Present Day…

She was in a tunnel, at least she thought it was a tunnel. It was dark and soundless. She felt something tighten around her waist and looked down. It was her lasso but why was it tied around her and where was the other end? Suddenly she was yanked backward. She struggled but couldn't seem to get a decent footing to stop.

"Guess that's where the other end went to," she whispered, or thought she whispered but no sound came from her. Strange.

Wait! Why wasn't she dragging on the ground? Because, she thought as she looked down and stretched her legs and feet downward, there was no ground. She was willing to bet that there was no ceiling either. She tried to reach her arms out to see if there were sides to this bizarre tunnel but there was nothing but blackness and limitless air. She didn't know where she was going but hoped it'd be better than this place. Obviously, someone or something was in a hurry to meet her!

Then, out of the silence, there was sound. A head pounding noise. No, wait…voices, lots of voices, all talking at once. It was like a whole world of voices echoing through her mind, pleading. It made her want to cry. What did they want?

Diana's eyes snapped open. Where was she? Sitting on the floor of the dimly lit throne room in Olympus. She felt stiff and stretched her neck and shoulders while looking around. Her head was throbbing. What had happened? There were bodies everywhere, all the Gods and Goddesses that had been attending court…had she done this? She gazed down at the body nearest her. Ares. Ares with her lasso wrapped around him.

An image traveled through her mind, a vague memory. Ares had summoned her to Olympus by showing himself yielding to her in a vision, he had tricked her or so she'd thought.

Where was her father? Where was Zeus?

She pushed herself to standing, her legs stiff as well. A sudden, mind-numbing headache and another memory returned. She had thought Ares had done this in rebellion of her success in helping the United States bring down the Iron Curtain. That was where she'd been when he'd summoned her. She'd been in Berlin making her report to President Reagan about the people, about the Berlin wall. But, Ares didn't do this to the Gods and Goddesses. She remembered what had happened before Ares had fallen under the spell, before she'd fallen. She hadn't believed him at first and they'd fought. He'd told her how the Gods had been slowly falling into the cursed slumber, that the curse had even swept over Themyscira. She had used her lasso to get the truth from him and his last words now echoed in her mind:

"It is no longer our time. You defeated me and the humans no longer need us, they do not even know who we are anymore. It is now in their hands. It is time for another."

Then he'd gone into silence and before she'd had a moment to digest what he'd said, she too had felt the pull, the coaxing to sleep.

But now what? Why was she the only one to stir? What was she supposed to do? She slowly spun in place, looking at the "carnage" of her ancestors.

Something prickled her attention and she stopped, tilting her head to one side. A vision began to materialize in the center of the room. Diana reached above her head and grasped the hilt of her sword from where it rested against her back. With a slow scraping of metal against her hide shield, she pulled the sword up and out. She stood at the ready by the time the full vision materialized.

Three women dressed in white flowing robes stood before her. One held a large and ancient scroll cradled in the crook of her arm. Another rested her weight upon a beautiful and intricately carved wooden staff. The last one held the deadliest of the items – an ornate and bejeweled dagger.

The Fates? Could it be? She'd heard of them, of course, but she'd never seen them before.

Without lowering her sword, Diana raised her chin and asked, "Are you the bearers of the past, the present, and the future?"

"Yessss," the three answered in a breathy hiss.

"What has happened? Is man's world also as this?" Diana asked worry etched across her brow and in her voice. She could hear music. It was the music of the Sirens, that was something she would never forget how beautiful their song was.

The woman with the staff moved closer and pointed it at Diana before all three spoke. Except, they didn't speak. They sang. They always sang to the melody of the Sirens.

"You are needed again,

Diana of Themyscira.

Events have changed,

to bring a new era!

The humans call for you,

but not for them.

There is only one to rise,

they call for Wonder Woman!"

They finished and turned to each other.

"But," Wonder Woman interrupted and walked closer, her sword now pointed at the ground, "that still doesn't explain this!" She opened her arms to indicate the carnage in the throne room then continued, "and my sisters on Themyscira!"

They seemed to have a silent conference but Diana was in no mood to wait so she prodded them more. "Why?" She asked angrily, and took a step back. "Is this your doing, Sisters of Fate? And, if not, tell me whose doing it is so I can fix it!"

They nodded and answered,

"There have been many,

in the hearts of men.

To be worshipped,

time and again.

For the gods and goddesses,

The ruling cycles are set,

Not by us or by them

But by the humans who forget!"

"What?" Diana whispered and after a thoughtful pause said, "Oh! So, we are…eh…were…sleeping? Because the humans have forgotten us?"

The Fates nodded their answer.

"I see. This sucks," she said looking around her with a slight devilish smile. Part of her was happy to see Zeus's court out of power but then she realized her sisters on Themyscira had also been dormant. She scowled.

"Are the Amazonians still sleeping as well?"

Again, their response was only to nod. Damn, she thought.

"Can I awaken them?"

"Yyyyessss," they breathed.

Finally, now they were getting somewhere. "How? What must I do?"

"What you have been

awakened to do.

Answer their call,

to them be true!"

Before Wonder Woman could say anything else, the women raised their arms above their heads and brought their power items together. Electricity arced from the joining, at first it scattered randomly around the room but then settled and came together in a pillar between them. Atop the pillar, Diana's attention was drawn to a sort of window that was opening. Through the "window" she saw why she'd been brought back. The state of the world since 1989 had not improved enough for women. In fact, it seemed as if it had regressed. Women were under threats of so many kinds, in many different parts of the human world. Men were still using their so-called power over women and continued to threaten the stability of the planet with wars. The voices that she had originally heard on her return journey through the darkness returned but they were so much louder and more succinct. It was mostly female voices in various languages and they all said the same things.

"We need a warrior to help us!"

"We need a champion!"

"If only Wonder Woman really existed…"

She fell to one knee, using her sword to lean upon, the pain of sorrow tearing up her heart. Tears ran down her face. The atrocities she was witnessing – it needed to stop. All of it! It needed to stop! She took a long breath and closed her eyes.

"Whether I can awaken my sisters or not," she stated, "I vow to bring the end of these tragedies. I will use my powers and will not stop until all women know the secret, their secret – Aphrodite's secret. No more of this 'man's world', not anymore." She stood and raised her sword above her head, resting the blade in her other hand. "I will bring the human world into the age of women, of love and caring, of honesty and values and whomever is not with us, man or woman, we will love them but we shall not give them the power that is ours! Not anymore!"