[indent][center][img]https://66.media.tumblr.com/486b167e474e3de106cc39dfccf7f8a9/tumblr_oxiqjx9JhY1w14pp3o3_500.gif[/img][/center][sub][COLOR=FDE384][I]New York City, New York[/I][/COLOR][/sub][/indent][indent][sup][right][COLOR=FDE384][i]Present Day[/i][/color][/right][/sup][/indent][hr][indent][sup][COLOR=FDE384][b]Issue #4.05[/b][/color][/sup][/indent][center][color=FDE384]𝗪𝗢𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗢𝗠𝗔𝗡[/color][/center]
[indent][indent]Placed on the intersection of Broad and Wall Street, Stryfe's hired help surrounded the second tower. There were six of them with automatic weapons and a clear view of the skies. Wonder Woman knew that facing them head-on was suicide. So, she came with an effective plan. While the hero was getting ready, one of the men noticed that the screen to the tower randomly started flashing. He ran towards it and tried to find out its problem. But, it kicked him out of the main program and only displayed a message:

[quote][center]𝚈𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚔![/center]𝙶𝚘𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚜𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚖! 𝙱𝚆𝙰 𝙷𝙰 𝙷𝙰!
  
𝚃𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗!
𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚕𝚞𝚎 𝙱𝚎𝚎𝚝𝚕𝚎, 𝚂𝚙𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚛-𝙼𝚊𝚗, 𝙽𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚌𝚛𝚊𝚠𝚕𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚟 𝙰𝚕𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚝 𝙻𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝙼𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚂𝚚𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝙶𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚗!
𝚈𝙴𝚂𝚂𝚂𝚂𝚂𝚂𝚂𝚂𝚂𝚂𝚂𝚂𝚂𝚂![/quote]
"Oh shit, we have been hacked!" The guy shouted for the others to hear while he was trying to regain control. After a moment of typing and clicking, he was able to remove the message and resume operations. He turned towards one of the masked men and asked, "Should we call it in?"

"No, headquarters would have noticed at the same time you did. Those freaks will be dealt with soon enough." 

Another man walked over towards the two of them and asked about what the message said. The first dude responded, "The mutants are trying to gather up as much manpower at the Madison. It will be useless anyway because-"

Then suddenly, the screen changed to an internal timer and started counting down. Naturally, the guards were beginning to question the purpose behind the timer. Things got serious when one of the dudes realized that it was a bomb. There was a moment of silence before one of them tried to dismiss the claim. A young man took off his mask, concerned with the idea that he was going to die. "H-he can't be crazy enough to kill himself and us... right?" 

"Weren't you there for one of his speeches?"

Another moment of pure quietness passed before the man dropped his mask and weapon to the street. He looked around to get an idea of where he was and declared, "Fuck getting paid. I want to live another day."

The others looked at each other and did the same thing, running away from the site. Wonder Woman was quite surprised that those thugs were smart enough to leave than stay. She approached the tower and processed to punch it repeatedly. It took at least thirty seconds before it broke into pieces. Of course, the infected citizens fell to the ground while the robotic bugs started charging at her. Yet, she noticed that another group of heroes was planning on meeting at the Square Garden. Stryfe wasn't going to avoid this opportunity to remove part of the threat. 

Without hesitation, Wonder Woman took off and started flying towards The Garden. It only took her about forty seconds to enter inside, but she noticed that Stryfe was inside a suit. He was saying something, but she didn't care and rushed towards him. Before anyone could react, Wonder Woman delivered a single punch that sent him flying towards the stands. There were a lot of broken seats, but it gave her enough time to analyze the situation. She noticed the hero was standing, but there were powerless to defeat Stryfe.

Wonder Woman turned towards the heroes and pointed at one of the injured. "Hurry! Get out! I'll take care of this... Stry-!"

Before she could finish her sentence, Stryfe reappeared and fired a blast from his gauntlet that hit her. Wonder Woman didn't have enough time to recover since he grabbed her head with one hand and punched her chest with the other. He threw her up in the air and sent her flying outside. Once outside, he caught up to Wonder Woman and punched hard enough towards the Empire State Building. She didn't have enough time to regain control and crashed into the famous skyscraper. Thankfully, there wasn't anyone inside at the time. Wonder Woman struggled to get up and saw Stryfe carefully landing nearby.

"Wonder Woman. Goddess of our world." Stryfe looked down at the hero with pure disgust. "Pretending you can live without conflict."

"Tell me how to stop this." Wonder Woman shouted at him.

"Or what? Kill me? This suit was designed to copy any mutant's abilities, including yours." Stryfe pointed at Wonder Woman and then got ready to fight again. "Let me show you how it feels to be beaten with your power."

Wonder Woman stood up and got into her fighting stance. "Bring it."

And with that, the fight began between the hero and villain inside the skyscraper. Wonder Woman delivered the first punch before being thrown outside, leaving behind a decent size hole in the process. Stryfe fired another blast from his gauntlet, but she dodged it and punched him down a few floors. He responded with an uppercut that sent her flying up a couple of floors also. It lasted for four minutes with both sides tired and exhausted, but Stryfe had the advantage as the building started losing balance. 

The fighting resulted in heavy damage to the Empire State Building, leaving behind massive holes on the higher levels. Now, it was about to collapse. Wonder Woman immediately tried to stop it from happening, but Stryfe grabbed and dragged her outside. He brought her high enough to witness the iconic skyscraper collapsing thanks to her god-like strength. "Look at what you did, Wonder Woman. Your abnormal abilities brought so much death and destruction. Now, you have not only destroyed one of America's iconic symbols... Do you see those buildings down there?"

Wonder Woman tried to free herself, but Stryfe took the struggling as an answer. "According to my men, hundreds of people fled there when the attack began. They thought that they were saved until you came along. Now, all of them are going to die."

The upper half of the Empire State Building began breaking apart and eventually falling downward. Both of them saw some of the debris hitting the other buildings before smoke covered the entire area. Wonder Woman cried out and tried to free herself again. Stryfe turned towards the skyscraper, and the realization was hitting him. Even if the heroes managed to destroy every tower, it was already too late. The destruction of the Empire State Building was worse than his original backup plan. He had won.

Stryfe pointed at the partially collapse Empire State Building and yelled at Wonder Woman, "This is what happens when people like you aren't kept in line! Your kind brings nothing but death and destruction! I know that people will realize that soon enough. Just like I did, Wonder Woman. Our world's first hero... You aren't a hero! You are a murder!"

"I didn't kill them! You did!" Wonder Woman elbowed him and managed to free herself.

Stryfe laughed and tapped on his suit. "Didn't you forget? I told you that this suit mimics your abilities. So, while I have killed my fair share of people, this is your fault. And when will the world realize you are the most dangerous person in the world? Thankfully, it started with your performance in Transia. And now in this city, there will be no way that-"

Before he could finish, Wonder Woman punched his helmet so hard that it left behind an impression and sent him flying. She reached for his lasso and flew towards him at lighting speed before catching him. He tried to prevent her from taking off his helmet, but Wonder Woman grabbed his hand and crushed it. She processed to tie the lasso around his neck and started pulling on it as it glowed. Stryfe tried to get it off of him, but it was impossible. 

"Where is your base of operation?" Wonder Woman asked emotionless. 

"I-I will not tell you!" Stryfe resisted the lasso's heat.

"Where. Is. It." Wonder Woman angrily demanded while grabbing the right side of his face and began squeezing. She planned on ripping it off if he refused to compel. Thankfully, that was enough reason for him to answer truthfully. 

"Four Freedoms Plaza!" Stryfe cried out the answer and began to feel relieved. But, he then noticed how Wonder Woman was looking for the building before getting ready to strike. That was when he knew that he was going to die. There wasn't any need to challenge or dare her. She was already angry enough to possibly kill him without thinking. Wonder Woman wasn't in the mood to hear his pleas for mercy or give his reason for killing thousands. She stared at him, and coldly replied: 

"Thank you."

Wonder Woman sent Stryfe falling towards the plaza with her powerful punch. She didn't know how to react. Should she cry loud enough for the heavens to hear? Should she take all of angry out on Stryfe and pummel him to death? Or should she just run away and hide from the world again? The smoke was still covering the entire area, but she knew that finding survivors was low. But she could avenge them. Wonder Woman already made her decision and raced down towards the plaza to confront Stryfe for the last time.[/indent][/indent]