Wonder Woman #26

The Creeper gets in the way of Hermes' rebuilding of Boston, while Wonder Woman and Captain Atom track the missing Steve Trevor.

Wonder Woman says goodbye to her new friends from JLI. Martian Manhunter thinks that Wonder Woman would certainly make a nice addition to the JLI as she had shown great skill in battle when it was needed. Even Green Lantern agrees as he admits that she wasn’t the “bleeding heart” that he thought she was. Diana says that it is nice to find people who have the same “uniqueness” as her. Maybe they will consider coming over to Themyscira one day? Arriving in Boston, she flies over the city and looks at the destruction caused while fighting Ixion. Some people are saying that it’s her fault that this destruction was caused, but then again if it wasn’t for her, Ixion would probably have totally destroyed this city. It may have not been Hermes’ fault, but she certainly hopes that they will be able to forgive him... and her.

Meanwhile, at Perdition’s Pit, Hermes asks for forgiveness and sits next to Phobos who is now entombed in a stone. Hermes asks himself how he could be fooled by someone like Phobos. Hermes would have killed him if it wasn’t his fault. He then hears a voice and looks up. It is Harmonia, Ares’ daughter. She tells Hermes not to pity her brother. He then tells her not to try and save her brother and she assures him that that is not what she’s here for. Hermes has the right to imprison Phobos because how things are created and how things work in the world can be interfered with by gods. With that, Hermes’ godly powers have allowed his ego to grow. The humans don’t just allow higher entities to rule as the higher entity must earn respect from them. The Gods cannot afford to lose anymore worshippers, especially the Amazons and Diana.

At the Hansom Air Force Base, Wonder Woman touches down the same time as Etta is in the helicopter. Wonder Woman asks her if she is better and she replies that she is looking forward to seeing Steve. They are then driven to General Hillary’s office and Etta asks if something is wrong. Captain Atom steps forward with “I’m afraid so Lt. Candy.” He says he has some bad news about Steve Trevor. He then explains what happens, as an alien race called the Durlan had been an imposter, posing as Steve and the real one has gone missing (Captain Atom #24) and Etta starts crying. Hillary assures Etta that they are doing all they can and he then picks up the phone and calls General Eiling at the Invasion Command Centre. Eiling picks up, and asks his one of his aides that Gaffney is not responding to their calls. The fact that he was also very eager to do this mission was very suspicious. The aide then queries for the last location of Gaffney’s location, and he was 20 miles off-track. They discuss whether Gaffney may have crashed. Just then, a picture of him, dead, shows up on the screens located a few miles away from the base. He apparently has been dead for days and they have been tricked by another Durlan… again! Hillary requests the plotted flight path and find that the Durlan came from Cuba. Before Hillary can push out a word, Captain Atom and Wonder Woman are flying towards Steve’s co-ordinates.

Back at Boston, Hermes appears near the ruins and the citizens there are certainly not happy to see him. He tells the people that he knows that he has caused much pain and destruction and did it because of his own ego. Even though he cannot bring back the lost loved ones, he can bring back the city. This is projected live across the state as Julia and Vanessa are watching at home. Vanessa asks if he can pull this off, and Julia replies that hopefully he can, though she feels that their forgiveness towards him is only because he grants them to. He raises his Caduceus and does his magic.

Over the Atlantic, the Durlon is flying towards his destination and says into the radio that it is now time to attack with the main armada and requests new orders. Steve Trevor has a strong will, as they have tortured him and yet he gives false information but they need him for victory. The Durlon then picks something up on his radar. He turns around to see Wonder Woman and Captain Atom tailing him very closely as the heroes cannot allow him to escape because they need to location of Steve Trevor. With that, Captain Atom places his hand on the plane’s fuselage and absorbs all the energy, dramatically slowing the plane down and starts spiralling. She goes under the plane and grabs it careering towards a safe landing, but later they find that the plane has no one on board. Captain Atom reminds Wonder Woman that Durlons can turn into anything. Wonder Woman then has an idea and wraps her lasso around the fuselage and soon, an ammo box in the back of the plane starts forming out of shape and Captain Atom stuns the Durlon so that Wonder Woman can question him with her lasso.

Back in Boston, Hermes uses his powers and all the buildings that fell are building themselves again, as if someone was rewinding on a tape. A stranger in the alley however, is still skeptical of his work. The stranger then leaps up and punches Hermes. Now revealed, he is known as the Creeper. He tells Hermes that this place isn’t big enough for them and punches him furiously. Hermes then brings himself to composure but the Creeper kicks him and the TV crews are still broadcasting this. At the Kapatelis home, Julia is glad as she tells Vanessa that he probably needs this.

At the Atlantic, Captain Atom and Wonder Woman approach the prison that the Durlon had told them and she tells Captain Atom that they need to sneak or else they might kill Steve if the Durlons see them. Captain Atom agrees, saying he will never forgive himself if his good friend is hurt. He continues, saying his name is Cameron Scott and regrets not telling his friend that Captain Atom and Cameron Scott is the same person. Soon, they come across a cave entrance with a tree next to it, just like the interrogated Durlon said. Captain Atom the blasts the tree which proves to be a Durlon. They make their way inside as there is a split and they agree to split up. Wonder Woman sneaks through, looking for any sign of movement that may be Steve. She approaches a door and feels that that is the right room, but Captain Atom calls her from behind. He tells her he found Steve, but she turns back to the door as she feels something is behind it. Wonder Woman feels a bit suspicious… she asks if Cameron Scott is with Steve and he replies "Eh? Why yes he's with Trevor.” Her suspicious are confirmed and she confronts him and tells him that he is not Captain Atom. He throws a couple hard punches but is frustrated with her ability as she doesn’t fall. He grabs her neck and informs him that Amazons do not fall so easily and slams him into a wall. With that one finished, she wonders if there is another Durlon impersonating her. Elsewhere in the base, Captain Atom himself is confronted by a fake Wonder Woman and he too has realised it is a Durlon in disguise. He punches him sending him through a wall and the Durlon grabs a weapon, but Captain Atom tells him that it is useless. A few seconds later, the Durlon is out cold and sees Steve held up in this torture contraption. He approaches him but then is lassoed by Wonder Woman. She tells him that she just needed to find out whether he was the real Captain Atom. Steve tells them that he is okay, but he is very concerned about Etta but Wonder Woman tells him that he needs to see a doctor first.

In Boston, the city has returned to its normal state while the fight between Creeper and Hermes continue. With the commentary from the TV crew, Creeper is hitting hard but Hermes seems to be unfazed. Finally, Hermes grabs Creeper’s foot and throws him to the ground and unleashes a blast of energy towards him. He thinks Harmonia is right, but there must be a way to make atonement. Creeper then gets up and is ready to charge Hermes but he finds himself held back by Wonder Woman’s lasso. She touches the ground with Steve. Hermes thanks her for he didn’t want to destroy Creeper. She asks him what he has been doing and he replies that he has been returning the city to its normal state. Perhaps he is too impatient and that the mortals need time. On Olympus, time didn’t really matter, but on Man’s World, time sure goes by slowly!

Notes:

• "The Immortal Storm" written by George Perez, plot assists by Keith Giffen and Cary Bates, penciled by Chris Marrinan, inked by Will Blyberg, lettered by Augustyn Mas and Helen Vesik and colored by Carl Gafford.
• "Of Wings and Arrows" "Legends of the Amazons" "Bonus Book! No. 12" written by Tom Joyner, penciled by Neil Vokes, inked by Fred Butler, lettered by Jon D'Agostino, colored by Matt Webb and edited by Joey Cavaleri and Joe Orlando.