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Following on from last issue’s standalone story we have another single issue tale, teaming up Wonder Woman with the ‘New Teen Titans’ for the first time.
This issue also signifies the end of an era as the Amazon Princess will see yet another new creative team come on board and yet another new direction commence in the next issue. Sales around this time were still not good, although the introduction of the Huntress back up feature had helped at least stem the flow of readers deserting the title. However, at times it seems they found the adventures of Helena Wayne more exciting and readable than the supposed main character of the book!
Thus another ‘re-launch’ was decided upon to revamp the Wonder Woman character and hopefully introduce her to a whole new readership, including a significant change that still lives on to this day…but more on that next issue!
Synopsis
The story opens in New York late at night on a west side pier. Wonder Girl and Starfire look around warily for any sign of life. Starfire tells Wonder Girl that she does not understand why they have come here tonight and the young Amazon replies that it is business, although she would feel happier if she knew exactly why she had been asked to come here. Starfire decides to do some scouting around just to be sure and lifts off into the air.
As Wonder Girl watches her go, she feels concern for her friend as Starfire has yet to become used to the violence in our world. In turn, Starfire wonders why her companion worries so much, as although the dock may smell bad, she finds it rather quiet and calm. But suddenly, energy blasts explode around her and she finds herself under fire! She looks down to see masked figures firing their weapons up at her and she hears them say that they it is Wonder Girl they are after. Quickly, Starfire dodges the energy beams as she flies to warn her friend.
She unleashes her star bolts at the attackers and they fall but elsewhere more thugs are already moving in on Wonder Girl. They order her to accompany them, conscious or not, but she refuses and as they open fire she uses her bracelets to deflect the blasts. She then uses her lasso to ensnare them and is about to question them when she is hit by another blast. As she turns to see more attackers they continue firing and weakened, she is unable to stop the blasts. She crumples to the floor and they move in on her.
Meanwhile, Starfire continues to battle the other thugs but when they suddenly withdraw she realises that they have been delaying her while the others captured Wonder Girl. She zooms to where she had left the young Amazon but finds no trace of her. Just then she spies one of the thugs floating in the water and she fishes them out, removing their mask to reveal a woman. She demands to know where they have taken her friend but the woman tells her that if she wants to see her returned in one piece she must do as she says. When Starfire hears what is required of her she says to the woman that she does not know how to achieve it, but the woman responds that she will have to find a way as she has no choice. Starfire decides that she will need help and contacts Dick Grayson, also known as Robin.
Shortly afterwards, in the Washington office of Captain Diana Prince, the telephone rings and she answers it. Dick tells her that Donna (also known as Wonder Girl) is “..with some friends…friends who are looking for a friend of yours!”. He suggests they all get together and Diana knows that through the coded request, he wants her to come at once in her Wonder Woman guise. Quickly she transforms into her costume and summons her invisible plane before speeding off to New York. As she goes, she tries to think who could possibly be behind Donna’s abduction. Angleman? The Duke of Deception?
As her craft streaks through the skies though, her movements are being monitored on a display screen in an unknown hideout. Wonder Woman’s arch foe, known as Doctor Cyber, meditates on the floor while her assistant Doctor Moon watches the Amazon’s progress. He says to Cyber that her plan has worked and they have flushed out the Amazon Princess. She then proceeds to focus her sorceress powers on the deadly task at hand. Using Moon’s machines to boost her mystic energies, she transmits her power across many miles. She plans to possess Wonder Woman and she always gets what she wants! Meanwhile, Donna weakly watches from a glass tube, inside which she has been manacled. A green gas keeps her groggy, sapping her will to resist..
At that moment, many miles away, Wonder Woman suddenly finds her robot plane is no longer responding to her telepathic commands. The plane begins to veer off course as she struggles to regain control. She realises that whoever kidnapped Donna is now controlling the craft and she struggles to fight back. Cyber meanwhile orders Doctor Moon to increase the power of his machines as Wonder Woman’s will is almost too powerful to battle.
Elsewhere at the HQ of the New Teen Titans, Raven senses the mental energies of Cyber and Wonder Woman at war with each other. Robin has also picked up Wonder Woman’s craft in trouble on the radar. Putting two and two together, they all race outside and just make out the robot plane bucking wildly around the sky. Starfire races into the sky to assist as Raven warns her that terrible forces are at work. Robin and the others race to their own craft to give chase as Starfire closes in on the Amazon’s plane. She can make out Wonder Woman struggling with the controls and is amazed at how patient and under control she remains, even in a crisis. Inside, Wonder Woman thinks to herself that she would probably panic if she was not so sure there was a way out of this, somehow. But she knows that if she does not do something soon then the city itself will be panicking!
As if in response, her plane heads straight towards the Twin Towers and smashes right through them. She thanks the gods that as it is nighttime there was no-one working inside, but the debris is plummeting towards the streets below! However, Kid Flash arrives on the spot and uses his super speed to create an updraft which keeps most of the rubble from falling. The few remaining bricks are engulfed by Raven’s shadow or blasted to pieces by Starfire. The people below, thankful they are still alive, wonder who these amazing teenagers are? Meanwhile, Wonder Woman’s plane continues to streak away but Robin knows he can still track it on radar. He orders the other Teen Titans to climb aboard their own craft as they follow in pursuit.
At Cyber’s lair meanwhile, the villianess tells Moon that she has the invisible plane completely under her control. She tells him to prepare for the operation and when it is done to dispose of Wonder Woman’s remains and those of her sister. Wonder Girl hears this but says nothing, continuing to slowly calm herself and reclaim control of her powerful body, waiting for the right opportunity. Doctor Moon tells Cyber that this time there will be no failure and she replies that what he thinks is of no importance. He is merely a lackey who will perform the operation to remove Cyber’s brain from her own disfigured body and place it within Wonder Woman’s perfect physique.
Soon, the invisible plane finally reaches its destination and touches down. Wonder Woman disembarks and is met by a welcoming committee of masked women brandishing weapons. She lets herself be taken inside and after a few minutes they arrive at the main control centre where Cyber greets her. By now, the Amazing Amazon has already deduced who her foe is and shows no surprise at seeing the masked, disfigured scientist. As Wonder Woman advances on the villianess, Doctor Cyber orders her to stop or else the chamber where Wonder Girl is being held will be flooded with poisonous gas! Wonder Woman halts her attack, for now, and asks what Cyber wants with her? The mad scientist replies that she wants what she has always wanted. Ever since the Amazon Princess had accidentally disfigured her during one of Cyber’s attacks a few years ago she has vowed to take the Amazon Princess’s beauty for her own. Although Wonder Woman tells her foe that what had happened had been Cyber’s own doing, she agrees to do whatever it takes to free Wonder Girl.
Soon the Amazon has been strapped down onto an operating table as Doctor Moon prepares to insert his scalpel into her. But before he can do so he and Cyber are bowled over by a blast from Starfire, as the Teen Titans storm the room. Wonder Woman calmly tells them that she had been becoming a bit itchy waiting for them to arrive, but everything had gone to plan. A transmitter hidden in her bracelets had led them right to Cyber’s lair. But Cyber has not been finished off yet and unleashes energy blasts at the youngsters, sending them flying. Kid Flash uses his speed to avoid the blasts and tries to engage the villianess but is clouted over the head by her. In response, Wonder Woman bursts free from her bonds and confronts Cyber, who in turn activates the poison gas in Wonder Girl’s tube. The Amazon Princess had not anticipated Cyber going this far and sacrificing her one bargaining chip.
As she races to save Donna though, Cyber lunges for her and clouts her around the head. Wonder Woman turns on her and hurls her across the control room, asking Cyber that as her disfigurement is her ownfault why she insists on fighting? It can only be out of pure madness and therefore no words of reason will ever convince her otherwise. Having wasted precious time she turns to save Wonder Girl but the young Amazon frees herself by smashing out of the tube!
Wonder Woman asks her how she had survived the gas and Donna replies that she had used her Amazon training. As soon as she had been placed in the chamber she had placed herself in a yoga-like trance, slowing down her breathing and building her strength up. As the other Teen Titans get to their feet Wonder Woman tells her sister that her friends had fought well. With that, she binds Cyber and Moon with her lasso and waves good-bye to the Titans before taking off in her invisible plane. The teenagers watch her go and Starfire comments how great Diana is, “simply wonderful!”. Robin smiles and says to her that’s why she’s called Wonder Woman!
