*Scene: A bright Summer morning. As the camera pans across the sky, we see the cloudless blue sky, the sun, and then a towering Wonder Woman, shot from a very low angle. She is standing towering next to ST who is just now waking up poolside, on a lounge chair, laid back flat. (the camera angle was from his perspective)
ST: Good morning. I see you're on the clock. Did I miss anything?
(WW is all business this morning.)
WW: They raided my apartment last night.
ST: Who?
WW: I'm pretty sure I know who. They've been chasing me for years, but this has gone too far. They may have compromised my identity.
ST: What's that mean?
WW: It means I'm going to be busy today. (twists her bracelets into place)
ST: Are you going to be ok?
WW: I'll see you when I get back.
WW walks away to the edge of the roof. (WW has discovered something during the night which pierced her to her core; suffice it to say, she is not quite herself this morning.) She turns back to look at ST, and her face is surprisingly running with tears, her expression is hurt/angry/tearful/disappointed/frustrated, and she steps off the edge of the building, and plummets to the sidewalk below. She lets herself go limp, and falls through the air like a ragdoll. Then she twists herself at the last moment and makes a perfect landing. She stays crouched in her landing position for a moment, and then straightens up.
WW: (to her imaginary audience) See - no wings.
She brushes away her tears with her wrists, and walks calmly down the sidewalk. She walks, not as a superhero, but just as a regular member of the city, drawing some looks for her costume, but not too many. Some thought she was eccentric, some thought she was dressed for a performance, and some thought she was just uber-hip. The truth is, she was just being herself, and somehow, she now fit in with the city, and was one with it, and with everyone around her.
She passed by the punks and they said,
PUNK: Digging the look, girl.
GOTHGIRL: Where can I get those boots?
WW: (just laughs) Try Commander Salamander. (as she passes the store)
She walks by the corner boombox crowd, and jives with them as she passes through.
She walks in the zone, and knows where she's going. With a little too much diva, she crosses the final street in the middle of traffic, drawing some honks and some screeching brakes.
DRIVER: Hey look where you're going!
But she only looks ahead. She stands on the sidewalk looking up at a window.
People walk by, but she doesn't bat an eye.
*cut to inside the building; it is the shadowy lair of the conspiring Russians. The Boss talks to his two goons.
BOSS: I want results, and what do I get? Reports of birds, cats, a mysterious woman - I've had enough of your ridiculous excuses. Gentlemen, you leave me no choice. Your time has run out; now face the wall.
KGB-1: Why?
BOSS: So I can teach you a lesson.
The goons line up facing the windowed wall.
BOSS: (draws his firearm) Now this is how you kill someone.
KGB-1: Hey, there she is!
KGB-2: Oh my goodness!
BOSS: Who?
KGB-1: The woman.
BOSS: *The* woman?
KGB-1: Yeah.
BOSS: What's she doing?
KGB-1: She's waving at us.
And the Boss walks up to the window to look down to the sidewalk (he's on the second floor) and there looking up from the sidewalk is Wonder Woman, waving with a slight smile.
*cut to WW on the sidewalk. A police officer comes up to her.
POLICE: Everything alright, Ma'am? (but she pays him no heed) Ma'am? (but no response. The officer suspects WW is tripping out) Ma'am, you'll have to come with me. (and he takes out handcuffs.)
*cut to the Boss
BOSS: What are you waiting for? Gun her down!
*cut to WW; she blocks a bullet.
POLICE: What was that! (ducking for cover)
(WW blocks another.)
POLICE: (on his walkie-talkie) We have a shooter at 5th and Broad. Repeat, an active shooter.
(WW blocks another.)
POLICE: Make that two shooters.
A police car veers up onto the sidewalk, and the policeman takes cover behind it.
POLICE: Clear the area. Set up a perimeter. Secure the exits. This is going to take hours!
WW rolls her eyes and leaps up to the second floor, crashing through the window. One goon comes flying out, then another, whom the police apprehend.
*cut to WW inside the building. The Boss is backing up, shooting with each step, to no avail.
BOSS: So it's true! The woman! The ghost woman! (and he slips out the door, closing it, and tries to make his escape down the stairwell. WW bursts through the door and follows him down, while he shoots a bullet back up at her from time to time. He arrives at the basement garage and drives madly away with WW in pursuit on foot. She chases him through the city streets, sometimes hopping onto the roof of his car, sometimes getting thrown off as he drives wildly. Finally he swerves through the gate of the Russian embassy and slowly gets out of his car, on embassy grounds. Several police cars in pursuit screech up on the sidewalk outside the embassy.
POLICE: He made it. (frustrated)
WW, who stands on the sidewalk, looks at the officer.
POLICE: We can't go in there; it's the Russian Embassy - Russian soil, diplomatic immunity.
WW walks right up to the property line. The Boss, over-confident, walks a little toward her and wiggles, taunting.
WW casts her lasso to its maximum extent, and just catches the Boss's hand, and yanks him flying onto the sidewalk. The police jump on him as he tries to get back, like a runner tackled before the goal line.
WW walks casually away from the scene, as cool as she arrived.
*cut to WW walking by the Dance Studio. Someone calls out from behind.
HA: Miss Diana!
WW: (turns around) Helen?
HA: (Comes running at WW. WW is apprehensive, but HA wraps her in a joyful embrace) Miss Diana!
WW: How are you doing Helen? Why aren't you a swan?
HA: Mars said I can only be a swan for one hour each day, until I (she gets a bit serious, but then casts aside the mood) Come see where I take my classes! (and HA takes WW by the hand and pulls her up the stone steps and into the venerable dance studio.)
The grand hall of the dance studio is empty at present; shafts of light stream down from high windows, each one like a ballerina holding her position, gracefully illuminating the narrow planks of the wooden floor. A century of talc hangs suspended in the air, remembering each dancer who leapt across these floors. Helen is dancing; she cannot hold it in.
HA: Do you dance, Miss Diana?
WW: I used to dance, very much.
HA: Come dance with me! (and she catches WW by the hand and pulls her into the dance)
WW: I don't -
HA: Just feel the music!
WW: What music?
HA: The music within us!
And the two of them dance, like two butterflies in flight, circling, spiraling, walking on air. WW lifts HA and throws her in the sky, where she spreads out her arms with the grace of a swan. And then WW catches her, gently replanting her, back on the floor, like a flower reborn.
They dance. It is surreal, and magical, and beautiful beyond description.
As it ends they are face to face, we see WW's back, and HA lifts up her arms like the unfurling of wings, and WW bends backwards, like one mortally struck. HA embraces her dying friend's torso, and so the dance ends, like a grave pietà.
HA: (clinging to WW as their dance ends) I love you Diana. Thank you for dancing with me. This is how I will always remember you. My very best friend.
WW: I love you too Helen. You know, I am Wonder Woman.
HA: Yes, Mars told me. Come, let us leave this place, that its memory may remain unsullied. (and HA takes WW by the hand once more, running back out to the street.)
HA: Mars told me I can be a swan for just one hour each day, until I destroy you, and then I will be the Silver Swan forever.
WW: Helen -
HA: Cruel fate, that the one I love most in this world is the one I must destroy.
WW: No, Helen, you -
HA: I love you, Diana.
WW: For love's sake!
HA: For beauty's sake - welcome to my Magic Hour! (and she lifts up her arms like the unfurling of wings, and she transforms, before her eyes, into the mighty and deadly, magnificent Silver Swan)
And they fight. Their fight is like a dance; Silver Swan's every move is ballet, and she begins with a curtsy, a reverence in dance.
While SS bows, WW is getting ready, shield up, lasso in hand, moving it slowly like a dangling string.
Suddenly CH pounces from behind WW, stealing the lasso in her jaws and tumbling with it, laying on her back, scratching it with her hind claws, and then bounding off into the park with her new toy.
WW: Hey, I need that!
But it is too late; SS has finished her reverence, and the fight is on. She descends upon WW with a flurry of wings.
WW backs up, defending herself with her shield, until she backs into stone - the massive shoulder of the dance hall's stone steps.
SS's wings send stone flying as she continues to batter WW and everything around WW. SS pauses to let the rubble subside so she can see what remains of WW, who lowers her shield to reveal a large cut on her face.
SS: Aw, not so pretty anymore. That's going to leave a scar.
WW: No, it's not. (and she fights back, wallopping SS with the back of her shield, sending her flying).
The fight eerily mirrors their dance, with SS doing her balletic martial arts, and the two striking many of the same poses and holds as before. WW is at a disadvantage without her lasso, and the fact that she does not want to destroy SS. SS has the upperhand in the early fighting. WW decides to run out the clock on SS's magic hour.
SS: I will destroy you!
WW: Can you do it in an hour?
SS: I can do it in a wingbeat. (swiping)
WW: You'll have to catch me, first. (and WW runs off, this way and that. SS has trouble swooping down on her zig-zagging prey. WW goes to leap up onto a bridge over the road, and SS plucks her out of the air, catching WW by the foot, and battering her with her wings and she flys along with WW dangling. Then SS drops WW, presumably to plummet. But WW hangs suspended in the air by her own power.)
WW: See - no wings.
(SS rushes headlong into WW, grabbing her, and the two grapple in the air together as they plummet to the ground with a crash. WW ends up on top of SS, pinning her on her back with wings immobilized.)
WW: You were more beautiful before. Before your murderous heart.
SS: Do you know what it's like to be ugly? (then) I think you're about to find out.
(And CH comes charging up from behind once again, having tired of the lasso and left it for lost in the park somewhere, and lands on WW's head from behind, knocking her over and off of SS. CH mauls WW's head.)
(WW throws CH off, some distance, and the three rise to their feet for a moment's standoff. WW throws back her hair, revealing a very bloodied face. Even SS is horrified at the sight.)
WW: My beauty comes from the heart. (and a force of energy wells up within her, and she unleashes it, as if she is revealing the contents of her heart, and the blast bursts out in all directions, blowing SS and CH off their feet)
(SS takes to the air, while CH slinks around cars and debris, stalking. WW loses sight of both of them, as she wanders, sometimes stumbling, stepping backwards in the street. Then CH pounces out from a hiding place, and WW jumps up into the sky, out of CH's reach. Then SS swoops by WW from above, raking her with a wing. Caught between CH on the ground and SS in the sky, WW has a hard time finding a safe place where she is not being clawed or raked.)
(SS and CH make a good team, but they are not friends. Their momentary alliance is purely of convenience. WW ends up on the street again, walking backwards, keeping an eye on CH who circles her on the ground, and SS who is circling above; they seem to be effectively taking WW apart.)
(As WW steps backwards she bumps into something; it is ST, who has come through the park.)
ST: Did you lose this? (handing her the lasso)
WW: Thanks! (and she cracks the whip. School is in session.)
(WW stings CH with the lasso/whip time and time again, making the cat retreat and lick her wounds. SS comes by to rake WW with her wing, but WW lassos a passing foot, and is swept up into the sky with SS.)
(WW pulls herself hand over hand up the lasso/rope, until she grabs SS's leg, and the two grapple once again in the sky, and plummet to the ground. As they land, WW wraps the lasso around SS, tying up her and her wings so she is immobilized, like a mummy, wrap in her own wings.)
WW: Your hour of playtime is almost over, and I'm putting you in "time out." (as WW ties the lasso in a knot to keep it secure. SS struggles ineffectively, and stands, bound, on her feet, slightly hobbling to keep her balance)
(WW looks around, and CH is approaching her from a distance, slowly approaching, getting ready to pounce.)
(SS starts biting at one of her wings, near her shoulder, until she rips out a feather, and holds it in her teeth, unseen by WW.)
(WW is focussed on CH, and readies herself for the onslaught. WW stands with her feet apart, bent and ready for what will come next.)
(SS, standing by WW, hobbles a bit and falls over with the feather in her teeth, her face hits WW's thigh, and the feather slices WW's leg to the bone.)
(WW falls down in agony, writhing in pain, holding her leg. SS rolls on the ground, still bound, and out of tricks. CH approaches slowly, wondering which prey looks more tasty.)
(CH approaches WW first, circling, sniffing, stepping around her and on her. WW, not up for fighting at the moment, decides to play dead. She lets her head lay on the ground, and closes her eyes, and tries not to breathe much. She peeks out one wary eye to see how it is working.)
(CH licks WW's slashed thigh, lapping up some blood, and then looks at SS. SS has decided to make a run for it, but being bound, she can only hop clumsily on her knees, and with one wing slightly sticking out of the lasso, she looks like an injured bird, hopping on the ground. CH is interested.)
(CH makes her way over to SS, who is hopping along. ST comes up to WW without a word, and helps her to her feet. She leans on him, and he helps walk her away, as far as they can get, and get lost in the crowd. All around them is mayhem: the smoke of destruction, a team of first responders helping those hurt by collateral damage. People coming and going, to see or to flee. A mass of confusion. They get fairly far.)
(CH easily overtakes SS and gives her the stare. SS screams)
SS: (Aaaaaaaaaaaaaack!) Help! Help me! Help me!
(CH pounces on SS, gets up on her hind legs and ferociously bats SS between her front paws while biting her head)
SS: (Screeeeeam!)
(We hear a voice calling from a distance, across the mayhem, "Heeeeere kitty." It is WW.)
WW: Heeere kitty kitty… (WW leans on ST. She dangles her shield, holding it by the top edge and swinging it back and forth like the disk of a grandfather clock.) Here kitty kitty, look at this!
(CH looks around, and can't resist the shiny bait. She starts bounding toward WW. SS rolls over, unbound; the lasso has been torn off of her.)
WW: Barbara! (WW calls out) Barbara - your daughter, (as CH rushes closer) Your daughter - she is alive!
(CH leaps through the air and lands upon WW; they roll in a somersault, and come to rest with WW on her back, and CH on top of her, on all fours, but it is not CH any longer, it is Barbara Ann.)
BA: She's alive?
WW: I went to your house; I saw her at the hospital. She's alive, and she calls for you.
BA: My baby...my baby! (And BA lays down her head on WW's chest, sobbing.) My baby! (and she cradles WW's torso as if it were her baby in her arms already)
WW: looks up, in a haze. She sees Barbara's kind face dripping tears of joy upon her, looming up in the sky, from her laid back perspective. She sees, over Barbara's shoulder, in slow motion...the wings of SS coming into the picture, up in the sky, spread out and magnificent, like a hundred glistening daggers. SS is coming in for the kill - for BA/CH, and WW, in one fell swoop.)
(WW crosses her forearms with BA in the middle, almost like a hug. She closes her eyes and lets out a bright blast. SS is blown away, one last time)
(BA hops up)
BA: What was that? (She looks around, amazed at the chaos and destruction all around. She looks down at WW, and helps her get up on her feet)
(WW can barely stay on her feet. She also looks around. SS lays on the ground, flopping her wings haphazardly, like a boxer who cannot get up. ST is walking back, carrying the lasso which he has retrieved once again. WW raises her arm towards him, almost as if to blast, or was she waving hello, or steadying her balance? ST stops in his tracks. WW cannot do it while looking at him; she turns her head away to the left, burying her eyes in the crook of her arm, and raises her right arm Steve-ward, and blasts him to a crisp.)
BA: You hit Steve! Why did you hit Steve? (BA runs over to ST)
WW: It's not Steve… (she says reluctantly, sad to say it in the presence of the greater part of herself that still wants to believe. She collapses back down to the ground on two knees and a hand, her other hand clutching her heart.)
(ST's jacket has burst into flames in places, and the rest is charcoal; BA takes out her handkerchief to smother the hot spots, and wipe the sooty face. It is Dr. Psycho, unconscious.)
BA: What? (calling back to WW) How did you know?
WW: It's in his kiss. (and she holds her stomach as though retching, so overcome with grief is she, having woken from the fairytale into a nightmare.)
BA: (reviving Dr. Psycho) Dr. Psycho. What are you doing here? Where's Steve? What did you do with Steve?
PSY: There is no Steve.
WW: (wails to the sky, as though the words have pierced her more than any blow of the battle.)
(Dr. Psycho falls back unconscious again, and BA walks back to WW again, hoping for more answers. She rests her hand on WW's curved back, the highest part of her body as she curls to the ground.)
Needless to say, this was the realization which has been haunting WW since last evening, and the cause of any uncharacteristic behavior.
(In the background we see SS has risen; she sets flight, then comes back to scoop up Dr. Psycho, and off she flies with him...)
*Scene: hospital room, from bedside we see a young girl resting, head bandaged. Then two figures in the doorway.
DAUGHTER: (in bed) Mom!
BA: Athena! (BA rushes over and embraces her daughter; WW stays in the doorway)
BA: I thought I lost you!
DAUGHTER: I love you, Mama.
(WW's work is done; she discreetly leaves the doorway)
DAUGHTER: Wait! (to WW; then, to BA) She told me everything, Mom. And I want to help you. (BA pours tears)
(WW limps over, and the three in a group hug put their heads together.)