"That's a plane?" Diana squinted up at the sky, her sharp eyes narrowing. "There's… someone inside. I think he's calling for help!"
Unlike Thea, Diana didn't have any special vision abilities. Her divine enhancement had boosted every aspect of her physique equally — balanced, powerful, but without a single overdeveloped sense.
Thea, however, saw it all clearly.
It was a plane — an old Fokker monoplane, its engine smoking and one wing aflame. And the man inside… a young Steve Trevor.
Yes, that Steve Trevor — future liaison between the Justice League and the U.S. government, the future head of Checkmate. Right now, though, he was just a terrified pilot in a German uniform, gripping the controls of a dying aircraft as it spiraled toward the ocean.
He didn't have Thea's tricks, no magic or tech to save him. He struggled desperately to stabilize the plane, but after a few moments of futile effort—
Splash!
The plane hit the freezing water hard, vanishing beneath the waves.
Diana froze for only a heartbeat before her instincts took over. She stepped forward, ready to dive.
And then — tug.
Her braid jerked backward. She turned, wide-eyed, to find Thea gripping it calmly.
"Paradise Island must never be seen by outsiders," Thea reminded her gently. "Think of your queen's teachings."
Of course she couldn't let Diana just go diving after him. If Steve Trevor lived, he'd fall in love with his beautiful rescuer — textbook Bridge Effect. It was romantic, sure, but it complicated everything. And really, it sounded better if she blamed it on the Queen.
Predictably, Diana faltered. She thought of her mother — of Hippolyta's cold, regal expression. The queen wouldn't have flinched if a million mortals drowned before her eyes. The realization stung, leaving Diana torn between compassion and obedience.
When her inner conflict was about to boil over, Thea sighed and spoke again, her tone solemn. "Fine. Let's save him. A life's still a life."
She even put on her best righteous expression, sunlight haloing her face.
Diana's gaze softened. She really is good…
Of course, Thea had no intention of letting Steve die. The man was too important to the timeline. If he drowned here, who knew what 2008's America would look like? Without Steve's steady hand, Amanda Waller might unleash the kind of "patriotism" that ended worlds.
Still, there was no way Thea was jumping into the ocean herself. She hated large bodies of water with a passion — too cold, too wet, too… splashy.
She gauged the distance. Not far, and more importantly — outside the anti-magic zone. Perfect.
She whispered an incantation, exhaling silver light. A massive spectral hand materialized above the water — pale, glowing, and distinctly divine. It reached down, grabbed Steve Trevor by the collar, and yanked him clean out of the wrecked cockpit. Then, under his horrified stare, it carried him gently but firmly toward the beach.
Diana didn't even flinch at the sight. By now, she'd seen Thea conjure enough impossible things to be more fascinated than shocked. Her attention, however, shifted elsewhere. "Hey — can you bring the plane too? I want to study it!"
"The plane?" Thea followed her gaze to the wreck — shattered in three pieces, floating on the waves. Wait, that wasn't in the original script...
Still, easy enough. She drew the Silvermoon Bow, conjured a shimmering arrow of pure magic, and fired. The arrow shot out, tethered to a silvery rope that wrapped around the fuselage.
"Three kilometers?" Thea muttered. "Child's play."
With her and Diana both pulling, their combined strength was monstrous. The wreckage slid across the water like it weighed nothing, soon dragged ashore beside the unconscious pilot.
Thea's spectral hand set Steve down gently on the sand. Diana tilted her head, staring. "That's… a man?"
Thea rolled her eyes and turned away. "Yes, Diana. That's what men look like."
But Diana had already gone still, curiosity flickering in her eyes. Should I examine the man first... or the machine? After a moment's inner debate, compassion won out. Machines could wait. People couldn't.
"Come on!" she said brightly, grabbing Thea's arm. "Let's check on him!"
Thea followed — reluctantly. She knew what was coming. Steve Trevor's arrival was the start of everything — the war, the battle with Ares, Diana's destiny. If Hippolyta found out Thea had been the one to save him… well, that could go sideways fast. The Queen would absolutely use it as an excuse to exile Thea and keep her own daughter safely at home. A political move wrapped in divine duty — totally her style.
And Thea wasn't about to take that fall.
She lagged behind a little, muttering a subtle suggestion spell to dim her presence.
Diana crouched beside Steve and smiled like sunlight breaking through clouds. "You're a man?" Her voice was pure innocence — and her perfect white teeth sparkled with genuine delight.
Steve Trevor blinked up at her, dazed and pale. He had just been hauled out of the ocean by a giant glowing hand. His brain hadn't caught up yet. A man? he repeated inwardly. What kind of question is that?
Normally, Steve would have flirted by now — he always did, no matter how dire the situation. But this time, all he could think was: Her teeth are really white… Is she going to eat me?
A faint magical tremor pulsed through him. Thea's work — a minor fear spell, almost useless under the island's anti-magic field. Yet somehow, in Steve's shell-shocked mind, it hit hard. He froze, trembling slightly.
Thea smirked. Adorable. But the smile faded as a low rumble echoed deep in her chest.
"Boom—"
It wasn't sound. It was resonance. Her expression hardened instantly. She turned toward the source — toward the island's shimmering boundary.
Diana didn't notice a thing. What is that?
Thea opened her Eye of Horus — and saw it. The massive, translucent dome that cloaked Paradise Island had been torn open. A hole, several meters wide, rippled like a wound in the air.
The barrier was breached. And not by accident.
"...Ares," she whispered.
It all fit now. The "coincidences" — her arrival through the time rift, Steve's crash, the unstable wards — none of it was random. Someone had engineered it. Maybe the god of war himself. Maybe others.
But there was no time left to wonder. Because the enemy… had already arrived.