MvDC MVFBB - Artemis vs. Valkyrie

Talented text and Marvelous music by the Avant-garde Aron Orson
Impressive inks and Captivating colors by the Magnificent MuscleGirlsArt

Backstage…

Artemis [thinking]: “This is not the sort of contest I ever imagined finding myself in. Something tells me I should have been paying more attention when Cassandra showed me those television programs depicting such pageantry…”

Brunnhilde [walking up to Artemis]: “I thought I spied someone more used to battlefields than what the mortals call ‘runways’.”

Artemis [turning to Brunnhilde]: “And you look like someone who’s no stranger to sword-or-spearmanship.”

Brunnhilde: “Aye—many a foe I faced knew well of my prowess with the spear or my blade, Dragonfang. Few have lived to tell the tale.”

Artemis [slightly smirking as she holds her hand out]: “I like the cut of your gib already. Artemis, of the Bana-Mighdall Amazons.”

Brunnhilde [shakes the proffered hand]: “Brunnhilde, of the Valkyrior of Asgard.”

Artemis: “The name rings familiar, though I know of you only from legends that the Amazon scribes have kept of prior encounters with the Valkyries of our universe—either that, or the dramatic opera from man’s world called the “Ring Cycle”.”

Brunnhilde [shaking her head slightly]: “You’ve no idea how often that comes up whenever I have met new people. Yet your name I am quite familiar with—any relation to the Olympian goddess?”

Artemis [shaking her head]: “Beyond being my namesake and whose skill with the bow I sought to emulate, not truly.”

Brunnhilde: “The Bana-Mighdall Amazons, however, are new to my knowledge—in my world, I and my allies have occasionally encountered only one tribe of Amazons.”

Artemis: “Must be a significant distinction between our two worlds’ histories. With mine, three-thousand years ago, following the destruction of Themyscira the city-state by Herakles and his forces, Antiope, the sister of the Amazon queen Hippolyta, renounced her faith in the Gods of Olympus, wanting to seek vengeance on the strongman who tricked and ravaged our people. Following her death, Antiope’s followers settled in the deserts of North Africa, where they founded the hidden city of Bana-Mighdall. Over the course of our existence, we became a violent, bitter, mercenary people, our primary trade being weapons manufacturing and trading—ironically, with the men of the outside world. It was only in the present day, following several battles with Themyscira’s champion, Diana [points to Wonder Woman nearby], that Circe [points to the witch-goddess in question] transported us all to Themyscira the island, where after some initial clashes, we were reintegrated into the ranks of the Themysciran tribe. It was something of a boon to us, as at the time, our desert city had been destroyed.”

Brunnhilde: “If you renounced your faith in Olympus, how did your tribe survive all those thousands of years?”

Artemis [slight look of shame on her face]: “…Regrettably, we of Bana-Mighdall continued our lineage by abducting the men of the cities surrounding ours as glorified breeding stock. Male infants were always sent to their doom, while we raised and trained the females in our ways. It…is a part of our history that I and a good number of our tribe are not proud of.”

Brunnhilde [sympathetic]: “I see. Indeed, there are some things we Asgardians have done in our past that we have come to find shameful as the years have worn on. Pardon my query, but where do you fit in all of this?”

Artemis: “Growing up in Bana-Mighdall, I felt listless, anxious to see the rest of the world—so when I turned fourteen years old, I left, surviving by selling my fighting skills to whoever needed them. My travels eventually brought me to the United States, where, for a time, I stayed with a couple who looked after me as if I were their own daughter. It was an eye-opening experience for me, given what I’d been taught about the world before I left. My ‘foster parents’, as they were, were a couple of soldiers, who taught me the value of a life of service and protecting others. When they shipped out, I lived with the wife’s old mother; unfortunately, both lost their lives in the line of duty, and following my…I suppose you could call her my ‘foster grandmother’s’ passing, I found my way back to Bana-Mighdall, though now secretly questioning our tribe’s ruthlessness and bloodthirsty lifestyle. These doubts grew more muted when my training resumed, my mentors telling me that I would become an unrivaled warrior, someday perhaps becoming queen of all Amazons. One day, in my arrogance I even tried claiming the most powerful weapon given to us by our then-patrons, the Egyptian gods: the Bow of Ra. The weapon rejected me, as if I weren’t ready, a fact confirmed for me when the goddess Nephthys appeared and told me so.

With that dream now seemingly out of reach, I soon found my new goal would be to become the Bana-Mighdall champion, the Shim’Tar; my friend, and at one time lover, Akila, even trained with me so I could compete for the role. Akila then went missing for a time, only to return after several weeks; as it turned out, she’d been summoned by the gods, who chose her to become the Shim’Tar. From there, we Bana-Mighdall became pawns of Circe in her battles with Diana and the Themysciran tribe, with her even promising us immortality if we eliminated them all; I was the only one to speak out against this but was outnumbered by my sisters. When the plan commenced, it was two bloody days before everyone realized Circe had fooled us all, but we could do nothing once she transported the entirety of Themyscira to a demonic dimension. Time moved differently there—for us, it was nearly ten years, compared to only the few months that had passed in the real world. Yet in all that time, fighting to survive against the swarms of the horrible creatures who dwelled within forced our tribes to mend our differences. Once our demonic foes were quelled, Hippolyta, as a sign of good faith, bestowed upon us the far side of the island to claim as our new home. However, she soon became troubled by visions of the future, one of which…was of Wonder Woman dying. From there, while keeping those visions to herself, she called for a new Contest, to pick a new bearer of the Wonder Woman title. Initially, she excluded us Bana-Mighdall, but Diana convinced her to put our inclusion to a vote, which gained us entry. From there, Hippolyta somehow arranged things so that I ultimately became the winner. Along with the title, I was given the Gauntlet of Atlas, the Sandals of Hermes, and the Lasso of Truth; in my time as Wonder Woman, I sought to distance myself from Diana, with much difficulty. Admittedly, my approach to dealing with various crises was more…violent than desired, which did me no favors with those I tried helping, even during my brief time among the heroes of the Justice League.

Eventually, I found myself fooled by a scoundrel calling himself the White Magician, a powerful high-lord Demon. My arrogance…led to my demise at his hands. For reasons I still am unknowing of, my soul ended up in Tartarus, where I became a concubine to a prince of the realm named Dalkriig-Hath. It was…[shudders] a harrowing experience. Diana herself once came to try and free me, but I turned her away, ‘accepting’ my fate. When Diana was tortured for trying to help a lesser demon who was enduring punishment, I did nothing at first...but my guilt won out and I freed her. I incited a revolt among the other denizens to cover mine and Diana’s escape. Now back in the realm of the living and wanting to further distance myself from my time as Wonder Woman, I decided to employ the skills I’d learned in Tartarus and joined up with a band of demon-hunters called the Hellenders, where I took on the codename ‘Requiem’. My time with them was short-lived, as I discovered that the group’s backers were actually trying to summon fallen angels to Earth—one of whom was Dalkriig-Hath. My comrades and I were able to kill him and his brethren for good, though seven of our number almost lost their lives.

I started to regain more of a presence in Diana’s life, through helping her mentor Cassandra Sandsmark, a girl who became the second Wonder Girl under our tutelage; I would perform the same duty when Supergirl, the cousin of our world’s strongest champion, Superman, arrived on Earth. In-between, I helped quell unrest in Tartarus by aiding my ally Belyllioth in assuming Dalkriig-Hath’s place among the thirteen rulers of the realm. From there, I and my sisters would endure a civil war amongst our tribes, spending a year in exile from the world of man in another dimension, and being tricked again by Circe into invading the United States. When things finally settled down, I was drawn into a new quest; the Bow of Ra had gone missing, stolen from its resting place, and I vowed to find it, armed with a magical axe for additional protection. My travels brought me onto the same path as a masked mortal vigilante calling himself the Red Hood, and Superman’s clone, “Bizarro”, all because a criminal named Black Mask had somehow acquired the Bow and sold it to a buyer in the nation of Qurac. After some initial misunderstandings, Red Hood and Bizarro somehow became my companions in my search for the Bow, the three of us acting as a mercenary band calling ourselves the “Outlaws”. We eventually traced the Bow to a Quraci military leader, who in turn was being manipulated by the true wielder of the Bow: Akila. She’d been corrupted by its power, and it fell to me and the others to take her down; it saddened me greatly to lose one I loved so dearly, but I was finally able to reclaim the Bow afterwards. In her fervor, Akila was trying to rebuild and revive the original city of Bana-Mighdall, even training a new generation of Amazons. I decided to honor her dream, in a way, by having the disciples not only rebuild the city, but also try and live in harmony with the Quraci refugees living nearby. It will take some time, but I have a feeling it will be worth it in the end.”

Brunnhilde: “An inspiring story, one that would have rapt attention even in the hallowed halls of Valhalla.”

Artemis [nodding]: “And what of you, Lady Brunnhilde? Something tells me there is more to you than what the legends have described.”

Brunnhilde [nodding in turn]: “Aye—I’ve been through trials as harrowing and unbelievable as you. A million years ago, I was princess of Wrlstead Arms, when Odin, the ruler of Asgard, sought to destroy Aesheim—what is better known to the mortals as Earth—because of its taint by his brother Cul the Serpent’s corruptive influence. Sigmund, my lover, was killed in the struggle, and Odin, in wanting to give the mortals a paradise to look forward to, chose me to become a Valkyrie, tasked with bringing the souls of those fallen in battle with honor to Valhalla. I and my fellow Valkyrior served Asgard dutifully, and capably, in this capacity for the many centuries that followed. For a time, Odin’s son, Thor, and myself were caught up in a saga you may recognize as the tale of Siegmund, Sieglinde, Siegfried, the latter of whom was a mortal reincarnation of Thor.”

Artemis [surprised]: “I have heard that tale before—so, it is true then? You became romantically involved with Siegfried, even when he betrayed you, to the point where you joined him in his funeral pyre?”

Brunnhilde [nodding]: “Indeed. Once that was over, Odin returned myself and Thor to our respective stations, though we also had our memories of the experience erased for the time being. To this day, no one knows why Odin cast us in that life of drama and tragedy. Eventually, Odin was forced to cease all contact with Earth, or Midgard, because of a pact he and the leaders of Earth’s other godly pantheons had made with the beings known as the Celestials. Because of this, we Valkyries could now only ferry the slain of Asgard’s heroic warriors; I became embittered by this development and found myself wandering the land in search of purpose and meaning. It was during my travels that I first encountered Amora the Enchantress.” [Points to the blonde with the green tiara nearby, chatting with Circe.] “She offered me a life of adventure, and for the several weeks that followed, I accompanied her as she made her conquests. Amora’s immorality led me to try and sever our partnership, but in turn, she imprisoned me inside an object in her possession called the Crystal of Souls. I was trapped, my body in suspended animation, and in the centuries that passed, my soul became Amora’s plaything. She’d use my essence to either bestow my power and abilities unto herself, or to whoever was her pawn at the time, both usually involving magically altering hers or her pawn’s appearance to resemble me.

In our present time, there were three notable instances of such. First, Amora herself assumed my guise to lead a small group of female superhumans against their comrades in Midgard’s champions, the Avengers; thankfully, they were able to expose her ruse. She then bestowed my power unto a mortal socialite named Samantha Parrington, as a means of getting revenge against She-Hulk’s [points to She-Hulk herself] cousin, the original Hulk. But the most grievous instance of Amora using my power and essence in this manner came when she involved another mortal woman named Barbara Norriss, driven mad after being trapped for a time in a mystical realm. Amora not only gave Norriss my power, but also placed my consciousness into her body as well. While it was mainly to help her and another group of Midgard champions called the Defenders escape the sorceress Casiolena, Amora did not undo the spell. I was now trapped in the transformed body of Norriss, while her mental essence was trapped in my real body back in Asgard; Amora also left me with partial amnesia to further the ruse; it had the effect of taking away much of my usual strength of will, and also did me no favors when it came to Norriss’s husband, Jack, who refused to accept that I was not his wife.

Because I had nowhere else to go, I decided to stay on with the Defenders. It was an eventful time, to say the least—I even got to experience the mortals’ penal system for a couple of days, through accidental circumstances. It wasn’t until the Asgardian Ollerus made an attempt to take over Valhalla that I was able to meet Barbara Norriss for the first time. She’d awakened in my body, and the two of us were lured into battling one another, which ended with her—and my body—consigned to Niffleheim. I still don’t know why, but I wasn’t particularly concerned with reuniting my mind and body…until Barbara’s body was killed, freeing me in the process. My fellow Defender, Doctor Strange, was able to help me regain my true body, thanks to it being recovered from Niffleheim by Amora. I regained my full memory, as well as my personality, and as a form of poetic justice, I gained a measure of revenge on Amora by banishing her into the Crystal of Souls. I didn’t return to Asgard, however, having grown estranged from the realm eternal, and Odin in particular, for ignoring my plight for all this time, and remained with the Defenders through their many incarnations, including the one called the “Dragon Circle”. By that time, I decided to pass both Dragonfang and my winged steed, Aragorn, on to Samantha Parrington, allowing her to become an Earthbound Valkyrie.”

Artemis [near-speechless]: “That…is as unbelievable as it sounds.”

Brunnhilde: “And then…eventually, Ragnarok came.”

Artemis: “The ‘Twilight of the Gods’?”

Brunnhilde: “Aye. While I and much of Asgard perished for some time, Samantha Parrington carried on as the Valkyrie for Midgard. Eventually, Thor was able to resurrect us, though we at first took on mortal identities before he awakened us fully. I found myself in the form of a hotel worker named Valerie, and at one point was thrown from a balcony by Piledriver, a member of the criminal Wrecking Crew, for refusing his advances. I awakened from my ‘demise’, sword magically in-hand, and went to face off with him. The battle fully restored my memories, and I renewed my vow to protect innocent mortals. It led me to join an offshoot of the Avengers known as the ‘Secret Avengers’, as well as teach a class as part of the newly-established ‘Avengers Academy’.

Odin’s past came back to haunt him when Cul the Serpent returned, empowering a group of villains as ‘the Worthy’. Many of us fought hard to defeat them, but it was not without a reminder of my duty as a chooser of the slain, for there were a great number of mortal casualties in the battle’s wake; for a while afterwards, I was in a relationship with my compatriot on the Secret Avengers, a mortal named ‘Flash’ Thompson who was bonded to an alien symbiote. Following that, I was given the task of reforming the Valkyrior, leading me to forming an all-female incarnation of the Defenders as we sought to prevent the return of the Valkyrior’s predecessors, the Doom Maidens. To my great surprise, it turned out I had originally been one of them, specifically the Maiden of Rage. In a moment where I lost control, I accidentally killed one of the few mortal members of my band, an archaeologist named Annabelle Riggs, her sacrifice managing to calm me down. Even though Annabelle had gained a place in Valhalla, I couldn’t let her death stand; calling in a favor from Doctor Strange’s wife, Clea, I was able to restore Annabelle to life…by fusing our essences together, effectively sharing a body for a time.”

Artemis: “…So, where do you stand now?”

Brunnhilde [smiling a little]: “As of late, I am fully myself. I was eventually able to work out a way to separate Annabelle from our union, as well as restore her full agency, much to the mutual relief and satisfaction of Annabelle and her lover, Ren Kimura.”

Artemis: “That is a tale our scribes would no doubt find engrossing.”

Brunnhilde: “Though I lived through it, I am sometimes still amazed at what I endured.”

Artemis: “I am minutely curious—your world has its own Amazons, so what is your Hippolyta like?”

Brunnhilde: “I worked with her when she was part of my Defenders, and based on what I can infer about your world’s, mine is a stark contrast—she’s a daughter of Ares, both in the literal and metaphorical sense; much more of a brawler than one would assume. Quite a critical and abrasive personality, as well. Used to bear some affection for the Hercules of my world, who’s an even starker contrast to your Herakles. Aside from that, she’s blonde, and lately has taken to wearing her hair in dreadlocks; also has an elaborate tattoo running from her right shoulder down to the bicep. (It’s a rather unique look for her, I will say.)”

Artemis [astonished]: “…One wonders what would happen if our respective Hippolytas were to meet…”

Brunnhilde: “I can only imagine.” [Looks towards the stage on hearing the building audience reactions.] “If we somehow get out of this, I’d be glad to exchange more war stories over a cask of mead, if interested.”

Artemis [nodding with a smirk]: “Consider me interested. For now, I’m more interested in seeing which of us will prevail in this competition. Shall we see what the Fates—or in your case, the Norns—have determined?”

Brunnhilde [smirking a little in return]: “We shall. More so when it comes to what our allies here will conceive of to break free. For now, best of luck, brave Amazon warrior.”

Artemis: “Same to you, proud shieldmaiden.”

[Both cap their conversation off with a variation of the UAMC handshake from 1987’s Predator.]

Main stage…

Promoter: “Ladies and gentlemen, things are about to get mythical with our next two contestants, both of them legendary warriors straight out of ancient lore! First up, from Multiverse-A comes one of two competitors from the fabled Amazons of ancient Greek legend! But not just any Amazons, as this fiery redhead comes from a splinter faction based in the deserts of North Africa, and first burst onto the scene when she donned the famous red, blue and gold swimsuit to briefly become the new champion of the Amazons! She’s tall, strong, named for the goddess of the hunt and the moon, and (so I’m told) quite skilled with the bow! So, make some noise for the first of our two Amazon contestants—the bold and brash ARTEMIS OF BANA-MIGHDALL!”

[Needle-drop: ”Mother” by The Amazons.]

Promoter: “Artemis, everyone! And now, her opponent from Multiverse-B. She’s our first competitor from the fabled realm of Asgard, home to the gods and monsters of Norse mythology! She serves an important role as a chooser of the slain, ferrying the souls of fallen warriors to their eternal reward in Valhalla! But she’s no slouch on the battlefield herself, as many who’ve tasted the blade of her sword, Dragonfang, can attest to! (If they were still breathing, that is.) In addition to chooser of the slain, she’s been a longtime fearless Defender and a Secret Avenger! So please, raise your flagons of ale to the most famous shieldmaiden of Asgard—BRUNNHILDE, THE VALKYRIE!”

[Needle-drop: “Immigrant Song” by Led Zeppelin.]