Naomi had no idea what had happened.  One moment, she was fighting that ice bitch with the stupid mohawk, all those other idiots in tights (and that one guy who had the metal tights built in) fighting on their own, and the next she was here.  She had no idea where 'here' was.  She was having a hard enough time seeing through the haze of pure nerdiness this world seemed to have.

Wonder Woman (Naomi at least knew who [i]she[/i] was) looked around, lowering her fist, just as surprised to be here as Naomi was.  The area was on a cliff overlooking some sort of harbor, and decorated in what Naomi assumed was a Greek kind of style, with all the big pillars and statues.

"Themyscira?  How did I-"

From behind them there was "poof" sound, and a man dressed in dark grey armor, a black cape, and a large helmet with horns sticking off of the sides stepped out.  His eyes glowed red from within the black interior of his helmet, and his voice was unnaturally deep.

"[i]I[/i] brought you here."  He said.

Wonder Woman glared at him.  "You!  I have no time for your meddling."

Naomi held up her sword again.  "I dunno what you want, you reject from Lord of the Rings, but you better let me go!"

The armored man held up his hands.  "Calm, please.  There is much to discuss."

The superheroine wasn't listening.  She pulled out her Lasso of Truth.  "You may have bewitched my mother once, war god, but I won't tolerate your lies!"

Naomi grinned.  "A fight with a war god, huh?  Count me in."

----

Even she couldn't about the fight being difficult.  The god summoned all kinds of weapons, could teleport, and even turn invisible.  Massive axes and broadswords were hurled, swung, and placed around them to trip the two up; but despite their conflicting personalities, Wonder Woman and Naomi made a good team, working together as they could to score hit after hit on him.

The final blow came when Wonder Woman managed to butt him with her shield, knocking him away towards Naomi, and wrapped him up in her lasso, holding him still while Naomi punched him multiple times with the flaming Beowulf gauntlets.  The Amazon then pulled him back in hard, and swung her sword upwards as he came back, slicing him up the neck and knocking him to the ground, where he rolled onto a knee.  Despite the normally fatal wound, though, the god was relatively unharmed.

Wonder Woman put away her weapons.  "Now, Ares; you're sending me back."

Ares only chuckled at her, talking down to her like an uncomprehending child.  "Diana, your friends will survive their skirmish.  If you truly want to help them, you'll heed me."

Wonder Woman crossed her arms.  "Talk.  And be quick about it."

Naomi leaned against one of the pillars as Ares talked to Wonder Woman.  She had no idea why she was here.  Had that god screwed up his teleportation thing?  That didn't really make sense to her.  Then again, not a lot of this did.  She looked over when Ares created an image out of flames, some army or whatever getting ready for a war.  Something about how if the crazy Superman got control again, there wouldn't be any more "conflict" to fuel his powers.  It was all just stupid mumbo-jumbo to her.

Suddenly, there was a screeching sound, and a dark purple mist in the shape of a bird appeared out of thin air.  Raven stepped out of the misty portal, her hands glowing with her dark magic.

"We've been discovered."  Ares said, utterly calm.  "Diana, go to your work.  We can handle Trigon's spawn."

Wonder woman frowned.  "Why you and the girl, Ares?  What do you plan to do with her?"

"I have been overly generous with you today, Diana."  Ares replied, not even looking away from Raven.  "What business we have is between us.  Now go.  Don't you have a queen to overthrow?"

As much as she didn't know Ares, Naomi liked Wonder Woman thinking she couldn't handle herself even less.

"Back off, lady.  I can take care of myself.  Just do whatever you're s'posed to be doing."

Though she still didn't like it, the Amazon admitted to herself that there were more pressing matters at hand.  She took to the air, and flew downwards towards the harbors, where the ships were preparing to invade.

Raven stepped towards Ares and Naomi.

"Ares, aiding the insurgents?  As a strategist, you're no Athena."

"I think you'll be surprised, Raven.  You aren't one to talk, either.  We all know you only wish to hasten Trigon's return."

Naomi rolled her eyes.  "I have no idea what you people are talking about.  Let's just get to the punching!"

---

With their combined strength, Raven was actually easier than the previous fight.  She always tried to stand back and cast her magic spells, and while Naomi did get caught up and tossed around by them a few times, Ares always managed to distract her long enough so she could return to the fight.  Soon, Raven had fallen.

She tried to rise, make one final enchantment,  "Azarath metrio-"

Naomi punched her in the face, knocking her out cold.  "Shut up."

The god of war laughed.  "Such spirit!  Such anger!  Yes, you are exactly what I expected.  And precisely what I need."

"Need?  What do you need [i]me[/i] for?"

Ares sighed, and took a seat on the large thrown under the pagoda behind them, despite it clearly being meant for someone else.

"How should I explain this?  You see, child, my power is fueled by conflict.  As the god of war, such is my nature.  But Superman's reign has diminished conflict to an intolerable degree.  I cannot survive under these conditions.  This is why I give aid to Diana."

Naomi shrugged.  God of war gets his powers from, well, war.  Made sense to her.

"Then what do you need me for?  Get rid of Superjerk, and conflict comes back, right?"

Ares shook his head.  "Even this, I feel, may be a temporary measure.  I fear that if the heroes win this day, then their actions may usher in a new era of peace.  One that may be more... permanent than any before."

Naomi crossed her arms.  "And no more food for you."

"A crude way of describing it, but true enough."  Ares replied, nodding.  "This is why I believe that I need to... expand.  My powers only pertain to this world.  However, if I were connected to one such as you, who has the ability to travel easily to any world, then my power source would never die.  So long, of course, as you kept that wonderful fighting spirit of yours.  And, truth be told, I've grown tired of not having my own 'champion' like Athena has Diana.  It's time I've had someone who would represent me in battle."

"Okay, so you want to connect to me somehow.  What's in it for me if I let you?"

Ares laughed.  "I'm growing to like you more by the minute, child.  In return for your service, I will grant you a portion of my own power.  Power of the likes you've never witnessed before.  This power, in turn, will allow you to fight longer, and harder.  Therefore granting further energy.  It is what you would call a 'win-win scenario.'"

Naomi was grinning now.  "Win-win, huh?  Alright, Ares, you got a deal.  Gimme."

Ares rose from the throne.  "Excellent!"  He walked closer to Naomi, and motioned for her to hold up her arms.  When she did, he put his hands around her wrists, and she suddenly felt a scalding heat where he touched.  The pain soon ended, though, replaced with a rush of energy travelling up from her arms through her entire body.  Ares hadn't been lying.  It was like nothing she had ever felt before.  It was even stronger than when she'd gotten Beowulf.

Finally, Ares removed his armored hands, revealing a pair of large golden almost-bracelets almost-gauntlets, going down from her wrists towards the ends of her forearms.  A trio of spikes jutted forwards from the wrists, and other spikes stuck outwards at the back of the golden armor.  A red symbol decorated the gauntlets as well, in the shape of some sort of skull.  A pauldron was on he right shoulder, similarly decorated with spikes.  A lariat was wrapped around her waist, glowing a constant spiky red.  Naomi examined her new armaments, smiling.  There was one thing, though.

"This is awesome and all," she held up her arms, and Beowulf appeared in her hands.  Ares examined them.

"How cute.  These weapons are but a trifle of the demonic power they originate from, and are nothing compared to what I've granted you.  However..."

He placed his hands on the Beowulf weapons, and they suddenly turned into pure, purple flame, which flowed into the armor she now wore.

"There.  That weapons' power has now been added to my gift.  Now, this weapon, let's call it the Adrestia, is powered by pure rage.  Something I'm sure you're familiar with.  To put it simply, the angrier you are, the stronger it is.  The Lariat of Pain I've also given you can cause an amount of pain of your choosing when wrapped around an enemy.  It can also stretch to a longer length, as I've taken the liberty of replacing your Clawshots.  These weapons provide the connection to me that I spoke of before.  We can communicate mentally, and I will see what you see.  In addition, in times when you need even more power than what I've just provided, call on me.  I will, in a sense, 'take over'."

"Take over?  What's that mean?"

"I will command your body for a short time.  Having direct control allows me to better provide further power, turning the Adrestia into a powerful armor, as well as allowing me to channel my own powers through you."

"Oh yeah?  And why would you want to use my body?"

"Ah, I sense your concern.  I give you my word that I will only possess you in times when you request, or when you can no longer sustain yourself and are in danger.  After all, you are literally my strength.  I won't have you dying."  There was a pause.  "And if I may say so, I don't often have the chance to leap into battle like I once did.  It will be... refreshing to do so once more, even in a body that is not my own."

Naomi shrugged.  "Sounds good to me.  You like fighting just as much as I do, can't really blame you for it."

Even though she couldn't see his face, she got the sense that Ares was smiling beneath that helmet.  "I think this partnership will be extremely beneficial to us both.  Now, I think it's time you've rejoined the others.  Remember, it matters little to me why or how you use these gifts, so long as you simple [i]do[/i]."

With a snap of the fingers, Naomi disappeared in a puff of red smoke.  Ares disappeared soon after.

He'd have to keep an eye on this girl.