Countdown to Justice: Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight: Freak Like Me

     It’s been over a year since Steve and I escaped from Themyscira, and you know what? I don’t miss it at all.
     All my life, I was ‘the princess’, gifted by the gods, and future leader of the Amazons - bred to be a warrior queen, taught only of strengh and authority - but that never meant anything. I know they all thought I was too much trouble, too unruly to be a ruler. I guess running away with (of all creatures) a man only proves that they’re right.
     The first thing I saw when I arrived in the world of men was a gigantic green monument to a woman, and my hopes were raised. Even now, I see little reason for our ancient distrust of men. Times have changed, and this isn’t a world roamed by Herakles or his like anymore.
     The new world does have its fair share of problems. Some things, like poverty and famine, never change. War is still present, and there are always rich men living off the poor. Coming to think about it, I see some reason why we Amazons distrust men, but I could give you a list of Amazons I don’t trust either.
     I’ve spent most of my time so far in the streets of ‘Washington DC’, this modern Athens, trying to help people. I have great strength, among other things, where humans today have allowed themselves to become weaker and more fragile. I feel as though I have a responsibility to these people who, without knowing it, accepted me as one of their own, though my sword has stayed sheathed for some time now. Apparently, men don’t tend to use them anymore; it has been replaced by newer, more potent bringers of death.
     And here I am in Metropolis, away from Steve (who has returned to his work with the government), away from my mother, trying to focus on the one thing that brought me here. I know he’s an alien, and I know this goes against everything I was taught in Themyscira, but I need help understanding my powers. Superman is fast, strong and can fly, all things I too am capable of, but where my skill with a sword is superior to any man alive today, I don’t fully understand my other, preternatural strengths. If he can train me, show me how to control my abilities as he has learned to...
     He is here. Somewhere in Metropolis, a city of eighteen million people.

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To be continued...