This issue sees guest writer Christopher Priest take over scripting duties from Messner-Loebs. Priest would later write two more issues (137 and 138) as well as a story line featuring Diana in the Legends of the DC Universe title that some fans felt was controversial in nature, dealing with a scenario whereby an evil dictator offers to change his ways as long as Wonder Woman becomes his wife. (Issues 30, 31 and 32).
This issue opens with a clearly pumped up Wonder Woman arriving in Metropolis in time to smash a robotic foe that has been trashing the city. She zooms down from the sky and slams into it hard but the robot brushes off her attack and opens fire with deadly lasers. She barely manages to avoid them and realises she needs to shut this thing down quickly before innocents get hurt. She loops her lasso around a railing.
As she pulls on the golden rope, beginning to topple the derelict building down on top of the robot she muses how Metropolis has taken a real hit this week and in her current state of mind, she might only make things worse! So many hopes placed in her abilities to help save them and stop the crisis…as though she was actually worthy of their trust. She realises that she must get away from here quickly before she totally loses control of her motions and destroys what remains of those whom she has sworn to protect.
As the building buries the robot under a huge pile of rubble she flies over to where Superman is also buried having taken a beating from the mechanical foe. As she helps him free himself she chastises herself for only thinking of her own problems right now and to concentrate on helping her friend. After all, she has come here for his counsel and does not want him to see her falling apart at the seams as her crisis of confidence engulfs her.
She asks Superman is he is OK and he replies that only his pride has been hurt. The robot had caught him from behind. He thanks her for the rescue and she thinks to herself that it is actually she that needs rescuing. She replies that she seems to have come at a bad time and then again curses herself that her childish facade of strength and stability may cost them both their lives. She then offers to lend him a hand but thanking her, he says that he will take care of this thing from here.
A few minutes later the battle if over and peace is restored to the city. Superman and Wonder Woman fly out into the countryside and she says she has come for his advice. He replies he could tell she had something on her mind. “To someone who cares about you Princess your every gesture speaks volumes.”
They touch down in a quiet tranquil spot and she asks him for a favour. She explains that she has been experiencing episodes of instability. She is endeavoring to seek out their root cause but fears she may lose control altogether before she does. “If that should happen…if innocent lives should be put at risk…I want you to stop me. Do whatever you have to.” she states. Superman stares back at her for a moment, taking in her words before gently suggesting she perhaps starts at the beginning and explain what has brought all this on…
She tells him that the previous night, as had been happening often recently, she had suffered a nightmare and had woken to see a vision in which her mother appeared before her, calling for her to come and help save the Queen and the other Amazons. Frustrated, Diana had thrown the alarm clock at the image and switched on the TV seeing as she could not sleep. The news reports were fall of pieces about how she had been taking down numerous mob operations and pundits endlessly discussed who -or what – had hacked off the Amazon Princess quite so much. Fueling her rising temper further, she had thrown the remote through the TV screen and had decided she needed some night air.
She had taken a stroll through the still bustling city streets lost in her thoughts. She had crossed the road unawares in front of a car carrying a group of unruly gang members, who had to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting her. She barely gave them a second glance. They called her a witch, verbally abusing her before driving off whopping and hollering and Diana would have just ignored them had she not spotted that the car’s licence plate read “EDITH”. She had immediately surmised that they had in fact stolen the vehicle.
As the gang had sped up the road, crowing that they should have just run Wonder Woman down she had suddenly landed in front of them, hands on hips and unmoving. This time they had accelerated but she grabbed the car as it ploughed into her, stopping it dead in its tracks and causing the occupants to pile up on top of each other in a heap! As the gang tried to clear their heads she had then casually walked around to the back of the car and ripped open the trunk to reveal an old lady, presumably Edith, trapped inside. Wonder Woman had offered the woman her hand to help her out but on seeing the Amazon standing over her, the lady had screamed in fear and pulled the lid back shut!
Wonder Woman opened it again to reassure the clearly terrified lady that there was no longer any need to be afraid of the gang members. But the woman yelled that it was in fact Wonder Woman who she was afraid of, before slamming the trunk lid back down again and sobbing! Becoming increasingly annoyed at the woman’s behavior, the Amazon Princess had then ripped off the trunk lid and though gritted teeth had stated again that she she was here to help and that there was no reason to be scared.
Just then the police had arrived and guns drawn, ordered Wonder Woman to step away from the vehicle. She had looked at them in disbelief as the gang members cried out that she had attacked them unprovoked and that the super heroine was clearly out of control. The police had then stated that she would need to accompany them to the station for further questioning. At this point Wonder Woman had reached boiling point and unable to contain her rage any longer, had launched into the air and zoomed away before she did anything she might have truly regretted!
She tells Superman that she had then spent the next few hours talking herself out of trashing the local police station. That, and crying. She adds that she is losing control. That woman in the trunk had been genuinely scared of her. How had it come to this?
Superman places a reassuring hand on her shoulder and ask if perhaps she is over-reacting and that perhaps there is a very rational explanation for all of this? She replies that her mother is dead. Hippolyta and the other Amazons had all perished when Themyscira had been destroyed at the hands of the evil sorceress Circe, sworn enemy of the Amazons. Circe is also now dead however and these visions she has been experiencing are clearly products of her own psychosis.
But she then hears another voice say “Don’t be sure Princess.” and she and Superman are suddenly magically transported to back to the city where Doctor Fate is smiling back at them.
She explains that it had taken her a while to track them both down and apoligises for bringing them here but time is critical. She tells Superman that she has brought him here too as she wanted to make sure her knew that Diana was safe and had not been abducted. He nods and giving Wonder Woman a goodbye peck on the cheek sets off to help with the recovery operations in Metropolis, thinking to himself that there’s something about Doctor Fate he doesn’t trust…
Doctor Fate asks Wonder Woman to follow her and as they both fly through the sky, Inza asks her friend knowingly how she has been sleeping lately?. She goes on to tell Diana that she too has been having the same dreams and that there is something odd going on. At first she had thought it was simply displaced guilt about having been the one who had discovered the terrible truth of her mother’s demise. Wonder Woman replies that she is being silly and says “how could you have known, even as we spoke on the phone, that it was already too late?”
Inza nods and continues that regardless, the dreams kept coming until finally she had begun to wonder if instead of dreams they were actually transmissions?
Wonder Woman asks if she is implying what she thinks she is implying – and Inza says that she believes that somehow her mother and Amazon sisters might still be alive.
They arrive at the rocky outcrop where Themyscira had once stood and Inza warns that Wonder Woman should not get her hopes up just yet however. She then explains that she intends to cast the same time strands spell she had used before in order to go back to those events leading up the destruction of the island. She adds that it might be painful for Diana to relive it all again, but that they need to find the truth. She asks Wonder Woman to wrap her lasso around Inza to use as an anchor before casting the spell once more, adding that this time she will also ensure they are not as “involved” with events seeing as previously they has been caught in the blast.
Again, they watch as the mysterious Golden statue of Diana is presented to the intrigued Amazon queen who makes the fatal mistake of touching it and causing it to detonate, obliterating her and the rest of the Amazons in an island consuming fireball. Wonder Woman’s eyes well with tears, saying that it does not get any easier to watch. But just then Doctor Fate states there is something not quite right. She explains that last time they had been blown out of the vision by the blast -but this time they had been prepared for it so they should continue to see what happens after the destruction of Themyscira. As they watch however they see events slimly replay themselves again, with Hippolyta touching the statue and the island being destroyed…over and over again.
Wonder Woman asks if they is a problem with the spell itself but Inza shakes her head. Realising what this means, Wonder Woman cries out in anguish. What they are seeing is clearly a fabrication. The vision has been planted there on purpose for them to find. Maybe the Amazons are not dead. Maybe her mother really has been trying to contact her all this time and she has not listened. Wonder Woman decides she needs answers. Starting with just who the person standing next to her really is!
She grabs Doctor Fate’s mask and begins to tear it away as Inza asks what she doing. Wonder Woman states that she had never originally spoken to Inza on the phone and had instead left a voicemail message, because her friend had been away on a two week vacation. Whoever this impostor is had fallen for her little “truth” trap. As she finally begins to tear away the firmly fitted helmet, she adds that Inza is one of her closest friends and how any one thought they could succeed in deceiving her in this way is baffling. So now its time for the person to answer!
“Yeah, yeah, you’re scaring me” replies the impostor sarcastically. Wonder Woman stares back in grim acknowledgement, still holding on to the lasso as the woman now revealed before her holds the other end, smiling back at her.
Circe…!
