Justice Society of America
Times Past, 1985
The Wonder Years
by Libbylawrence
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 1
Cornelius was vain. Cornelius was careless. Cornelius was dead.
A poor epithet yet a true one.
The solitary warder at the “place of confinement” in Atlantis had been all of the above… and now was dead.
He had had little to do for crime was almost unheard of in the kingdom of the man the surface world had briefly called Aquaman.
Still, he did guard at least one deadly prisoner.
Until, a visitor appeared magically and struck him dead with her glowing spear.
She was a curious sight even in a realm beneath the waves that had known ancient glory and weird magic.
She was beautiful and wore an odd outfit that mixed Nordic splendor with Frederick’s of Hollywood.
She moved silently, seductively, deadly.
She tossed back her blonde locks and peered in at the lone cell’s prisoner.
A beautiful blonde stared out at her in sudden interest.
“Well, I know the mind can make a prison cell a paradise but what an odd throne room you occupy, Princess!” she cooed.
The tall woman in the cell wore only a white mini skirt, sandals, and a brief white top.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“I am the enemy of your enemy so thus, I must be your friend!” she laughed a cold but girlish laugh.
“What do you know of me? Or my enemies?” challenged the cell dweller.
“I am Gudra and you share my hatred for Princess Diana -Wonder Woman of the Amazons!”
SHe stressed the word princess in malice.
“I should rule the Amazons. I ruled ATlantis once!” she shouted.
Gudra laughed and leaned languidly on the door. “You ruled so briefly that the true monarch was away and unaware of your little usurpation until his surface allies like WOnder WOman told him how they ousted you.”
“And did not WOnder WOman beat you physically ..too!” asked Gudra.
“I shall avenge that defeat if you free me.”
“Be free and humble the Amazon. Perhaps, you’ll prove most royal as well, my pretty. Or shall I call you by your chosen title, Queen Clea?” said Gudra as she teleported away with the eager Amazon.
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 2
In Japan a silent garden contained beauty.
It had tiny trees and wind chimes that echoed musically through out the peaceful and costly abode.
This day it also held death.
Death in the voluptuous form of Gudra the Valkyrie.
She passed unseen and luckily unchallenged into a sick room.
She smiled and waved her glowing spear over the quiet form of a very elderly woman.
This was Gudra’s second visit to royalty if one counted Queen Clea as true nobility.
Gudra valued little of mortal titles but she knew quality and saw it in this wizened woman.
“I give you youth anew, Princess Maru!”
The old woman was instantly young again and had a fierce look in her eyes.
“Who are you? Why have you gifted me in this way?” asked Princess Maru.
“I seek revenge on our common foe Wonder Woman. You -distant relative of the Japanese Emperor- know of her from old, do you not?’
Maru smiled. “I see. I do seek the dishonoring and death of the Amazon. I will do as you say.”
“This land of neon and commercialism is much changed since the war your Axis allies lost.” pondered Gudra maliciously.
Maru frowned. “I know of the decay in a once rich traditional land. I see it as due to the work of the AMericans and their champion Wonder Woman!”
Hiding a smile, Gudra agreed. “Then, do all you may to pay her back!”
“Go! Fight once more — Princess Maru — Dr. Poison!”
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 3
Dear Diary
In an elegant, spacious mansion in Georgetown near Washington DC, a pretty blonde girl sat in a crowded but comfortable bedroom on a pink canopied bed and wrote in her diary.
She wore a pink baby doll nightie and gazed around the room at its many awards and photos and stuffed animals.
Her name was Lyta Trevor and her diary had been neglected for quite a while.
She wrote:
Dear Diary: I can’t believe it has been nearly a year since I last wrote in you. I have so much to tell. So much to do with Hector.
I never would have believed that he and I would have fallen in love and moved into a beach house together in California. We always teased as kids.
I am now finally following in the family business. (Heroics not the military!) I am called Fury. We (Hec and I) are in our own group called Infinity Inc. We are public about everything. The masks are off! wrote the media. We just had a press conference not long ago.
Of course, I guess I should start with Mother. She has influenced me for better and worse all my life. I think …notice I said I think… Mom approves of me as Fury and with Hec.
I hope our love will be timeless. His parents were time crossed lovers and Mom and Daddy were just made for each other! Talk about pressure! How does a girl live up to reincarnation! Hec jokes about drinking “reincarnation breakfast drinks …and being full two lives later!”
Dad was the first man Mom ever saw! Period. He crashed on her Amazon isle and was left for dead by a rat named Von Storm. Nazi- natch.
She fell for him while nursing him. They say that happens. I find it romantic. He called her “his lovely Angel!” He calls me “Little Angel.”
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 4
Dear Diary -continued
“Mom left an island of Paradise where she did not age and was in fact Princess of the whole place to be with Dad. He motivated her to go out into “man’s world” and help him fight the Axis and other sources of non Amazonian ideology.
She didn’t get the job through nepotism either!’ Grandmother, Queen Hippolyta, actually staged a contest of all Amazons to determine who should act as a champion and accompany Dad. You can imagine how Mother worried over the outcome.
She and her best friend Mala were the final two. Mother won and was given her famous costume, the golden lasso, and an invisible plane! She brought Dad back to DC and as WOnder Woman saved him and Democracy countless times. I know she even took on a second id. as a “timid” nurse/secretary Diana Prince to be close to him always.
Scene changes for a moment:
Pause in diary: Back to Gudra’s actions.
Gudra approached a solitary Amazon on the sandy shores of Paradise Isle.
“Orana! I read your inner pain! I know you feel aggrieved even after fifty years that you did not venture to “Man’s World” instead of Diana. You sought to compete …but something stopped you.”
Orana, an attractive redhead, was shocked to see a strange woman on this familiar Island. She shook back her red locks and defiantly posed.
“Who are you to claim to know of my pain!”
Gudra laughed and replied, “I am a foe of your rival -Diana. She was not as fast as you or as fiery. How could she have beaten you, I wonder?’
Orana said, “I was ill on the day of the contest. I was forbidden entry. I see now that as you suggest it was due to some royal trickery. I was purposefully robbed of my right!”
Gudra smiled. “And I would grant you a second chance if you’ll fight Wonder Woman as I bid.”
Orana smiled. “I will beat her! I will show all who the true Wonder Woman is!”
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 5
Dear Diary continues:
“I know it bothered Mom that all those long years in which she stayed with Dad as both Diana prince and Wonder Woman, he never put the two together.
He was so blinded by love of Wonder Woman that he could not see her right under his nose in the next office where she worked as secretary to his boss Col. Darnell!
Dad was quite a looker back then! He was handsome and fearless and under that heroic exterior beat a caring and oddly naive heart. He is still an old softy! I can get my way with him with a hint of a pout while nothing sways Mother’s stern stoic warrior princess demeanor! Not that she’s cold or unfeeling!
She surely felt love for Dad from the start. Of course, she had rivals in her very military office. Dad’s secretary Lila Brown was pretty, flirty, and a real witch! Notice I wrote witch -if you ever read this Mother.
Lila wanted the handsome, brave heroic Steven Trevor all for herself. Imagine how the poor girl felt when a new rival shows up in the next office and ends up outranking her in the military office pool by getting a job with her employer’s boss!
(The fact that Mother could type so fast that she burned up the typewriter keys with sheer friction was something Lila could not know but Diana’s speed made all the office girls marvel!)
Lila’s kid sister fell into a bad crowd (Nazi’s again!) but ended up as Holliday College’s latest and most paddled pledge of ’42. Her name was Eve and she works at the newly renamed Holliday Finishing School for Snobby Rich Brats! OK, maybe, I lied about the last part of the school name.)
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 6
Scene shifts back to Gudra:
Germany. The name evokes images not of fairy tale forests and cheerful villagers but of death, destruction, fear, and above all, of the engineer of these dark forces: Adolf Hitler.
Even fifty + years later in a city without a Wall, no one truly forgets the terrors of the past.
One woman who certainly never forgot or forgave was approached by Gudra on her recruiting mission.
Her name is lost to us but her leader in 1944 gave her the unholy name Fausta — the Nazi Wonder Woman. She was given super powers by Nazi science and a bit of Nazi magic and she was sent to kill WOnder Woman. She failed.
She returned in shame to a ruined Berlin where she waited forgotten for decades. She did not age. She did not weaken but still she waited.
Now, as strong and lovely as she was in 1944 Fausta received a call from Gudra. She may have known her mistress’s voice from old. She certainly didn’t hesitate.
Dressed anew in her tight black thigh boots with spike heels and wearing a halter above her taunt abs and black hot pants, the white blonde locks pulled back severely, Fausta set out to join this Wonder WOman Revenge Squad assembled by a laughing Gudra.
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 7
Dear Diary continued:
I know Dad loved Mother and still does! He recently risked his life to stop her when a complicated series of events led her to a mad rampage of sorts. (That happens to the best of families, you know!) Seriously, Mother tried to steal the secrets of youth from a museum when something called a Stream of Ruthlessness possessed her.
She ended up hurting him accidentally when he bravely tried to bring her to her senses. She took him for treatment on Transformation Island which is a… suburb! of Paradise Island. Men are allowed there in rare cases.
They healed him with a magical thing called the Purple Healing Ray. Mother’s friend Paula made it after years of battles with Mom when Paula was a Nazi agent.
Now, Dad is recovering just fine after a nasty trial in which Mother’s whole JSA team was smeared by a foe. They are with friends near DC.
Dad was of Welsh stock. His folks came from Wales at the turn of the century and they instilled that zest for life he has. He also has that love of adventure and of storytelling Mother says comes from the Welsh of lore. THey were all bards mad for music and adventure she says.
Dad did barnstorming before the war back in Indiana where his folks farmed. He had an old biplane and loved flight from his teens.
I can fly too. SUmmers on Paradise Island taught me Amazon skills like combat, kanga riding, and as Dad delighted, piloting!
I once took Mother’s invisible plane for a joy ride. Grounded big time in more ways than one!
Mother and Dad never did come together until December 1962, decades after their first meeting. It took an old enemy of Mothers to do the trick. Seems he revealed her identity to a stunned Dad during a case and the rest is history. Once Dad knew it did not take long for him to convince her that there was no need to wait “until she had vanquished all evil” to marry.
I keep their wedding photo on my desk. Mother wore her costume! It just seemed right! Dad stood by with Col. Darnell as his best man. Mother had her pal, Mala as maid of honor. It was the only time a Methodist minister and a Greek goddess of love worked together to perform a ceremony!
It happened on Paradise Island. Well, above the Island since the males could not step off the green energy platform Mother’s pal Green Lantern had created. Flash and his wife, Superman and Lois, and a couple other JSAers attended.
It’s funny. I always thought of Mother as The super heroine. I knew Liberty Belle had existed but had retired. I never met her daughter Jesse until recently. I had heard of Black Canary though she died before I ever met her. It always seemed like Mother and “the boys” as she called them were the only mystery people out there.
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 8
Dear Diary continued:
When Mother finally left the service she had made Major. She came a long way from a lowly nurse in those unenlightened days.
She and Dad married and she gave up being Diana Prince for good. They publicly announced the wedding in Libby Lawrence’s column among other sources.
When I was born I was named Hippolyta for Grandmother. Mala was my godmother. Mother’s closest mortal pal, Etta Candy was always there too. Funny, she went from Holliday College party girl and constant candy eater to the thin elegant wife of the older Col. Darnell! They really became a love match! Mother was thrilled. Now, Etta runs the Holliday Finishing SChool along with her old pal Eve Brown.
Etta’s bookish daughter Holly Darnell was my closest friend growing up. I haven’t seen her in almost a year!
Growing up as WOnder Woman’s Daughter was not all fun. “Wonder Bra’ echoed out as I walked the halls at school… until I tossed Tommy Jenkins over a row of desks! That shut him up! I loved school and won awards. Mother wouldn’t let me do sports due to my unfair Amazon advantages but I was head cheerleader and made homecoming queen too.
Daddy snapped photos all through my childhood! It seems a camera was part of his left arm! I never mingled with other JSA kids except for summer visits from Rick Tyler, Hector, and Al etc.
Now, we’re all on Infinity Inc. together… except for Rick. Nobody’s asked him yet. I am expecting my female teammates to join me tonight for a slumber party- really a get acquainted party. No men allowed. Jade (Jennie-Lynn) seems sweet and kooky while Kara is a bit hard to get to know. Helena is nice though. She may be the smartest woman I know.
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 9
I should backtrack and add I met Hec again after years apart at college in California. Oh, how I had to work on Daddy to get to move out West! Hec and I shared a class together. Things moved fast and we became lovers and we tried to join Mother’s team: the JSA. We made second best. We joined a team all our own with a few young JSA types.
I am a Kinesiology major. Daddy and Hec say I’m brainy and I did do great in school. I guess movement and physical activity are natural things to interest the child of super human ancestors with the sheer power to toss cars. I see motion in flight too so I guess it all ties in somewhere.
Got to stop. I see my gal pals have arrived.
Diary entries stop here.
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 10
The evil group consisting of Queen Clea, Dr. Poison, Orana, Fausta, and Giganta (the last recruit) plotted revenge against Wonder Woman.
Gudra had brought them together and left them to do their own work without her involvement.
“I dub us the Wonder Woman Revenge Squad!” said Giganta.
She was a towering, muscled beauty who had not aged a day since her transformation from Ape to Babe in the 1940′s.
“We have our assignments! We know where to meet in all goes well… or ill.” announced Queen Clea who was the leader in Gudra’s absence.
“What of the Cheetah?” asked Dr. Poison.
“Gudra said she was in reserve for future plans if needed.” explained Orana.
“Our pledge then. To the death of Diana Trevor and all she holds dear!”
They shouted the vow and laughed grimly.
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 11
When Jennie-Lynn Hayden (the Infinitor named Jade) left her teammates in LA, she had much on her mind.
The pretty Wisconsin native had a vibrant personality, a pretty face, and loads of personality. She was rather eager to get to DC for Lyta’s “slumber party” and hastily exchanged good-byes.
“Be good, Twinnie! I’ll see you when the cops bring us in for questioning!” she teased.
Jade’s recently discovered twin Todd Rice had grown up separated from her and he was fiercely loyal and protective to her.
He hated good byes. So many of the ones he had known were sudden and final. His mother and kid brother by adoption had vanished abruptly after leaving his drunken step dad behind in Milwaukee.
He had departed soon afterward as well. He missed his pal and employer from the machine shop where he worked after school. He missed his priest too. He hated to see Jennie leave even shortly and with friends.
“Just don’t forget me out in the world of the Rich and Famous!” he said jokingly.
“Never, Dahling!” she teased. She was the extrovert to Todd’s more introverted personality and she understood his slight qualm about her involvement with the wealthy Trevors. Todd had a normal suspicion of those with money. Hector had certainly showed insensitivity to him in his shallow manner.
Back in Franklin, WI, Jennie’s middle class upbringing had been full of more certainty and safety than poor Todd’s had.
She loved attention. Back in community theater she had brought down the house as Dorothy and ALice in their respective tales. She had loved it all: the blonde wig and pinafore with mary Jane as ALice and the pigtails and songs as Dorothy.
She later joked about how she could have saved the make-up people money by doubling as the green hued Wicked Witch! Her green skin and power pulse came later.
Now, she eagerly hugged Todd and flew off.
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 12
Jade’s brother moped briefly then joined his friend Norda in the Stellar STudios HQ machine shop. He could lose himself in the fine art of making metal work as he wished.
Hector Hall was more irritated by the all girls evening back East.
“Wanna crash?” he asked tall Albert.
Al smiled and waved a “no way!” gesture. “We’d get creamed by Power Girl!”
Al wondered where their fellow teammate Brainwave Jr. was. He had stormed off after the press got ugly at the II press conference. He was naturally sensitive about his late dad: Brainwave the villain.
While they amused themselves as they could their female teammates had all arrived at the Trevor estate for Lyta’s party.
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 13
Lyta gazed around the room at her friends.
She still wore the pink baby doll and Jade wore a matching pale gold one.
Helena Huntress Wayne wore a costly set of silk pajamas while Kara -Power Girl wore her red and white uniform.
“Here, you need sleep ware!” teased Jade.
Instantly, a long ruffled, frilly green gown formed over Kara’s costume.
They all laughed as the tall blonde pouted and said, “I look like I should be getting an award from the Academy of Country Music!”
Jade quipped, “Kermet the Judd!”
Lyta relaxed when she saw the often moody Kara laugh and pick up a cd.
“Boy George? Ugggh!” she frowned.
“What? Power Girl doesn’t like “Gay Power!” teased Helena.
“How does he walk in those heels!” asked Lyta.
“Don’t ask me!” frowned Kara.
She recalled the ordeal she had gone through when her cousin Clark’s wife Lois had tried patiently to teach the strange earth fashions to the impatient Kryptonian girl.
“I almost put my foot through the floor when I first tried to walk in heels at Lois’s instruction!” she said.
“I guess at Krypton they all wore Yeoman Rand mini’s and headbands!” joked Jade.
“Rand? Are you a Trekkie?” asked Lyta.
“It’s Trekker! Or so we prefer.” announced Helena.
“So, you’re Madonna?” said Kara to Helena.
“Yes, and I guess that makes you Joan Jett” said Helena to Kara.
“I’m Cyndi Lauper!” called Jade and Lyta at the same time as they all laughed.
Lyta was pleased. Things were going well.
Then, unknown to Wonder Woman’s daughter around the world at that moment her mother’s gathered foes struck!
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 14
Lyta’s slumber party continued happily enough when a thump at the front door caused the party to stop while she opened the door.
To her dismay, her mother’s battered form fell into her arms.
“Mother!” she cried as her friends rushed forward.
After the Huntress applied some first aid, Princess Diana sat up wearily.
“We were dining with the Darnell when they and Steve suddenly passed out. SOme colorless toxin had been introduced into the house as we ate.”
“I rushed to open a window and used my lasso to blow off the fumes after I detected the odor.
I was dizzy too.”
“I was no sooner over your Dad than I was hit hard from all sides. I glimpsed Fausta, Dr. Poison, Giganta and even Orana -an Amazon. I fell hard from a blow to the back of my skull. When I woke up my costume and lasso were gone as were the Darnell and Steve. This note was left on a Amazon tunic they left me.”
Lyta read the print out.
“Your loved ones die in a few hours. Go to Japan, SOuth Africa, Germany, and where it all started if you want to save them. Any way you try… some will die! Don’t go to the JSA or they die quicker! The Wonder WOman Revenge Squad!”
“We’ve got to save them! We can divide up!” yelled Power Girl.
“I guess they assumed you were with II back West.” offered Jade to Lyta.
WOnder WOman stood up shakily. “I can’t thank you enough. Let’s go. Steve and the others are in deadly peril every second we wait! I had to see if you were OK, first,”
They raced out after a hasty discussion.
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 15
The former Baroness Paula Von Gunther had lived happily as an “adopted Amazon” for decades and still retained her youthful beauty; however, she was revisiting her Nazi past against her will.
SHe had been abducted from Paradise Island’s Transformation Island lab by the insane Orana and Fausta. Now, she was chained in a bizarre courtroom in Berlin where the preening platinum blonde Fausta -the so-called Nazi WOnder Woman had brought her to stand trial for treason to her long dead master Adolf Hitler.
She could not break free nor could she make use of any weapon since her place of imprisonment was in the center of an empty room.
Fausta was acting as prosecution, judge, and apparently executioner.
“You betrayed our Axis cause after being Hitler’s own favorite. You joined yourself to the insipid Amazon nation and used your brilliance for their betterment when Austrian wealth paid for your education and you owed all to Hitler’s patronage.” screamed Fausta as she strutted around in her thigh high black heels.
Paula replied, “I saw the evil behind Hitler’s cause and I repented of all I had done to further it. I still repent of the lives I took for that madman!”
She reeled back as Faust slapped her so hard she shook.
“You’ll repent of this change more when I kill you.” vowed Fausta.
“The Amazon will never choose to save you. She’ll go to her husband or her friends from America! You’ll have aided her and you’ll get naught in return!” cooed the Nazi.
“Oh, I may not be Wonder Woman but I can still break your jaw, you Dominatrix wanna-be!” said a powerful voice as the wall literally shattered and a beautiful, blonde flew inside.
“Uberfraulein!” cried Fausta.
“If that’s Nazi for Power Girl then you’re sharper than you look!” she answered.
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 16
Power Girl had mixed emotions about Wonder WOman. She admired her as the first major heroine; however, she knew Diana had little respect for the rather disdainful way she had treated the JSA males especially her cousin when she first joined the team.
“Amazons are superior to males only due to their greater sense of love and virtue not because of their gender or raw power.” she had admonished the young Kryptonian.
Still, Kara was not about to let anyone be abused at the hands of thugs like this Fausta! She stomped her boot and the floor cracked wide and sent the Nazi tumbling.
Fausta rolled back to her feet and smiled, “You may be a worthy challenger after all!”
Fausta leaped over the crack and drove Kara into a wall.
Power Girl’s fist flew out and Fausta rolled back again.
The Kryptonian slammed her full weight into Fausta and the platinum blonde groaned.
“Not so much of a Master Race now, are you?’ quipped Power Girl as she sent Fausta down with a left hook.
Fausta merely grimaced and kicked out.
Power Girl’s feet were swept out from under her and she fell hard.
Paula struggled helplessly as the fight continued.
Power Girl glanced around the room.
“Not much to work with here!” she mused.
Fausta charged in only to sail beneath the leaping heroine.
Power Girl brought her legs around and down on Fausta’s back and the Nazi WOnder WOman hit the floor.
“You may be stronger than I am but I have an ally. Meet the Murder Machine III.” she said.
A large green robot surged forward from out of the darkest corner of the otherwise empty room.
Nazi emblems decorated its crude features and powerful pinchers clicked where hands would normally go.
“I believe this device might even have been a design of yours, traitor!” spat Fausta at Paula.
The robot clipped Kara and sent her tumbling.
Before she could rise again it gripped her around the waist and started squeezing.
“Not on the first date!” muttered Power Girl as she struggled in the machine’s unyielding grip.
Fausta laughed and moved slowly toward Paula.
“You, I can deal with now!” she promised maliciously.
“Not so fast!” yelled a man who just burst inside.
He had a shaggy blond do and wore a brown trench coat.
“We frown on Nazi retros these days!” he joked.
A whip cracked from his hand and Fausta flinched back.
“I can rip that from your corpse!” she sneered.
“That remains to be seen!” said the man as he spun and sliced at Paula’s bonds with a small laser.
Power Girl raised her shapely legs and forced them to push out the clipping pinchers that held her.
SLowly they gave and she dropped free and pushed the robot over.
It fell near the occupied Fausta as her male rescuer dove to safety with the astonished blonde.
“Thank you!” breathed the former Baroness Von Gunther as the expertly tossed whip swung them to a safe spot.
“That’s why I’m here. To help.” said the agile blond man.
“It is weakest at the hip joints!” called the brilliant Paula.
Power Girl followed Paula’s shouted instructions to the letter.
She levered herself between the robot’s flailing legs and heaved until a leg broke off neatly.
She slammed it into the robot’s head and with a whine, it moved no more.
“Look out!” yelled the blond man.
Fausta charged shakily forward and Kara smirked as one swift left dropped her cold.
“Thanks, but she’s no trouble now. I guess having a robot fall on you takes a lot out of you.”
Paula and Power Girl raced off after the blond promised to turn Fausta into the German authorities.
“What’s your name?” cried Paula as they bounded off.
“You can call me Johnny Peril!” he said as he waved them off.
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 17
Jade had never seen such splendor as was on view in the odd contrast between the cities of South Africa and the jungle not all that far away.
She hoped there would be time for sightseeing after she had freed whichever friend of WW’s was in danger there.
She smiled as she wondered what a once racially separated area like that would make of a green skinned beauty like herself.
She landed with easy grace at the steps of the embassy.
Soon the heroine was ushered into an office where a handsome boyish man greeted her warmly.
“Jennie-Lynn! Nice to see you. We’ve never really talked much before. Your dad has always been a real hero of mine. He and Bruce sort of worked Gotham all those years and all and really respected each other. said former Ambassador Richard “Robin” Grayson.
“That’s so sweet but I need help. Where would a madwoman strike here? Her name is Giganta and she’s a WOnder WOman foe. She’s to be up to something here immediately and someone’s life is at stake!”
“Whoa! Slow down. I know of her from an old case. She’s a ape turned woman, right? Her only tie to SOuth AFrica might be the large game preserve and wilderness sanctuary nearby. Plenty of apes there.” mused the brilliant sleuth.
“Let’s check it out.” he said.
Minutes later the dramatic figures of Jade and Robin were soaring over the spacious preserve.
“There! Can you magnify that area?’ he asked.
Jade’s power pulse flashed and a huge lens formed that made the area below come into sharp focus.
“I see odd machinery!” she said.
“That could be it! Nothing like that should be here nor was it recently.” he said.
“What? You mean you memorized the entire preserve?” joked Jade.
“Yes!” he said with what might have been a smile on his face.
“Seriously, I did some computer checking before we left and imports of exotic parts have occurred recently in that spot. The rangers know nothing of it and have no budget for that kind of tech.” he explained.
They settled near a raised platform where a machine loomed up out of slight covering.
“It has some kind of projecting or focusing lens and a range like a satellite or so it appears.” said Robin.
“Stolen cable!” teased Jade.
“Reclaimed lives!” interjected a huge woman in a leopard skin bikini.
“Giganta!” said Jade.
“ANd what you see is the first of a project of rebirth. I shall rid the nation of inferior beings with this device from Clea.” she growled.
“That racist talk is garbage!” declared Jade.
“Ah, I am not racist merely specialist! For I hope to rid the area of humans and turn all into the higher form of life: apes!”
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 18
Giganta laughed and it sounds like a beast chortling.
“I can turn humans into apes with this ray. I chose South Africa because of the wide array of people living near the jungles. This fool will be the first!” she said.
She pointed at a bound old man who seemed stunned by the weird situation.
He was retired Colonel Darnell- Etta Candy’s husband and Diana Prince’s boss from back in her military days. He had seen some weird things before but nothing like the magnificent beast woman and her diabolical device.
Giganta leaped upward and landed perfectly on her bare feet.
Jade’s green energy net missed the agile foe.
“Like all hunters I know my prey! Daughter of Green Lantern!” said the snarling woman.
She dove forward with lightning speed and cuffed Jade with a wooden truncheon.
The pretty girl fell hard and the energy faded as did her awareness.
Robin moved faster than either and sliced Darnell’s bonds.
“Run! Get the police and see if you can clear the immediate area.” he ordered.
Darnell nodded and followed the orders of a born leader and legendary hero.
Robin climbed the device and scanned its surface.
“Can’t take time to destroy it. A primer is already ticking away. ” he mused.
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 19
Robin was literally snatched down from his perch on the machine by the tall, deadly Giganta.
She reeled back as he dropped a flare in her path.
“I can’t see! But I can still track you, you little creep!” she roared.
She grabbed him and squeezed hard.
“Can’t out strong arm this Amazon stand-in, but I can out think her!” he mused.
He tossed a pellet down near Jade.
Smelling salt erupted and slowly the girl sat up and rubbed her head.
“What?…” she said.
Giganta’s timer ticked down as the device moved slowly on an axle.
Robin yelled, “Jade tilt that down quickly!”
Jade concentrated and a huge, well manicured hand tugged insistently at the ray beam.
It creaked forcibly downward and Robin eased free of Giganta’s grip with a desperate jerk.
He used his agility to flip the beast woman by her long mane of hair.
She growled and rolled directly into the path of her “regression ray.”
WIth a scream, Giganta shrank down to a petite, dainty woman who weighed around 90 pounds.
SHe rocked back and forth in anguished and made no effort to stop Jade from destroying her device.
“What happened to her?” asked Jade.
Robin said, “I blocked her ray with her own body and the regression seemed to fit the mental idea of what a regression would be to the victims. To most, it would have meant becoming an ape. To Giganta to apparently meant becoming even more of a woman!”
Robin led the returning Darnell and the authorities to where the now frail Giganta sat and moaned.
“Need a lift?” asked Jade as she and Darnell departed.
“No, I’m just in to close my office so my successor can take over fully. That may take a day or two.” he explained.
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 20
The Huntress made her way through the streets of a neon -lit Japan. SHe swung fearlessly out over the teaming city streets and headed toward one specific destination.
“The U.N.’s Anglo-Sino relations board is holding a convention of best of items from each nation. If Diana’s right about Dr. Poison’s hatred from the war of all things AMerican, she’ll be sure to strike here!”
Dr. Poison was indeed there among tourists, diplomats, and garish exhibits ranging from the Osmonds (still big in Japan in 1980′s as represented by Jimmy Osmond) to Godzilla!
She wore the full mask and jump suit of her youth.
She taunted Etta Candy Darnell who had been a thorn in her side before.
“You will die and your pet Amazon shall be too late to save you… if she even tries. We both know Trevor holds her heart. He is on Transformation Island under Clea’s tender care. Your husband is with Giganta in South AFrica.”
“Diana will find you!”
” Of course, she will. The note we left Wonder Woman shall tell all but even she can’t be in more than one place at a time!” schemed the mad scientist.
The Huntress swung down defiantly.
“You? I battled your hated father once!” shouted Dr. Poison.
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 21
The Huntress stood boldly in front of Dr. Poison while people in costumes milled around them.
“If you did face my father then I’d say you lost since he was never beaten!” breathed the Huntress.
Dr. Poison showed no emotion behind the hood and her brittle laugh suggested she was unwilling to contest the distant past.
“I will alter the future of this once proud land. Even now we are ignored because of the gaudy costumed masses at this celebration. You seek this woman, I assume?”
She pointed to Etta who was now silent… doubtless drugged.
Huntress walked near the woman and she was intercepted by a hulking, heavily shrouded figure.
He blocked her path and slowly unwound his bandaged form.
“Look, I didn’t come here for the show… so I’ll just take Mrs. Darnell and be going.” started the Huntress.
The figure before her was now revealed to be a man whose skin was glowing with a putrid radiance.
“I call him Yudoku the Toxic Man! His very touch causes disease and infection!” said Dr. Poison.
Huntress thought to herself, “She’s not kidding! Like the Beatles song said, “I can feel his disease!”
The Toxic Man grabbed for the dynamic avenger who kicked him promptly in the chin.
He moved back in pain but Helena’s boot melted rapidly on that brief contact with his corrosive skin!
“I better play this from a distance!”
She swung her line up and darted across the floor inches away from the grasping foe.
She dropped down in front of Etta and quickly carried the now slim woman to a distant spot.
“Take her to medical care!” she ordered in Japanese to a passing couple.
They did so while Toxic Man caught Helena from behind.
Her costume began to melt but her agility was unequaled.
SHe ignored the pain and flipped her foe over her shoulder.
Discarding her now charred cape, she tossed it over his head and unleashed a flurry of blows.
“Might as well hit while he’s covered by the melting cape!”
She staggered him until it dissolved.
Tossing a gas pellet at him, she danced backward and lost another boot to his acidic touch.
She saw now sign of Dr. Poison until she glanced up and saw the felon posed over the highest point of the UN convention floor.
“She’s going to poison everyone here!” vowed the Huntress.
She fired her crossbow bolt with skill and shattered a canister held by the mad woman.
The contents spilled over only the Doctor and the madwoman screamed in fury.
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 22
Helena noticed that Dr. Poison seemed only angry but not hurt.
“I am immune to my own creations!” she screeched.
The Toxic Man rose up only to be hit hard by the dolly Helena had grabbed from a display.
She rammed the metal cart into Yudoku and drove him over the rail of the aisle.
He fell to the ground and did not move.
“He’s merely stunned! Thank goodness.” thought Helena.
She started to close in on Dr. Poison when an odd gang of nearly identical women parted them.
There were around thirty Japanese women. All wore identical heavy make-up that clouded their features and made them seem to be doubles of one another. Their kimonos were equally alike.
“We shall take care of Princess Maru’s punishment. She disgraces us all with her mindless rage. Many Japanese could have died in her mad attack.” said the leader.
“WHo are you?’ asked Helena.
“We are the Geisha and we now will deal with the poor fool.”
They gathered a now humble Dr. Poison up in their midst and marched her off. She gave them no resistance.
Helena walked off to see how Etta was and covered herself as best she could in her tattered costume.
“That one is the Daughter of Komori! She may trouble us when we arrive in Gotham!” offered one of the Geisha.
“She shall fall to our power there if she faces us.” vowed the leader.
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 23
Wonder Woman, still clad in the plain tunic, flew toward Paradise Island with a worried look on her face.
“Steve must be on the Island or at least on Transformation Isle. I only pray Hera has guarded him and the others. WHat malice brought this band of madwomen together now?’ she wondered.
They landed easily and stared around the ancient splendor of a nearly lost world.
“Where are the others? Like godmother Mala?” asked Lyta.
Diana nearly stumbled from the after effects of the drug she had been given.
“I do not know! It is a bad sign.”
They finally came to the main throne room only to see deserted halls.
In the chamber where Hippolyta gave her judgments sat a pretty Blonde Diana recognized as Queen Clea!
“What have you done to our sisters!” said Diana.
Queen Clea merely laughed as she reclined on the throne.
“That’s no way to address your new ruler, ex-Princess Diana. As for your sisters, I don’t claim them, they are all dead! See for yourself.”
Lyta gasped as she spotted silent bodies all around the far chambers.
“She really did it! She’s killed the AmazonS!” cried a shocked Fury.
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 24
Diana ran forward and grabbed Clea by her brief top.
“How could you have done this? It is inhuman!”
Clea laughed and slapped Diana across the face.
“It was so simple. I modified your purple healing ray and used it to murder not heal every Amazon here Including your dearly lamented mother.”
Diana cried out in rage and knocked Clea across the throne.
She leaped over and was soon on top of her foe.
Clea fought well and soon landed several blows of her own.
Lyta bent over the still form of Mala whom she spotted.
“Oh Mala!” she cried. She remembered the pretty blonde teaching her archery summers ago on the Isle.
She saw her mother kick out at Clea who merely blocked the kick and tackled her enemy.
The two women continued to wrestle around and while Diana was a better fighter, her strength was being sapped by the poison still coursing through her veins.
Clea choked her foe mercilessly until a voice rang out from the side.
“Leave her alone!” yelled Lyta as she ran forward.
“The kitten wishes to defend her she cat mother!” said Clea.
Fury hit the Queen hard and soon found herself tumbling with her foe down a flight of steps.
Every bump shook her sturdy frame but she held on to Clea with determination.
They landed in a heap and the battle raged on.
“I will kill you, brat!” promised Clea.
Lyta said, “Talk is cheap!” She swung a hard right and sent Queen Clea reeling.
STill, the fight raged onward!
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 25
Diana moved slowly and thought desperately.
She knew Lyta could hold out against Clea longer than she could in her current condition; however, she hated the idea of leaving her daughter alone.
She made her decision instantly and raced for the palace’s magic sphere.
She jammed in a piece of cloth from Clea’s ripped tunic and the image of the angry Amazon appeared on the screen.
Guided by Di’s thoughts it showed Queen Clea arrive on the Transformation Island with a captive Steve and the accompanying Fausta, and Orana.
They overpowered Paula and she was carried off by Fausta while the others worked on the Purple Healing Ray.
Soon, Clea had made it into a death ray of sorts and turned its lethal energies on the neighboring Paradise Island.
Diana concentrated and the image focused on the device’s settings.
“They may not be dead… like the JSA long ago they could be merely entranced,” she thought.
She raced off to the island in question and burst into Paula’s lab where she saw Steve tied against a wall.
“Angel!: he cried.
She tore him free and they embraced.
“I’ve got work to do!” she yelled and frantically adjusted the Purple Healing Ray.
Setting the controls on revive, she focused it on the palace and the rest of Paradise Island.
“Steve, they used the ray to comatose the Amazons including Mother, Mala etc. I left Lyta fighting Queen Clea. Stay here.” she urged.
“Never! Not while our little girl is near that bitter witch!” said Trevor as he boarded the plane.
Diana nodded. She knew it was futile to ask Steve Trevor to avoid danger. Over forty years had proven that to her.
They arrived at the palace in time to see Amazons everywhere moving freely.
“It worked!” cried Diana.
“There’s your mother!” yelled Steve as he very reluctantly stayed in the plane and off of the sacred ground.
“Go get Clea!” he said as he kissed Wonder Woman.
She smiled and leaped by her friends to enter the palace where she was greeted by a beaming Lyta.
“When the others suddenly surged upward and were awake, alive …Clea lost it! She stopped fighting and just screamed! Grandmother had her guards carry Clea off to be imprisoned.” explained Lyta.
“I guess all that anger just overcame her when she saw all she had worked for go to ruin!” said Queen Hippolyta.
Lyta said, “We heard from the girls. They’ve rescued the Darnell and Paula!”
“I can’t see how Clea could have left the ray unguarded like that.” mused Diana as they joined Steve at the plane.
“It was to be guarded by Orana but as soon as Clea left me here and started up the ray, Orana took off and said she had to prove herself.” added Steve as he hugged his daughter.
“That can only mean trouble. She was wearing your costume too!” added Steve.
Diana frowned. “WHen Paula gets here I’ll let her use the ray to rid my system of the toxin Dr. poison administered back at the Darnell. She’ll know exactly what setting to use for such a drug.”
“Then?” asked Lyta.
“Then, we check on the Darnell and get my identity back from Orana!” promised the amazing Amazon.
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 26
ORANA’S TALE
The JSA HQ was quite that day. No new menaces had shown up and all the old foes were in jail or in hiding. No aliens were on the horizon and no magical dimensions threatened to invade earth. Nary a crisis is sight.
Then, the peace was shattered when she showed up!
The she in question was the renegade Amazon called Orana.
SHe shoved and leaped past and through various defenses and as alarms blared out, she kicked open the door to the JSA’s main meeting room.
“What the?” yelled Al Pratt.
Wildcat jumped up as did the Flash.
Dr. Mid-Nite put down a medical magazine and gasped.
The intruder was obviously beautiful and female and powerful.
They’d all seen those combinations before.
However, what stopped these heroes in their tracks was the fact that she was wearing Wonder Woman’s costume! She had the magic lasso, tiara, magnetic earrings, and if they judged rightly even the exact shade of nail polish!
“I am Orana. I am the new Wonder WOman. I am here to join your illustrious Society,” she announced.
“Wait just one minute, babe!” said WIldcat.
“How’d you get Diana’s gear?” asked Atom.
“I have WONDER WOMAN’s gear. Not “Diana’s” I am Wonder Woman now. The old one is now obsolete.” she explained as she stomped her red booted foot.
“She’s displaying signs of real mental illness. I’d say she’s obsessed with this WW fixation. No way to rationally argue with her.” whispered Doc.
Flash jetted forward.
“We need to know a little more… who exactly are you? WHat happened to Won… the former Wonder WOman.” he asked.
“I am one of her Amazon sisters. She is away. I am to replace her.”
“Guys, we got trouble!” yelled the entering Hour Man.
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 27
ORANA’S TALE
“We know Hour Man. Diana’s missing and this woman claims to be her replacement.” said Atom.
Orana sniffed disdainfully, “I am WOnder WOman now!”
Mid-Nite said, “No, Atom. Hour Man just got here and he’s as surprised to see our visitor as we were. Must be something else.”
“I’ll say! Solomon Grundy, The Sportsmaster, The Huntress, Oom the Mighty, Wotan, and Vulcan are marching up Broadway even as we speak!”
“Let’s go! For America and Democracy!” They shouted.
Orana raced along with the JSA.
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 28
ORANA’S TALE
The JSA flew in their skimmer through the Gotham skies until they reached the heart of the city’s theater district.
They saw a weird sight. A massive brown hued giant called Oom the Mighty was thundering up the center of the street tearing up pavement as he went.
Behind this behemoth walked a green skinned figure in a red cape. He was Wotan the Alien
Wizard/Scientist.
A chalk white Frankenstein type called Solomon Grundy brought up the middle while a couple named Huntress and Sportsmaster brought up the rear.
To the far right rampaged an ax wielding Vulcan with heat and fire gleaming from his muscled form.
“That’s the oddest teaming yet! No Fiddler? You can’t have a Villain Society without the Fiddler!” joked Atom.
“Now, Atom, every super team of lowlife creeps can’t have the Fiddler. He has to be in jail sometime!” laughed Flash.
“Well, at least they could have gotten the Gambler!” joked Wildcat.
“I do not understand. Are not these foes enough for your prowess?’ questioned Orana.
“They are kidding. Humor is needed in our line of work.” explained Mid-Nite to the fiery redhead.
Hour Man said, “I can’t see Oom working with anybody. I mean, he eats people!”
“Maybe, that’s what happened to the Fiddler!” laughed Atom.
Flash raced out of the skimmer ahead of the others.
He circled the foes at top speed and abruptly deflected the pavement Oom was tossing.
“No need to destroy public property… and be a man-eating demon too!”
Grundy lashed out and sent Jay Garrick spinning with a glancing blow.
“Whoa! He’s faster than I recall. Quieter too. No Kill Green Lantern! Hate Green Lantern! talk.”
Hour Man dropped down out of the craft as Atom parked it above.
He thought, “I just took the old Miraclo. Hope it’s enough for a titan like Oom!”
Rex Tyler landed gracefully and caught Wotan with a backhanded blow.
The green man make no sound but fell down only to immediately rise again.
Orana charged Oom and draped her golden lasso over his massive neck.
“Surrender Monster!” she cried.
Oom knocked her spinning across the street.
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 29
ORANA’S TALE
“That’s not possible!” said Orana as the lasso fell to the ground.
“All humans must obey the magic!” she muttered as she charged back at Oom.
“Oom’s rather Inhuman!” said Jay as he pummeled Wotan at high speed.
Orana shrugged and toppled the giant with a mighty heave.
She hefted the giant over her shoulders and with a grunt slammed him through the pavement.
Atom ducked a punch from Huntress and mocked her.
“You know I’m not much for women’s lib. and all but in your case, I’d really have kept my maiden name! I mean, Mrs. Crock! What kind of name is that!”
She made no comment and swung a leg to try to trip him.
He jumped up and over and landed a right that dropped her to the ground… again for only a minute.
Wildcat squared off against Mr. Crock AKA the Sportsmaster.
“I’ll make this your last inning!” he said as he drove a right into his masked foe’s face.
Sportsmaster swung a bat at the masked Ted Grant who ducked easily and landed a combination on him.
“You know these goons are all mute today!”
he said.
Atom tackled Huntress and offered, “And they aren’t using their special tactics. Wotan’s not casting spells or boasting about his alien science.”
Flash spun Grundy around at top speed.
“He is very out of character and did you notice how Oom ignored Orana’s lasso? I’d say maybe it was not due to his alien body but to the very strong possibility that he’s not alive. None of them are in my opinion,” he said.
Dr. Mid-Nite had agreed at once.
“Huntress is reacting too fast to be the real Crock. None of them have normal reactions. I’d say they are all stronger than normal too.”
Hour Man helped Flash restrain Grundy. “He is faster than our last fight. About as strong but definitely different.”
Orana was swept up in the sudden grabbing arms of Oom as he exploded through the pavement.
“By Hera, these fiends fight like the very hounds of Hades!” she muttered.
She wondered if the last WOnder Woman had been as hard pressed by the mortal foes she faced as Orana was today. Surely, so.
The battle continued.
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 30
ORANA’S TALE
Mid-Nite noticed Vulcan remained at the sidelines and did indeed hold a flame shooting ax. He closed in on him warily and he saw that the ax was in fact a flame-thrower in the mold of an ax.
“Not the original ax used by Vulcan. Odd that only Vulcan here even attempts to use the weapons he is traditionally associated with!” he mused.
Vulcan swung at the Doctor who sidestepped and backhanded the “ax” out of his hand.
He moved in and clipped Vulcan with a right hook.
Vulcan grunted and ran to the side.
“First, sound we’ve gotten out of any of them. Do we have a ringleader, here?” asked Wildcat.
Orana crouched low on her heels and suddenly kicked off the ground. She propelled herself into Oom’s chest and to her surprise -straight through him to the other side!
She whirled with a high kick and severed Oom in half.
“By Hera, he’s some automaton!” she gasped.
Flash vibrated a blow that shattered Wotan as well.
Seeing this effect, led ATom to summon his energy and land an “atomic punch” that broke Sportsmaster into a shell as well.
“What are they?” asked Hour Man as he too “broke” Grundy down with a few well aimed punches.
Mid-Nite caught Vulcan and ripped his helmet (for it was merely a helmet) from his head to reveal a meek looking man.
“I see this is a “human” and not Vulcan the astronaut.” he said.
“How dare you use warriors as pawns in some mockery of warfare!” roared Orana as she pushed by Mid-Nite and lifted the mild man off the ground.
“Hold on there!” said Hour Man.
“I shall smite this jackal for his perfidious deeds.” vowed the redhead.
“We kind of frown on smiting here in the JSA,” said Flash.
“It is the way of the warrior.” muttered Orana.
“But, it is not the way of WOnder WOman!” said Princess Diana as she dropped in from her hovering plane.
“Diana!” yelled a happy Jay Garrick.
“Glad you’re OK!” said Wildcat.
Orana backed away from the man in the Vulcan suit.
“I am the true WOnder WOman!” she yelled.
“Not while the one and only is back!” said ATom.
Diana explained what had occurred and the team closed ranks around Orana.
Mid-Nite held the shaken “Vulcan.”
“I will die before I surrender my new identity!” said a defiant Orana as she posed with her hands on her hips.
She strolled forward and to the shock of the JSA : she suddenly vanished leaving only her costume and lasso.
“WHat happened?” asked Mid-Nite.
“A magical or scientific teleportation.” replied ATom.
“AT least you got your stars and stripes back.” offered Hour Man.
Diana reclaimed her possessions.
“Yes, but who or what took Orana?”
THE WONDER YEARS: Part 31
ORANA’S TALE
Orana found herself in an odd lab. She wore nothing and was naturally angry.
“I brought you here to aid you in your quest to replace the other Wonder Woman.” said a shrouded figure.
“How dare you strip me of my warrior garb!” said Orana.
“I dare all for I have seen much and lived long.” he answered.
“Now, calm yourself. I’ll equip you as a better WOnder WOman if you’ll allow me to do so.” he said calmly.
Orana found herself oddly cowed by the mystery-man.
“I’ll listen.” she agreed.
“Very well. Then, come and see my own brave new world.” said the figure from the shadows.
Elsewhere, the JSA turned the little man in the Vulcan suit in to the authorities. His brief spell at the furious hands of Orana had totally reduced his will to battle.
“SO, the man was Superman’s old foe Funny Face and the Injustice Gang were drawings somehow brought to a semblance of life.” explained Jay.
“He merely hoped to hurt some of us as a form of revenge against the Man of Steel.”
“I notice he stayed near the Gang disguised as Vulcan to guide their actions. That’s also why they had no real Gang technique… merely brute strength.” said Mid-Nite.
“Seems odd that he’d go for us and not his old foe.” said ATom.
“WOuld you willingly fight Superman if you could hurt him indirectly?” posed Mid-Nite.
“Good point, Doc. Good point.” said Atom.
Diana had redressed and was joined by her daughter and her female allies.
“You all behaved like true Amazons in aiding me against that Revenge Squad. I am honored by your friendship.” she said.
Power Girl, Huntress, Jade, and Fury all beamed.
“Clea was turned back to the Atlanteans for trial. That may be best.”
“Now, back to the slumber party? ” offered Lyta.
“You’re on! But, I am NOT wearing that green gown again!” vowed Power Girl.
The women laughed and exited.
