A/N: Sorry again. Laziness and RL vacation (prep and actually going) along with getting another project worked on and updated delayed me this time. More laziness than anything else. But here it is now after 4 months and I promise not to take as long next time. Thank you for putting up with the delays.
Some of the dialogue comes from the movie novelization. It will be italicized as used.
""Sammy." Amused, she quirked a grin. First Etta Candy and now this man. Steve Trevor kept colorful company." - Nancy Holder, Wonder Woman movie novelization
"How... quaint," Diana said, as they approached what Captain Trevor referred to as a "pub", a dingy looking building called The Hangman's Arms. The building stood in what seemed to be a run-down, dingy neighborhood, in what Captain Trevor said was the East End of London.
The perfect place to kill someone without being seen , Antiope thought wryly. Or caught, for that matter.
Her gaze slipped around, noting the poor dress some of the people seemed to be wearing. Her mouth became a grim line. The more things change... , she thought. Themyscira had no beggars, but Antiope could remember the time before that. Sights like this were little surprising to her, but Diana certainly wouldn't have experienced anything like this before.
Steve Trevor, on the other hand, walked with a confidence that seemed to cause those who were eyeing them with an expression that Antiope didn't care for to glance away. They had traversed a maze of streets and alleys to reach this place, a place that the captain had said some acquaintances of his would be meeting them.
The man in question turned to look at her niece, his expression appearing somewhat sheepish. "I know it doesn't look like much," he admitted, "but given that we aren't going through official channels, this is the best I could arrange."
Diana raised an eyebrow, the expression on her face an extremely doubtful one. "I see," she said. "If this is the best you could arrange, I'd certainly hate to see the worst."
Antiope bit back a wry smile, and cleared her throat. "Well, we won't find out whether or not we will even get any help unless we go inside. Shall we?"
The captain gave her a relieved smile and turned to go in. As Diana moved to follow, Antiope grabbed her arm, causing the younger Amazon to startle slightly. "Antiope...What...?"
The older woman once more refrained from smiling, though she couldn't quite conceal the amusement she was feeling from reaching her eyes. "He is trying, Diana. Give him a chance," she said. "We don't have the knowledge he does, of either the people we're looking for or their abilities. He does, and he has so far kept his word to us."
Diana frowned, then sighed, the frown turning into one of resignation. "I know," she replied. "I just can't help but feel as though we're running out of time. The longer we delay, the more time Ares has to escape."
Remembering the sense she'd gotten of the god in the War Office, Antiope highly doubted that Ares had any intention of escaping. It was more likely that he was refining his plans to include the Amazons' presence, she thought grimly.
She did agree that they were running out of time, however.
"Perhaps," the elder woman answered. "But we are wasting more time standing here." Smiling now at her niece, she continued, "Shall we go in?"
As Diana walked into the "pub" behind her aunt, she was immediately struck by the odors that reached her nose. They reminded her of the way the horses on Themyscira smelled after a hard ride. There was also a haze in the air which threatened to make her eyes water. The room was also dimly lit and felt close, causing Diana to feel slightly claustrophobic.
A glance at Antiope showed she was similarly affected, but was making a better attempt to school her reactions as they followed Steve through the room towards a knot of people in a back corner.
She increased her speed, moving as quickly as she could to catch up with Steve. As she reached his side, she asked with a hint of disbelief in her voice, "These people you say we are meeting...Can they be trusted?"
Steve smiled slightly ruefully. "I had a feeling you'd ask," he said. "I know this seems like an odd way to get help, but when the legal channels are closed off, sometimes places like these are all you have to go to. But to answer your question, I trust them enough to know they'll get what we need."
Diana wasn't sure she liked the sound of that, but as Antiope said, Steve hadn't led them wrong yet, even if she was finding this world very difficult to understand.
"Are they good men?" she asked, ignoring the elbow nudge that Antiope, who had caught up, had given her.
"Relatively," Steve replied.
Diana was about to question him about his answer once more, but her aunt gripped her arm tightly at that moment. She shot an irritated glance at the elder Amazon, only to see a calm, cool mask on Antiope's face.
She'd caught a glimpse of that look on the beach of Themyscira just a few days before, as her aunt charged into battle with the men and their projectile weapons. The same look that Antiope had worn whenever she trained her to fight.
Diana subsided, understanding full well what that gaze meant.
Her aunt was preparing to go to war.
Schooling her own features, Diana focused on Steve as he led them towards a group of men dressed in khaki-colored uniforms. In the middle of the crowd stood a man with light brown skin and large dark eyes, framed by thick eyebrows as dark as his eyes. As they got closer, Diana could hear him regaling the others with a story.
"In Africa, gentlemen," he was saying, "we had no such luxuries…"
The sound of laughter very nearly drowned out the man's words, though it didn't sound derisive, judging by his audience's expressions.
Steve grinned and stepped forward as the speaker went on. "But the luxuries we have now...It's like we can't stop making money. My uncle the prince and I would keep it all, but we want to extend the opportunity to a few good soldiers…"
"Of course you do," Steve broke in now. As the speaker's expression suddenly soured at the interruption, the captain went on with an even wider grin, "Might I borrow a moment of your time, Prince Madras Angoras Cashmere?"
To Diana, it looked as though the other man wanted to refuse, but seemed to realize doing so would simply inconvenience him further, as he put another smile on his face and politely excused himself from the group and allowed himself to be led away by Steve.
Diana started to follow, pausing only when she heard her aunt chuckle and looked over.
Catching her niece's glance, Antiope smiled and replied, "Let's just say I begin to understand why the captain said 'relatively' in response to your question."
In spite of herself, Diana also chuckled. "You think he'll help?" she asked softly, as she watched Steve try to smooth over the man's irritation.
"He may," her aunt replied thoughtfully. "It may depend on how upset with the good captain ruining his deal that he is." She looked at Diana again, her gaze sharp. "But we won't know until we go over there. So shall we?"
Diana nodded, and she and her aunt walked over to the two men. Both seemed to be having a heated, though whispered,. Argument.
An argument that halted abruptly as the unknown man caught sight of them. His eyes widened and he let out a low whistle.
Glancing back at Steve, he said, "Goodness. Where did you find these masterpieces of women, Steve?"
"Long story, which I'll tell you later," Steve replied laconically. "Diana, Antiope, allow me to introduce you to Sameer."
"Call me Sammy, please," the now-named Sameer replied, grinning widely. "And the pleasure is all mine." He made a slight bow.
Diana couldn't help but be charmed slightly by this individual. Her aunt also seemed to be pleased, she thought, noting the twinkle she saw in Antiope's eyes. "Sammy it is, then," she said, showing her amusement at the man's words. "And how do you know Steve?"
As Sammy seemed about ready to reply once more, the sound of a large crash followed by raised voices at the front of the pub cut off whatever he'd been about to say. Turning her head towards the front, Dana saw two men standing up by an overturned table, the drinks they'd been having now spilled onto the floor. They seemed to be having a heated argument.
Steve also glanced up front, frowned, then gestured for them to follow him over to a quieter corner, where a handful of the tables were empty. Once they had gotten to a safe distance from the crowd, he said, "Sammy's a top undercover man. He can talk the skin off a cat in as many languages as you."
Diana was skeptical. "Really?" she asked in Spanish. "I find that hard to believe."
Sammy grinned wider and took up the challenge. In the same language, he replied, "I assure you he is not lying."
Antiope laughed. "Well done," she replied in Swahili. "However, I can play that game, too."
"So you can," Sammy said, also in Swahili, with a twinkle in his eye. "And I find myself impressed."
"But what about Ancient Greek?" Diana stated, speaking that very tongue, a smirk on her face. "Can you speak that?"
Sammy blinked, briefly stunned into silence. Then he laughed. "I concede defeat," he said blithely. "There is no shame in losing to such a pair of such beautiful women."
Steve smirked now. "Now that you're done showing off, is Charlie here?"
"He is," Sammy replied, a still amused tone in his voice, and gestured to the arguing men up front.
Steve glanced over at them and frowned briefly as the more muscular man started driving the smaller, scrawnier one to the ground. "Ah," he replied "I assume he's being a distraction for our chat, then?"
"Actually, he's more than likely just shot off his mouth again," replied Sammy. "I don't believe he's seen you yet."
"Which one is this 'Charlie'?" Antiope asked. "The one who is handling himself well, or the one who isn't?" She raised an eyebrow as she spoke, with a glance back at Steve.
Sammy chuckled. "Which one would you place money on?"
"The one who is handling himself well," Diana replied at the same time her aunt answered, "The one who isn't."
Steve looked as startled as Diana felt as he asked, "How did you figure that one out?"
"I'm quite familiar with the notion of intelligence gathering, Captain Trevor," Antiope replied dryly. "In my experience, those who seem weak are usually the ones who are underestimated and thus most likely to get the information or whatever else is needed. The ones who draw attention, like the larger man over there, are more likely to fail."
Sammy grinned even wider than he had earlier. "I like you even more now," he said to Antiope gleefully. "Marry me?"
There was a playful smirk on Antiope's face as she looked back at the con man. "I'm afraid I'm already taken," she replied, a tinge of amusement in her voice.
"Ah, you wound my heart," Sammy said, still grinning as he laid a hand on his chest. "Well, do allow me to say that whoever they are, I will consider them very lucky indeed to have such a clever, observant woman as their partner."
Diana just shook her head as her aunt nodded. "He does like to lay it on, doesn't he?" she murmured to Steve.
Steve looked as though he couldn't decide to be amused or irritated. "Sammy is always like this," he agreed. "Though I do think your aunt has impressed him. He wouldn't respond like that otherwise."
It then seemed to sink in what Antiope had said exactly, as a somewhat startled expression appeared on Steve's face. "She was just joking, right?" he asked Diana cautiously.
Diana was quiet for a moment, stunned by the sudden change in his demeanor towards the elder Amazon. "Is it really that important for you to know?" she returned lowly, a sharp edge to her voice.
Steve just blinked at Diana, then at Antiope. "No," he admitted finally. "I just wasn't expecting to hear that, is all. Probably shouldn't have been surprised, considering…" His voice trailed off and he sighed. "It doesn't bother me, and I do apologize if I offended you," he said. "It's just that such relationships are frowned upon by a lot of people."
Diana just stared at him, puzzled by the statement. "I see," she replied, although she really didn't understand what he was getting at.
Steve smiled a little wearily as he seemed to catch her confusion. "I'll explain later," he said. "Let's go pull Charlie out of that mess he's in, shall we?"
"You're doing what?!" the man called Charlie asked in a tone of disbelief.
Antiope, leaning back in her chair and observing the conversation, could well understand the man's shock. After separating him from his opponent, they'd all joined him at his table after the larger man had decided he didn't like his odds and left. After sitting down, Diana had begun asking how Charlie could help them when he was, as she saw it, physically unable to hold his own. She'd then been told that he was a sniper, someone who killed from long range.
Diana had accepted that quickly enough. Likely she had remembered the lesson that Antiope had told her long ago, that while some cultures believed in honorable warfare, the reality was often very different as both sides would resort to whatever tactics they believed would help them win. Some were more unsavory than others. She hadn't liked hearing that at the time, and while she did accept the man's words, she made it clear she still felt it to be dishonorable.
Antiope agreed, for her own part, but even she couldn't deny that battles often made it very hard to hold on to one's honor. Particularly when one was fighting for their own survival.
She suspected Charlie agreed somewhat with that, but was every bit as realistic as Antiope was, judging by his reply: "Don't get paid for honor."
The lively little man called Sammy had then asked Captain Trevor what the job was that he needed them for. Steve had then replied with the length of time he'd need them, two days, and that they needed passage to a place called Belgium as well as supplies.
Both the other men had teased the captain about what she suspected was hazard pay, judging by the situation they were being asked to walk into.
The good captain had then admitted that he couldn't reimburse them, and tried playing on their goodwill.
Sammy had then asked both she and Diana for a picture of them as payment. Antiope had felt a sliver of amusement at the request, and likely would have agreed to it, even knowing what she and Diana were planning to do.
Diana, however, had quickly put paid to that notion by informing Sammy that he wouldn't need the picture, as they would be accompanying them.
Leading to Charlie's startled reaction, matched up by a look of shock on Sammy's face.
Sammy looked back at Steve. "Is she serious? She can't be serious, Steve."
Captain Trevor looked a little sheepish as he replied, "That's the job. Dropping them both off at the Front."
"That's no place for a lassie," Charlie said nervously. "And I don't want to get killed trying to keep them from getting killed."
Captain Trevor smiled wryly now. "I know you won't believe me when I say this, but trust me, they know how to handle themselves. You won't need to worry about them."
Sammy opened his mouth to reply, but whatever he would have said was cut off as the door of the pub slammed open and the fighter from earlier returned, this time carrying one of those projectile weapons anda handful of other men alongside him. He stalked over to their table and pointed the gun at Charlie.
But he never got the chance to fire it, as at that point Diana just grabbed the man's wrist and twisted it, forcing it out of his hand. She then quietly stood up, lifting the man as she did, and threw him across the bar. He crashed into a table and slumped to the floor, unconscious. His friends all scattered quickly, not wanting to suffer the same fate.
Both Charlie and Sammy were stunned. Sammy was the first to speak.. "I am both frightened and aroused, " he stated, in a tone of awe.
"When aren't you?" Charlie retorted, though with a good natured sound in his voice. He looked over at Antiope. "I suppose you can do that, too?" he asked.
Antiope smirked, "Who do you think taught her that?" she replied archly.
"Definitely aroused," muttered Sammy. "I repeat," he said more loudly, "your partner is very lucky to have you." He picked up his glass and motioned it in both Diana and her direction.
Antiope nodded, understanding the gesture for what it was, one of respect. Meanwhile, Charlie had given his own nod at Diana, though with a hint of bemusement, and took the weapon from her and put it in a bag he had with him.
"Told you so," Captain Trevor replied, slightly smug.
"So you did," Sammy agreed. "And I once more concede defeat gladly."
It was at that point the pub door opened once more. Glancing over towards the door, Antiope spotted the woman they had met earlier, Etta. She was followed by a tall man who seemed oddly familiar.
The man then glanced their way, and the moment his eyes landed on Antiope and the rest of the small group, the older Amazon felt her blood run cold. Once more the oppressive feeling she'd felt in the War Office came over her and she knew. She knew who he was.
Ares…