by Libbylawrence
The headquarters of the Justice Society of America was quiet that day. No new menaces had shown up, and all the team’s old foes were in jail or in hiding. No aliens were on the horizon, and no magical dimensions threatened to invade Earth. There was nary a crisis in sight.
Then the peace was shattered when she showed up. The individual 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 the Atom.
Wildcat jumped up, as did the Flash. Doctor Mid-Nite put down a medical magazine and gasped. The intruder was obviously beautiful, 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,” she announced. “I am here to join your illustrious Society.”
“Wait just one minute, babe!” said Wildcat.
“How’d you get Diana’s gear?” asked the Atom.
“I have Wonder Woman’s gear, not ‘Diana’s,'” she explained, stomping her red-booted foot. “I am Wonder Woman now. The old one is obsolete.”
“She’s displaying signs of real mental illness,” whispered Doctor Mid-Nite. “I’d say she’s obsessed with this Wonder Woman fixation. No way to rationally argue with her.”
The Flash rushed forward. “We need to know a little more,” he said. “Exactly who are you? What happened to Won — the former Wonder Woman?”
“I am one of her Amazon sisters. She is away. I am to replace her.”
“Guys, we got trouble!” yelled the entering Hourman.
“We know, Hourman,” said the Atom. “Diana’s missing, and this woman claims to be her replacement.”
Orana sniffed disdainfully, “I am Wonder Woman now!”
“No, Atom,” said Mid-Nite. “Hourman just got here, and he’s as surprised to see our visitor as we were. Must be something else.”
“I’ll say!” Hourman continued. “Solomon Grundy, the Sportsmaster, the Huntress, Oom the Mighty, Wotan, and Vulcan are marching up Broadway even as we speak!”
“Let’s go!” they shouted. “For America and democracy!”
Orana raced along with the Justice Society.
The JSA flew in their Sky-Skimmer through the Gotham City skies until they reached the heart of the city’s theater district.
They saw there 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 and scientist. A chalk-white Frankenstein type called Solomon Grundy brought up the middle, while a couple named the Huntress and the Sportsmaster brought up the rear. To the far right rampaged the axe-wielding Vulcan, heat and fire gleaming from his muscled form.
“That’s the oddest teaming yet!” said the Atom. “No Fiddler? You can’t have a villain society without the Fiddler!”
“Now, Atom, not every super-team of lowlife creeps can have the Fiddler,” laughed the Flash. “He has to be in jail sometime!”
“Well, at least they could have gotten the Gambler!” joked Wildcat.
“I do not understand,” said Orana questioningly. “Are not these foes enough for your prowess?”
“They’re kidding,” Doctor Mid-Nite explained to the fiery redhead. “Humor is needed in our line of work.”
“I can’t see Oom working with anybody,” said Hourman. “I mean, he eats people!”
“Maybe that’s what happened to the Fiddler!” laughed the Atom.
The Flash raced out of the Sky-Skimmer ahead of the others. Circling their foes at top speed, he abruptly deflected the pavement Oom was tossing. “No need to destroy public property — and be a man-eating demon, too!”
Solomon 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, either.”
Hourman dropped down out of the craft as the Atom parked it above. I just took the old Miraclo, he thought. Hope it’s enough for a titan like Oom!
Landing gracefully, Rex Tyler 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.
In response, Oom knocked her spinning across the street.
“That’s not possible!” said Orana as her magic 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. Hefting the giant over her shoulders with a grunt, she slammed him through the pavement.
The Atom ducked a punch from the 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?”
The Huntress made no comment and instead swung a leg to try to trip him. The Atom jumped up and over and landed a right that dropped her to the ground, but only a minute.
Wildcat squared off against Mr. Crock, alias the Sportsmaster. “I’ll make this your last inning!” said the hero as he drove a right into his masked foe’s face.
The Sportsmaster swung a bat at the masked Ted Grant, who ducked easily and landed a one-two combination on him. “You know, guys, these goons are all mute today!” he said.
The Atom tackled the Huntress and added, “And they aren’t using their special tactics. Wotan’s not casting spells or boasting about his alien science.”
The Flash spun Solomon Grundy around at top speed. “Grundy is also very out of character, and did you notice how Oom ignored Orana’s lasso? I’d say maybe it wasn’t due to his alien body, but to the very strong possibility that he’s not alive. None of them are, in my opinion.”
Doctor Mid-Nite agreed at once. “The Huntress is reacting too fast to be the real Paula Crock. None of them have normal reactions. I’d say they are all stronger than normal, too.”
Hourman helped the Flash restrain Grundy. “He’s faster than in 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. It was surely so. The battle continued.
Doctor Mid-Nite noticed that Vulcan remained at the sidelines and did indeed hold a flame-shooting axe. Closing in on him warily, he saw that the axe was, in fact, a flame-thrower in the mold of an axe. Not the original axe used by Vulcan, he mused. Odd that only Vulcan, here, even attempts to use the weapons he is traditionally associated with!
Vulcan swung at Mid-Nite, who sidestepped and backhanded the fake axe out of his hand, then 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,” said Wildcat. “Do we have a ringleader, here?”
Orana crouched low on her heels and suddenly kicked off the ground, then propelled herself into Oom’s chest and, to her surprise, straight through him to the other side. Whirling with a high kick, she severed Oom in half.
“By Hera, he’s some automaton!” she gasped.
The Flash vibrated a blow that shattered Wotan as well. Seeing this effect led the Atom to summon his energy and land an atomic punch that broke the Sportsmaster into a shell as well.
“What are they?” asked Hourman, as he, too, broke Grundy down with a few well-aimed punches.
Doctor 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 an ordinary man and not the transformed astronaut, Vulcan,” 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 Hourman.
“I shall smite this jackal for his perfidious deeds!” vowed the redhead.
“We kind of frown on smiting here in the JSA,” said the 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, invisible robot 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 shouted.
“Not while the one and only is back!” said the Atom.
As Diana explained what had occurred, the team closed ranks around Orana, while Mid-Nite held the false Vulcan, who looked shaken.
“I will die before I surrender my new identity!” said a defiant Orana, posing 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 the Atom.
“At least you got your stars and stripes back,” offered Hourman.
Diana reclaimed her possessions and said, “Yes, but who or what took Orana?”
***
Orana found herself in an odd laboratory. She now wore no outer clothing and was understandably 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.”
Orana found herself oddly cowed by the mystery man. “I’ll listen,” she said.
“Very well. Then come and see my own brave new world,” said the figure from the shadows.
***
Elsewhere, the Justice Society turned the little old man in the Vulcan suit in to the authorities. His brief spell at the furious hands of Orana had completely eliminated his will to continue fighting.
“So the man was Superman’s old foe Funnyface, and the faux Injustice Society 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 villains disguised as Vulcan to guide their actions,” noted Doctor Mid-Nite. “That’s also why they had no real teamwork or technique, but merely brute strength.”
“Seems odd that he’d go for us and not his old foe, though,” said the Atom.
“Would you willingly fight Superman if you could hurt him indirectly?” asked Mid-Nite.
“Good point, Doc,” said the Atom. “Good point.”
Diana had dressed herself in her costume once more and was joined by her daughter Fury and her female allies in Infinity Inc. “You all behaved like true Amazons in aiding me against that Wonder Woman Revenge Squad,” said Wonder Woman. “I am honored by your friendship.”
Power Girl, the Huntress, Jade, and Fury all beamed.
“Clea was turned back to the Atlanteans for trial,” said Wonder Woman. “It may be best for Octavia and Aquaman to deal with her, anyway.”
“Now, back to the slumber party?” offered Lyta Trevor.
“You’re on!” said Power Girl. “But I am not wearing that green gown again!”
The women laughed and exited.
The End