Wonder Woman: Warbringer (DC Icons #1)(70)

When Theo finally looked up from Jason’s files, he focused his attention on Diana. “What about you? What’s your deal? Right now, my best guess is government super soldier.”

“Government what?” said Diana.

“You know…like, genetically altered killing machine.”

Diana clenched the pile of gleaming rope in her lap. “I’m not a killer.” She said it with such conviction, her chin tilted at an almost regal angle. But the words of the vow they’d spoken still resonated through Alia. Diana would honor it.

“Okay, okay,” said Theo. “Member of a bionic-ninja fight squad.”

“I’m not trained as a ninja, either.” Diana looked down at the lasso and said, “Where I come from, we train for war.”

“Why?”

“Because men are incapable of living without fighting, and we know that one day the fight will come to us.”

“But the things you did—” said Nim.

“I’m stronger, faster than…well, than ordinary people. All of my sisters are.”

“And you can shrug off bullets like mosquito bites, knock over temples, and survive fiery explosions?” said Nim.

Diana opened her mouth, then closed it, as if uncertain what to say. In that moment, she looked less like the brave, self-assured girl who casually wrecked the egos of subway-going bros in business suits. She looked dazed, a little lost. Like a girl who’d stayed too late at a party and missed her ride home.

“Honestly, I’m not totally sure what I can do,” Diana said. “I’ve never done it before.”

“Well, you’re one hell of a quick study,” grumbled Jason as he extracted a roll of gauze and packets of what looked like aspirin from the medical kit. Alia wanted to reach across the aisle and slap him. She knew he was hungry for concrete answers, but Diana had saved their lives. She deserved to keep whatever secrets she wanted to.

“Let’s say I choose to believe all this,” said Nim. “What happens next?”

“We get to the spring,” said Diana.

“In Sparta,” said Theo, “where dudes run around yelling in leather undies.”

“I’ve never heard that particular story,” Diana said. “But Sparta is where Helen was born and raised, and where she was worshipped after her death.”

That didn’t sound right to Alia. “People worshipped Helen? I thought everyone hated her.”

“There were those who did. But Helen wasn’t just the cause of the Trojan War. She was a mother and a wife, and a girl once, too. There are stories that she used to run races along the banks of the Eurotas.” Diana smiled slightly. “And she won.”

It was strange to think of Helen before she was Helen. “Her tomb is in Therapne?” Alia asked.

“That’s right,” said Diana. “It’s called the Menelaion, but before that it was known as Helen’s Tomb. ‘Where Helen rests, the Warbringer may be purified.’?”

Nim tapped her fingers against the frayed knees of her jumpsuit. “Okay, so we just have to get to the spring before the bad guys get to Alia.”

Alia wanted to say a long prayer of thanks that Nim seemed to be taking all of this in stride and hadn’t tried to throw herself out of the airplane. But if they were going to tell the truth, they should tell all of it.

“Actually,” said Alia, “I’m not sure they are the bad guys.”

“They blew up the Sackler Wing of the Met,” said Nim. “They’re monsters.”

Theo took a sip of his ginger ale. “Or maybe just not art lovers.”

“They’re people willing to do anything to see Alia dead,” said Jason grimly. “And a lot of people lost their lives because of it.”

“Right,” said Theo softly. “Sorry.”

Jason wasn’t wrong, but Alia also knew that they were all dealing with their fear and horror as best they could.

She gestured to the laptop propped on the banquette. “From what I can see, plenty of people are looking to identify and eradicate Warbringers—”

“In other words, you,” said Theo.

“Yes, me. And they have pretty good reasons.”

Nim tossed her sheaf of black hair from her eye. “How good can their reasons be if they’re trying to kill you?”

Alia sighed. “They don’t know about the spring. They’re just trying to stop a world war. So, according to everyone but present company, they’re pretty good.”

“That’s perfect,” said Theo, sitting up.

Jason crossed his arms. “How’s that exactly?”

“We’re the villains! It’s always cooler to be the villain. You get to wear black and have a lair and brood. Besides, girls can’t resist a bad boy.”

“You are such an idiot,” said Nim.

He tapped his temple. “It’s not my fault you lack the vision.”

Nim opened her mouth to reply and Alia cut in with a sharp, “Hey! Have you guys ever noticed that you get along fine except when I’m around?”

“That’s not true,” said Theo. “We have never gotten along.”

“Think about it. Do you go home and rant about how much you hate Nim?”