Hi, Virginia! Thanks for the kind words on this story. I think your confusion on Lois' pregnancy comes from the comments for the epilogue. I mentioned that Lois beat Diana in yet another way, by having Clark's (or Superman's, in Diana's view) baby. And while that was never the competition between them, it would gall Diana even more because it was one of the justifications she used for the Challenge of the Wiles.
Remember also that any peaceful society must be ruled by its laws and not its rulers. Look at Afghanistan today, for example, and see how hard it is to get the various warlords to submit to a central government ruled by existing laws, not ones that are announced at the beginning of a term and subject to change at any moment. Hippolyta had no choice but to allow the contest. Under Amazonian law (at least as I portrayed it here), this challenge was part and parcel of both their legal code and their culture and could not be ignored. Yes, Diana was wrong to do what she did, and she paid the price for it - in the Amazons' court of law. The butt-whooping Lois put on her was really just a bonus prize.
(The readers are gently invited to imagine the legislative session wherein the ancient Challenge of the Wiles was repealed.)
I'm glad you enjoyed the story. I like to allow my readers to fill in some of the parts themselves, which in this case includes Clark's reaction to Lois' news. And don't worry about Tank! He's an old curmudgeon who's a self-confessed kid-disliker, so anything hinting at a next-gen storyline won't be to his liking. But that's okay because he's such a good writer. This sandbox is big enough for all of us to play in.
See you on the boards, Virginia!
