Chapter 4

The cool night air rushed passed Diana, muffling the explosions on all sides of her as she plummeted towards the ground. Occasionally she would catch sight of a metallic shine caused by explosions reflecting off of Steve's shield. Straightening her body into a more aerodynamic shape she drew on her power to help accelerate faster than what gravity would cause naturally.

I can't lose him too.

Diana collided with Steve a couple hundred meters off the ground, sending them spinning wildly through the air and drawing a surprised yelp from the captain. Wrapping her arms under his shoulders she attempted to stop their decent, but Steve's weight combined with her nonexistent flying skills proved far too strenuous to do anything but slightly slow their fall. She resolved to practice later.

Steve was yelling at her now. Readjusting her grip on her companion to free one of her arms, she ripped off her coat revealing armor that only a few people had ever seen before and removed her lasso. With expert skill Diana was able to slow their velocity to a nonfatal speed by using the trees as anchors for her lasso and swinging them to a rolling crash on the forest floor. Steve was cast into a group of bushes and Diana's back collided with a tree knocking the breath out of her before collapsing on her side.

The Amazons shoulders burned from the strain placed on them and several small cuts and lacerations covered her exposed arms, legs, and face. The tree that brought her to a complete stop was cracked and threatened to fall at any minute. Rolling onto her back she gasped for air. Making fists, she closed her eyes and clenched her jaw to fight the pain.

Steve was doing mildly better having had some padding to cushion his landing. Groaning he sat up and took stock of his injuries. He too had cuts scattered over his body and his uniform had several tears and snags. His shield was slightly bent on one side and one of his shoelaces was tangled in one of the smaller brambles.

He stopped moving abruptly when he heard a gasp on his left. He turned slowly only to see Diana Prince lying on the ground and a quite revealing getup doubled up from pain. Steve sat in stunned silence for a moment before tripping in his haste to get up and nearly taking the entire bush his shoe was stuck in with him. Cursing, he subsequently began to free his boot from the offending shrub and straightened to his full height.

Turning to look back where Diana was he noticed that she was now sitting up and holding her right arm. Captain America was confused, to say the least. Shaking his head and remembering himself, he got closer to help his friend stand up. She was recovering rather quickly, for which he was thankful, but still concerned. Diana gave a weak laugh at the expressions crossing Steve's face.

"I suppose you have some questions for me?"

"Just one or two," Steve said sarcastically while shaking his head.

"We can talk as we walk." Diana turned looking for her bag that she dropped when she hit the ground. Upon spotting it she rolled her shoulders as she made her way over to it. To Steve's further surprise, she removed a tiara, which was promptly placed on her head, and a large, round shield with a sword in the middle that she placed on her back. Throwing her hair over her shoulder she turned back to Steve and motioned for him to lead the way.

"So, uh…" Steve started awkwardly. "How did you," he gestured to the air, "do all that?"

"Well I guess I should properly introduce myself first. My true name is not Diana Prince. It is a name I adopted to better fit in with mankind. In my homeland I am known as Diana of Themyscira, Princess of the Amazons, Daughter of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons…"

And she told him. Diana talked of her childhood, how her mother wouldn't let her train with the other Amazon warriors, and how her aunt taught her anyway. Understanding lit the Super Soldier's features. She told him about her training and how her life was on the island, endlessly preparing for a war that seemed to never be coming. She told Rogers about the first time she saw a man and how the Germans invaded her shores shortly after, how she was convinced Ares was responsible for the war, and her journey to London. She told him about meeting her friends, travelling to the front lines, and how she was able to help liberate a small town. She spoke of her need to help everyone, and the dread she felt when she could not. She glossed over her final confrontation with Ares, not feeling the need to share her abilities and true parentage. And finally, she told him about her guilt. How she couldn't save the villagers, how she couldn't save Steve Trevor. Or Charlie. Or Sam. Or Abe.

There was a long silence after Diana had finished her story, only broken by the crunching of leaves and the occasional snap of a twig under their boots.

"It's not fair to blame yourself for everything." Steve spoke suddenly, interrupting Diana's thoughtful trance. Diana looked into the Captains blue eyes, giving him an unspoken signal to continue. "From what it sounds like, you are acting like you should be," he waved his hand, "everywhere at once. How could you have possibly known that Charlie, or Sam, or anyone else was going to die. Sure, you might have saved them if you were there, but situations out of your control prevented it.

"You have to respect the choices they made and stop blaming yourself for things out of your control. It sounds like Sam made his choice when he joined the army again, even though he'd already served his time." The Captain stopped their forward progress, placing his hands on Diana's shoulders. He looked her in the eyes. "And as much as it may have hurt to lose Steve Trevor, he thought you were worth dying for. Let them have the honorable deaths they deserve, free of unnecessary guilt."

Diana turned and began walking to hide the tears forming in her eyes. She had a lot to think about.

They continued their journey in silence, the darkness not hindering them with their enhanced vision. The moon had reached its apex, occasionally peeking out from behind the clouds to cast its eerie glow over the dying trees and light their path. The only noises being the crunch of the warriors' boots and the occasional rustle of trees either from an unseen animal or a faint wind.

Diana stopped when she heard voices in the distance and looked over to see that Steve had heard it as well. He signaled to move forward slowly.

Lights began to show through the dense vegetation and the voices became distinguishable German. Peering through some trees, the heroes were able to identify the source as the entrance of a Hydra base.

"What was your plan for when you got here?" Diana inquired quietly without taking her eyes off the enemy soldiers.

"Well, I guess I was going to find and free the prisoners and hope Bucky was there." Steve winced realizing how bad that sounded out loud.

"Simple and easy." Diana nodded. "I like it." Silently and efficiently, the duo made their way towards one of the moving trucks.

It was good to be back.

Diana and Steve silently dispatched the few guards that they came across as they made their way through the compound. Moments later an alarm sounded throughout the facility. The two shared a smile. Hydra had found the "surprise" they left outside; of course, no one would ever figure out how one of their tanks got flipped upside down.

Shouts and stomping could be heard coming from farther down the hall they were in, so she forced open a locked door and pulled Steve inside the room behind her. She didn't want to fight the soldiers yet; having them outside would help expedite the search. The room she entered was loud and filled with the foul odor of unwashed bodies and various other dried bodily fluids. Scrunching her nose and turning to see what was causing the smell, the princess saw rows upon rows of cylindrical cells full passed their recommended capacity of men yelling and swearing at the guards running above them.

A shout brought her attention around to her left side. A Hydra Soldier wielding an abnormally large gun was running towards the duo, shouting in German for them to drop their weapons and get down on their knees. Raising an eyebrow, Diana complied and signaled Rogers to do the same. When the man had moved to tug Diana's arms behind her, she twisted a leg out, catching the German off guard and causing him to crash heavily to the ground. Diana finished her leg sweep, gracefully spinning around to her feet before finishing of the soldier with a brutal kick to the head and a sickening snap.

"Not bad," Steve joked lowering his hands and standing up. Diana suppressed a smile as they collected their equipment from the ground. Steve moved the guard's body to the side and patted him down for anything useful and came away with a set of keys.

Steve and Diana made their ways through the rows of cells, freeing the first few before handing the keys off to the prisoners.

"Who are you guys supposed to be?" A tall black man questioned the strangely dressed duo.

"I'm… Captain America," Steve stated.

"Diana, Princess of Themyscira," She answered honestly for the first time in many years.

"I beg your pardon? Why is there a woman here?" Said another man in a thick British accent.

"This woman is saving you," Diana retorted while rolling her eyes. Steve turned to address the room at large, ignoring a squabble between a Japanese looking man and a larger, red headed, mustachioed man wearing a bowler hat.

"Is there anybody else? I'm looking for a Sergeant James Barnes."

"There's an isolation ward in the factory but no one's ever come back from it," supplied the Brit.

Diana nodded her head, touching Steve's arm to draw his attention. "Go find your friend. I will escort the men out to the tree line. We will meet you there."

"Wait" The African American called towards Steve. "You know what you're doin'?"

"Yeah," Steve started, "I've knocked out Adolf Hitler over two hundred times."

Diana laughed as he ran out the door, leaving the gobsmacked men in Diana's capable hands.

Diana was annoyed.

As soon as she led the men to the exit and the fighting began, the men kept trying to push her behind them or out of harm's way. The last straw was when one of them tried to take a bullet for her.

She struck out her arm, catching the bullet with her arm guard. Not waiting for the man's reaction, she pushed him aside and removed the offending firearm from the German soldier using her lasso, before removing his head from his body.

More tanks began rolling out from warehouses, shooting an unearthly, blue light that disintegrated everything it touched to ashes. Diana cut her way through Hydra's army before reaching her first tank and storing her sword and shield on her back. She wrenched one of the front wheels from the machine and hurled it into a troop of advancing Hydra soldiers, immediately halting their progress. Turning back to the mutilated tank she noticed that its operators began climbing out of their dilapidated device and promptly flipped the vehicle upside-down.

Returning her attention to the fighting around her, she noticed a familiar group of men gawking at her display. "I've killed the God of War, I can handle some men." Flipping her hair over her shoulder, she moved on to find another enemy soldier.

The Amazon moved from enemy to enemy with godly grace in a lethal dance; blocking bullets and blasts of blue energy from either side as the Germans realized who the greater threat truly was. Countless enemy soldiers met their end from her blade, while many more from the hands of vengeful prisoners.

Diana nearly had a heart attack when the Hydra base started exploding, but she couldn't leave these men now. She had to trust Steve to find his friend and get out of the building alive. Moments after a rocket was launched from the base, a massive explosion triggered, destroying what was left of the base and causing the remaining Hydra soldiers to try and flee.

Diana desperately searched through the fire and smoky haze to catch a glimpse of any life, but was met with no success. She continued searching until a cheer sounded and two figures could be seen navigating their way through fire and debris. Diana exhaled in relief and pushed her way through the cheering soldiers to reach her friend.

"So this is the famous Sergeant James Barnes? A pleasure," Diana said, extending her hand to said soldier.

"The pleasure's all mine..." Bucky trailed off waiting for a name.

"Diana."

"A beautiful name." He gave a winning smile. Diana smiled indulgently before turning to Captain America. Bucky excused himself when he heard some relieved friends from his unit calling him over.

"Good to see you're alive," Diana stated, giving him a once over.

"Fire is a real motivator to move. What's the damage?"

"Multiple casualties and even more wounded. We were able to apprehend a few of their vehicles and several of their strange guns."

"And you?"

"Just a few scratches. " A pause. "What about your friend?"

Steve let out a sigh. "I don't know. I found him strapped to a table in a lab. He was pretty incoherent when I found him. Once I got him moving around he seemed OK, but only time will tell." Diana gave his arm a squeeze. "I'm just glad I got him back," Steve said looking in his friend's direction.

The rising sun signaled the approach of dawn and revealed the carnage left in the wake of a massive battle.

"These men need direction, Captain," Diana said with a grin. Steve smiled back, happy to finally be doing what he was meant to do.

On the long walk back to base camp Diana and Steve exchanged stories on their individual experiences after parting ways, with Bucky jumping in every now and then when Steve left out an "important detail".

The walk was slow going, but it gave Diana time to think and Steve and Bucky time to catch up and talk to the men. And the men were more than happy to share the fight that happened outside the facility.

"She's some kind'a wonder woman or somethin'. She took the tire right off one 'o these tanks and bowled over at least twenty Germans with it! She threw it like it weighed nothin'!"

Bucky leaned over to Steve at this point and asked if Diana had had the same procedure as him. Steve simply laughed.

A/N:

You guys are awesome! Truly! This chapter totally got away with me. Before I knew it I had 6 pages written! At over 2 thousand words this is my longest chapter yet! Shout out to my manager who keeps bugging me to write more. And Infinity Wars blew my mind! Thanks for all your support!

EDIT:

I posted this rather hastily and edited a few errors. Everything is basically the same. Thanks!