Synopsis
| - On Mount Olympus, Hera returns to her home in anger, watching in her reflecting pool as Wonder Woman carries the crippled body of Hermes accompanied by Zola, whose child is the bastard of Hera's husband Zeus. Hera's angry shouting is overheard by her daughter Strife. She suggests that she could go and retrieve the girl herself.
Wonder Woman and her companions travel to Paradise Island, the home of the Amazons. From the shadows, the woman-warriors watch their visitors, angered that a man has been brought to their home. Diana hears their whispering, and calls out to them, revealing that she is their Queen Hippolyta's daughter.
Diana's return to the island is celebrated with a tournament and feast. Beside each other on a dais, Hippolyta warns her daughter that it is a dangerous task to take on; protecting one of Zeus' lovers from Hera. Hera is notorious for her jealousy, and no good will come of it. Diana professes that she is not choosing sides between Hera and Zeus, but she is instead on the side of Zola.
Elsewhere, Zola watches over the injured Hermes, and he asks her which form Zeus took in order to inspire uncontrollable lust in her. Embarrassed, Zola admits that it could have been one of a number of men she'd been with recently - a truck driver, a pool hustler, a musician. Regardless, she likes men, and is unapologetic. Hermes warns that sharing that story with the Amazon may have ill effects.
Zola wonders what the story of Wonder Woman is, and Hermes obliges. According to legend, the Queen Hippolyta desperately wanted a child, given that her womb was barren. On a moonless night, she fashioned a child out of clay and prayed for a miracle. Exhausted from her efforts she thereafter fell into a deep sleep. With the light of the morning sun, Hippolyta awoke to the sight of a living girl. Diana, the girl made of clay, had come to life. Diana is the perfect Amazon; no male seed created her.
At the tournament, Diana is accosted by Aleka, who challenges her to a battle. With her mother's permission, Diana takes up a staff against Aleka's sword. Despite her challenger's advantage in weapon, Diana's nimble feet and resourcefulness prove superior, and she manages to disarm Aleka, and knock her from her feet. Watching, Hippolyta expresses worry that the wrath of Hera will soon be visited upon them.
The Amazon Queen's worries prove true as a falling star crashes down onto the island in a blaze of fire. Rushing to the scene, the Amazons meet their challenger. It is strife, and accepting their challenge, she manipulates the warriors into fighting each other. Diana realizes this, and calls for the Amazons to drop their weapons.
Diana demands to know what Strife wants, distrustful of both she and her brother Ares' tastes for war. Looping her Lasso of Truth around the goddess' neck, she dismisses Strife's claim that she comes in peace. Strife claims that she has come to embrace her little sister. Diana believes that Strife speaks of the unborn child within Zola's womb, but Strife clarifies that it is Diana herself she speaks of.
From Mount Olympus, Hera watches these events, seething with rage and jealousy.
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