When she left the Tide Rider back then, everything had been far too rushed. All Thea had brought with her was a phone and a credit card. After more than half a year, the phone's battery was long dead. As for the credit card… Thea never had much pocket money to begin with, and the card was issued through an American trust fund—something the innkeeper couldn't accept at all.
And Thea didn't want to alert anyone in Star City. Fortunately, she still had the Court of Owls to fall back on. Even though they had no real power here in Europe, transferring a few thousand dollars for emergency use was no problem.
Of course, Catherine Monroe would never simply send "a few thousand bucks" and call it a day. She quietly pulled a few strings within the Court and arranged for a pile of emergency supplies to be delivered at once.
Not even an hour later, a group of men in black arrived, handing Thea a stack of cash, clothes, and a passport—all top-tier items.
The innkeeper was utterly stunned. In his mind, a whole story instantly formed: a wealthy, noble "princess" traveling alone incognito. Terrified of offending her, he immediately vacated his best room for this elegant young woman whom he now suspected to be a European royal.
After tidying up briefly, Thea picked up her brand-new phone and dialed the Louvre Museum in France.
"Hello, is Miss Diana Prince available?"
As soon as the call connected, Thea asked nervously.
The person on the other end rattled off a stream of words that left her blank.
What? French? Of course… the eternal rival. The whole world spoke English—except them.
Fortunately, back when Diana was just a kid, Thea had casually picked up a few French phrases. She forced herself to engage in a "duck-talking-to-a-chicken" conversation with the French receptionist.
Thirty minutes later, Thea hung up—face completely dark.
He definitely knew English. He just refused to speak it.
She was so angry she wished she could crawl through the phone line and strangle him. She was panicked and desperate; he was slow, calm, and endlessly patient.
And Diana?
No matter how many times Thea asked, the other party remained polite and unbothered. But the meaning was clear:
"There is no such person at the Louvre."
Because she feared disrupting the timeline, Thea had never told Diana about her future. Diana was smart enough not to ask.
The joy Thea had felt earlier was crushed instantly.
The Eye of Horus couldn't search the entire world. She didn't rest—face cold, she picked up her things and left Turkey.
On the road, she casually used magic to control some rich kid showing off his yacht and "borrowed" his speedboat, heading straight into the Eastern Mediterranean.
She reached Crete and searched along the path they'd taken when leaving the island back then. She circled the area three full times—still no trace of Themyscira. Was Hippolyta avoiding her, or was the island's anti-magic field blocking her vision? Impossible to know.
With nothing found, Thea had no choice but to trace their footsteps backwards—day by day, country by country—until she eventually returned to the small Belgian village where she had fought Ares.
There, she finally found Diana's trail.
"You've been gone for three months… I miss you so much…"
"It's been five years now. Did you make it home safely?"
"Humanity has started another world war. I don't sense any signs of Ares resurrecting. Humans really are complicated."
"I'm going to travel the world. Every day I think about you…"
"The people of Africa are so warm and welcoming. I really like them. It's been eighty years since you left… Do you still remember me? Please come find me soon…"
A dark green stone tablet stood where Ares had fallen, densely carved with handwriting. From the strokes alone, one could tell Diana had lived in this little village alone for many, many years. There was longing, joy… but above all, an overwhelming, aching love.
"Aaaah!"
Thea drew the Godslayer Sword, fiery red mana flooding the blade, and slashed toward the distance.
Her full-power strike carved a trench half a meter deep and over ten meters long.
"I didn't want this either…"
She threw the sword aside, collapsed to the ground, fists pounding the dirt as tears streamed uncontrollably.
The last message Diana left was dated 1998—apparently she had discovered signs that an Amazon warrior had left Themyscira, and she went to investigate.
Thea's heart was in chaos. Where had Diana gone? In this vast human world, where could she even begin searching?
She notified her family in Star City that she was safe and would stay in Europe for a few more days. Then Thea remained in the village—once destroyed by poison gas and no longer fit for human life.
The harsh scars of that great battle could still be seen everywhere. But more than that were the traces of Diana spending decades alone. Every time Thea found impressions of a golden lasso or marks of a shield strike, she would break into a silly smile.
…
"Hey… shouldn't we leave? It's been three months already…"
The speaker was the little cow Thea had tricked with promises of a "luxury labyrinth palace."
It took Thea a full month at the village before she even remembered the cow existed. The creature truly had a good temperament—after hearing Thea's story, it never complained, and even comforted her occasionally.
"Yeah… staying here forever won't help. We'll definitely meet again anyway."
Thea finally calmed her heart. They were no longer ordinary mortals—waiting a hundred years meant nothing.
She drew her sword and carved a new message beneath Diana's tablet—telling her she had returned. At the end, she inscribed the name Star City in ancient Themysciran script.
As long as Diana reached Star City, the shared power of Artemis within both of them would let them sense each other.
She summoned the little cow into her space ring. This creature absolutely could not be seen by Batman. This wasn't 1918 anymore—modern satellites zipped across the sky nonstop. During training with the Eye of Horus, Thea had personally seen a massive satellite bearing a giant Wayne Enterprises logo drift past Europe. That was clearly Batman's Watchtower.
A bizarre creature like the little cow… Batman would never let it slide.
After two connecting flights, Thea finally returned to Star City.
Moira had been sworn in as mayor two months earlier; Thea had watched the ceremony live, then hurried back to the village claiming "urgent matters."
This time returning home, she finally felt it—she was truly back.
She visited Moira at city hall first, and then a mountain of responsibilities came crashing down on her.
Walter Steele, that Black uncle of hers, had apparently talked things out with Moira; the two peacefully separated. And as the largest shareholder of the Queen Group—now over eighteen—the position of Chairwoman automatically fell to Thea.
After taking over, she made no drastic changes.
She let the former vice president ascend to president, gave Felicity an honorary VP title so she could continue managing the software division.
Dr. Hoffman—who once got along very well with Thea—became the director of the newly established Applied Sciences Lab. Thea even slipped them a few pieces of Atom's research—nothing too sensitive—for them to study.
For a full month, she worked nonstop: meeting department heads, listening to reports from branch leaders…
Mind-control on a large scale would have been the fastest and easiest solution, of course.
But in an age overflowing with superpowered individuals, she didn't dare be so reckless.
If any bored superhero caught her doing that, she'd instantly be flagged as a villain.