The Amazon, Amazing.

About twenty minutes later, we were walking through the underground parking. "--thought she was going to faint," I was saying, about the blond girl. "I mean -- you looked amazing, but her reaction was almost... almost more amazing, you know?"

"Yes," Diana said, a touch softly but still smiling. "I do know, Thomas. It's something I always have to be conscious of."

"Really?"

"Really." She paused, turning towards me. "My beauty is a gift from Aphrodite herself. I cherish it as just such a thing: a gift. But it can also hurt people -- hurt those who might be attracted to me whom I must spurn. Hurt those who might feel intimidated by it or who might see fault in themselves by comparison. It is a blessing, and a gift, and a power -- and to **** it is to disrespect that gift. Those girls appreciated the sight of me -- the blond in particular -- but neither one of them were hurt by the sight. I know how to recognize those who would be. If they had been, I would have carried myself very differently."

I shook my head. "Wow," I said. "It's... you always have to be...."

"Wonder Woman?" Diana's smile grew a touch mischievous. "I have been trying to tell you that. Just because I...."

Diana's eyes narrowed, and she cocked her head slightly. She was listening to something. Her bearing had shifted as well. I was going to ask, but I had a feeling right then interrupting her concentration would be a bad idea.

It didn't matter anyway. I heard a shout and the sound of metal hitting metal. Turning and looking, I saw people down the long ramp, cars lining one side. A man and a woman, with three burly men surrounding them. One of them was holding a pipe, and had just smacked it against one of the concrete supports holding the roof up. "--trying to screw me," he snapped, leaning toward the pair. "I don't appreciate it!"

The woman said something -- what, I don't know. They were too far away. But I could tell she was crying. The man apparently didn't take her word for it, raising the pipe and cocking it to strike a blow -- against the woman or the man I didn't know--

There was a blur and a rush of wind. Diana had thrown herself down the ramp, one leg bent forward, the other trailing behind, like she were caught in mid-run, though she was flying. With a missile's speed she smashed one wrist into the pipe -- the bracer underneath it taking the blow, I realized -- causing it to dent and fly out of the man's hand and down the ramp. But she wasn't paying attention to that -- she was curling in the air, having caught the man by the throat with her other hand and bringing him down hard against the pavement. How she did that without crushing his windpipe I don't know, but the impact was enough to knock him silly even as she rolled forward and to her feet.

The other two were running towards her. One had a knife -- he slashed it at her, but she deflected it with her still-concealed bracer, even as she slid low and swept his feet. Regaining hers, she hooked herself around and kicked the third-- no. That's the wrong word. She pressed her foot against him, knee bent, and kicked off throwing him twenty feet into one of the other concrete pillars. She used the movement to curl her body, dropping an elbow down onto the thug on the floor, finishing the job her leg sweep had started.

Five seconds? Call it three. Three seconds from standing with me to being fifty feet away, having knocked out three thugs who were threatening a young, helpless couple. It was stunning to see.

She stayed until the mall cops had come, and then stayed close until the proper police arrived. She comforted the pair, and convinced them to explain everything to the police. Some kind of extortion -- I don't know. I stayed well out of the way. Diana didn't need me hanging over them.

She rejoined me after that, a touch flushed and she had a cut in her sweatshirt where the knife had hit her bracer, but otherwise none the worse for wear. She was in full stride as she passed me, and I had to run a bit to catch up and match her motion. "Thomas?" she said, somewhat curtly.

"Yeah, Diana?" I asked.

"Next time, I'm wearing my uniform under my clothes."