Steve stepped knee-deep into the shallows and approached the heap of twisted metal. In the flickering light from the Amazons' torches, it looked almost grotesque. A mangled beast that had no place in this paradise. Steve felt an irrational fear that it might come roaring back to life if he touched it, jaws of steel clamping onto his limbs.

He shook himself. Get a hold of yourself, Trevor.

Carefully, he circled around the wreckage. It was a ruined mess. But it was, without the shadow of a doubt, the very airplane in which he had crash-landed into Themyscira. It must have been dragged up from the depths by the tide, and washed up onto the shore.

Impossible.

The word echoed in Steve's mind, bouncing about so loudly against his skull that he missed the Queen's question. He only realized she had spoken when he noticed the expectant looks on the faces of the women on the shore.

"Sorry, your Highness?" he heard himself saying. His voice sounded distant to his own ears.

"You know what this is?" she asked, gesturing at the airplane.

At that moment, Steve's mind went quiet, his heartbeat slowing to a crawl. It was the strange cunning that always came over him in crucial moments. It was the reason he was always able to keep his cool under stress, the reason that he never failed to think his way out of a tight spot. It was what made him a spy - one of the best.

Now, he followed his instinct and accepted it without knowing quite why. All he was aware of was the niggling presence of possibility at the back of his brain. With practiced smoothness, Steve arranged his features into an expression of blank bewilderment.

"No, your Highness."

Her eyes narrowed. "But it is from your world, is it not."

He didn't blink. "Yes," he replied, "but it is not of my people. It belonged to the Germans - the invaders." True enough.

Taking a torch from a nearby Amazon, he splashed his way over to where the German ensign was stamped on the plane's side. He held the light to the symbol. Some of the Amazons nodded and murmured, no doubt recognizing it as the same one embroidered on the Germans' uniforms.

One Amazon spoke up. "If it is of the invaders, it can only mean harm towards us. I say we throw it back into the sea from whence it came. Let nature do its work."

"Who is to say it is the only thing now polluting the waters of our island?" asked another. "There might be a dozen such monstrosities. Are we simply going to keep throwing them out every time they appear?"

"She's right," said a third - Mala, Steve remembered. "Perhaps we should collect and use the metal, turn it into something good."

While they spoke, Steve kept silent. As always, he found himself impressed by the respect each woman was given, no matter how unpopular her opinion. They conferred quickly, coming fast on the heels of one another's speech. Yet everyone who had something to say was listened to; only then would the Queen make her decision. It was a far cry from the endless shouting matches Steve had grown used to witnessing back at headquarters. He was all the more startled, therefore, when he heard a shout come crashing into the midst of their quiet conference.

"Stop! Listen to me, all of you!"

Everyone turned in surprise. Steve's eyes widened slightly when he saw who had spoken out of turn.

"Diana." There was a warning in the Queen's voice. "Go back to the palace."

But the younger woman ignored her. Almost frantically, she began to splash her way towards the plane. Everyone, Steve included, just watched in a sort of frozen silence. Diana stared for a moment at the wreckage, eyes scanning its features.

And then Steve realized that every wild hope that had sprung up in his brain could be nipped in the bud, by the one person on this island who had actually seen him falling from the sky. The one person who knew that this wreck was once a flying machine which, if restored, could be used for escape.

Steve cursed internally, though not a flicker passed over his face. Dammit. Diana wasn't stupid. She'd probably already recognized the plane for what it was, and remembered what it could do. In the midst of his terror, Steve wanted to laugh at the irony. If she hadn't seen him crash, he'd be dead. But now, she was a witness.

When she turned back, she made eye contact with him for the briefest of moments.

"Mother," she said, tensely, "we must destroy it. Now."

"What?" said Steve, and "What?" said the surrounding onlookers. Apparently, the Amazons' curiosity had overpowered their fears. Clearly, they were in favour of finding out more about the plane. The Queen raised her hand to quiet the murmured protests.

"Silence, all!" she commanded. Then, to her daughter: "Please, Diana. You are not being reasonable."

"I should say not," an older Amazon put in. By the way the Amazons listened to her, Steve guessed she was a respected elder. "Mala is on the right path. We must make use of this discovery. For all we know, it is a gift, an opportunity sent by the gods. If what the man says is true, this may be our only chance of learning something of our enemies - and any weaknesses in their weapons, which we can use to defeat them should they return. If I may, my Queen, I suggest that we put Steve Trevor to work in restoring this thing to how it was when the invaders used it against us."

"It is not as though he is doing anything else of use," Steve heard one girl scoff under her breath.

The Queen considered. "You may be right, Daria," she said, with an incline of her head to the older woman. "Steve Trevor. Can you or can you not restore this thing, to such a condition that would allow us to study it?"

But Steve was not allowed to answer.

"Mother, no!" interrupted Diana, for the second time. "I have seen it before, we must destroy it - "

"Diana." Low, warning.

But Diana went on. "Please, mother, just listen - "

"Enough, Diana!" The Queen's voice was terrible. It cut through Diana's outburst like a dagger. "You speak out of turn, of things you do not yet understand." Her next words were quiet and cold. "Leave us, immediately."

A sort of startled silence fell over the beach. Despite the scarlet light of the torches, Steve could see Diana's face was flushed with humiliation and frustration. Biting her lip, she left without another word.

"Well, Steve Trevor?" demanded the Queen.

Steve nodded quickly, barely managing not to quail under the sheer anger in her gaze, even though he knew it was not intended for him.

"Yes, your Highness," he said. "It will take time - but I know it can be done." The truth was, he highly doubted the wreck would ever fly again, considering the damage it had sustained. But Steve was not the type to give up hope, however meager the chances. Besides - even if it was no use, he could at least pretend to work on the plane and escape having do any more training. I could use a break from getting kicked in the ass.

"Good." The Queen looked weary. "From today, you will spare no effort to restore this thing. You may work on it when you have finished your training for the day."

So much for that. Now he would have to endure late nights in addition to the exhaustion of training. The disappointment was crushing. But Steve didn't even blink. "Yes, your Highness."

One Amazon spoke up tentatively, clearly not eager to receive a dressing down as Diana had. "Your Highness? The metal beast is too heavy to be carried up the cliffs."

The Queen looked too weary to do more than sigh. "Very well. Carry it to the cove, to protect it from the wind and tide." With a wave of dismissal, she turned her horse back towards the city. Her royal guard departed also. Steve was left, ankle-deep in the water, staring at the plane.

He turned with an apologetic smile to the remaining Amazons. "Uh...would some of you mind giving me a hand with this?" he asked, gesturing towards the wreck. To his surprise, about half a dozen rushed forward quite eagerly, all wanting to lay hands on the "metal beast". Once again, Steve was astonished at their inhuman strength as they half-lifted, half-dragged the plane into a nearby cove. It was sheltered by a small grove of trees, their trunks bleached bone-white by the ocean spray.

"Thank you," he said, when the plane had been secured by piling rocks and shingle about its hull. When he received no response, he looked up and saw that the look of excitement on the Amazons' faces had faded into disappointment.

"What a fool I was, to think this ruin could ever be restored," said one, disgruntled. "Seeing it up close, only a simpleton would not despair of fixing it."

"I wish you luck, Steve Trevor," another laughed. "It seems you will have great need of it."

Then they were gone, and Steve was alone with the wreck. It grinned at him, like a hollow skull distorted beyond recognition. Perhaps it was the utter desolation of the scene. But quite suddenly, Steve felt flat as a pricked carnival balloon. The Amazons were right. All his fantasies of escaping in this sad heap of shit were ridiculous. Planes were delicate things, hard to repair even in the most favourable of conditions. But not even the most skilled mechanic could bring this wreck back to life. In an abrupt burst of anger, Steve seized a chunk of rock and hurled into the ocean with all his might. It merely sank beneath the turmoil of the waves.

"Useless," he muttered. Then he slumped to the ground, his back against the cliff.

For the first time in his life, Steve felt defeated.


High up in the palace, alone in her room, Diana was feverishly pacing across the floor. Back and forth. Back and forth. Only one thought was running through her mind.

Why won't she just listen to me?

She just couldn't understand it. All her life, she had been used to telling her mother everything. She remembered one time from when she was but a child. A naughty mood had come over her, and she had given her current guardian the slip. She'd then spent an entire afternoon hidden away in a corner of one of the great kitchens, stuffing her mouth with baked treats. But as time wore on, and her upset stomach erased any fun she had been having, her conscience began to prod at her. It wasn't long before she felt as though her tiny ribcage was being crushed with guilt. She had crept to her mother and confessed everything. She had been terrified of the consequences - but even scarier was the idea of keeping something from her mother, who trusted her so. And her mother listened, and forgave her.

And now, when it really counted, the Queen would barely even look at her. There was something she wasn't telling her. It almost made Diana wonder what secrets her mother was hiding from her - had been hiding her entire life.

She stared out her window towards the beach. She could see tiny dark shapes dragging the flying device away from the waves. For that was what it was. Diana had recognized it by its widespread arms like birds wings, and the odd wheel that spun in the front, cutting the air with a dozen blades. She had seen such a thing only once before - when it had crashed through the sky and into the water. When she had saved the pilot's life.

Now he meant to escape in it, she was sure. And her mother had all but granted him permission. If she only knew what the metallic beast was meant for, she would order it to be destroyed at once. But Diana knew, in her heart, that it wasn't really the destruction of the flying device she wanted. She wanted the trust of her mother - her family - back.

Since the day the invaders had come, Diana had sensed an invisible wall that had risen between her and her mother, her aunt, her friends. It was almost as if they were...afraid of her? But how could that be? A tiny voice whispered in her ear, reminding her of the strange burst of power from her gauntlets. But that wasn't my doing! she wanted to scream. Burying her face in her hands, she curled up in a corner of the beautiful, cold room.

For the first time in her life, Diana felt alone.


A/N: I'm so very sorry for an update that is so late it has passed beyond the realm of late-ness and has entered a whole new dimension of late. It's been an awful few months, in which I've barely written a sentence outside of homework. I feel terrible for doing this (completely unintentionally!) to anyone and everyone who was reading this fic - thanks y'all for your patience! I swear, the updates will come much, MUCH more frequently from here on out, due to a more relaxed schedule and loads of personal motivation leftover from New Years!