The Battle Above
Tornado moved through the sky as both of his hands aimed at different directions, forming strong tornadoes that forced most of the clones to be separated and pushed back. Tornado floated higher as a pink sword slashed his previous position.
Tornado didn't charge again as he saw the clone that came from a portal that formed in the air. Tornado turned his mechanical gaze towards the Pink and Wonder Woman battle, as they were engaged in a heated contest of skills and swordsmanship.
Tornado stopped at the last second, halting his flight, as a new portal opened just in his path and another portal opened between the clone constructs on the ground. If Tornado didn't stop, he would have found himself in the middle of the clones and he would have been torn apart.
This time, Tornado didn't hesitate as he started flying in unpredictable directions and patterns, dodging many portals that tried to teleport him to certain doom. And when Tornado tried to retaliate against the construct pursuit, his attacks were met with a portal that swallowed all of his attacks to other parts of the world.
So, Tornado found himself unable to retaliate while being forced to move nonstop, and if he landed for a second, then the grounded constructs would jump him like wolves. As Tornado avoided another portal, his gaze turned to Lion on the ground that, although he kept circling Pink and Wonder Woman, acted as if focused on supporting Pink.
But Tornado wasn't fooled; he saw the pink Lion's plan. Lion was keeping himself close to his owner's side just in case she needed help or was losing, but the focus of Lion's glowing eyes was entirely on Tornado. Every portal that Lion made would have placed Tornado at the heart of the clones that were chasing him.
Lion was protecting Pink while pressuring Tornado to stay out of the ongoing fight on the ground and making sure that Tornado wouldn't be able to deal with the clones unless he went all out. Unfortunately for Tornado, he detected many humans who were obviously some of the Joker's minions. Those humans were all released from their bubbles the moment Tornado tried to do a big attack, forcing him to not only cancel it but to be almost completely neutralized.
Tornado understood things quickly…. the released humans forced him to back down; he couldn't use attacks that the portals can't neutralize or the humans would be in danger. But what surprised even Tornado's mechanical mind is the supposed animal, Lion…. Lion didn't only fight in a way that made him pressure both Wonder Woman and himself, which by itself was a very surprising level of intelligence.
No, Lion was actively ruining the heroes' efforts to drag the battle away. Every time Tornado tried to lure the constructs away so he can deal with them without endangering the humans, Lion would simply teleport the humans to make them in the danger zone again, while he would teleport any construct that drifted too far, making sure everything was stuck in a stalemate.
Lion's portal control was surprising beyond anything shown in the Steven Universe; even Pink would have stared slack-jawed if she was in any mental state to notice. Somehow, Lion knew exactly what was holding Tornado back, and he was actively sabotaging Tornado's efforts to unlock the imaginary chain holding him from going all out.
'Such an extraordinary creature…. What could have possibly increased its intelligence to such levels?'
Unfortunately for Tornado, the only answer he got was another portal popped up in his path.
On the Ground
Wonder Woman, who finally made Pink overcommit to an attack, took the chance as her sword moved towards Pink's wrist, intending to cut Pink's wrist clean off. A loud clank sound came from the strike as Wonder Woman's sword came in contact with a pink bubble that formed around Pink's wrist.
The sword strike cracked and destroyed the bubble, but it took enough strength from the strike that Pink's wrist cracked just slightly, but it didn't shatter. Now, unfortunately for Wonder Woman, she was the one who overcommitted, and the next second she felt herself getting launched across the battlefield as Pink all but kicked her away like a soccer ball.
Wonder Woman broke through the ground with a booming sound as she was buried deep in the dirt, making whatever remained from the bunker collapse atop her. A few seconds passed as, with a war cry, Wonder Woman broke through the tons of stone atop her and rose from the rubble to see Pink walking towards her with the same disturbing, glowing eyes.
Something about Pink's gaze deeply annoyed Wonder Woman. Pink's gaze wasn't villainous, it didn't carry anger, it didn't explain why Pink had gone mad. The only thing that Pink's gaze conveyed was superiority…. As if the battle was already settled before it began, as if Wonder Woman wasn't worthy of any attention or acknowledgment.
That glowing gaze showed something Wonder Woman didn't like; it was the gaze that reminded her of Darkseid—the gaze of a being who believed itself to be above everything, the gaze of beings who believed they were born to rule, to stand at the top and to be obeyed.
But while Darkseid's gaze was filled with anger, hatred, and tangible malice, Pink's gaze held none of those things. It was just an empty detachment and small curiosity. As if a knight was watching a monkey perform. Those eyes didn't see a battle, it didn't see danger, nor cared about consequences.
It was as if Pink was giving Wonder Woman an honor of sorts to be allowed to duel her one-on-one. It was like she wasn't worthy to stand in her presence, and unfortunately, her pride didn't take kindly to it.
"Pink, I don't know what you think you are doing, but after I bring some sense back to you, there will be questions and this time I expect an answer."
Wonder Woman charged again as her sword moved to clash with Pink's strike. Just as the clash was about to happen, Wonder Woman dropped her weapon as she used her smaller size to slip past Pink's defenses. She used all her force to hit Pink's knee, causing cracks to spread with Pink being brought down on one knee.
Wonder Woman moved aside as Pink's shield came crashing down a second later. Wonder Woman slipped past Pink's kneeling form and tightened the Lasso of Truth around Pink's neck, using it to pull Pink's kneeling form to be slammed hard in the ground.
Wonder Woman intended to deliver a finishing strike to Pink's head but was forced to jump to the side as Lion intercepted her attack, standing between her and Pink like a guardian. Then Wonder Woman saw something that made a new kind of despair and anger rise in her heart.
Pink, who rose back to her knee, held the Lasso of Truth with her hand, and then something Wonder Woman would never forget took place. Pink Diamond's hand started cracking from the fist that was holding the lasso while the cracks spread to her shoulder before it finally stopped, but Pink didn't let go of the lasso.
On the opposite, Pink seemed completely focused on the Lasso of Truth. The lasso was glowing fiercely as if resisting or defiant to something that Wonder Woman couldn't see. And then, in front of Wonder Woman, one of her most trusted weapons and a part of her people's heritage started changing.
It started slowly from the part Pink was holding as the blinding yellow light started to be replaced by a pink glow as it crawled across the lasso slowly, as if corrupting it. Wonder Woman, in an increased panicked state, tried to pull the lasso back, but her unfocused and panicked state made her lose her focus, so that she didn't notice the sounds behind her and she felt agony spread across her stomach.
Wonder Woman glanced to see a transparent pink sword piercing her stomach. She strained her head to look behind her to see three copies of Pink standing behind her, each of them carrying a human limb that was bleeding red. The limbs were all pale and white colored; after all, due to Wonder Woman arriving late, she wasn't aware that a few of the clones were away hunting the Joker.
And unfortunately for her, those clones came back just at the right time. The three clones, disregarding any care about their own safety, charged at Wonder Woman, which forced her to let go of the Lasso of Truth as she moved to the side. Wonder Woman, completely enraged, ignored all hesitation or safety as she crushed the clones in a matter of minutes, which added a few injuries to her.
She heaved for breath while placing a hand on her bleeding stomach as she turned her head with increasing dread. She saw Pink standing with a completely pink glowing lasso. Half of the lasso was surrounding Pink's cracked wrist protectively while the other half floated in the air like a living snake. The lasso was moving around in the air as if it was a pet trying to impress its owner, while Pink's glowing eyes were on it as if judging a new toy.
Wonder Woman felt something inside her shatter as her legs all but went weak, while her mind struggled to understand her situation; her conscious mind refused to believe what she was seeing.
At the same time, Tornado, who was finally able to deal with the clones due to Lion's attention being focused on aiding Pink—which allowed Tornado to deal with the mindless clones since he was free of the portal's harassments—landed beside Wonder Woman, who looked pale yet filled with anger.
Tornado turned his gaze to see Lion moving beside his owner, his pink glowing eyes locked onto Tornado again while his mane started glowing, his throat releasing an annoyed growl. Pink finally, seemingly satisfied, turned her head to them with the same empty expression as her shield materialized again.
Tornado's gaze locked into the glowing pink lasso as he glanced at Wonder Woman, seeing her missing a very specific piece of her equipment. But Wonder Woman's increasing anger was all the answer his mechanical mind needed to understand.
'Impressive... It seems Pink is much more powerful in this unconscious or deranged state.'
'Corruption? Magical, maybe?'
Tornado's thoughts were cut off as Lion's pink mane started floating slightly in energy before he released a roar, causing waves of pink energy that cracked the ground and moved towards the heroes. Tornado answered with the certainty of a machine; both his metallic hands were raised as the two attacks met, causing destruction to spread.
Wonder Woman, still filled with anger, charged with fury burning in her chest. Wonder Woman arrived in a blink in front of Pink, sword raised and ready to strike. Pink met the attack with her sword while her gaze moved back to Wonder Woman, showing the same detachment but slightly hinted with impatience.
Pink's diamond started glowing as energy in massive amounts was rushed to follow her will. Ten huge transparent structures formed in the air as they took the shape of gauntlets. Tornado, with no hesitation, took to the skies as he avoided two gauntlets slamming the ground where he was a second ago. Unfortunately for Tornado, he dodged into a portal that opened behind him.
Tornado appeared a second later in the sky just in the right place for one of the gauntlets to take hold of him, as he felt his metallic body start bending under the force. Wonder Woman was no much better; seven huge gauntlets were chasing her across the place. That was until Pink appeared by a portal in front of her with a sphere of vibration surrounding her sword, and a second later the strike arrived, causing small cracks to spread across Pink's hands.
The world shook slightly as Wonder Woman felt her bones shake as the vibrations traveled across her sword to the rest of her body. Wonder Woman withstood the strike, but it sent her to the sky where seven gauntlets were waiting for her. Two gauntlets crushed her between them. Wonder Woman, using her sword and strength, forced them slightly open as cracks appeared on the gauntlets.
Pink on the ground, seeing the futile resistance of the organic being, simply raised one of her hands as she tripled the energy output to the structures, repairing the cracks, while the remaining gauntlets disappeared from the sky as they were deemed a waste of energy—leaving only the gauntlet holding Tornado and the two crushing Wonder Woman.
Pink, seeing that the organics were finally suppressed, turned her back looking for her original target.
(A/N: Yes…. The Joker has already been battered by Pink and the clones all cut a limb from him (total three limbs), but angry Pink wasn't satisfied since she didn't see his dead body. And yes, leaving Wonder Woman and Tornado is stupid, but Pink isn't really thinking, is she? … we got that out of the way, so let's continue.)
Pink, who completely forgot about the organics, stopped as Wonder Woman shouted with pure rage, drawing Pink's attention as she saw the two gauntlets be forced apart with brute strength and determination as Wonder Woman forced her head and one of her hands out.
Pink glanced at Wonder Woman's gaze, which was locked on her with pure rage and fury, which only caused Pink to lose what remained of her patience. Those organics have interrupted her many times; as interesting as they were, they have wasted her time, and her unconscious mind was done humoring them.
The only answer Wonder Woman got was Pink walking slowly towards the gauntlets, while a sphere of vibration started forming at the tip of her sword as it kept getting larger and larger, while the gauntlets lowered from the sky, making Wonder Woman close enough to the ground.
Pink stopped a few feet away from Wonder Woman, who to her credit showed no sign of fear.
"Do your worst!"
As Wonder Woman's shout of defiance fell, the strike landed a second later directly on her jaw.
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(A/N):I AM DONE! The abyss of knowledge lay defeated and I have put them to the sword! And I would say I did quite well.
This chapter had been almost rewritten three times! but at least I feel it is decent at last!.
