Perspectives.

Inside the grand ballroom of the cruise ship, hundreds of people danced to a serenade played by a small orchestra at the corner of the dance floor. A set of violins and a cello played a soothing melody that had couples spin at their heels, holding hands while several tables surrounding the dance floor were filled with families and patrons enjoying their late dinner, where servants offered drink and plates of small meals before the main courses were brought in. Built like a floating palace the interior of the cruise ship was a work of art.

Engraved supports made to appear like the flowing fins of a mermaid’s tail at the bottom and the human half holding up the ceiling surrounded the grand space; the walls depicted fantastical scenes of the ocean while overhead was a skylight that revealed the night stary sky. The great vessel sported a swimming pool, tennis court, theatre, and other amenities that would have made the cruise across the Atlantic to the Caribbean and back a moment of paradise.

The doors to the ballroom burst apart in a shower of splintered wood and polished brass, sending everyone to the ground screaming in panic as debris rained down upon them, looking up in that briefest moment to find a horde of feathered nightmares scurry out through the doorway and surround the panicked crowds. Screams filled the air as the monsters struck against the crew, swiping with razor sharp claws and teeth, cleaving at anyone who got in their way and tossing their ‘opponents’ across the room like ragdolls. Once they had the space surrounded and huddled the remaining crew and passengers to the center of the room, the leaders of the harpies gave off a scream, echoed by the rest of the harpies that was so harsh and high pitched, glasses burst, windows cracked, and everyone gathered clutched at their ears in stark terror.

Seeing hundreds of people whimpering at the sight of her sisters snarling and hissing down at them all from the overhead perches and balconies to the dance floor, Aello’s smile was like a cruel jack-o-lantern of a grin.

“WE ARE THE HARPIES OF THEMYSCIRA!” She declared, skulking across the upper balcony on all fours as she drank in the terror from the passengers below. “YOU HAVE INVADED OUR WATERS AND WILL BE PUNISHED FOR YOUR TRANSGRESSIONS!”

Looking over her shoulder to the door she and the rest came through, the rest of the harpies arrived with more men in hand, all of them wearing pressed, navy-blue clothing that was torn from being captured by the hideous bird women. One stood out over the others as he winced being held up by his waist by a talon gripping at his back by Ocypete.

“THIS one appears to be the male in charge of this floating city… Hmmph!” Making a face of disgust, Ocypete was not impressed with the middle-aged man, gasping for air, and looking terrified as Aello grabbed hold of his face and turned his head back and forth. “Look at him, so frail and useless. Conquering man’s world would be easy if they are ALL like this one.”

“Please… D-do whatever you want with me, but don’t harm…”

Screaming in rage back into the man’s face, Aello and OCypete threw the captain down to the floor, pining his head to the floor with a clawed foot while Aello bit down at his ankle. The man’s cries of pain making the crowd down below cry out with him as he was tossed over the balcony and caught by the crew below, softening his fall.

“WE WILL DO WHATEVER WE PLEASE MAN-THING!” Snarled Ocypete. “AFTER TONIGHT ALL WILL KNOW BETTER THAN TO TRAVEL THESE WATERS!”

Seeing the rest of the harpies gather up the rest of the passengers and crew and drag them helplessly to the ballroom to be tossed into the group, Artemis watched it all and looked to the rest of her sisters. Finding them all gleefully enjoying the affair play out as they drank in the terror they were creating.

“Thissss… We were heading out to punish men, not their people.” Pointed the red feathered harpy down at the quivering masses of frightened men, women and children. “They are innocent.”

“Innocent…” Hissed Myrina, sneering back at the other harpy. “There ARE no innocents, all who transgress ussss are guilty. GUILTY of association!”

“YESssss sister, just look at them all, mewling weaklings, ALL of them!” Scoffed Seena, hobbling towards a couple who kept their daughter close and away. “Just look at THIS one…”

Grabbing the child in one clawed hand and backhanding the father hard enough to knock him out completely in one swipe, Seena chuckled as she watched the little girl cry and look away from the sight of her.

“NONE of them are worthy to be warriors let alone amazons, best to wipe them all out like our generals planned.”

“We came out here to punish men, NOT just their families.”

“And we get to kill them TOO!” Chuckled the harpy as she traced a clawed thumb down the child’s face. “Besssst to erase even the memory of men from the world, SAVOUR your hatred ssssister, it grantssss you the strength to do what’s right.”

A claw gripped over Seena’s arm, turning her attention to Artemis who steeled her a harsh look.

“You will not harm her.” At that moment, Seena saw a change in Artemis’s eyes. Where once they were glazed, milky in colour, the second she blinked, they became vibrant and sharp, green in colour like human eyes. Instantly seeing the change, Seena screamed. Letting go of the child to take a swipe of her claw against the red harpy, Artemis let her go and caught the child before she could be harmed, ducking the attack, and giving the small crying girl back to her mother as she swiped with her own claws, raking her talons across Seena’s face, and making the harpy double over in pain and rage.

“TRAITOR!” Screeched the other harpies. “TRAITOR!”

“KILL HER!!!!”

Clutching at her bleeding face and her eyes wild with rage, Seena along with Myriana screamed out a battle cry as they both lunged for the Bana-Midghal amazon. Spreading her wings, Artemis took to the air, grappling with the other two bird women as they slashed and clawed at each other. The rest of the harpies screamed and screeched like barn owls watching the aerial fight, until Myriana was flung across the hall and collided with one of the mermaid shaped pillars. Seena soon fell the same fate as she was thrown down onto a table, crashing against the wooden surface and smashing it and the nearby chairs with her body.

Landing back to her clawed hands and feet, Artemis ignored the shiver run down her spine, eyeing the rest of the harpies who screamed and wailed in fury, watching as the red harpy down below changed. Her skin smoothed over, the blisters and wrinkles fading as she kept her guard up, her talons at the ready just in case she be attacked again.

“You will not harm them.”

“TRAITOR!” “TRAITOR!” “TRAITOR!” The rest of the harpies declared, hopping on their perches like screaming apes when their two leaders leapt from the balcony and landed on the ground, barreling towards Artemis as did the rest of the flight of bird women.

Prepared for the attack, Artemis fanned out her wings, swiping one of the attackers across the face with her feathers, blinding them temporarily as she grabbed the claw of another harpy, dodging the strike and pulling her across the room to tumble into another. A slash across her back made Artemis cry out in agony, swiping back blindly as another attacking talon cut into her side, forcing her to her knees as Aello grabbed her by her wings and broke them in her inhuman grip. Artemis screamed in agony, her cries cut short by Ocypete stomping down at her good arm and grabbing Artemis by the head with the claw of her foot, ready to give the killing stroke by crushing her skull.

“Weak little Bana-Midghall…”

The skylight above shattered overhead, alerting the harpies as something fell down to the ground and landed on her feet before the flock of bird women with her fists up ready to fight.

“Let her GO Ocypete!” Ordered Wonder Woman, giving the snarling creature a stern glare.

The screech from the two harpies were shared by the others, the awful cry **** all but Diana to clutch at their ears in both fear and pain.

Dropping the injured red harpy to the ground, both generals lunged for the princess, their claws bared, and jaws opened wide to scratch and bite the woman like rabid animals. Overhead Wonder Woman could see the rest of the flock diving to do the same, blind hatred in their eyes as they came crashing towards her. In a blur of motion, honed by centuries of training, training with the very women turned monsters she was facing now, the first claw to reach for her face missed its mark as Wonder Woman ducked, tied the lasso around the wrist and pulled back in a roll as Diana crouched and spun in the air under their digi-graded legs.

Returning to her feet and pulling at the lasso, hard. Diana grabbed more slack from the lasso for her next step when the recoil spun Aello head down and roll onto her back, kicking and flailing wildly and striking her sisters in the process. Quickly advancing on the harpies as they tried to regain their footing, Diana wrapped the rest of the slack around Aello’s other claw, tying them together.

“DIE WHORE OF MAN’S WORLD!” Roared Seena, swiping her claw towards the warrior princess. Using the other end of the lasso, Diana caught the claw and quickly tied it around Seena’s wrist, flipping her over her shoulder until the bird woman crashed onto her back over a table. Knocking her out.

More screeches of rage echoed out behind her as she undid the lasso over Seena’s talon and spun around at her heel to face the remaining harpies. Catching a blow with her gauntlets and ducking her head to avoid the wing flap that threatened to blindside her, Diana twisted her attacker’s arm around her back and used her as a shield, pushing her back to land in the arms of her compatriots who threw her aside to continue their **** of the princess.

“Where has your loyalties gone sisters?” Accused Diana as she brought the lasso up and caught the claws of her next attacker, tying them together and shoving her over to Aello who struggled impotently against the indestructible bond of the golden rope. “Has the change robbed you of your honour, or had you none to begin with?”

“BOLD WORDS FROM THE BITCH WHO BETRAYED US TO MAN’S WORLD!” Roared Ocypete, charging towards the princess like a bear. “HAD YOU NOT FOUND THAT MAN YEARS AGO WE WOULD NOT BE THIS WAY!”

Jumping out of the way and with a flick of her wrist, loop the lasso around Ocypete’s neck like a leash. When she landed, she pulled back, forcing the bird woman to squawk and grip clumsily at her leash while the rest of the harpies tried to attack. Pulling Ocypete back until she was hanging from the leash in Diana’s hand, the princess raised the bird woman up and gave the rest of the flock a commanding look.

“ENOUGH!” She demanded. “Surrender NOW, and I will show you leniency.”

“Leniency?” Chuckled Patrice, the bird woman slouched low with a lop-sided grin, as the other harpies chuckled with her. “It is because of YOU and that fiend that made us this way!”

“Yes, yes, but even a curse can be a blessing!” Clyemne hissed, brandishing her talon. “WE are the champions of TRUE justice! We bear the forms of the owl, our patron’s animal form on the mortal plane.”

“Champions of Justice? Avatars of our patron goddess?” Looking to the group of injured and terrified innocents huddled to the back of the dance hall and clutching their loved ones for dear life, Diana wrapped the lasso around her hand twice to tighten her grip.

“Understanding is a three-edged sword my sisters, our goddess Artemis said so.” Tugging on the lasso again, the harpies bound in her grip screeched and cried out.

“There is YOUR perspective, THEIR perspective… And the TRUTH. The truth of the matter is simply. Boston wished that the Amazons appeared as beautiful or as hideous as the deeds they perform.” Tugging on the lasso one last time and looking down at the harpies bound to it. Diana asked her questions. “The lasso of truth compels you, what deeds have you performed sister Ocypete?”

A golden glow erupted from the lasso, making the harpy grit her chipped teeth and sneer before finally relenting.

“I… I harmed a man, who’s only crime was he wished to greet me… I… I burned a dead man alive, declaring him an assassin, as an excuse to kill him and keep our island’s location secret… I threatened to kill a family for washing up on our shores… I dragged a man into an obstacle course meant to kill him… Because I refused to offer him food…” By now hot tears streaked down her sallow eyes, her face a mask of pain. “I attacked my own sisters in a fit of rage, because I wanted someone to suffer more than me, I betrayed my own queen, because I was… I was jealous of her restored beauty… I killed an elderly man, who sacrificed his life to save her from me… I tried again to kill my queen… And instead killed my sister… Because I thought she was too weak to live… And to have my broken sisters rally behind my plans to lash out at the inno-ce-e-ent…”

Sobbing openly, Ocypete, Aello and the others bound by the golden lasso were **** to confess their transgressions, seeing them for what they were and not how they wished to interpret them. Any fight left in them had evaporated, as did the harpies listening in, some falling to their knees and looking down at their appearance in renewed revulsion.

Without any resistance, Diana bound the rest of the harpies together and left them at the opposite side of the ballroom, looking down at them with both sorrow and regret.

“Boston was right; he didn’t make you hideous, he simply made you easier to look at.”

Turning her attention back to the injured and scared, Diana checked on Artemis who clutched at her injuries. Shaken, breathing irregularly, but alive. Resting a hand on the red feathered harpy, Artemis nodded back to her, letting her know she was okay, and nodded over to the rest of the group for her to check on. Many clutched at wounds and injuries being tended to by the crew and passengers, many of which were seriously so as they looked pale, keeping pressure on slash and puncture wounds. Spotting the captain, Diana helped the man stand on his good leg.

“Can you sail your people to port captain?”

“Looking down at his leg and clutching it to steady himself, the man nodded and looked down at the injured passengers.

“Even if I could, the nearest land is days away, they’ll die if we don’t bring them somewhere for help quick.”

Closing her eyes and slowly nodding, Diana looked back at the harpies that used to be her people.

“I know of a place where you can get help…”