closer, Superman asked, “Do you want me to call the police? They can pick that guy up in minutes and you can prefer charges against him.”
That was not her plan. “Oh! No – no thank you. I believe he has been punished enough.”
He nodded. “Can you get home by yourself?”
“I – I believe so, yes. Thank you so much, Superman!”
He nodded. Diana was both gratified and chagrined that he kept his eyes on her face, despite her provocative state of dress. “Good. In that case, I have some other – ”
He was leaving! He couldn’t leave yet! She had not attached the tracker!
She stumbled as if she were dizzy. “Ah! I think – perhaps I am not well after all.”
He stepped closer and took her arm to steady her. She stumbled again and leaned against his solid shoulder. “Miss, are you sure you’re okay? Should I take you to the hospital?”
Her left hand snaked around him and pressed the tracker in place on the inside of his cape, in the folds near his neck. She shook her head as if clearing herself of cobwebs and stood tall. “No. Thank you, Superman, I feel much better now. I believe I am well enough to return to my home.”
He gave her an odd, appraising look, then stepped back. “If you’re sure you’re okay – ”
“I am positive, Superman. Thank you for your kind assistance.”
He nodded and turned his face to the sky, then gently lifted up into the night air. She watched him until he faded from sight, as she imagined an ordinary woman in her position might do. Then she started on her way back to her apartment.
She could feel the tracker in her mind as he flew away. She could determine in what direction he had flown, and she could estimate the distance between them. The accuracy of that estimate would increase in precision as she drew closer to the tracker. She was confident that she could locate Superman anywhere he was, so long as he did not leave the city.
Her gaze fell on the stockbroker’s jacket still draped over the bench. She considered taking it as a souvenir of her time among these insane people, but she realized that she might have to explain where it had come from.
And the last thing she wanted to tell her daughter was that she had deceived the girl’s father so badly.
*****
What a weird encounter, thought Superman. That woman was definitely strange. For a moment, just before he’d intervened, he’d thought she was about to clean that guy’s clock. Yet she’d acted scared after it was all over. And there was something very familiar about her, something he couldn’t quite place.
Then a car alarm began wailing in one of the upscale apartment parking lots in north Metropolis. It was usually a false alarm in that part of town, but he had the time to check it out. Sometimes it wasn’t a false alarm.
The encounter with the strange woman slipped from his mind.
*****
She waited until nearly four o’clock in the morning before beginning her search for her daughter’s father.
Diana flew over the west side, looking down on the upscale club strip where she had selected her patsy. It was like so many things in man’s world – bright and seemingly cheery and noisy, holding out the promise of enjoyment and distraction and release from life’s toil.
But it was a lie. Her encounter with the half-drunken lecherous stockbroker proved it. Men were greedy, selfish, disdainful of women, pleasure seekers with no sense of higher truth or beauty. And their women permitted these horrible men to rule them. She didn’t understand either group.
It was good that she would not live here with her daughter.
Her mind reached out to touch the tracking sensor. There! It was not far from downtown, and it was finally stationary. Apparently Superman had completed his patrol and was now resting.
She flew slowly about two thousand feet above the ground, slowly shrinking the circle as she kept the tracker to her right. The pre-dawn air was clear and almost cool, and she saw the brownstone which seemed to be her target loom out of the darkness beneath her.
She slowly let herself down close to the roof of the building, then slowly circled it once again to make certain of her goal. She could not enter the building and risk awakening Superman, so she merely noted the building number and the name of the street it faced. She would look the address up in the telephone directory, an innovation she’d not known existed before establishing her identity in Greece. And if the occupant’s telephone number was not listed in the directory, she could easily find the owner’s name in the city’s tax records. Her Diana Prince identity would grant her both access and diplomatic immunity should someone take offence.
She should have proceeded in this fashion in the beginning, she thought. It was – what was that phrase she’d learned the previous day? Oh, yes, it was a ‘piece of cook.’ Odd phrase, that.
Superman would be her lover within the week. He could not fail to be impressed by her cunning and resourcefulness. She would succeed in her mission, even if Superman declined the opportunity to be her life-mate.
And if she happened to be in a magnanimous mood at her mother’s judgment, Diana might allow her to live free but powerless on one of the narrow peninsulas on Themyscira.
*****
Diana sat at the downtown lunch counter, idly nibbling at her tuna salad sandwich without tasting it. She hadn’t really chosen that particular item, she had only pointed at some food item and nodded when asked if she wanted a beverage. The shock from her visit to City Hall remained with her still.
The brownstone housing the tracker on Superman’s cape was jointly owned and occupied by Clark Kent and his wife Lois Lane.
Superman’s cape had been in the home of two reporters for the Daily Planet. And it had been placed there during the early morning hours, when the law-abiding citizens of Metropolis slumbered in peace.
There were only two possible explanations. Either Superman used a space within the structure for his personal storage, or Clark Kent was also Superman.
She disliked both of those possible explanations.
The first was the less likely of the two. There was no reason for Superman to occupy part of someone else’s domicile. It would mean that he would have no real privacy, and he would constantly risk violating the privacy of the owners. No, that was not a reasonable explanation.
But the other alternative was unthinkable.
It would mean that she had snubbed Superman more than once, and had deliberately insulted him at least once. No wonder he had been reluctant to pursue a more personal relationship with her. Never mind that he was married to –
She nearly dropped her spork as the realization struck her. Superman was already married!
This information changed everything. It was against the law for an Amazon to seduce a married man to gain a child, although the law was not enforced as strictly as it once had been. But if anyone were to learn that she had done so, her movement – built as it was on the restoration of the ancient Amazon traditions – would collapse almost immediately. And if she were to conceal that information until after her coronation, her daughter would be permanently disqualified from assuming the throne.
That was a shame not to be borne.
She considered for a moment how difficult it had been for her to maintain two separate identities. She pondered how dreary it would be to live as Diana Prince for the majority of her day and night. She would have, by a wide margin, preferred to forgo her civilian life, except that it was part of the Wonder Woman quest. Still, she did not understand why anyone would desire to live two separate lives. Had the choice been hers alone, she would have chosen to be Wonder Woman all the time.
And she was certain that Superman felt the same way. Surely he had been manipulated in marrying the Lane woman! Surely he would prefer to have a mate who could more nearly match him in strength and might. Surely he would rather not be married to such a thin, drab little thing who could not live her own life but was forced to write about the lives of others, a mere shadow of a woman who had not given him a child. Surely Superman would grasp at the opportunity to select a more suitable mate.
But how could Diana help him make that choice, even when it was so obvious to everyone? She could not conceive of a man who chose to remain married to a woman who could not conceive his child.
The pun amused her for a moment, then she returned to her pondering. It was indeed a knotty conundrum.
Then she had a thought. There was one way to avoid that problem. She would have to coerce her mother into agreeing with her plan, and she would have to be very careful. The law allowed one Amazon to challenge a wife to a contest, the winner of which would win the man. Should the wife prevail, her husband could never again be subject to the challenge, so she had only one opportunity for this plan to work. As with many of the Amazonian traditions, this one had slowly been altered over the centuries from mortal combat to a contest of feminine wiles applied to the husband. Whichever woman could elicit the stronger response from the man would win the contest, and the loser would then be barred from any further contact with him.
But Diana intended for this challenge to be the ancient one, the one which was an individual woman-to-woman combat to the death. No weapons, no assistance, no release save for the final one. But she couldn’t depend on Superman’s response to her. She had to make certain that Lois Lane did not survive the contest. She had to manipulate her mother into agreeing to the ancient contest without realizing that she would be sending a woman to her death.
Diana had no illusions about the outcome. Lois would have no chance whatsoever against Wonder Woman. Diana was certain that Lois would never be able to survive combat with her. She could almost taste Superman’s lips on hers – after a suitable three-day mourning period, of course.
Tonight she would contact the queen and set the required events in motion.
*****
Their working lunch finished, Lois guided the Jeep into her parking space and shut off the ignition. Instead of opening the door, she turned to her husband and asked, “Do you have any ideas on dealing with the crazy Amazon?”
He sighed. “Other than repeating to her with increasing emphasis that I have no interest in her, no.”
She dropped the keys into her purse. “Me neither. I guess we’ll just play this one by ear.”
“Oh, right, we never do that, do we?”
A smile creased her lips. “Never.” She opened her door and stepped out. “We always make highly detailed plans and timetables and we stick to them like Mussolini’s train schedules.”
He sighed. “Just once, I’d like to actually do that.”
“Are you saying that I messed up your plans last week?”
He smiled and leaned over the driver’s seat to kiss her. “Absolutely not. My comment was aimed at our dealings with our many opponents.”
“Good. Shall we get back to work now?”
“If we must.” He pushed his door shut and walked around the Jeep to hold her hand. “I was out when you got back last night, and you were asleep when I finally got home. How was your session with Lin?”
“Very good. We’re going to wow them Friday night.”
“Well, I hope so. I’m married to an outstanding martial artist.”
She flashed him a coy smile. “Don’t you mean ‘marital’ artist?”
He kissed her quickly. “Both, actually. And I promise to be there and to cheer you on.”
“As long as you – ”
“I know, I know! I won’t try to rescue you.”
*****
Diana flicked on the viewer a full minute early. She knew she must not appear to be too eager to speak with her mother, but she could wait no longer. This communication might be the most important one she had ever undertaken, save for the one she would initiate with Cydippe once the queen had agreed to the contest.
Precisely at the appointed time, Hippolyta’s image came into focus on the monitor. “Greetings, daughter,” she said. “It is good to hear from you.”
“I am also pleased, Mother. There is a matter I must discuss with you.”
“Oh? What matter is that?”
Diana took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I have met Superman and spoken with him concerning a relationship between us. But there is a problem.”
The queen’s head tilted to one side. “A problem? Please explain, my daughter.”
Here it was. She had to phrase this just so. “I was not aware until today that Superman has already taken a wife.”
Hippolyta flinched and her eyes flew open. “A wife? Truly, he has done this?”
“Yes. This is not common knowledge among the people here. He has explained to me his reasoning for keeping this relationship a secret, and I agree with it.”
“I see. Would you then, please, explain to me why the Man of Steel would take a wife and not make his relationship with her public?”
Another verbal land mine loomed, and she hoped she had chosen her words with sufficient care. “It is primarily for her safety. Were their relationship become public, she, her family, and her friends would become targets for evildoers who would seek to influence Superman by threatening his loved ones. He does not wish to expose her to such danger.”
“I see.” Hippolyta sat back in apparent thought, and Diana gritted her teeth with the effort to remain calm. She could not allow her mother to detect her apprehension.
The queen gestured to someone out of the viewer’s frame, and Diana recognized Chancellor Phillipus’ profile as she bent to first listen to, then answer, the queen. This went on for more than two minutes as Diana nearly burst with the effort to remain patient.
Finally the queen leaned close to the viewer once more. “Diana, we believe that you should return home at this time. We cannot damage a marriage in the outside world, even for the heir to the throne. And due to the circumstances, there can be no dishonor which might accrue to you. None of us possessed the necessary information. You have behaved honorably.”
“I understand your position, Mother, but I have an alternate suggestion.”
Hippolyta shook her head. “I cannot imagine what that might be.”
“Then please allow me to explain myself.”
The queen hesitated, looked out of frame again, then turned back to her daughter and nodded. “We will hear your alternate suggestion.”
Diana was past the land mines and treading lightly on fragile glass covering acid and high explosives. One misstep at this point would put herself and many of her co-conspirators in deadly danger.
She licked her lips and leaned closer. “I propose the Challenge of the Wiles between myself and the wife of Superman.”
Diana was rewarded with the most severely stunned expression she had ever seen on her mother’s face. The queen’s jaw dropped open and she blinked rapidly for a moment. Diana heard more than one gasp from outside the viewer’s range.
The queen opened her mouth and coughed, then shook her head and regained her poise. “Daughter, are you serious? This woman is not an Amazon and is not subject to our laws! Such a contest for her man’s affection is surely not something she would willingly enter into.”
“I believe that I can convince her to accept the challenge, Mother.”
“Be that as it may, such a course of action is most dangerous! What might the outside world say if this became public? Superman is an international hero – which, I remind you, was one of the reasons you chose to pursue a relationship with him. Were we to become known as the nation who ended Superman’s marriage, we would have a much more difficult time making alliances with other nations. They would be far less willing to trust us.”
Diana had expected this objection. “That would probably occur, Mother, were Superman to publicly mourn the end of that marriage. But no one knows that he is married. And if he were to announce that he has fathered a child by the Princess of Themyscira, any objections would turn to rejoicing.”
Hippolyta frowned. “I am not certain that your logic is as flawless as you believe it to be, Diana.”
“His wife has not borne him a child for these past five years, Mother. And that is how long they have been wed.”
She let the statement hang in the ether and allowed her mother the queen work through the reasoning herself. A man whose wife had failed to give him a child, male or female, within three years of the wedding was, according to Amazon tradition, cheated of his heritage. And according to the ancient writings, this was where the Challenge of the Wiles had originated. A woman who could give a man a child when his current wife could not was obviously more attractive to him, and therefore her challenge was considered to be one for the benefit of the tribe.
Now, if the queen would just assume that Diana planned to present herself to Superman as the more attractive mate, as the Amazons practiced the rite today, instead of challenging Lois Lane to a duel to the death, as Amazonian law still allowed, Diana’s plan would go forward as originally conceived.
Hippolyta turned away from the viewer once more. Diana assumed that she was consulting either Chancellor Phillipus or Mnenosyne, the royal historian. After a long and unintelligible whispered conversation, the queen turned back to the viewer. “My daughter, given that Superman’s marriage is not public knowledge, and given that his wife has failed to provide issue for him for five years, I, Hippolyta the Queen of Themyscira, allow the Challenge of the Wiles between yourself and this woman.” She turned and listened to another person for a moment, then nodded slowly. “Yes, Clio, this may be published. Diana, when might this contest take place?”
“I will bring Superman’s wife to Themyscira within four days. I anticipate that the contest will take place no more than six days from today.”
The queen nodded. “Very well.” Then she sighed. “I deeply regret the turn these events have taken, my daughter. I hope that you are following the path of light in this matter.”
“As do I, Mother. Have you any further questions for me?”
Hippolyta narrowed her eyes as if trying to read Diana’s mind through the viewer link, then she shook her head slightly and said, “Not at this time. I assume that we will see you in four days or fewer?”
“You shall, Mother. Peace be with you.”
The queen’s expression softened at the traditional parting phrase. “And with you, my daughter.”
The screen darkened. Diana leaned back in her comfortable chair and let out a huge breath.
The die was now cast. The queen believed that Diana would challenge Lois to what was basically a contest of seduction, that Diana would attempt to convince both Superman and Lois – and, failing that, convince Superman – that Diana was the more suitable mate for the Man of Steel. Once the modern challenge was complete, the victorious woman would depart for a week of bliss with the man who was the object of the challenge, and the loser would go into seclusion in the temple complex for that same week to evaluate her life and her ability to please her man.
But this would not be the modern challenge. This would be the traditional contest, the ancient combat between warrior women, a contest fought to the death.
Diana’s path was clear. She would bring Lois Lane to Themyscira and slay her in honorable hand-to-hand battle. She would take Lois’ broken body back to Metropolis and tearfully present it to Superman and allow him to bury her with honors.
Then she would offer him all the comfort that she might give him.
A small smile crept onto one side of her face. Now she had to relay this latest development to Cydippe, who would disseminate this information among her followers and prepare the arena for the trial. Perhaps this action, honoring the ancient laws of the Amazons, would be the catalyst to bring Niobe and her order to their senses. Perhaps now Diana could claim the support of the priestesses. And perhaps her mother would grasp the significance of the shift in the political landscape and simply resign the throne without forcing Diana to resort to further violence.
The most important thing, however, was that Diana become queen, irrespective of the chain of events leading up to the actual event.
