The kids glanced at her in surprise For an instant Wonder Woman thought her arrival would put an end to the argument But instead it gave each side an audience The Warriors messed up the playground the girl shouted She was the captain of the Eagles and appeared to have quite a temper Did you do this because we won the last five games Will That was last year Emma Will the captain of the Warriors snarled This year we’re gonna cream you Like how Emma growled She pointed her bat at the nearby baseball park The diamond was torn up The bleachers were smashed The bases were scattered You haven’t left us a field to play on I can see you Warriors doing that but why destroy the playground too We all played here when we were little Our brothers and sisters and cousins play here now Emma’s teammates grumbled in agreement behind her We didn’t do it Will was nose to nose with Emma again We wouldn’t How could a bunch of kids make this mess anyway Wonder Woman thought Will had a point This destruction was far beyond anything kids would be capable of But that argument didn’t convince Emma She and her team just kept shouting And Will and his team kept yelling back
Wonder Woman was starting to get frustrated Each side wanted to talk but neither side wanted to listen She unhooked her lasso She knew one quick way to get the truth if the kids would agree to the test Deep inside Earth in a fiery underworld called Tartarus two Greek gods faced each other across a chessboard Hades the ruler of Tartarus reached out and moved a pawn shaped like a skeleton The pawn held a sword just like the skeleton soldiers standing at attention behind him Hades nephew Ares the God of War studied the chessboard through a small portal The magical window linked Tartarus and Olympus the realm of the gods where Ares lived While the portal allowed Ares to reach in to play the game it kept Hades from escaping his prison in Tartarus Ares reached through the portal and picked up a bishop He moved it diagonally knocking over Hades warrior pawn I’ve taken one of your pieces Uncle Ares said You’re losing your touch I have been trapped here far too long Hades sighed But I will remain here as long as Queen Hippolyta holds the key Ares looked at him sharply And yet rumors fly that you have found a crack in your realm Some say your Skeleton Army can travel through it to the mortal realm of Earth
HA-HA-HA-HA-HA Hades let out a long booming laugh So that is why you agreed to this game Nephew The Ruler of the Underworld shrugged The rumor is true I sent a test squad through to Earth And they returned with those Hades pointed to a pile of chains and broken bits of wood tossed into a corner What could be more worthless Ares studied the debris with interest He noticed a piece of wood had PROPERTY OF GATEWAY CITY stamped on it It looked like part of a large toy the mortals called a swing set Hades knew that Ares had been growing bored Life on Olympus was far too peaceful for the God of War Ares thrived on constant conflict and battle And Hades Skeleton Army fascinated him Hades pretended to study the chessboard He waited for the ideas he had slyly planted to grow in Ares mind Ares grinned Lend me your Skeleton Army Uncle he said eagerly I will bring you a greater reward than those chains and broken boards
