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One More Time! – Part 01

Wonder Girl Episode 15

Illustration & Story by Bon & Coup

Comic Manhattan, March 1930 Issue

One pleasant afternoon, Wonder Girl was sound asleep.

“Mother…” she mumbled.

She smiled happily, recalling the day when she had her shiny silver hair combed by the Wonder Queen in the palace of Wonderstar, a planetary city that no longer existed.

“Wonder Girl, take good care of your hair,” her mother said. “Because the source of our Wonder Power is in our glittering silver hair.”

“Okay,” Wonder Girl replied.

“Don’t forget.”

“I get it, Mother.”

“And remember, always use your Wonder Power for what you believe is right.”

Wonder Girl nodded vigorously.

“That’s what I’m doing. I’m fine, Mother. I’ve made friends in this city. I go to school during the day, and at night, Linlin and I help those in need.”

“Candy! Why are you sleeping?”

“Kyaa!”

Jolting awake, Wonder Girl glanced around groggily.

Friends across the classroom chuckled and made fun of her. Feeling embarrassed, Wonder Girl covered her cheeks with both hands. Linlin, seated next to her, watched silently.

The large-framed, female teacher with glasses put her hands on her hips. “No sleeping during class!” she scolded.

“Sorry, Teach,” Wonder Girl said.

The female teacher’s glasses gleamed as she returned to the lectern. She cast a somewhat concerned glance over at Wonder Girl.

Wonder Girl and Linlin, dressed in school uniforms, walked side by side on the pavement, then slipped through a small entrance and entered a sunny back room in a colorful house in Chinatown.

“Hair, you say?” Linlin asked.

Wonder Girl nodded vigorously. “Yeah. I remembered it while talking to my mother in my dream.”

“Wow. Who would’ve expected that to be the source of your power? Right, Mom?” Linlin jumped up and down.

Linlin’s mother, who had been sewing in the corner of the room, looked up.

“What was that?”

“I was talking about Candy’s Wonder Power.”

“Oh, Wonder Power!”

Linlin’s plump and petite mother nodded with a warm smile. She showed Wonder Girl the outfit she was sewing. It had been torn during an adventure and was now neatly mended.

“Candy never fails to amaze me,” the woman said. “It’s just one surprise after another.”

“Right?”

“Yesterday she saved a malfunctioning airship floating above Manhattan Island, and today she prevented a subway accident. Well, lately there have been a lot of accidents, which is worrying. But with Candy around, or rather Wonder Girl, the residents of Babylon City can feel safe every day.”

“The secret behind her Wonder Power is her silver hair!”

“What?”

Linlin’s mother knitted her eyebrows and fell silent. Then, looking around, she called Wonder Girl and Linlin over and hugged them both.

“Be careful. Don’t talk about such things loudly. People are grateful to Wonder Girl, but Grim Reaper’s henchmen are lurking around everywhere. They seem to be desperate to get rid of the nuisance, Wonder Girl.”

“O-Okay.”

“Don’t let the enemy know your identity. That Wonder Girl is just a little girl. And don’t mention your weakness either. It would be a disaster if the enemy found out.”

The kids’ spirits sank. Linlin’s mother put on a smile.

“Come here, Candy. Let me comb your precious hair.”

“Okay!”

Sitting on Linlin’s mother’s lap, Wonder Girl smiled again. Linlin sat on a chair, watching over them.

“I see. So, the secret lies in her silver hair!”

A large figure, hanging upside down like a bat from the roof, studied the three through a window.

It was none other than the bespectacled teacher from earlier. Her glasses glinted like insect eyes.

As the sun slowly set and darkness fell outside, the teacher’s suit jacket fell to the ground, her skirt came undone, and her glasses… Her hair, tied at the back, cascaded down.

Grim Reaper, in his black costume and red cloak, let out an eerier laughter.

“Hahaha! Now that we know the source of her Wonder Power, eliminating the nuisance will be easy. Haha, hahaha!”

Laughter echoed in the night.

With a swish of his cloak, Grim Reaper circled fiercely in Chinatown’s sky, then soared high into the sky. His ominous shadow overlapped with the full moon.

“Little Italy’s Candy Holiday, Wonder Girl!” His deep, unsettling voice rang out. “You want to dance with Death in the dark of night, don’t you?”

The enemy has learned Wonder Girl’s secret! What will happen to her?!

To be continued!

“The crime committed sixty-five years ago!”

A spectral blue door appeared in the hall before the guests, unveiling a passage to the distant past. A gust of wind swept through, ruffling suits and dresses and hair, sending tableware and glass and pieces of food skittering across the floor.

The phantom door slowly screeched open.

“I see.” La Guardia’s voice cut through the crowd, filled with confidence. “Then let me regale you with the tale of our family history. My courageous arrival in the New World!”

The blue door swung wide, revealing an expansive blue sea. Sparkling sprays shimmered with the sound of waves, while flocks of white migratory birds flew overhead. It was the waters from a bygone era, spreading vast and boundless between the proud old world and the untamed new one.

Rocked by the waves, a gray leaf—no, a weathered vessel, tired and worn like a weary traveler, pressed onward.

The Atlantic Ocean, Summer of 1865.

An old immigrant vessel sailed on. Slowly traversing the tranquil expanse of the sea under the scorching sun, it inched forward through the undulating waves.

A decrepit ship with a dirty mast and a deck in tatters, splintered boards protruding in various spots.

Sailors, faces etched with fatigue, and weary travelers dragged their heavy feet across the deck. Their attire, rich in ethnic colors, featured woolen hats and brightly embroidered jackets. Each face bore the marks of poverty and fatigue, devoid of the leisure to admire the heavens or the sea. Even the wooden floorboards seemed to mirror their somber mood.

Dusk descended, painting the sky in shades of orange. A lone migratory bird soared close to the ship, circling around, before vanishing. The faraway summer sea reflected the sunset, glimmering softly like it was dawn.

It was a scene locked in the annals of time, slumbering in the realm of dreams.

A crude staircase descended into darkness, leading to the cabins below. The air grew thick with the stench of sweat, grime, and vomit. Rats scurried past, while from the depths came occasional groans of agony and distant shouts. But for all its occupants, the ship remained eerily silent.

A vessel of the downtrodden. A refuge for souls striving to claw their way out of despair, fighting for survival.

The ceaseless cries of an infant came from below. With an eerie creak, the old wooden door to the cabin swung open.

“Ah, this ship… the ship of the destitute that I boarded. It brings back memories.” La Guardia’s voice sounded more and more distant. “I was aboard this vessel… Yes, that fifteen-year-old girl…” Her voice faded altogether.

The wooden door, one of the doors to the past, flickered ominously, beckoning someone forth.

“A beautiful letter, don’t you think? My beloved will surely make the most wonderful husband. I just know it!” A black-haired girl exclaimed joyfully, reclining against a coarse straw mat, wiping the sweat from her brow.

Chatting away in Italian with someone, she appeared to be no more than fourteen or fifteen, too young to talk about lovers and marriage. Her large and bright eyes, button nose, and lovely face exuded childlike innocence.

She was holding a bundle of English letters close. A beautiful white lace dress, distinct from her worn attire, peeked out from an open suitcase.

She held up a coin that had been split in half. “We made a promise to show this to each other when we meet.”

“That’s wonderful,” said the woman beside her. She seemed uninterested.

Holding a baby, she appeared to be a mother. Dark circles lined her eyes, and her lips were dry and chapped, indicating clear signs of exhaustion. The baby in her arms kept crying.

Drunken Irishmen shot them a glare.

“Shut that crying baby up! Can’t get a wink of sleep with all this racket!”

“Seriously!”

“Make that kid pipe down!”

“Once we arrive in New York, I’m changing into this dress and finding him! We’re headed South.” The girl kept up her chatter, unfazed by the men’s angry outbursts.

The woman nodded along, shrinking back as she comforted the baby. “Migrating alone. That’s incredible.”

From another corner, a man approached and nudged the woman’s shoulder, whispering something in English. She nodded.

“La Guardia, could you watch the baby for me again?” the woman asked apologetically.

“Sure thing, Betsy.” The girl, La Guardia, beamed cheerfully. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on him. But wow, you sure do make a lot of friends.”

The woman smiled cynically at her innocent remark. The man led her away from the cabin.