A/N:

Some of you may be wondering what brief I was given as part of the #WonderBatSecretCupid event. I'll show it you at the end of the story. Let's just say I may have twisted it more than a little...

As for who this one was for... I think the secret may be out by now. That one might be a tad more guessable... Right, my friend? It's always you!

2: If Wishes Were Horses

"Look, I'm telling you, we're old friends, the Ambassador and I. There's no way she'd shut me out. If you tell her it's me out here…"

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but your credentials shouldn't even have allowed you this far into the basilica. The Ambassadorial rooms are private and personal for the during of the conference, and that should be respected by all members of the press. Now please move away, before you force me to move you away."

Ermilo Iaquinta, the duty security personnel, loomed over her, making full use of his extra height. His face was cragged with experience as he stood between her and the other room, continuing to block her way. For now, anyway. As soon as Wonder Woman heard her voice…

"Its ok, Agent Iaquinta." Sure enough, the door behind him and opened, the world-famous face appearing beyond. The face of just about the one person on the world who shouldn't need any kind of protection. Well, other than Smallville, of course. Gorgeous as ever, and so regal and calm in spite of everything, Diana was a Wonder Woman indeed. Even by her own high standards. "I know Ms. Lane. You can let her through."

"Told you so," Lois said with a wink and a smirk as a reluctant Iaquinta was forced to accept the Ambassador's word, stepping aside with a bow of his head. She'd made it inside, and soon, Diana had the door closing behind them both, leaving them alone at last. Considering the occasion and the occupant, it was a relatively small room Lois found herself in, a mixture between an office and a hotel suite. But it was hardly the décor that she was there for.

"Lois, my sister, it's a pleasure to see you!" Diana was beaming with glee as she followed Lois back into the centre of the room, wrapping her up into a big hug that momentarily took her off guard. The next moment, she caught up enough to give a superhero a hug back. "What brings you out this way to me? Is everything all right?"

"World's best reporter. World's biggest story," Lois replied with a shrug as the pair of them finally moved apart. "Where else would I be?"

Diana smiled again. "I wish I'd seen you earlier. I sure could have used a friendly face on my way in through your colleagues."

"I'm not sure I'd call them all colleagues…" Lois muttered, unable to hide her disdain. "Half of them were only there to pander to the masses, rather than get to the truth of the story. The age of the headline, of social media news. Providing the story isn't as important any more if you can manage to incite the mobs. They play into whatever emotions they can enflame to get more clicks on their websites, more advertising money through their pages. You're just unfortunate enough to get caught up in one of their easiest targets. What with how heated this whole situation is, with every country seemingly ready to close its doors and build up walls, its crazy everywhere. I don't blame you for struggling to find the words. Even after all those Pulitzer's, I know I've got none."

She didn't quite mean to say that. She didn't want to hit a nerve, or to make Diana relive what had happened in the chambers below only an hour or so ago. Simply put, Diana had tried to say something good, to do the right thing… But the words simply hadn't been there. The conviction, the inspiration, the creativity, the substance. It was normally radiating with every breath Wonder Woman took, but it hadn't been today. And Lois hadn't needed to speak to any of the other ambassadors or delegates to see that no minds had been changed, no solution agreed. For once, Wonder Woman had failed. And Lois Lane didn't like that.

"I take it that means you aren't here to help refine my language for whenever I'm next given the chance to speak in session, then?" Diana asked, remaining remarkably upbeat despite how all of this was clearly tearing at her heart. And it was equally heart-breaking to Lois that she couldn't tell Diana that she was there to give her the solutions she needed.

"The Daily Planet needs the story. I'm here to do a job," Lois disappointingly had to admit. It made her break eye contact for a second, but only a second. The next moment, she looked back up, a spark of mischief back in her stare. "I'm here to observe, tell the tale and get quotes from all involved. It's not my place to tell anyone what to do here and try to influence the politics. Perry made that clear enough when I got this job ahead of Clark. But… If, as part of my job… If I so happened to gently suggest to one of the Ambassadors that maybe it might be inspiring to go and actually speak to some of these migrants, to hear their own stories, to see how they live… Say, at the Cuore dei Beati Antenati camp that recently went up across the Strait of Messina… It was certainly an interesting place when I went there yesterday… So suggesting that; that wouldn't be remiss of me would it?"

She almost actually winked as she said that last part, the hint she was dropping so strong. Even a blind man would be able to see it, and Diana of Themyscira certainly wasn't blind.

"Thank you, Lois."

"For what?" Lois cheerily grinned back, playing deliberately dumb. "Now then, about those quotes… A little bird told me you might be heading out for a spell soon. I don't suppose I can get a few quick words before you go?"

It was like a shanty town, at its most generous of descriptions. Dirt was everywhere, and prosperity nowhere. There were plenty of homes, but no houses. The structures and hovels were nothing more than old, rusted shipping containers, tents or tarpaulins held up by scraps of metal. No plumbing, no power, no sanitation. Trash littered the walkways, rodents, critters and feral birds scattering around the camp. The only running water came from slow dripping, communal taps, the only lavatories disgusting holes in the ground. Bottled water, food, blankets and medical supplies were limited, the only ones available those handed out by the aid workers from their mobile caravans of offices up at the Northern entrance to the camp. And all around it all was the walls, the fences, the barbed wire laden barriers, making sure that these people could go nowhere except back out into the sea.

The people forced to reside there looked little better. Bedraggled, thin, weak. Most of them looked ill, tired, worn. Desperate. Scared. The clothes hung on their backs dirty and loose, their faces gaunt and sunken. The men and the women, the elderly and the children, it was the same in every face she saw. The fear. Just as Bruce had said. Fear seemed to be everywhere.

Slowly but surely, Diana was making her way through the camp. Lois had called ahead, having a contact among the aid workers who had already allowed her inside once for her stories. It hadn't taken much persuasion at all for her to convince him to let Diana in too now. She must have already been there for the best part of an hour. At first, she had concentrated herself around the aid shelters, around where people gathered for food and water. She had figured that would be where they would be most approachable, most willing to talk. She had figured wrong. Instead, the migrants had shied away, almost as if scared of her, thinking that she might be there to take what little they had. Almost as if experience had taught them that they could trust no-one. Here or in Nairomi.

It wasn't only at the aid huts either. With the aid workers giving her little encouragement, little help to succeed, Diana had taken it upon herself to move away. Something had these people afraid. She had to disassociate herself with it all. Which was why she had dispensed with her ambassadorial garb, revealing her signature armour that resided beneath. And which was why she had begun her march into the depths of those ramshackle hovels these people now called home.

But every step she took, even then, seemed to only be met with more silence. With more watchful eyes, more people who backed away from her, kept their distance, sank back into their hovels. Pulled their possessions close. They were all still afraid of her. The ones with a guilty, shifty look, and the ones who looked completely innocent, it was all the same. Everywhere. Despite the obvious anguish and pain. Despite how much these people clearly needed help. Despite how desperation made them look for it in all the wrong places. It was like, now they had a chance to talk with someone who could make a difference, all that had gone before had left them too afraid to try. All of them. Except–

"You're her. Aren't you?"

The voice came from behind her, making Diana have to stop, caught a little off guard as she quickly looked back over her shoulder. It was a woman stood there. African like the rest, dressed in worn out, mucky reems of cloth like the rest, there was something different about her. Her grey clothes and her hair fully tied up around her head beneath a dull bandana, the eye was immediately drawn to her face. Yet while she looked as tired as the rest, there was something else there still. Spirit. Resolve. Life. And maybe something even more…

"I am Diana of the Amazons, Ambassador of Themyscira and member of the Justice League." She stepped forward as she identified herself, though doing so slowly and calmly so as not to scare this woman off, her voice soft and compassionate. "Do you know of me?"

The woman actually snorted. When she spoke again, it was with the thick accent of her people. "Even in the deepest depths of the African Badlands, everyone knows of Wonder Woman. Of what you've done for our world alongside the others like you. Of what you represent. Your reputation. Of what you can do for us. Or what you can do to us…"

"'To you'?" Diana repeated, not expecting that response. "I mean none of you any harm. That's not why I'm here."

"I know," the woman replied with a nod. "Otherwise I would not be brave enough to speak to you now. But I can see it in your poise, your walk. But because of that I am left wondering; why are you here?"

"To try to help you," Diana simply answered with honesty. "To understand what has happened to you, what is still happening to you, and what you desire to happen next. To understand the truth of this crisis so that I can work with you and the governments to find a solution for all. I must admit, I am struggling to come to terms with what that solution might be. We have heard much of the plight of your people, but a good friend recently pointed out to me how little anyone has tried to actually talk to you. To understand you properly, of what you all need. Because there can be no perfect solution unless it gives you what you need. I'm here to learn what it is in your hearts."

"Fear." That word again. Just as Bruce had before, this woman was immediately adamant that people were afraid. That they were motivated by that fear and that fear alone. "Only fear. Fear of the war we have all ran from. Fear of the corruption that seems to follow us everywhere we go. Fear of famine, disease. Of dying in this place. My people are at a crossroads, Wonder Woman. This is not a way for us to live. We cannot stay in this camp forever. Already the next round of desperate actions are being taken. Every day we wake to find someone else from the camp has disappeared. Smuggled out into the mainland. Fleeing back across the ocean having not found their dream. Or worse. I do not wish think about the kinds of prices my people are paying for only seeking to live. Getting here was bad enough. Now, at the mercy of the traffickers and smugglers… One day people are here, the next they are gone. Fled… or taken. We are at the mercy of these men, Wonder Woman. The government. The aid agencies. Ambassadors. Heroes. Traffickers. Slavers. Criminals. We are all afraid."

Diana listened to every word, and with each syllable she felt more and more of this woman's pain. But she also found it strengthening her resolve. "Then its time we changed that. Help me. Help me to help you. We can make this right, if only we stand together. And I'm right here now, standing with you."

By that point, Diana and the woman were face to face and up close. It meant Diana could see every line of her features as she took pause. As she thought, considered. And then as she nodded.

"I believe you, Diana of the Amazons. My name is Amara Tesheme Etefu, of the Nairomian village Olileanya, and I believe you. And I will help you. Come, step inside, and I shall tell you everything else you might wish to know."

The woman, Amara, gestured in to her cargo container home as she spoke. But Diana was quick to smile in appreciation of the gesture, nodding as she took the important step through the dark threshold into the metal shell that lay beyond.

As her eyes adjusted, she instantly saw that the innards were no more impressive than what was outside. Woodworm ridden, rickety chairs. An old mattress full of broken springs in the corner for a bed. Metal pans sat around a rudimental fire for any food preparation. And against one of the rusted walls, an assortment of personal effects that were clearly most important to these people, things that had travelled with them all the way from Africa. But none of that was what was really eye catching.

Instead, that was the man suddenly standing from one of those chairs as soon as he saw Diana coming. Tall, bearded, he looked like he had a naturally powerful frame that had been beaten down by years of unwilling neglect and hardship. A fact emphasised by just how much he was struggling to rise from that chair, a pair of cobbled together crutches grasped tight as he tried to heave himself up. It didn't take much looking to see the source of his struggles. One leg was gone above the knee, with the shorts he wore showing off the full array of scar tissue around there too. It didn't take a genius to realise that the civil war of Nairomi had been the cause.

But more importantly, compassion and empathy took Diana as she quickly stepped forward to this man's side, helping him up to his full height and to a position of balance to save him from the struggle and the undoubted pain.

"Thank you…" the man breathed at her with a small grateful smile through the grimace. "A souvenir I picked up from a landmine back home, I'm afraid. A blast that killed my friend, and left me lucky that I was left with this much of me."

"Walif, this is Princess Diana, the Wonder Woman," Amara spoke up from behind Diana as she followed her inside. "She's come to learn of our struggle so she can try to help us. Wonder Woman, this is Walif Melaku Dagmawi, my life partner."

"And a perfect example of exactly what our struggle looks like," Walif retorted with dry, self-depreciating humour. Diana immediately liked this man. It already seemed that, despite everything, his spirit also remained strong, his ability to find a smile.

"A pleasure to meet you Walif," Diana greeted, taking his hand as he raised it ever so slightly from his crutch for just that brief moment. "Though I must say, I admire your strength and convictions to have made the tough journey to get here."

"I wouldn't have if not for Amara," Walif shrugged off the praise. "She is my strength, my inspiration, my motivation. My reason to get out of there alive. Not only did she carry me most of the way here, not only has she nursed me ever since my accident, but if not for her, I would almost certainly have stayed in Nairomi to meet my fate."

"And you are my reason to survive as well, my love," Amara concurred quickly. She'd stepped right forward, now at Walif's other side, and planting a quick and loving kiss on his cheek. The eyes spoke more though. Diana had seen the spirit in both of their eyes already, but it was like that moment was showing her the fire bruning behind it, the reason for their strength. In that moment, she realised a truth.

It wasn't only fear motivating these people. It was also love…

Eventually, Walif pulled his eyes from his love to turn back to Diana. "I did hear you two speaking outside. I heard what you said Wonder Woman. And all I can tell you is that we came here for a chance to live. That is what we want most. The chance. To have our fate in our own hands without the threat of war and death hung over our heads by men beyond our reach. Not to have to fear starvation and disease. To have the chance to spend our lives together. Where I can protect Amara more than I ever could in Nairomi. And where I can help her to achieve her dreams."

"And I want to be part of a society where I can help Walif to heal as much as he can," Amara added, also looking to Diana. "The medical resources in Nairomi are limited. He won't admit it, but I see how much he's still in pain. Do you know what that's like Wonder Woman? Seeing someone you love suffering, in pain every day. Wouldn't you do anything to help them?"

Diana certainly did know. She was living it that very moment in fact, with Bruce's surgery to save his motion. Her face clearly gave that feeling away, as Amara was continuing before she had even nodded.

"Back home, he has no chance to live. He will be an invalid left to struggle in pain for the rest of his days, forced to do physical work where he cannot without hurting. Here in the North, there is promise. There is a chance that he can find a purpose where his injury will not impair him, and where it can rest and. A chance where together we can earn our way to prosperity, instead of forever being locked in a endless cycle of torment. We're looking for the chance to live our lives, as the Northern world gets to live theirs. The chance to earn that right."

Diana was soon nodding again in understanding. "Those are noble aims. Justifiable aims. Aims free of ill will and partiality. I can appreciate that. But other nations, the places your people flee to… There are arguments behind why they have reluctance to accept you in. Sometimes irrational, prejudicial. Other times not…"

"We've heard those arguments," Amara interrupted, a harsh tone suddenly overcoming her, an element of frustration seeping out. "But please understand, we aren't here looking for handouts. We aren't asking that the people of this land give up any of their own earnings for us. We just want the chance to earn what they have inherited. To earn our own place in a society where our lives can be free and good and safe."

"And together," Walif was quick to add. "Always together. We will work to earn our way, Wonder Woman. Within the confines of law as well. We are not the criminals we have been painted to be. Do not let the examples of a few taint us all. We are good people who were born into hell, and are looking to crawl back out to the Earth. And now we are so close. We just have to open the final gates. Together."

Considering what Themyscira housed beneath the island, that was an analogy that certainly struck home. But more, it was seeing Walif turn to Amara and smile again. Seeing her take his hand and give it a gentle squeeze. Seeing the look of love they both gave each other again.

That was it. The words the pair had spoken were meaningful, but nothing in them had been unexpected. There was little substance there that Diana hadn't guessed before, when she had been struggling to get to grips with the crisis. When she had been lead to believe that this was all about fear. But now, just seeing these two together, had given her that substance.

Love. Love was the key.

Everyone had been approaching this situation seeing all the negatives. The pain these people were fleeing, the threat of criminality, the reduced prosperity of others. But no one was looking at the positive. At the love that drove people like Amara and Walif. And the love like that Diana had for all beings.

Only in love could she find the answer. And only in love could she find the words.

She couldn't help but smile from ear to ear at that, a new found confidence taking over her. The other pair had clearly noticed too, both looking up at her with a minor look of confusion.

"I think you've both just given me exactly what I need," Diana explained through the smile. "Thank you. Thank you both."

"Our pleasure," Walif responded, still sounding confused as he didn't know what he'd done, but happily taking it.

"Does this mean you can help us?" Amara asked as a follow on.

Diana gave a half shrug. "It means I can try. I cannot promise that people were listen, but I can give you my word that I will try."

"And that is all we can ask for," Amara smiled back. "Now, it would be remiss of me if I didn't at least offer you some tea in return. Will you join us, Diana?"

Diana immediately knew her answer. She didn't need to look down at the depressingly sparse amount of water in their pans by their small stove. "No, I should be getting back to the UN, to spread the message I have heard here today. But I will return. And maybe we could share that drink then."

"I'm already looking forward to it," Walif told her with one last shared smile, and that was that. Giving one last nod, Diana turned and slowly walked away, leaving the pair to their day. That meant that once again, she found herself walking through the camp, heading back to the main entrance to formally sign out as per procedure. But this walk was different to the one in. That had been full of doubt and of fear. Now… Now she was full of confidence and love.

Now she was full of hope again. She had it. She had the way. She hadn't yet the details, but she knew her calling, her way forward, what she had to do. She had hope.

At least, that was, until she heard the screams.

She must have made it about two hundred metres around the large campsite, round a large curving path and past countless shacks, hovels and tents. Past so many watchful migrants. But she knew instantly where the scream had come from, who it had come from.

Amara.

"No," Diana instantly breathed to herself. Thoughts were flashing through her mind in an instant. Amara had spoken of people disappearing, of them being at the mercy of traffickers. Of modern slavery…

Sparing no time to dwell on such thoughts, Wonder Woman ran, using her ounce of her speed to drive herself onwards, back to that shipping container, back towards the screams. If every set of migrant eyes had been on her before, they certainly were know, as every person in the camp seemed to be stepping out to see what was going on. But none rushed forward as she did, fear still gripping them tight.

Her boots skidded though the mud kicking up dirt and stone as she slide to a halt in the open doorway. But as she saw inside, it was only to see Amara's kicking feet as she was dragged off through the hatch at the container's opposite side. One of Walif's fallen crutches left on the deck as he had seemingly already been taken.

And the other crutch, held in the grasp of the man now stood in her way. The stocky man whose entire head and both hands were wrapped in bandage, leaving nothing visible but his eyes. His dark, hollow eyes…

Immediately Wonder Woman stepped forward, prepared to do what it took, already convinced there was no way of solving this without violence. But she had barely taken a single stride forward before the bandaged man had Walif's crutch flung straight at her head. Nonchalantly, Diana threw up on hand to catch it, ready to display her strength and scare this man away by perfectly grasping it from the air. But she had reckoned without a misjudgement. This man looked ordinary. Hidden by bandage but no reason to believe his strength was significantly different from any other human. She had sparred with Batman often enough, she knew the weight of a human throw, the speed and power of the projectile.

This one wasn't ordinary. This man's strength was not ordinary. It was on her faster than she knew. And it momentarily knocked her back as it smashed against her forehead.

There was no pain, no cut, but there was enough of a shock to fleetingly slow Wonder Woman down as the crutch clattered to the floor beside her. For a second, she stared incredulously at the man, the man who had remained unmoved, almost robotically so. The next, she decided she'd had enough.

Hovering ever so slightly into the air, she gave him just the briefest moment to try to run, but he didn't even bother to take it. Then, she slammed herself forwards, flying all of her weight and strength hard as she rammed her shoulder into his torso, knocking him back so hard against the wall of the container that the whole thing rocked and threatened to topple. Touching back down, Wonder Woman then immediately tossed the man towards the floor.

As she did so, she could feel him try to resist. His hands latched out, attempting to grab hold of her, attempting to throw her off. Attempting to do so with the confidence of a man beyond what was reasonable when faced with a powered Amazon warrior. The confidence of a man who knew he had strength beyond his measure.

But not enough. It may have floored a man of this world, but his attempted grasp didn't even whiten Wonder Woman's skin. And so with another clang the bandaged man was thrown unceremoniously to the deck.

No matter how easy that had been though, Wonder Woman knew she couldn't delay. She had no time to toy with him with Walif and Amara in danger. With the hole camp apparently under threat from this man. And so she was immediately moving to grab the lasso from her hip, to bind this man, to tie him up here and leave him here until she had retrieved the kidnapped couple.

But again, the bandaged man wasn't about to let her do so without resistance. It seemed that this time he had finally recognised that he was up against someone that he did not have the strength to fight. It seemed he already knew that he was beaten. And it was instantly apparent that he wasn't prepared to accept that fact.

The cracking sound was the first clue. The bandages hid his mouth, but what Wonder Woman saw the next moment made it clear. He had bitten down on something, some sort of capsule. Even through the bandages, the frothing began to seep from his mouth as his entire body instantly convulsed. There was nothing Wonder Woman could then do but stand back in open eyed horror as whatever the man had just ingested tore through his body. Literally. For before her eyes, it was as if half his body mass was suddenly disappearing, shrinking to nothing but the acrid smell of burning. To say he was dead was an understatement.

To say the sight was horrific would be one too. Not to mention extreme. Even with all the things she had seen and done in her life, even with the stakes, it took Diana a moment to regain her poise, to bite back the sickness that felt like it was spawning in her at the sight. In the end, she had to force herself to turn away. Just as she had to fight back the questions already leaping through her mind about why the man had just taken such an extreme measure to end his own life, why the threat of capture alone would make him do that to himself. There wasn't time to think about that, not even time to vomit. Walif and Amara still needed her.

Uneasy at first but with more assuredness with every stride she took away from the now shrunken corpse, Wonder Woman was once again charging after her new friends, out the far side of the container. What she emerged into was almost like a junkyard. There was limited room to move back there but ample directions, plenty of other containers and tents and dumping grounds surrounding her, even less planning into the hidden side of the camp then the main throughway. At first, Wonder Woman could only stop and stare, looking through each of the gaps between tarpaulins and twisted metals for any sign of which way the abductors might have taken the pair, the bandaged man having at least slowed her down enough to have lost sight of them. The next moment, the sound of squealing tyres told her exactly where she should look.

Instantly, Wonder Woman took flight again, only this time straight up to hover angelically over the camp. A quick scan and she was soon spotting it. The white van, racing away at maximum speed, its rear doors slamming shut firm as if someone had hurriedly slammed something inside. Racing away so fast it smashed through the entrance barrier, sending the aid workers and security people who had been meant to be guarding it diving out the way to avoid being ran over. Already Wonder Woman could spot some of them getting on radios, phones, no doubt calling the police. But she wasn't about to wait around for them to get there.

The van only made it a short way down the road to the migrant camp before Wonder Woman had swooped down upon it. Coming in low and fast, she drew herself level with its left side, above the screeching, strained rear tyres. Then, careful not to send the whole thing over, she barged her shoulder against its bodywork, making the whole thing wobble as the driver fought to keep control. It was designed as a warning shot, to give the driver the hint that it was time to stop. But it was a hint that wasn't taken.

As soon as it steadied, Wonder Woman saw the front wheels of the van slam to their left just a fraction before the whole vehicle was crashing her way. It gave her just enough time to brace before its full weight hit her full on. But while Wonder Woman was only momentarily knocked off balance in the air, the entire side of the van was left crumpled and dented, metal tearing against her harder skin.

Yet even then, the driver surged on, as if he had any chance of getting away, twisting off down the winding road. It had pulled slightly ahead again as Wonder Woman steadied herself from the impact, but that didn't last long. Once again, she flew herself up high, swooping down on the van like a bird of prey after a meal. And this time, she slammed down against the bonnet of the truck. She felt her heels dig into it, crush down towards the engine, but she didn't keep that weight on. She didn't want to risk flipping it if Walif and Amara were inside.

Instead, she allowed herself to slide off the front, hitting the road but staying upright. Now digging her heels into the asphalt and kicking up composite and stone everywhere. At the same time, she slammed her hands hard against the vans raised front bumper. At first, it was her strength against the van's engine, but that was a battle she easily won as their momentum slowed right down to a halt. But then she continued to push, to lift. Wheels still spinning, the entire front of the van rose into the air, back wheels turning futilely as it was going nowhere. A moment later, Wonder Woman dropped it back down with a satisfying slam. The sound of the cracking front axel and the spluttering death of the now broken engine burst through the air.

Only then did Wonder Woman look up through the heavily cracked windscreen to the driver. He wasn't bandaged up as the other man had been. Instead, he looked small, shallow, weak. The look of fear on his face, his desperate attempts to turn the keys and restart the engine met only by the sounds of failing turnover. A look that made Wonder Woman smile.

Satisfied the van was going nowhere, calmly she walked around to the driver side door. But she didn't open it. Instead, a mere squeeze of her hand between door and chassis left that entrance way sealed. Then, a simple leap across the van and she was doing the same on the passenger side, trapping the driver in there. He seemed to realise it as he desperately scrambled for the handle, only for every pull, every shoulder barge against the frame not to budge those doors open.

That left just one thing left to do. In no time Wonder Woman had stepped round towards the rear. Hardly having to use any of her strength, she soon had the whole rear door ripped off its hinges, ready to release Amara and Walif back to the world, to free them from their captors…

Only to see nothing in the back of the van but boxes and boxes of smuggled goods and supplies…

Diana's heart immediately sank. She'd chased the wrong person. This wasn't it. This man wasn't the kidnapper…

"I give up, ok?" the van driver screamed back from the front, his local accent strong. There was an opening between where he sat and the rear compartment, his scared face looking back at her through it, both hands thrown up in his gesture of surrender. "I bring goods in to the camps! I flog wares to those people, but I hurt nobody! You…you can't hurt me now!"

"And how is it that you expect them to pay you?" Wonder Woman asked him, the anger still present in her voice. Slowly she reached forward, ripping open one of the boxes of goods she saw. This man had ran as he did for a reason. He had already been running before she went after his van. That wasn't the act of an innocent man. The boxes of illegal and highly addictive intoxicants and stolen medical supplies immediately gave her one explanation why. The man's stuttering response gave her another.

"F…favours…"

Looking at him, Wonder Woman could easily tell exactly what he meant by that. She may not be of Man's World or know of its darkness like Bruce and the others, but she had picked up enough to say through his choice of word. And it made her even angrier. He was exploiting people who were desperate in ways far beyond the pale. He was revolting, and deserved every punishment that would be thrown at him. Hera, how Wonder Woman was having to control her rage at him that instant, a part of her wanting nothing more than to tear him limb from limb. But that would solve nothing and, on the distant wind, she could already hear the sirens. This man would be punished, but by the rule of law. She had at least seen to that.

"The police will be with you in moments," she growled at the driver, forcing herself to remain in control but leaving her rage clear. "You give yourself up to them. You tell them everything that you've done. You let them take this evidence. Or I will come back for you."

She didn't wait to hear him confirm he understood, she could see it in his eyes already. In mere seconds, she had beaten all the fight out of him, without even laying a finger on him. He was a pathetic morsel of a man, exactly the kind her mother had warned her of for so long. With nothing else for it, Wonder Woman, slammed the rear doors shut, squeezing it locked as she had the driver's.

There was nothing else for it then. She had lost the trail, she had lost Amara and Walif, and she had lost precious time to recover them, all because of that man and his selfish crimes. Desperately, she took to the air again, once more taking position to hover up above the migrant camp as her eyes scanned everything around her. Desperately, she looked for some sign, any sign of where they might have gone, of someone else fleeing that camp.

But she could see nothing. Nothing. They had become lost to the ether, lost to the distractions. They had disappeared…just as others from the camp had apparently disappeared…

She hung up there for several minutes, not wanting to give up despite it appearing futile. In the end though, there was no option but to sink back down to Earth. Dropping slowly, she found herself landing beside the entrance to Amara's hovel, the despair hanging heavy over her. She could see inside just enough to see Walif's fallen crutch and not the sunken corpse she knew lay further in, and it was enough to break her heart all over again.

Things had changed so suddenly. A short while ago she had found hope again because the love those two had shown each other. And now…now they were gone, to Hera knew where.

"The bandaged men, took them, didn't they?"

Diana's eyes had been locked on that crutch since she had touched down. Only as that voice spoke did she realise the rest of what was going on around her. Only as she spun to look behind her did she realise that it was like the entire camp had come towards her, standing with her in solidarity. As she had walked through the camp earlier, she had sought to earn their trust. It appeared that what had just happened had done exactly that. And at the head of the group, a lone little girl had stepped forward towards her.

"They've come before," the little girl went on, an emotional weight to her far beyond her years evident. "The bandaged men and women. They normally come at night, but they always come. And everything they do, someone disappears. Just like me mummy and daddy. Just like the nice couple who lived here..."

Her mummy and daddy…? This girl was left here all alone, with nothing and no one…? If Diana's heart could break any more there would be none of it left.

"Have you told anyone?" she just about managed to say, her voice cracking slightly with every word. "Have you reported what is happening here to the authorities? To the people who can stop it? To the aid workers?"

"Those people see us as nothing more than more dirt in their ground." It was a new speaker this time, a man amongst the crowd, one who looked angry. He too now stepped forward, standing over the little girl as if he tragedy had forced him to become her protector, her guardian. "People disappear from the camp all the time, but whenever we beg for help and protection, nobody will listen to us. They will not listen. They will not hear."

"Well I've heard you now," Diana firmly responded, biting back the tears from her eyes. At first her voice was soft, but every word she spoke, it rose. It hardened. It became more and more determined, more resolute. "All of you, listen to me. I came to your camp today to understand your plight, your needs. To help you however I can. This is where I start. What has happened here today, it will not happen again. I will find out where Etefu and Dagmawi have been taken. If they are still there to be found, I will find the others, your parents, your friends, your husbands and wives, your brothers and sisters. Your children. I will find them and bring them back to you, or I shall not rest again. And then, when I have, I will do whatever I can to help you find the sanctuary you seek, the new home away from all this endless suffering that has pursued you to this land. I will come back for you. I will help you find hope again. I give you my word. I swear it to the gods. I will come back…"

And she meant it too. The last time she had walked away from the hovel it was with a sense of conviction, of how to help, of what Hera required of her. Now she knew it more than ever. Now she not only understood what motivated these people, but had also just seen the true levels of their hardships and despair, of the corruption that surrounded them. Of why they so desperately needed a new home and protection. She couldn't abandon them now. None of them. These people still in the camp, or those who had been taken.

She had asked Hera for guidance. Now she certainly had it.

She had to save them. One way or another, she had to save them all.