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CHAPTER 7 – THE RISE OF WONDER WOMAN (MAR-2016)

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A young Brazilian woman is running down dark streets, nervous but not panicked. She calls out to the walls and windows for help in an idiomatic American English, but none come. It is a slum in New Jersey, and no one inside wants to face those who are giving chase to her. She is alone, and her fate rests in the balance tonight.

She races to the end of an alleyway, trying to evade her pursuers. As she approaches a well-lit street, a shadowy figure walks into the alleyway, silhouetted by a nearby streetlamp. Although the visage of this aggressor is shrouded by the angle of the lighting, the young woman is well aware of his identity. She steels herself as she tosses her purse into nearby garbage bin and takes a military-style defensive stance.

The silhouette appears to be dressed in a suit, complete with a fedora, and starts to make a hyena-style giggle as he removes his hat. "My, my, my – what do we have here? The Amazonian Jaguar. You're far away from home, my little kitty. And I dare say, the last of her kind this far North, too. Such a pity..." The figure starts to approach. "You were clever – changing your name and blending into the locals. Why, if it wasn't for the fact you were caught on YouTube saving a little kid from a burning house, I may still be searching for you. Not too many people can jump from a fifth floor window and land on their feet, my dear. Not a wise move." The figure wags a long, gloved finger at her and clicks his tongue as if to chide her.

The young woman can hear footsteps behind her, walking slowly. She tries to plan her strategy, but needs a few moments to come up with a solution. She decides to stall for time.

"So, you must be Joker," she speaks in English laced with a subtle Brazilian accent. "Congratulations for finally having the guts to come find me yourself instead of sending your lackeys to do your dirty work." She eyes one of the figures behind her, a brute of a man with two black eyes and a recently broken nose. He flinches as he catches her sharp gaze. "So, can *you* explain to me what I did that invoked your ire, or do you just have an issue with the strong independent woman-type?"

The figure known as Joker takes a step and allows the light to catch his deformed face. He smiles as he eyes several of his gangers taking positions to flank the young woman. He obliges with some conversation. "Well, Ms. Diana Prince, I have a contract to hunt down you and your Amazonian sisters. It's nothing personal... just business. And someone out there is willing to pay a lot of green to see you and your kind all pushing up daisies. Maybe you should ask yourself that same question."

Diana, now surrounded, sees that she is going to have to pull out all the stops if she wants to survive. She braces herself for an imminent attack, as Joker gives a final statement. "So, my little Amazonian princess, unless you can call upon Moon Prism Power, its time to see if your life insurance is all paid up." Joker levels a goofy looking pistol at her and flips the safety with his thumb. His eyes start to go wide with delight as he readies to do what he does best – murdering the innocent.

Diana suddenly starts to spin, and she is instantly consumed in a flash of light. As Joker blinks from the blinding flash and sound of a lightning strike, he is surprised to see Diana in a skimpy-looking outfit, complete with a lasso on her side, and brandishing a tiara, gauntlets and a short sword made of an iridescent gold-colored metal.

Joker's jaw drops. "I was just kidding!" He shrugs, then starts to open fire. Diana deflects his shots with her metal bracelets, with one bullet buzzing over Joker's head. With a well-practiced move she instantly closes the distance between her and Joker and puts the point of her sharp sword to Joker's neck. Joker's eyes go wide with surprise and he drops his gun.

Diana stares into Joker's eyes as her blade slowly presses to his larynx. "Tell your goons to back off me, or I'll show you why you never mess with a chick with a blade."

Everyone starts to back up away from Diana. Joker slowly fixes his hair, mumbling about getting a haircut later to fix his ruined hairdo. Diana starts to back up and slip to the side towards the entrance of the alleyway, hoping that her display will be enough to dissuade her combatants from pressing the attack.

"Nice trick, kid." Joker takes it all in stride, perhaps because he is clinically insane. "But I won't get my Christmas Bonus if I don't finish the job." He looks to his goons. "Alright, everyone shoot her at once!"

As everyone raises their weapons, some of them capable of automatic fire, Diana prepares for a dramatic and glorious death. The firing squad is suddenly interrupted as two figures drop from the sky and land to each side of Diana. Joker and his three goons each let off several rounds, but every one of them either misses or is deflected. Two of the goons drop from ricocheted bullets, and the third goon just drops his gun and starts to bolt.

Joker takes a deep breath and sighs. "Well, *that* was well-timed. I guess we'll have to pick this back up some other time. Toodles!" Joker turns and scoops up his gun and fedora as he bolts around the corner.

The three people left standing in the alleyway look at each other. Diana is first to speak up. "Well, I guess a thanks is in order. But, I have to admit, I was under the belief that I was a solo act as a superhero. Finding others gifted from the Gods like myself is welcoming, but I am at a total loss. Who are you two?"

The male, wearing a torn suit, speaks first. "My name is Clark. That's Kara. We were hoping to find you, and it seems we got here just in time."

Kara, wearing a damaged black jumpsuit and seemingly distracted for a moment, finally focuses on the two beside her. "The cops are coming. I can also hear an ambulance. E.T.A. about... 6 minutes."

Diana turns to look at the two goons moaning and crying on the asphalt in the alleyway. "What about these two?"

Clark stares at them for a moment. "They'll be fine – nothing life-threatening that I can detect."

Kara stares down the alleyway. "We can still catch the other two – the lumbering oaf and the reject from 'It'."

Clark and Diana shake their heads simultaneously. "No," Diana says. "Let them go. Right now we should just leave – I am in no mood to explain my unusual cosplay hobby, and I bet you both have a story that's not ready for prime time yet as well. Am I correct?"

Clark and Kara nod. "Can we give you a lift home?" Kara offers.

Diana agrees, retrieves her purse, and does her magic spin to resume her image as the local book store clerk before she is literally lifted by both Kryptonians back to her apartment.

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It's cool, overcast and late in the evening when Alfred Pennyworth arrives at the Wayne Sea-Side Mansion. He walks onto the back area where a human-sized statue of Neptune carrying a lantern and a trident stands silently watching the New York harbor and the Atlantic Ocean to the East. He is amazed to see that there is a lit candle in Neptune's stone lantern.

"My God," he gasps. "So, it is true. They have returned." Alfred stares at the lit candle. He remembers when he was still a young boy cleaning the estate's cobblestone walkways when the lantern was last lit. It was only a few years after WW2, and his father was the butler for the Wayne family. The Wayne family was vacationing at the Sea-Side Mansion and he remembered how they were entertaining strangely disfigured guests who could freely walk into and out of the waters. His father later told him the secret: that the Wayne family were friends with Atlanteans – merfolk. The Wayne family had offered some aid to them when they were recovering from an invasion by the German Navy during the War. It was the last time they had made contact. According to his father, should they ever need to contact each other again, they were to light a candle in Neptune's lantern. That lantern has remained dark for over 60 years, until today.

Alfred goes to the statue, and turns to face the rolling black water. After a long, quiet moment, he calls out. "My name is Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth, and I speak for the Wayne Family. Bojanam seyya vaarungal!"

Silence falls again, with nothing but the quiet ripple of the waves on the nearby shore. There is a cold wind, and then a figure moves among the nearby bushes. It speaks in a thickly accented English. "Thank you, sir. I would love to dine with you this evening. And I must say, your Tamil is quite good for a Land Dweller."

Alfred turns to face the figure. He does not recognize the Atlantean, but he knows that he is one. He bows in a typical Tamil greeting.

The figure obliges. "My name is Viran Tevataiye, Crown Prince and son of the Maharaja of Lemuria. And I have come on behalf of my father and my people to once again seek the help of the family who once helped us so many years ago."