Wonder and Legacy - Wonder Woman

The Difficult Truth

Diana had lost. She would have won, had her Aunt Antiope not pulled her out of the race at the last moment. The defeated girl sat sobbing on the ground as the other Amazons congratulated the redhead. Her mother was trying to comfort her, reminding her of Asteria, but she barely heard her. 

Aikaterine had won. She and Diana had been right at each others heels the whole way. But since Antiope had grabbed Diana when they re-entered the arena, Aikaterine had passed her and reached the finish line first.

A shadow passed over where Diana was hunched over, still crying. When she looked up, she was met by Aikaterine herself, the winner, standing over her smiling. She offered her friend a hand up. "Good game, Diana." But Diana did not take her hand, and so Aikaterine crouched beside her.  "We're both winners, Diana. In fact, we all are. And that is the truth." 

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Lord Maxwell entered the building, Barbara following. From where she was crouched behind some bushes on the island - still smoking slightly from her father's Fires of the Underworld - Aikaterine watched them. 

Armed guards stood surrounding the facility on lookout and high alert, ready to attack anyone and anything that came even close to those doors.

And so when something distant appeared far off in the sky, they opened fire. A golden bird looked to be flying towards them, but it was no bird.

It was a golden eagle, rather Asteria's golden eagle armour - Diana was wearing the suit of their greatest warrior. 

She swooped in - literally - taking down the guards, Aikaterine taking this as a good moment for her to come out of hiding. 

"Diana! Asteria's armour! My Gods... You renounced your wish," she realized. Steve was gone. "Are you okay?"  Diana smiled sadly. Aikaterine pulled her friend into a tight hug.  "I'm so sorry."

"It had to be  done," Diana sighed.  "It was the truth."

"I know. The truth is difficult sometimes, but it is the truth."

A shadow out of the corner of their eyes caught their attention - a figure stood up on the roof of the facility, peering down at them. 

"What is that?" Aikaterine cried.

"That's Barbara."

"What - how?"

"I don't know.  Barbara, what did you do?"

But Barbara didn't answer, only slunk down the wall and approached them.  She had taken on the form of a cat, a cheetah, and her movements were sharp and precise. 

She was leading a troop of armed guards. 

"You take the guards, I'll deal with Barbara," Diana said. 

"Okay - don't hurt her, she doesn't know what she's doing."

"I know." And with that the two Amazon-Goddesses split up. 

Aikaterine had brought her shield with her, which came in handy as all the guards carried guns. 

Once she took care of them, she searched for Diana and Barbara but could see no sign of either of them. She looked over the railing into the water - she had seen them swinging around above before. 

The water was dark and she couldn't see anything beneath the surface - but then she saw a few flashes of blue.

Moments later, Diana's golden figure emerged, carrying Barbara's body out of the water and setting her on the ground.