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[url=http://lyndraws.tumblr.com/post/161558878335/had-to-draw-my-favorite-superheroes][color=FDE384][sub]artwork by lyndraws[/sub][/color][/url][/center][indent][sub][COLOR=FDE384][I]New York City, New York[/I][/COLOR][/sub][/indent][indent][sup][right][COLOR=FDE384][i]Present Day[/i][/color][/right][/sup][/indent][hr][indent][sup][COLOR=FDE384][b]Issue #3.02[/b][/color][/sup][/indent][center][color=FDE384]𝗪𝗢𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗢𝗠𝗔𝗡[/color] & [color=00aeef]𝗖𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗔𝗜𝗡 𝗔𝗠𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗔[/color][/center]
[indent][indent][quote][color=purple]"As for the execution of Stryfe... I am here to confirm that Captain Steven Rogers was mobilized to the scene per my orders. While the specifics remain classified, I can confirm that Captain Rogers has been one of our operatives for the past three years. While Captain Rogers reported believing Stryfe was reaching for a weapon or device when he fired his service weapon, we have chosen to suspend Captain Rogers for the indefinite future. There will be no further questions, thank you."[/color][/quote]
Wonder Woman stood silent at the podium while each of the twelve senators looked down upon her. Each of them had something to say at her. Their words and insults only stung a little while she wanted the whole thing to end already. After all, she knew what they were going to recommend. Then, Senator Swanwick looked directly at her with pure hatred and began his final speech. [color=45709B]"Because of our investigation, we have prepared a list of recommendations for the Horne administration. The first, and the most important, recommendation is the creation of a department that focuses on metahumans. This department will deal with public metahuman altercations that might harm our nation's citizens and infrastructure. It will also investigate metahuman activities, starting with Wonder Woman's possible ties with the terrorist group, Metahuman Supremacy Front."[/color]

[color=45709B]"The second and final recommendation is the denaturalization of Wonder Woman, and her immediately ban from entering the United States and its territories. We recommend this course of action due to her possible connections with the MSF and the partial collapse of the Empire State Building. The ban will ensure a temporary calm while peace and order are slowly being restored in the affected areas. I would go as far as to recommend her arrest but-"[/color]

[color=E4DACD]"Senator, that's enough!"[/color] Senator Finch interrupted before he could finish.

Senator Swanwick took a moment to calm down and responded, [color=45709B]"You're right. I'm just so frustrated right now. Wonder Woman, do you have anything to say at all?"[/color]

There was a moment of silence in the room, awaiting a single word to come out of Wonder Woman's mouth. But there was nothing. Instead, she left the podium and started walking out of the room. Senator Swanwick yelled for Wonder Woman to remain in the building, but she didn't care. Nothing mattered. Stryfe won while everyone else lost. America had already begun to dismantle heroes and control metahumans. It was only a matter of time before the world followed. She exited out of the Capitol and planned on taking off, heading back to deal with problems at the World Veterans Federation headquarters. Protests have been going on non-stop since the collapse of the Empire State Building, calling for Wonder Woman's arrest and her resignation for the organization that she created.

Before taking flight, she noticed that her someone was staring at her in front of her. Wonder Woman approached the person and realized that it was Steve Rogers, but she didn't say anything.

Steve was about as incognito as he could be. He wore a nondescript baseball cap, hooded sweatshirt with the hood up, large aviator sunglasses, and jeans with combat boots. But gave a smile as Diana recognized him on her approach. He gave a nod. [color=00aeef]"I can't believe what happened in there. To think, that this country could come to this..."[/color] Steve's jaw clenched shut for a moment, before he gave a sigh and a chuckle. [color=00aeef]"Care to grab a drink before they come to kick you out of the country?"[/color]

[color=#FCDA63]"Yeah, sure."[/color] Diana chuckled and then sighed. [color=#FCDA63]"I knew this was going to happen. I wished that I was so wrong, but... here we are. At the endgame."[/color]

Cap gave a nod, and started heading east. They were able to keep a rather rapid pace. There were no words exchanged. There wasn't much to say out in public. In a few minutes and a few blocks away, the two found themselves in a rather small and nondescript apartment. The living room had a half kitchen blocked off with a counter in the back. As Steve made his way towards the kitchen, he nodded towards the couch sitting across from a tv. He called out from the kitchen, [color=00aeef]"Whiskey or Wine?"[/color]

Diana briefly looked at Rogers, said nothing, and resumed watching the news. Alcohol had no favor anymore.

Cap poured two glasses of whiskey and walked towards Diana, holding the glass out for her. [color=00aeef]"You know, after all the shit we went through during the war... when I got out of that ice, I expected the world to be better. But it's not. The same ideologies... the same fear... It's sickening. It used to be simple: we punch the bad guys. Then I wake up, I join the Commandos again... but they don't have us just punching the bad guys. It's picking up intel. Killing my own men. Destabilizing countries. The things I've done..."[/color] Steve just shook his head as he took a long sip of whiskey.

Diana took a small sip of the whiskey and waited for the favor to appear finally. Still nothing. She turned towards Rogers and finished his sentence in her emotionless voice, [color=#FCDA63]"Are nothing compared to what I've done."[/color]

Steve shrugged his shoulders. [color=00aeef]"Perhaps. Perhaps you've done a few bad things. Killed some terrorists in Trasnia, destroyed the Empire State Building trying to bring Stryfe in... Tough decisions, but they're yours. Me... I became a shill. Did Fury's bidding because I was born and raised to follow orders and that's it. Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. What matters is that when the world tells you to move, and that you're wrong... you need to plant your feet and tell them 'No... [b]You[/b] move."'[/color]

She looked at the television and saw footage of anti-mutant protesters at the White House. [color=#FCDA63]"I spent the last one-hundred years doing that—It changed my whole life. I could have lived a peaceful life with my lover and had a family. But the world needed me. It needed Wonder Woman, their hero and savior for evildoers. I witnessed so much while you were frozen in the Arctic. I watched generations die out while new ones slowly replaced them. Now, I am watching everything I built dying like a star. Do you want to know the curse of being the most powerful person in the world? I can never die naturally. I am a Goddess, forced to watch humanity, slowly killing themselves, and I can't do anything about it. That is my curse."[/color]

Steve watched the TV for a moment, before he finally let out a small chuckle. [color=00aeef]"You can do something. You helped stop that maniac blow up New York. You helped stop the Trasnia incident. Back in the War, we stopped a genocide of people who were being killed because of their lineage and who they wanted to have sex with. Being a hero is about cleaning up the messes the world makes without so much as a thank you. And when you do what needs to be done... when you make the choice that they are too scared or incapable of making, they persecute you. It's how things are."[/color]

[color=#FCDA63]"It wasn't supposed to be like this..."[/color] Diana muttered to herself and then looked at Rogers, disappointed. [color=#FCDA63]"I had a plan. A plan that got ruined the moment that [b]you[/b] killed him."[/color]

Cap finished his whiskey, before looking Diana in the eye. [color=00aeef]"I was trying to save you from this. I know exactly what you were going to do. And that... that would have been too far."[/color] Steve ground his teeth for a moment, anger swelling up in him. [color=00aeef]"I looked up to you, you know. I was some snot-nosed kid from Brooklyn who forged documents to get into the army. Signed up to be part of an experiment that should have killed me. Spent the entire damn war getting shot and beat up and blown to Hell... just so that I could prove that we 'humans' could do it too."[/color] Steve took a few steps away, his back to Diana as he looked out the window. [color=00aeef]"I take a dip into the Atlantic for 75 years, and I come back to see that you've done good. Continued protecting this country while I was gone. Start a damn charity organization to help people like me... like Steve. And now you want to start executing people like Stryfe to do... what, exactly? Be a hero?"[/color]

[color=#FCDA63]"You don't get it! By killing Stryfe, I would have become the villain while you became the perfect hero!"[/color] Diana yelled at Rogers and grabbed his shoulders, continuing her explanation. [color=#FCDA63]"You were never born with these powers. You lived a normal life and grew up in the city. You still retained your humanity even after you got your powers from a bottle. Then, you have me.. an uncontrollable monster waiting to unleash her true potential upon this world. The whole world—even you—were always afraid of me because I wasn't truly human. By killing Stryfe, that fear would have been a reality... not unless you stopped me. Captain America returns from the dead to stop the mad Wonder Woman. The media would have fallen in love with you while the American government would have stood by your side. Hell, they might have even thrown a parade for your grand return! And you would have reminded them of simple times as the world listened. You would have become the hero that I once was while I... I finally get to rest and reunite with Colonel Steve Trevor, enjoying the simple life. Do you finally understand?"[/color]

Steve brushed aside her grip before placing his hands on her shoulders in response, shaking her lightly as he spoke sternly. [color=00aeef]"That's not how it would have happened. It would have been a matter of time until he got out again and rekindled his organization. Sure, I'd get a parade and a platform. But at your expense... at the expense of the metahuman community. I made a call, and it might have been the wrong one. But you didn't give me much time to think. And I wasn't going to let you make yourself out to be a villain, Diana."[/color] He removed his grip from her shoulders and walked over, pointing at the TV. [color=00aeef]"If I couldn't have stopped you, and you killed Stryfe... This place would look like Nazi Germany. Stryfe would have won then. Kids from my neighborhood who didn't have a choice about how they were born would get rounded up by the cops and shoved into camps because they're dangerous. So yeah, I gave up what chance I had of the people seeing me as the hero so that I could save those kids from that. Being the hero requires giving up everything for those people out there. I learned that from you."[/color]

Diana understood that her plan would have lead to something much worse. So, she faintly smiled and asked her old friend, [color=#FCDA63]"Then, could you do me one final favor?"[/color]

[color=00aeef]"Of course."[/color]

[color=#FCDA63]"Kill me."[/color]

Steve shook his head, giving a long and deep sigh as he stared his old friend in the eyes. [color=00aeef]"That isn't going to happen, Diana. You can't give up like this."[/color] Steve walked back into the kitchen, beginning to pull out the whiskey again. [color=00aeef]"There are still people who believe in you. And if you're a goddess, you need to be there for those people. And I know you don't like it when I bring him up... but you know damn well that if Trevor were still here, he'd tell you the same damn thing."[/color] Steve poured another glass of whiskey and took a long sip, watching his friend with concern.

[color=#FCDA63]"But, do I deserve to be believed in? After everything that I have done?"[/color] Diana grabbed the glass of whiskey and started drinking it. [color=#FCDA63]"Should people still be inspired by me?"[/color]

[color=00aeef]"Having a bad year doesn't make you someone not worth believing in. You just need to remind them that of who you are."[/color] Steve gave a small smile. [color=00aeef]"You're Wonder Woman, Diana. You're the first hero. If I had to put all my belief in any one person, it would be you."[/color]

Diana took a seat and grabbed the glass. She thought about the people in her life that stood by her during this mess. Etta Candy, Alana Dominguez, Rachel Keast, and the countless people that believed her. Just like Rogers. Taking a long slip, she finally tasted a small spark of charred oak. It was something. And maybe it was enough. Enough to fix her past sins and make people believe in her again. She placed the empty glass on the table and looked up at Rogers with a genuine smile, the first in weeks.[/indent][/indent]
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