Embedded Files
Diana landed over the wall, her bracelets up and ready to protect her from the bullets of the many guards she thought would be patrolling the grounds. But as she looked around, there was no one to be found - where was everyone? She warily started towards the mansion, an uneasy feeling in her stomach as she got closer and closer. This was too easy....
All of a sudden, right as she got within about ten feet of being able to peer into one of the mansion windows, alarms started blaring! She looked around to see where they were coming from and to find a point of entry so she could get to Steve before the guards got to her. The less fighting necessary, the better. Jumping behind some bushes under a large window, she was just about to walk around to the back of the house to find a door when she saw a man running as fast as he could down the hill away from the house. One second later she realized it was Steve. Sprinting after him, she easily caught up and they reached the wall at the edge of the estate together. She leapt to the top of the wall, pulled Steve up, and they jumped down together - still going as fast as they could. Steve was holding what looked like a thick file, so Diana knew they had to get out of there and get that file to the US government as soon as they could.
Barreling down the road away from Herr Schneider's estate in the car Diana had brought, she looked over at Steve, bright red and out of breath from the adrenaline rush of his escape. She was glad she got there when she did to help him, but nervous for the consequences of his actions. Steve would not have stolen the documents unless their contents were worth the potential meltdown of the peace negotiations, but she knew his commanders would not initially be pleased that he had disobeyed orders. She let him catch his breath for a few minutes, focusing on making sure Herr Schneider's men hadn't been able to follow them.
As soon as she was sure they were safe and close to where she had hidden her invisible plane, she said, "Steve... I hope you have a good explanation for stealing those from Herr Schneider. They are very worried about you back at Command, but I don't think that will make them go any easier on you once they find out what you've done."
Steve, still slightly out of breath, looked over at the Amazon. He never ceased to be amazed at her impeccable timing when he was in trouble, but he could do without her bluntness every now and then.
"I know, I know. I went in with the pure intention of doing exactly what Command said: trying to talk Herr Schneider into going back to Germany to negotiate for peace. All of the work that went into the prep for this assignment isn't lost on me, especially by my assistant Diana. She's spent the last few weeks preparing everything I could possibly need. You should meet her someday, by the way.... But anyway, all was going well at first. We had a pleasant dinner, and he invited me to stay in his guest house overnight so I could see his art collection the next day. I thought that was a promising gesture of hospitality, so I agreed.
After a very thorough tour of his collections, Herr Schneider and I were talking in his study just as planned, but an aide of his came in and they had a brief conversation in German. I heard some alarming things, Wonder Woman, but I had told Herr Schneider I didn't know any German. Apparently, my face betrayed me, and he could tell I had understood everything. I knew then that I wasn't going to be allowed to leave, and he was planning to kidnap me and take me to Germany to try and incite Command into throwing the first punch."
"Oh my goodness, Steve. They haven't wanted peace this whole time? How much time have we wasted trying to negotiate with them?"
"I don't know, but as soon as I saw his true intent, I grabbed this file from the aide and made a run for it. Good thing you were there to help me get out - I had no idea how I was going to get over that wall."
Diana just nodded - she had stopped paying full attention to Steve after her initial reaction to his story. Despite over three years living in the world of men, Diana was still shocked and disappointed at their propensity for deception and violence. She had left her perfect home on Themyscira to take Steve back to his world, yes, but she had stayed away because she really believed the world of men held a virtue that was worth fighting for. It was moments like this that made it hard to see the good, when she had time and time again given both sides of this conflict the perfect chance to end it. But she still saw virtue - in Steve, in the people she worked and lived with. How much more would it take to get the world of men to choose the good?
Author's Note: This story ended on a more serious note than I originally intended, but I thought ending with something thought-provoking was similar to how many myths ended with a clear moral point, so I'm keeping it this way for now. I was very affected by the story of Sita in Nine Ideal Indian Women by Ms. Devee, who I have referenced many times in my reading notes. Sita, again and again, proved how virtuous she was, and yet was never fully believed, and was driven to asking Mother Earth to swallow her up. While the case of Wonder Woman is not that extreme, it made me think of Sita's story, as well as the most recent Wonder Woman movie. She fights for the good, and believes in a virtuous world, giving every opportunity for men and women to step up and end conflict. And yet evil and conflict persists. How does a being who is actually pure, and for whom it is easy to choose the good, cope with the eternal gray area of living on Earth?
Lynda Carter and Gal Gadot, the two most famous portrayals of Wonder Woman. Both of these incarnations struggled with the concept I addressed in my story - even when given the choice of peace, the world is lost in conflict. But both portrayals also showed hope: it takes time, but if you keep fighting for it and helping the right people, peace will come.
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