Chapter 47: The Queen's Request

Queen Hera

Shen You suddenly seemed to understand.

Until just now, he had thought this was some kind of story involving the grudges and bloodlines of the gods—a massive conspiracy where a major villain was trying to acquire Zeus' bloodline or something similar. But it wasn't that at all.

Turns out, it was just the "first wife" scouring the world for mistresses.

From this perspective, Hera really does have her headaches. Zeus has had this problem for ages; wherever he goes, he acts like a pile driver. Over the years, the number of "green hats" (metaphorically indicating infidelity) Hera has accumulated could probably stack high enough to pierce the atmosphere. If any alien friends happened to pass by, they might be shocked and think they'd ended up in Oa by mistake, because that towering pile of hats looks exactly like the central battery of the Green Lantern Corps.

Honestly, if anyone deserves to be blamed for all this, it would first be Zeus for creating fake identities to deceive young girls. But while Hera has the time to search the world for Zeus' mistresses, she never deals with the root cause. Maybe it's because she knows she isn't a match for Zeus; if she were to confront him, things would probably end up with her being "piledriven" again, so she'd rather not humiliate herself.

Of course, that's just a guess.

When Shen You suggested that perhaps Zeus could step in to resolve this—since, after all, this does seem like an Olympian family matter—Queen Hippolyta dismissed the idea.

"No one can find Zeus," she said, pausing for a moment. "At least not right now."

Shen You noticed the subtlety in her wording. "What do you mean?"

"The King of the Gods hasn't appeared in a long time, and no one has heard from him. Even the gods don't know where he is."

Hippolyta shook her head, seemingly unwilling to continue discussing the subject.

"We've indeed received the gods' mandate. Rest assured, Zola will be safe on Themyscira, and we are very grateful for your help along the way. However, as you should know, Themyscira has very strict rules about men setting foot on the island. Even as queen, I cannot easily change these rules, so..."

"That's fine; I wasn't planning on staying long anyway," Shen You cut her off decisively and continued, "To be honest, I came here partly because of Zola, but also because of a friend's introduction. He told me that Themyscira stores some N metal. He mentioned that you had fought together on the battlefield many years ago—do you remember a name, Wizard Shazam?"

Queen Hippolyta's expression changed subtly.

"Of course," she nodded. "The Guardian of Modern Magic, the Sorcerer of the Rock of Eternity, it's hard to forget him. I remember."

Queen Hippolyta stopped walking. The surrounding Amazonian warriors also halted, casting inquiring glances at her, waiting for her to speak.

She furrowed her brows and pondered for a moment, as if making a difficult decision. But it didn't take long for her to make a gesture.

"Take Miss Zola to a safe place," Hippolyta said calmly, turning to Shen You, "Come with me."

The two of them detached from the main group. Shen You followed the queen as they wound their way through the dense, overgrown forests of Themyscira.

They arrived at a steep rock face. Hippolyta refused Shen You's offer to fly her up, insisting on climbing by hand. But she was incredibly agile and scaled the cliff in just a few moves. Shen You activated his thrusters and flew up to join her.

Ahead, a protruding rock came into view. Queen Hippolyta walked up to it and placed her hand on the rock. The entire mountain emitted a deep rumble, a pale blue light flashed across the surface of the massive rock, and a thick stone door rumbled open.

Hippolyta led the way inside, and torches on both sides of the cave lit up automatically, their orange flames flickering and casting a bright path through the cavern.

Various weapons were displayed around the cave—swords, spears, shields, bows, and other weapons that Shen You couldn't even name. 

Though all were cold weapons, Shen You's enhanced senses could detect a dangerous aura emanating from many of them.

The Amazons might be primitive in their style of combat, but Shen You knew that many of their weapons were quite formidable. Some might even be made with N metal, while others were crafted from a magical alloy known as "Amazonium."

This metal not only possessed exceptional hardness but had a powerful property: it was highly compatible with magic. Its material properties were somewhat akin to the Uru metal used to forge Thor's hammer in the Marvel Universe; besides its excellent physical qualities, its greatest feature was its ability to easily accept enchantments. It was often referred to as "the metal used by the gods."

Its most famous example is Wonder Woman's silver bracelets, which demonstrate extraordinary defensive capabilities in both the movies and original comics—impervious to swords and bullets, capable of withstanding Kryptonian heat vision, and even amplifying Diana's divine power or absorbing and reflecting energy like Vibranium.

"Your wizard friend is right; Themyscira does still have some N metal left, but it's in very limited supply."

Hippolyta said this as she walked to the deepest part of the armory. She pressed her hand on a secret door, which quickly popped open.

"But we still have plenty of Amazonium. It is also an excellent material if you are interested."

In the DC universe, N metal is known as the Ninth Metal, while Amazonium is the Eighth Metal. Not only does this metal also possess superior properties, but when the Eighth and Ninth Metals collide, they can trigger additional effects.

"And then there's this."

She revealed a length of rope.

This time, Shen You was genuinely surprised.

The Lasso of Truth? Isn't that one of Wonder Woman's iconic artifacts?

No, it wasn't the Lasso of Truth. While it looked similar and emitted a certain magical aura, it wasn't exactly the same.

"My daughter has a similar lasso that represents truth and honesty. While this one is not as powerful as hers, it is no ordinary item either," Queen Hippolyta explained. "This is the 'Lasso of Lies,' which represents falsehood, the opposite of truth."

Shen You understood.

He remembered this item as well. In the comics, Batman once bought one from a magical black market as a tool against Wonder Woman. It has the ability to weave illusions, trapping those bound by it in a world of delusions.

This was indeed a precious gift.

After a moment's thought, Shen You turned his head and looked at her. "My intuition tells me you're showing me all of this not just because of your friendship with the wizard or because I helped Zola, am I right?"

"You are very perceptive," Queen Hippolyta nodded. "I do need help. It's about my daughter."

She looked somewhat somber as she spoke.

"Her name is Diana. Long ago, on a night without a moon, I shaped a baby out of the clay of Themyscira and prayed to the gods to grant me a child. The gods heard my prayer and granted this child life. And thus, she was born, my Diana—the perfect Amazon warrior, blessed by the gods, born with divine power, and created by the earth and sky."

Hippolyta paused and added, "At least, that's how the story goes. That's what she believes, and that's what I've always told my sisters on the island."

"But that's a lie," Shen You said.

"Yes, it's a lie," Hippolyta admitted frankly. "The reason I told this lie is because I didn't want her to know—I just wanted to protect her."

Shen You deliberately made his tone sound a bit surprised, even though he already knew Wonder Woman's true origin story.

"Your daughter, her father... Could he be...?"

"Yes, her father is the King of the Gods, Zeus."

Hippolyta sighed softly.

"I thought this truth could remain hidden forever, that she would never have to know. But I should have known—no truth can be concealed forever. There are signs that Hera may already know about this. And if she does, well... she is certainly not going to be happy.

"But Diana is no longer with me. She left for your human world a long time ago, and I don't know where she is. If Hera finds her and she doesn't know her origins..."

Shen You nodded. "You want me to help her."

N metal is the best anti-magic metal in the world. Hippolyta was willing to give it to him not only as compensation but also as a bargaining chip to use against Hera.

But after thinking it over, Shen You added, "But we've only just met."

"I have no other choice. I cannot ask the gods for help; none of them would want to offend Hera on my behalf," the queen sighed. "Perhaps this is all my fault, but Diana knows nothing—she is innocent. I see that you possess extraordinary power, perhaps even greater than I imagined. And you mentioned the wizard Shazam—there aren't many in this era who know his name. I am willing to believe that you are telling the truth. And as far as I know, that wizard despises evil. If you are indeed on good terms with him, then I believe you are pure of heart and true to your word.

"I don't have many options left. I'm not asking for much—if you happen to meet Diana or find her

, could you help her in some way, or at least warn her?"

Shen You looked at her, feeling a moment of empathy for the mother standing before him. Despite her extraordinary background and remarkable composure, she was ultimately just a mother who wanted to protect her child. And as he thought about it more, he realized she was right—this wasn't some big request or grand favor.

"Okay," he nodded, "if I come across her, I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you."

Queen Hippolyta nodded as well, and her gaze softened.