SOMEWHERE near a quaint antique shop by the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, a young English fellow wearing black trousers, a black trench coat, and carrying a silver briefcase wanders the streets in search of something or rather someone. He had received clear instructions from a man named Steven Howard to deliver this silver briefcase unscathed to a woman named Diana Prince. The man hadn't bothered to ask Mr. Howard what was inside of the briefcase or why it was so important that he delivered it to this Diana woman while on the phone with him because these weren't the kinds of questions one concerned themselves with in his line of work. Instead, he asked for the answers to more important questions like how much he'd be paid and how far he'd have to travel for this job.

A light shower starts to pour down over the city-goers, wetting the man's long brown hair in the process. He watches people hurriedly walk into the nearest shops, eager to find refuge from the rain, with a hint of amusement in his eyes. There were far more dangerous things to be running from than the rain in his opinion. His light green eyes survey the sidewalks of Paris in an effort to locate the antique shop he's been desperately trying to find for the last ten minutes. The man grips the briefcase in his hand tighter and weaves through the crowds of people on the crosswalk until he reaches the other side of the street.

He sighs in relief when he comes face to face with the store windows of a shop called Lassos. The man remembers that name coming up in conversation when he spoke with Mr. Howard on the phone and figures this place is his best chance of reaching Diana. Two golden bells at the top of the door jingle upon his entrance into the store. At this point he is drenched from head to toe due how long he'd spent standing in the rain. His presence comes as a surprise to the young woman sitting behind the cash register, causing her to drop her copy of Fifty Shades Darker on the table for him to see.

"C-Can I help you?" The young woman nervously asks the stranger in a thick French accent.

A blush rises to her cheeks when the man's eyes curiously wander to the book she had been reading when he walked in. She quickly tucks the erotic piece of literature away in her bag and turns back around to face him with an innocent smile.

Upon first glance, he is able to join up the dots of the freckles on her cheeks and admire how her vibrant red hair is styled in a neat French braid. It was the same hairstyle his girlfriend used to wear her hair in before the accident. However, the longer the delivery man gazes at her, the more he can sense that this woman isn't Diana. The way Mr. Howard had described her in great detail over the phone and the way the woman sitting behind the register looked just didn't add up to the image he had conjured of Diana in his mind.

"I'm looking for Diana Prince. I have a special package I'm supposed to deliver to her directly," The man in the trench coat finally answers her, smiling politely.

"And your name is?" The woman raises her eyebrows, waiting for his reply.

Right before he can make up something off the top of his head, a woman with shoulder-length black hair and bright blue eyes emerges from a secluded area in the back, passing through the antiques on display along the way. She is dressed in a tight fitting black skirt that reaches her knees and a low cut velvety red blouse which shows off a good portion of her cleavage. Her ocean blue eyes are framed by a set of long eyelashes, and he notices a beauty mark just underneath her left nostril. Blue eyes dart back and forth between the man carrying the briefcase and Sarah, the young French girl she'd recently hired as a part time cashier, once she enters the room.

"Well, who do we have here?" The beautiful woman asks her cashier while grinning widely at the man in the black trench coat. An odd sense of familiarity strikes her as she gazes into his green eyes and takes note of his defined jawline and heart shaped lips, but she doesn't know where she could have seen him before. The only face she has seen with those similar facial features died a long time ago in World War II.

"I didn't catch his name, but he says he has something to deliver to you Ms. Prince," Sarah replies, snapping Diana out of the trance she found herself in.

Diana's lips roll together when she sees the name D. Prince inscribed on the front of the silver briefcase, and she glances back up at the man who was holding it. She points to the case in his hand and asks him, "Is that for me?"

"Yes, it is." The man swallows thickly, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down, as he hands it over to her with a small smile. He was still taken aback by how beautiful she was in person. The images he had created of her during the train ride here in his mind paled in comparison to the real thing. "I believe my business here is finished. Have a lovely evening ladies." After bidding the two ladies goodbye, the man exits Lassos and hurries down the busy streets of Paris, feeling slightly overwhelmed and confused after his encounter with Diana but not quite understanding why.

Both the teen sitting behind the cash register and Diana exchange looks once the man leaves. Sarah has an unsettling feeling about what could be inside the briefcase in her gut but chooses not to voice her concerns out loud since her boss does not seem to be worried at all. Ever since the terrorist attack in Paris, Sarah's paranoia has been at an all time high, and she only thought of the worst when she saw Diana begin to open the briefcase.

Before Diana can make sense of the photograph inside, the red head abruptly shoots up from her seat and quickly grabs her things, making Diana lose focus. The large hand on the clock had landed on the seven, signaling the end of Sarah's shift for the day. Sarah couldn't have been more relieved to leave the shop than she was now.

"Bye Ms. Prince. I'll see you again on Sunday!" The teen calls out as she rushes out the door.

Diana looks up from the briefcase to wave her off. She decides to carry it with her to her office in the back so that she can have more time to discern the picture without the risk of being disturbed.

Diana hadn't thought about Captain Styles in a long time. However, as soon as she opened the briefcase and saw the image that had been harbored inside the glass frame, the memories of her old adventures came rushing back. Leaving her home Themiscrya, fighting on the front lines of World War II, battling Ares, somehow finding love and companionship along the way—Diana had done so much in that short time span of her immortal life. As her blue eyes drift over to the Captain's figure in the photo, Diana feels that same familiar ache in her chest as she did when she first witnessed his aircraft bursting into flames.

There, the Captain stood in his soldier uniform looking as handsome as ever. Confidence was dripping from his radiant smile, and he stared at the camera with a profound sense of pride in his emerald eyes. They all felt unstoppable after their victory in No Man's Land. Diana remembers how thankful she was for the Captain that day along with their friends Amir, Marcas, and the Chief. It would be one of the last happy victories they all shared together alive.

Diana turns to the back of the photograph and sees that a note has been attached by someone with the name S. Howard.

'I found the original. Perhaps, one day you'd be willing to sit down with me and tell me all about your adventures with Captain Styles.'

Sincerely,
S. Howard

P. S -  You can email me at: [email protected]

She smiles and hugs the photograph to her chest in a sigh. If Diana closes her eyes and concentrates for long enough, she can go back to the day in her mind where everything began: her desire to become an Amazon warrior, fulfill her duty by ridding the world of Ares, and risk her life for mankind. She feels as if everything happened just yesterday.

It was strange how an old photograph could evoke the kind of nostalgia and longing Diana hadn't felt in years. A part of her died after her last major battle in the war, and Diana was beginning to think it was about time she revived the heroine everyone revered and bring about the immediate return of Wonder Woman. However, every time a thought like this entered her mind, Diana began to think about how the world has been just fine without her for the last seventy-two years and question whether or not it was even worth it to use her powers for the greater good again.

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