Wonder Woman #42

The Silver Swan makes her return, with Wonder Woman caught in the middle of it all over again.

In a testing facility, Silver Swan is flying about. In a nearby building, Henry Armbruster and Mister Choi watch Silver Swan and monitor her readings. Silver Swan then releases her sonic cry and hits Wonder Woman straight on. A helicopter then arrives with Armbruster and Choi as its passengers and a technician shows the head of an android Wonder Woman but Armbruster thinks otherwise. Silver Swan approaches him and smiles, but Armbruster pushes her away. She says that she destroyed the body, and isn’t that good enough? Armbruster, angry at the result, punches her and yells, “What do I want from you? What do I want?” He then tells her to go home, and she flies off. Mr. Choi tells Armbruster that he should give her encouraging words every now and then, and reminds him that she has changed. Armbruster then asks about Professor Buchman’s stolen files, and Mr. Choi replies that they are closing in on them.

Meanwhile, at Julia Kapatelis’ house, Diana speaks with Steve on the phone. She asks how Etta is and Steve replies that she is fine. However, Diana detects something in his voice and tells him that she is lying. She asks if there’s anything wrong with the engagement, and Steve replies that there isn’t, so far. She pushes him but he prefers not to talk about it, and Diana says that she is always there for him. He then says that the event at Themyscira sounds like it was pretty crazy. She agrees and asks if Hermes is there. Steve says that he is, and that he wanted the both of them to come to the bar together, though now Hermes is off with some ladies. Just then, a redneck comes out and says that Hermes is dealing with his lady. Steve wraps up the phone call, and catches a punch that the redneck threw and throws him to the floor. Suddenly, Steve finds himself surrounded by many men, and Hermes tells the ladies that Steve is trained, from the military, so he is able to handle himself. But Steve finds that the numbers are becoming overwhelming and finds himself held back by two men while another throws a punch. But just before that fist can hit Steve, Hermes grabs the fist and breaks the wrist. With his blistering speed, he takes down the other men and Steve tells him to stop showing off. Hermes gives the bartender some money for the damage and takes the beaten Steve outside.

At another Kapatelis residence, the police are interviewing a neighbour, Mrs. Gloria Sullivan, who was keeping an eye on the house for Julia. Her husband had found her tied to a chair and called the police. Gloria explains that there had been two intruders, and one of them was a woman. The officer in charger tells the other officer to call for Inspector Indelicato as Wonder Woman is sometimes seen at this house.

Back at the Kapatelis residence, where Diana is staying, she sleeps in her bed. Her hearing then hears a series of footsteps outside the house. She changes into her costume and flies up in the sky, scanning for the intruder and then hears the sounds of gunfire and a man screaming. She zooms into the location and finds several ninjas. She asks them what they have done and they only return in gunfire. She deflects them with her bracelets and tells them that she does not want to fight, but they do not listen and she has no choice but to bowl them over with her strength. The ninjas then bring out their knives, but it’s no use against Wonder Woman. She asks if they are ready to talk yet, but one ninja opens fire once again and she replies with a hit against him. One of the ninjas slip away and manage to fire darts towards the injured man, but Wonder Woman, with her lightning reactions and beats the darts and manages to block them off. The other ninjas use their martial arts, but she outclasses them in every way, and finally, uses her lasso to round them all up and looks towards the injured man. She introduces herself and he says that he is Solomon Buchman. He tells her that the ninjas must not get to the files. She replies, saying she does not know what he is talking about, but she realises this name and remembers that he has heard it before. She asks him if she has ever heard of the Silver Swan. Just then, another gunshot can be heard from the house, and Wonder Woman races back to the house and finds another ninja who she stops, and a woman who says that Diana must take this to help Val, before she kills them all. Diana asks who this “Val” is, but before the lady can answer, she is interrupted by some more gunfire and flies back to Buchman as he fires his gun into the air. Diana then realises that the woman who was in Julia’s house was Maxine Sterenbuch, Valerie’s friend. Wonder Woman then hears the sonic cry and realises that it’s Silver Swan’s calling card. Before Wonder Woman can go after the Silver Swan though, the cry hits her and she falls to the ground. Maxine runs to where Wonder Woman fell and helps her to her feet. The both of them stare in awe at the spot in which the ninjas and Buchman lay, which has replaced them with an empty crater and Wonder Woman’s lasso.

However, Silver Swan has grabbed Solomon by the neck and Maxine tells her to stop this madness. Valerie is not the person she is now as she was always caring and loving, but now she has turned into this. Maxine doesn’t understand as she was always as good as anyone else but no one would believe what they said, until Armbruster turned up. Silver Swan replies quite harshly, telling her shut up and that Maxine is just wrong, that he had been right about her all along. Maxine had used Valerie and she will never forget that. Maxine replies that that’s not true and Valerie asks why she is standing with Wonder Woman, and Maxine replies that she feels safer with her. Valerie then tells her friend that she would never hurt her and that she was only trying to take the bag from her. Maxine holds out the bag for Valerie and tells her that she will prove that she is still her friend. With this distraction, Wonder Woman makes for her lasso and the Silver Swan then realises that she isn’t there. She tells Maxine that she lied to cover up Wonder Woman. At the same time, Wonder Woman is speeding towards Silver Swan. Silver Swan opens her mouth, as Wonder Woman flies towards her, with a explosion in the entire area.