Bruce:
I am so going to kill Diana tomorrow. Or at least do my level best. I spit in an unsuccessful attempt to get rid of the horrid taste as I change into my Batman attire. Chemical fires. Sounds interesting. Diana left like a bullet, so she must think so too. I wonder if the neighbours ever get suspicious. She left so quickly it was careless. It's a wonder she managed to keep her identity hidden for so long.
Once suited up, I get into my car and type Stonewall into the GPS. My gut still hurts like - Gods I can't even think the word now without that vile tasting washing bar coming to my mind. As long as the fire is just a fire, I shouldn't have to worry about getting punched in the gut. I probably already have internal bleeding. No need to make it any worse.
I'm gonna kill her.
You're going to try and fail, her voice mocks me. My adrenaline spikes as I drive down the street.
Diana:
I arrive at the school in record time. Police and firefighters already swarm the scene. I see students standing in lines and teachers roaming between them. They all stood tall and did not fidget. I scan the faces. I do not see Ambrosine.
She's still in the building!
"Wonder Woman!" An officer beckons me over. I don't have time for him. He's not concerned about Ambrosine, he worried about press and casualties and being seen talking with me. Ambrosine will not be a casualty.
I look at the ten-foot flames coming out of the second largest building. It's one I've never been inside before. I don't know the layout. I'm so stupid. I should have memorized it all. I had the opportunity to do so and I did not. If any harm has come to her it will be my fault for being negligent. I am an idiot.
I take a deep breath and cover my face. I won't get as severely burned as a mortal might, but the lack of oxygen will affect me as much as anyone, even if the effects are prolonged.
The doors have already been broken down. Inside, the heat is intense. Stairs and hallways are going in every direction, all ablaze. I close my eyes. I listen. I hear the building around me, made from solid stone, burning up in this unnatural fire. The sirens are blaring, people are talking and crying and screaming. Listen closer, Diana. I tell myself this over and over again. Now, I can practically hear the mortals thinking. I can hear their footsteps, their heartbeats. But I can't pinpoint the ones coming from the building over the fire.
So I run. through the hallways, calling for people, always attentive to a little ounce of noise that could be a child or teacher in danger. First, I find two elementary girls huddled in a corner and blocked off from the door. I get them out. In the basement, a teenage boy had a panic attack and was now hiding under a desk. When I bring him out it takes two others to get him to unhand me.
"Are there any others?" I ask the police officer.
"We're not sure. They're still doing ahead count. They've been telling the parents though, who are reporting back to us. And the principal has agreed to hand off a headcount once he's sure he has it right." I need to be Diana Prince. So be it.
I just nod and pretend to run back off into the school, but once out of sight I spin three times and find myself mortal again. Now under this pretence, I walk up the principle and ask, quite flustered, if Ambrosine is okay.
"She's fine." He replies. "She wasn't even in the building. She signed up last minute to go to the museum. I would have thought she'd told you since you signed the form."
"Right. I just forgot in my moment of panic." I lie. I don't remember ever signing a form to go on a museum trip today. He smiles and goes back to his clipboard.
I hear a cry for help coming from inside the building. I go back into the burning building. For some reason, people try to stop me. Just in case there's someone still inside.
Dian...
Diana...
Princess...
DIANA PRINCE!
The words float around my head. Diana Prince! A voice calls again, inside my mind. It's forceful, almost painful. I doubt it's a god. Over here! Help us, Diana, help us. I follow them through the burning hallways. Somewhere eventually I find two girls standing with their faces to a wall.
"I'm here to help you," I say. Slowly, they turn.
Diana. Diana Prince.
So odd, you're not burning alive.
Diana. Such a wonder.
Wonderful woman.
Their two voices bounce around in my head as they turn. In the darkness and the flames, I can't make out their faces, but I know they are laughing at me.
"Who are you."
Who, who cries the owl.
What are we? That is the question.
Who made us, mayhap.
Who cries the owl, the owl of Athena. Who who, who-who.
"Did you set the building on fire?"
So curious.
So direct.
So right.
But so annoying.
Tell us, God Killer. If you kill a god,
Do you become the god?
If you died today...
What would that make us?
Whowho, who-who.
Amazon slayers?
God killers?
The Goddesses of War?
Whowho, who-who.
TELL US! Their eyes began to glow.
It's too much. It's too loud. I can feel myself drifting, drifting away from the noise, the clamour. Somewhere warm and peaceful. With sand between my toes and the sun on my back. A sword clenched in my hand even though I have no use for it. The water splashes on my legs, cool and sharp, yet pleasant. But it all fades.
"No!" I cry. I want to stay there, to be home, to be safe. But the darkness, the all-consuming darkness, it takes me away from everything I want.
Beep...beep...beep. The tell-tale noise of a hospital machine. I can't be here! One look at my blood, I'm done. I'll become a freak, a science experiment. They'll chop me up and put me into test tubes, make Wonder Woman Public Enemy No 1 if I escape.
But I need to get out. Tell Ambrosine. She can't find out from a newspaper article or a house raid.
No, I can't see her. I can't drag her in. She has a chance still, at a normal life. With her dad. it might be slim but it is a chance.
I'll flee. Back to Themyscira. I will not be made a test subject to the will of men.
"Diana?" Someone asks. "Diana, can you hear me?"
I moan. Too late. I might as well have burned alive.
"Diana, I want you to try and open your eyes, alright."
Not alright. I try to move my arms. They are bound. I kick, using the force to rip one arm free. Not today. I tell them silently.
"Diana! Calm down! Everything is fine, it's me Alfred."
"Alfred?" I open my eyes.
"Hi." He waves. "What do you remember?"
"Nothing after the girls with glowing eyes." Those creepy girls.
"It looks like we have a lot of explaining to do." He says, shaking his head. "But not right now." How long have I been out? Has Armageddon started? Where's Ambrosine? Is she alright? All these questions I would have asked had the plastic tube and needle in my arm not pumped me full of drugs so potent it could take out an Amazon and force me into another fitful sleep.
