DISCLAIMER: Wonder Woman was created by William Molten Marston. I do not own any of the main characters involved in this story. This story exists in my own fan-made continuity and should not be considered to be part of any already defined by the comics, television series, or movies, though it takes cues from other established continuities created for Wonder Woman and other characters of the DC Universe.
It was a fairly typical autumn Saturday in Washington, DC. Parents were walking their children here and there, who played in the leaves that were scattered across the sidewalks. Gophers for businessmen and politicians were running from building to building, fetching coffee for their bosses. A few kids were on their roller-blades, weaving between pedestrians as they headed to the nearby roller ramp. And, as was most typical of all, traffic was WRETCHED, impatient drivers honking their horns in a desperate and pointless attempt to get the cars in front of them to move.
Naturally, with so much activity, no one really noticed as small sections of the road started to crack ever so slightly. It wasn't until the ground started shaking, children stumbling over, that people began to believe there was an earthquake. But it wasn't a tremor at all, as one fallen child realised when they tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and spotted the rotting hand reaching out from it.
All over the city, the streets were cracking apart, hordes of undead flowing out. Within moments, the streets were filled with zombies in the thousands. But they weren't just humans: Some were animal pieces, crudely sewn together, to form zombified abominations, like a large wolf with eagle wings on its back and four extra eyes, or a rhinoceros with a massive shell over its back that was covered in razor-sharp blades. The police were overrun with ease, and the military couldn't possibly scramble in time to deal with the situation.
Finally, after a mere minute, the White House was split apart, bodies falling from the cracks, by a single monstrous beast resembling something that emerged from Lovecraft's darkest nightmares: An undead plesiosaurus with the head of a T-Rex. In addition to its flippers, which had blood-covered spines on their undersides, it also had six spider-like legs. Its tail was more akin to a scorpion's, which was also dripping in blood. It let out a hideous roar as flames burst out from the earth, enveloping the entire city and burning anything still alive to cinders within seconds.
Diana gasped, horrified by what she saw spread out before her. So much death and destruction, and she had been powerless to do anything about it. Tears flowed from her eyes as she tried desperately to say or do something, ANYTHING, other than stand there like a deer in the headlights, and all she could think of was to ask herself over and over why she hadn't been able to stop it.
"Diana?" she heard a voice call. "Diana! DIANA PRINCE!"
The tall brunette turned to her left, facing a man in a Taco Whiz uniform. "P-Paul?!"
"Yer tacos!" Paul shouted.
Diana looked forward again. The horrific scenery was gone, though replaced with one that terrified her nonetheless: Her job at the Taco Whiz, with her boss standing a foot away, and the tacos that she had made for a costumer were burnt.
"Oh, shoot!" Diana stammered to her boss, cleaning up. "I'm sorry, Paul, I-"
"Ya looked like ya'd seen a ghost," Paul commented. "Ya alright?"
Diana sighed, running a hand through her thick brunette hair. "Yeah, I'm fine, I just...I guess I was daydreaming, but it felt so real."
"This ain't like ya, Di," Paul pointed out. "Yer usually one o' my best back here. Ya sleepin' alright?"
Diana put up a weak smile, deciding to just go with that. "Yeah, that must be it."
"Well, yer shift's almost over anyway," Paul replied, hiking a thumb up to a nearby clock on the wall that was showing it was 6:52 PM. "Do yerself a favour: Go home, get some rest. No partyin' or anythin' tonight, ya hear?"
"I don't generally go out partying anyway, but got it," Diana complied, taking off her apron.
"...Seriously?" her boss asked, dumbfounded. "Man, Di, ya really are a mystery. Yer the hottest dame I know, not to mention the smartest, and yer workin' in a dump like this an' don't ever go out on dates? Ya savin' up money for somethin' big?"
Diana flashed her trademark smile, the one that would make a person's heart melt. "Just trying to get by is all."
And with that, Diana left the Taco Whiz, her dinner for that night in a paper bag in her hands. The truth was, she worked at the Taco Whiz because, for all of her intelligence, she couldn't get work anywhere else. Not that she took issue with working in a taco restaurant, mind you. In fact, she saw it as noble work, seeing as how not everyone would want to do it, but someone would ultimately HAVE to. It's just that she couldn't get a better paying job. After all, she didn't have any sort of college degree, or even a high school diploma, as she had never attended either. Not in Man's World, anyway.
In truth, Diana wasn't from Washington, D.C. She wasn't even American. She was an Amazon, born and raised on an island known as Themyscira. They were a race of warrior women, granted immortality by the Greek Gods of Olympus, and given Themyscira as a homeland cut off from the Man's World. Diana herself had been created by the Gods as a daughter to the Amazon Queen, Hippolyta. She'd been carved out of clay, after which the Gods granted her life, as well as many other gifts that eventually made her the greatest of her people. She was here primarily as an ambassador, and as a champion for goodness, equality, and justice. The world of man eventually came to call her Wonder Woman, and accepted her as one of their heroes.
Unfortunately, that didn't exactly pay the bills. And, seeing as how she had to live somewhere in this new world, she needed a job so she could earn her keep. This also meant creating an alias for herself. After all, as she learned on her first day job-hunting, not everyone is completely comfortable hiring a woman that they knew had the strength to pick up a truck. Thus, Diana of Themyscira became Diana Prince. Not exactly a secret identity, mind you, but a personal identity so that she didn't have to be Wonder Woman all the time.
Diana walked out onto the sidewalk, and for a split second, she was terrified that she'd see the death and mayhem all over again. Much to her relief, though, the only mayhem before her were cars caught in traffic. Just to further reassure herself, she looked to her iPhone. Sure enough, it was a Friday, September 8th, and autumn wasn't for a couple of weeks.
What WAS that, anyway? she asked herself as she trudged along towards her apartment. It seemed so real. I could feel the heat from the fires, smell the rotting corpses. Was I really daydreaming, or was it some sort of vision? And if it WAS real, or rather, GOING to be real, what could've possibly caused it?
Diana's thoughts were interrupted as a pair of police cars came speeding by. Stretching her senses out, she could hear other sirens further ahead as well. In a moment of terror, she sprinted after the police cars, unconcerned if anyone noticed the brunette woman in the Taco Whiz uniform running faster than most professional athletes. Finally coming around a corner, she sighed in relief at the sight before her.
Thank Hera, no zombie hordes! Diana thought with a smile. Just a tank...Wait, a tank?
Diana's smile faded as the tank opened fire on a police car driving toward it. Thankfully, it barely missed its target, sending the car crashing into a fire hydrant, the two officers inside getting out unharmed. However, what instantly soured her mood was when she finally took notice of the man piloting the tank: A short, dark-haired man with a toothbrush moustache, wearing a Nazi uniform, screaming in German at passers-bys.
"...Adolf Hitler is driving a tank in down-town Washington," Diana said in a monotone voice. "It's going to be one of those days."
Dashing into a nearby alley, Diana set the paper bag containing her dinner down, hoping no one would stumble upon it. Then, taking a quick glance around to make sure no one was watching, Diana began to spin as fast as she could, an array of bright lights flashing around her as her clothes changed. In place of her Taco Whiz uniform was a red top with a golden eagle-shaped breastplate over-top of it, a golden W-shaped belt with an equally golden lasso attached to it, a blue Gladiator-style skirt with white stars running down it, knee-high red and white boots, a golden tiara with a red star in the centre, and silver bracers. Her long hair was pulled into a ponytail, which cracked like a whip when she stopped spinning, sending out a small array of golden star-like sparks of energy.
Her transformation complete, Diana leaped out of the alley, just as the man who was apparently Adolf Hitler began opening fire on police officers with a machine gun mounted to the top of his tank. Diana moved fast, landing in front of the police and reflecting the bullets with her bracers, thanks to the incredible speed granted to her by Hermes. The bullets soon stopped, and Diana was able to get a better look at Hitler. Sure enough, using the telescopic vision Artemis blessed her with, she could see small bits of skin tissue rotting. This WAS Adolf Hitler. Worse yet, a zombie Hitler, brought back from the grave somehow.
"What is this?!" Hitler demanded. "Can it be that the Americans have created the superman, but it is a superWOMAN?!"
Diana smirked in confidence. "Actually, I'm from Themyscira! And I'm not the Superwoman, I'm the Wonder Woman!"
"Regardless, you are inferior, and shall be destroyed by my war machine!" Hitler barked, aiming the tank's cannon at Wonder Woman.
Diana fought back the urge to roll her eyes, grabbing hold of her lasso. Using precise timing, speed, and skill impossible for the ordinary human, she waited until Hitler fired the shell from the tank's cannon, then leaped straight up and threw her lasso forward. To Adolf's shock, she actually managed to rope up the shell, then swung it around and back into the tank's treads, blowing them to pieces. Hitler immediately grabbed his machine gun, aiming it at Wonder Woman as she hovered in mid-air. However, Diana was too quick, swinging her lasso out again, this time grabbing Hitler himself. Since he was a zombie, and thus already dead, Diana had no problems yanking him clean out of his seat, then levelling him with a punch that sent him crashing back down to the street below.
As the former Nazi leader moaned in humiliating defeat, Wonder Woman dropped back down next to him. She tightened the lasso around his body, the golden rope glowing brightly as Diana channelled the Fires of Truth through it. Through Hestia's gift, Diana knew how to control the fires, using the Lasso of Truth to force those tied in it to tell the truth.
"How did you return from the dead?" Wonder Woman asked.
"I do not know...!" Hitler groaned. "One moment, I was among many dead souls, wandering the afterlife, then the next, I was here...!"
"And just happened upon a tank?" Diana inquired, seeming doubtful.
"No, no, I stole that," Adolf admitted. "Even in the 21st Century, American security is no match for a single armed German."
Wonder Woman looked around. Sure enough, a massive crowd had formed, though there didn't seem to be TOO much in the way of damage, and few injuries sustained by anyone in the vicinity. But that wasn't what concerned Diana. She had just had a vision of some sort about a zombie apocalypse, and now, she had just defeated a real life zombie. If there was any doubt in her mind before that what she saw back at the Taco Whiz was for real, it was GONE now. And as she'd earlier established, autumn was two weeks away, meaning she had, at the very least, two weeks to figure out just what in the name of Hera was going on.
"I think I'm going to need some help with this one," Diana muttered, hauling the zombified Hitler to his feet. "But first, I need to take YOU back to where you came from."
"Braunau am Inn?" Adolf asked as Wonder Woman pulled him along.
"Think gloomier," Diana replied, realising this was going to be a LONG trip, and that her dinner was going to have to be indefinitely postponed.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Hello everyone! Allow me to introduce the story that I was originally writing for NaNoWriMo 2013. Hope you all enjoy it, as I've put a lot of time and effort into this. As for when this occurs in the chronology of Infinite DC, it takes place about 6-12 months before The Man of Tomorrow, and therefore about 4-10 months before Tales of the Caped Crusader. Speaking of which, while they are referenced a few times, don't expect Superman or Batman to appear in this story outside of VERY minor cameos. There will be other characters that come and go in this story from the extended DC Universe, but this will be first and foremost a Wonder Woman story.
So, let's talk about the version of Wonder Woman in this fanfic for a sec: As you can tell, I took many a cue from various interpretations of the character. For example, her costume/appearance is a hybrid of many different versions that have shown up in the past, like her tiara having the nose-guard seen on the All-Star Batman and Robin version, and her hair being pulled into a ponytail like in Justice League: War. Her character is also a balancing out of various versions of her. She's compassionate for just about everyone, but she's not without her limits. She'd just as soon solve her problems with compassion and reason, but knows who will and won't respond to that. She's confident, but not overconfident to the point of dis-acknowledging her limits. She's capable of great feats in the name of humanity, but doesn't see working at a fast food restaurant as beneath her.
We'll get into the other powers and equipment at Diana's disposal later, as well as meet some of her supporting cast, but for now, I'll leave you with this: If they ever appeared in ANY interpretation of the character, if they were ever established or encountered in her comics, TV shows, or movies, there is a chance they will show up here. In the meantime, check back in next time when Wonder Woman goes looking for clues about the coming zombie apocalypse. Ja né!