Wonder Woman – Volume 1 – 162

Synopsis - First Story

As Wonder Woman continues to pilot her invisible plane towards the coast of America, she checks on the condition of Steve. He murmurs that she had saved his life and she will never forget her beautiful face as long as he lives. She in turn looks down at him longingly and thinks to herself that the God Jove does not like Amazons to fall in love. She hopes she does not anger him.

Almost immediately the plane is struck by a thunderbolt hurled at it by the great God himself! The bolt cleaves the plane in two and Wonder Woman reacts swiftly, setting the plane on auto pilot and diving outside. Riding the air currents she uses the pressure of her powerful fingers to seal the split.

With the plane “welded” together even stronger than before, she steps out onto the wing and uses her bracelets to deflect the deluge of thunderbolts thrown at her. She asks Jove to throw half a dozen at a time to make this game more interesting. Jove decides he is wasting his time and waves the plane on.

Shortly, her plane hovers alongside the Military Hospital in Washington. Carrying Steve in her arms, she leaps in through an open window and confronts a startled nurse. She tells the nurse that Steve has a brain concussion and has lapsed into unconsciousness again. She demands he receives immediate attention before leaping back out of the window, tears in her eyes. She knows that Steve may well have a lapse of memory due to his injuries and might not even recognise her the next time they meet. Perhaps he might even fall in love with one of those pretty nurses!

Just then she spies from the cockpit of her plane a deserted barn in the middle of open countryside and touches down, hiding her plane inside. She then races back into the city and peers curiously at the shop windows, full of women’s clothing. She muses to herself how different the styles are here in Man’s World – they wear so much extra material! Needless to say her own costume does not go unnoticed by the men she passes!
Suddenly she sees a bank robbery taking place just down the street and watches as the armed robbers run towards their getaway armoured vehicle. She leaps into action and confronts them. Their response is to open fire on her but she calmly deflects their bullets with her bracelets! The robbers change tactics and drive towards her in their armoured car, firing their machine guns at her from every gun port. They give a cheer as Wonder Woman crumples to the ground and accelerate the vehicle in order to run her over! But as the truck passes over the prostrate Amazon she seizes the massive rear wheels and rips off the axle! The truck skids to a halt and realising she had been playing possum, they leap out and open fire on her again, confident that this time she cannot protect herself while still holding the axle. But even from her sprawled position she manages to hurl the wheels at her attackers and bowls them over like skittles.

Her spectacular feats astound the onlookers in the street, including a passing press photographer who has managed to capture it all on film. But the only thing on Diana’s mind is how Steve is faring. She wonders whether he will still have any feelings for her when he awakens and she is almost does not have the nerve to find out the truth. Torn by her desire to see Steve and her fear that he might not even recognise her, she wanders into the Hospital gardens instead. She sees a nurse sitting on a bench, sobbing her heart out. She sits down by the girl and asks what the matter is? The nurse replies that her name is Lt. Diana Prince. She has just got a letter from her fiancé in South America. He misses her greatly but does not have the money to send for her. Her own nurses salary is also too small to pay for passage to go to him and she wishes she was dead! Wonder Woman gently rest her hand on the nurse’s shoulder and says that if she had the money she would gladly give it to her but she has left home without a cent.

Just then the nurse removes her glasses and Wonder Woman is astounded to see how similar they both look. An idea forms in her mind and she tells Diana Prince that she is also a qualified nurse and perhaps she could take her place! Diana replies that she cannot do that because she needs every cent she earns to save for her passage to South America, even though it will take at least a year. Suddenly kind fate intervenes when the press photographer walks over together with the manager from the bank that had been robbed. The photographer tells him that she is the one who captured the robbers and the manager thanks Wonder Woman. He then hands her a cheque for $5000 in gratitude. As the photographer takes a shot of the cheque being handed over, the manager adds that the caption will read “Diana Prince, Wonder Woman’s friend, watches the manager of Global Bank present the reward!”. For her part, Wonder Woman realises this is a fantastic opportunity to use the photo as “proof” that Diana Prince and Wonder Woman are two different people!
Once the two woman are alone again, Wonder Woman hands Diana the cheque and says that she can use it to fly to her fiancé. In return, she will take her identity and become Lt. Diana Prince! The nurse agrees and soon the Amazon Princess has donned her new uniform. Bidding farewell to her friend, she enters the room where Steve is resting. She is overjoyed to hear him talking in his sleep about Wonder Woman. She thinks to herself that he is bound to fall in love with her even though she is disguised as a nurse. She leans over to kiss him but he suddenly awakens, asking why she had woken him? He continues that he had been having a beautiful dream about a beautiful Angel – the Amazon Princess who had rescued him. He adds that although she is a pretty nurse there is no comparison between her and Wonder Woman!

Diana feels fate is playing a terrible joke on her. As Diana Prince, she can be near Steve, but it is only Wonder Woman he longs to see! She has become her own rival! What is more, she has vowed never to reveal her secret identity by Aphrodite’s command – lest it interfere with her ability to battle crime and injustice. And so sorrowfully, she has no choice but to perform her nursing duties day after day, having to endure Steve’s wistful longings for her alter ego.

One day though, Steve is listening to the radio and hears an alert that a rocket bomber is heading towards the city. He climbs out of bed, intent on doing something about it. A short while later Diana arrives for her shift and the other nurses tell her that her brain concussed patient has escaped from the hospital and stolen a fighter plane! She thinks quickly how she can change into Wonder Woman without arousing suspicion? Ingeniously, she whirls around with a velocity no human eye can follow and whips up a dust storm, sending the nursing staff diving for cover. In the updraft she has created, Diana changes into her Wonder Woman costume and summons her robot plane.

Meanwhile, Steve is opening fire on the mysterious bomber. His guns have no effect on it and he suddenly finds his own plane on fire as the enemy returns shots. He realises he has no other choice but to ram the bomber. Wonder Woman’s arrives on the scene just in time to see Steve crash into the bomber. He is thrown clear from the collision but his chute has been ripped to shreds. She immediately moves to catch his lifeless body, praying that he is not dead yet. She then uses her lasso to catch the two plummeting planes and hurls them out over the ocean, ensuring the bombs on board detonate harmlessly over the water.

Once again Wonder Woman anxiously flies Steve back to the Military Hospital. He comes to and smiles when he sees her beautiful but concerned face staring down at him. He lapses into unconsciousness again though and she gently returns him to his bed. She is sure that this time he will realise she and Diana Prince are one and the same person but once more, when Steve awakens a few hours later he fails to recognise she is in fact Wonder Woman. Jove must be laughing at me she thinks to herself! How will this all end?