"What the—"
She vanished from its path, reappearing a short distance away just as a hammer the size of a small vehicle slammed through where she'd been.
"We have a score to settle, bitch!" Harley's voice rang through to her, an annoying reminder that she had to come for vengeance.
Of course it was Harley.
She stood there with that same grin, biting down on her lower lip like she was enjoying this far too much. The hammer didn't stay a hammer for long. As she swung it, a strange gas spilled out behind it, spreading through the air in a thick, unnatural cloud.
Artemis didn't wait.
Harley closed the distance immediately, her movements wild but not careless. A kick came fast, sharp, aimed as a distraction rather than finish. But her opponent was a member of the Greek pantheon, such tricks were futile. Artemis blocked, barely, but only to realize the hammer hadn't stopped moving.
It came at her again.
And again.
Her attacks had a chaotic pattern to them but were also autonomous and relentless.
"Unnghhh—" Artemis grunted as she shifted her stance, forced to split her focus.
Harley left the Hammer to attack alongside her which drew a gasp from the goddess of the hunt, but before she could even use any godly items on her, she realized she had fallen for the clown goddess's trick. Harley had already closed the distance a few seconds ago and even though she was faster than the clown goddess, she was trapped in a three-way with the hammer attacking her side and Harley the other. And now Harley had her sceptre in hand, while attacking, making the situation more dangerous.
The goddess of the hunt had to use her senses to the max now to fight Harley. 'How the hell is she putting pressure on me just by herself? This is getting annoying.' Artemis thought as her speed and thought process increased as the battle went on.
One hand held the bow, using it to absorb the heavier strikes from the hammer. Each impact sent a jolt up her arm, the weight behind it far beyond what it should have been.
The other hand moved like a blur, constantly—blocking, redirecting, countering the clown goddess's relentless sceptre attacks.
Every time she aimed for Harley's wrist, she was fine. Every time she touched the sceptre—pain.
It was sharp, immediate, enough to make her flinch and suck in a breath through her teeth, given her godly durability. And Harley didn't give her time to recover! As a former Gotham mobster, that was only the basics, to never allow a breathing space for your enemy, lest you fight like a henchman who attacks one at a time even though they may be in a large group.
"FUCK!" Artemis snapped, finally pushing outward with a burst of divine energy that forced Harley back a few feet.
Harley landed lightly atop the air as if she were standing on a platform, unfazed.
"Look at that," she laughed. "I made a god curse." She tilted her head, eyes narrowing playfully.
"Is this getting too much for you, honey? Let me ease your pain then!" The hammer shifted again, melting and reforming into something new—a rocket launcher.
She didn't hesitate, she had felt out her opponent enough and knew how much damage she needed to deal to take Artemis out in one hit. Often times, heroes fall to her because they underestimate her brilliance and battle iq due to her outward personality and this Greek goddess was no exception.
Artemis scoffed, almost laughing even, and was already drawing her bow.
"You think I'd just stand there and take that? You must be slow in the head." Energy gathered around her arrow, building quickly.
"Even as a god, you still think like a mortal." In her mind, this was already over, the newbie goddess overestimated her powers too much instead of having the time to hone and consolidate, given the fact she just ascended to godhood. Making herself open for an attack like that would only ensure that she dodges it with ease. After all, she had made another mistake of giving an archer distance and the last but not the least, the clown goddess couldn't match her pace.
There was distance and time. A clear shot, there was no escaping this, Harley was not as fast as Donna after all, thank heavens for that, she's finished.
As much as the Greek goddess mocked the clown goddess naivety, there was only certainty in Harley's eyes as she pulled the trigger.
"As long as I leave myself open to you…" she said, her voice almost playful.
"You won't escape me."
"What—" Artemis frowned for half a second.
Light exploded from the launcher, bright enough to cut through the dark sky.
But instead of the expected blast, there was a deep laughter. A rocket shaped like a shark burst forward, grinning, teeth bared, cutting through the air with unnatural speed.
Artemis shifted, ready to evade—And then everything disappeared. The light, the rocket, all gone as if swallowed whole by a sudden patch of darkness.
Harley blinked in surprise but laughed again, Artemis shook her head. She really was a clown goddess or was she just pulling her legs? Surely that attack had enough energy behind it, she couldn't just use that as a bluff now, could she? Or was it because she wasn't used to handling such massive amounts of energy? She was a newbie goddess after all.
"You can't even land your attack," Artemis said, calm returning to her voice. "And yet you set rules for it?"
'This has been a complete waste of my time, begone, clown!' She released the arrow.
It hit!
Harley's lower half vanished instantly, erased in a clean, brutal line.
"…oh." For the first time, Harley looked genuinely caught off guard, safe for when her attack got swallowed up.
Behind Artemis, something moved, a clod presence that sent shivers down her spine. It was Batman, the trident in his hand was already mid-thrust, aimed to pass through the bowels of the goddess of the hunt.
As the goddess of the hunt she instinctively felt like a prey in the hands of predator with no escape. When last did she have this feeling? Not since the war bolstered by Ares for the stop of direct divine intervention in the world of man. Who could make her feel this way, that she couldn't even move but accept her inevitable demise.
'Why can't I move?' Artemis thought as her eyes went wide from fear.
The question hit just as the strike should have landed—light broke through again, it was violent and shattering. Reality cracked open like glass, the earlier light from Harley's attack forcing its way back in to the real world as if it were trapped behind something.
Batman clicked his tongue in frustration and pulled back into a portal instantly, disappearing before the moment could turn against him, but Artemis remained frozen where she was. Now that the Bat was gone, she no longer felt that fear but still she couldn't move.
Her form flickering slightly, like she was trying to teleport out of there but failed. The rocket launcher aim was true, and the target was rendered immobile, the goddess of the hunt could only watch as the rocket sped to her.
"Why can't I move???" she said out loud now, the confusion breaking through her usual composure.
A cheery voice answered.
"Didn't I tell you the rules of the game? Or have you forgotten so soon?"
"What? You are still alive?" Artemis clearly taken aback on Harley's condition. She was just barely hanging on with half of herself.
Harley's upper half hovered, breathing heavier now, slower, her regeneration taking longer than before. But her eyes…they weren't fully playful any more. She was laughing earlier because she saw a portal opening behind the goddess of the hunt when her attack got swallowed, she surmised that it was Batman's portal that sent her attacks away. But the look on Batman's face when he stepped out of the portal–trident face was a bit scary but still, she smiled and laughed. A character like Batman was finally broken and fell to chaos.
Recently, I have been diving into warhammer... and let me tell you this... Batman would fall to chaos so easily he wouldn't even know he actually fell to chaos.
Now go ahead and show support by getting a membership on patreon.com/futamommy or fall to chaos.