Do not worry, my survivor. I will help you... as we have always helped each other...
Wonder Woman (Volume 5) #13 is an issue of the series Wonder Woman (Volume 5) with a cover date of February, 2017. It was published on December 28, 2016.
Synopsis for "Angel Down"
In narration, Steve Trevor explains the situation he had been in: he and Wonder Woman had gone looking for Themyscira, only for them to discover that it was a barren waste in the Black Sea. Her home and friends missing, her sense of self and her memory cast into doubt, Wonder Woman was in the middle of a nervous breakdown. Steve reacted by calling in a ride home on the open A.R.G.U.S. channel on his radiophone.
Unfortunately, though he couldn't know this at the time, his base had been compromised by a mercenary squad, who now had his location, and made haste for him.
Steve had just finished the call, when he received a message from Etta Candy, telling him that enemies were coming for him and that she was going dark. Faced with a nigh-impossible situation, full of things he could not control and opposition he could not predict, he did what Wonder Woman would do - he used every aid at his disposal, in a plan to control the few resources he did have. He made a fire around which Wonder Woman could rest, and then he set up traps along the path into it.
Later that night, the mercenary team were on a helicopter approach to the location, the head of the mercenaries put in a call to her employer - Veronica Cale, of Empire Enterprises, Washington, D.C. Cale outlined the need to take Wonder Woman alive, to help their ultimate mission of finding Themyscira. Cale was already aware of Etta Candy's escape, and was planning to go after the one person she thought Candy would see help from...
In narration, Steve recalls the trepidation he felt when he recognised their opponents - Colonel Marina Maru, and her mercenary squad, Team POISON. Without much pause, Maru & her people stalk the path to the camp, without making a sound and - crucially - without tripping his boobytraps.
Steve apologises - with so few resources, he had had to use Wonder Woman as bait. Waiting in the bushes, he was able to stalk the mercenaries as they made their way to her. And when the mercenaries reacted by opening fire, they stopped paying attention for traps, and injured themselves. Steve thinks that Wonder Woman would have done the same were their positions reversed. They share an outlook on war - not a fear of death, but a fear of the loss their death will leave behind it.
Getting past the mercenaries, Steve made his way to the camp, where he found Wonder Woman, still in her fugue, being held at gunpoint by Colonel Maru. Maru threatened to shoot the other woman, then asked about her fugue. Steve, buying time, said he didn't know. Maru, wanting to nullify Steve and Diana as threats, shot Steve in the leg and then got Diana to carry him back to the helicopter landing zone. Wonder Woman, though disconnected from events, was quick to help.
At the landing zone, Maru ordered them both onto the helicopter. But Steve said no, and pushed himself and Wonder Woman behind a rock, just as his A.R.G.U.S. squad opened fire from their helicopter, having responded to his original radio message. In narration, he acknowledges that the greatest thing he fears to lose is Wonder Woman, and that to prevent her death, he will use every underhanded trick and idealist urge at his disposal, to be the person she needs.
Team POISON's helicopter destroyed, their pilot wounded, and their soldiers scattered, Steve was able to make Maru back off as he loaded Wonder Woman into the helicopter and escaped.
The narration is at this point revealed as the text of a letter, written by Steve to Wonder Woman. He explains, that though he said he would be there for her, he now has to leave her in the care of a psychiatric hospital in London, under an false name and under the constant guard of his A.R.G.U.S. squad, while he goes to rescue their friends, Etta Candy and Barbara Minerva, who are both missing. When she comes back to herself - if she comes back to herself - this letter and her friends will be there for her. Until then, he, as her survivor, asks her to simply... survive.
Appearing in "Angel Down"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- A.R.G.U.S.
- Christopher/"Chris"
- David/"Davy"
- Manuel/"Manny"
- Steve Trevor
Antagonists:
- Godwatch (Unnamed)
- Veronica Cale
- Adrianna
- Colonel Marina Maru
- Team Poison (First appearance)
- Juliette (First appearance)
- Kit (First appearance)
- Ray (First appearance)
- Sara (First appearance)
- Shar (First appearance)
- Snake (First appearance)
- Team Poison (First appearance)
- The Twins (Only as dogs)
- Veronica Cale
Other Characters:
- Etta Candy (Mentioned only)
- Gods of Olympus (Mentioned only)
- Dr. Minerva (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Black Sea
- Unnamed Island
- United Kingdom
- London
- Nightingale Hospital
- London
- United States of America
- Virginia
- Langley
- Kirby Road
- The Picket (Destroyed)
- Kirby Road
- Langley
- Washington, D.C.
- Virginia
- Russia (Mentioned only)
- Themyscira (Mentioned only)
Items:
- Bracelets of Submission
- Lasso of Truth
- Maru Virus (Mentioned only)
- Wonder Woman's Tiara
Concepts:
- Magic (Behind the scenes)
Notes
- The story is continued in Wonder Woman (Volume 5) #15.
See Also