Chapter 109
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After Zelena transferred Stanum to Antarctica they began searching for Robin Hood. Something caught their eyes, it was a billboard advertising a luxury hotel owned by Leona Helmsley. The billboard actually called her the "Queen of mean."
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Alex: Leona Helmsley, why does that name sound familiar?
Jack: Leona Helmsley and her husband George owned several luxury hotels. Leona developed a reputation for being a very cruel boss, enjoyed tormenting desprate employees. She turned that into a marketing campaign, claimed she did this because her guests deserved only the very best. And, apparently she's doing the same thing in Hell.
Zelena: She also seems like the kind of person Robin Hood would love to target. Steal from her, give to the poor oppressed workers.
Jack: Good a lead as any.
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The five of them went near one of Leona's hotels, hoping to find some lead on where Robin Hood might be. They were soon approached by a man who seemed familiar. He had been known as "Lenny" but then he did a podcast claiming to be Lenin himself. Lenin then dissapeared, likely murdered by his co-conspirators, and apparently sent back to Hell.
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Jack: You're Lenin?
Lenin: I am. Since being sent back here I have joined Robin Hood and his band of robbers.
Zelena: Can you take us to him?
Lenin: You're Zelena?
Zelena: Yes.
Lenin: The woman who murdered his wife, took her place, for all intents and purposes raped him, and had his child?
Zelena: Unfortunately, that's all true. But I'm trying to do better. I like to think I'm a good mother to our child.
Lenin: His greatest regret is that he never got to see his daughter grow up. I'll take you to him.
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As they walked to Robin's camp Lenin used the opportunity to talk to Zelena about her world.
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Lenin: You are from a technologically primitive world, yet slavery was long abolished?
Zelena: Yeah, it was abolished for centuries before I was born.
Lenin: And different ethnic groups got along okay. Noone thought it unusual for a black man and a white man to be friends?
Zelena: Why would we care about the color of a person's skin?
Lenin: Amazing. I always thought Marx was correct that society must go through certain stages, that the rights of workers depended largely on certain factors. But your world was so far ahead of mine with so much less technology.
Zelena: We also didn't have much homophobia. My daughter could walk the streets with her wife without fearing some idiot would attack them.
Lenin: I've heard of a world similar to yours, where skin color didn't matter even in ancient times, but it was unusual for human women to marry centaurs.
Zelena: Yeah, I heard Xena talking about this world. She and Gabrielle hid their feelings for each other for many years. Now they're happily married.
Lenin: Good for them. I do miss my wife. Our marriage started as one of convenience, but we developed real love over time. She was as dedicated to the revolution as I was.
Zelena: Are you hoping I take Robin home so that you can take over leadership of his team?
Lenin: That thought has occured to me. But the revolution is more important than whether or not I am it's leader.
Zelena: Didn't your revolution get you sent to Hell?
Lenin: That's a valid question. In life I thought there was no afterlife, that I therefore could not be judged, punished, or rewarded in any other world. All that mattered was what I could do in my world, what kind of ultimate legacy I could create. Clearly I was at leart partially wrong about that. Now, I truley hope that Good can triumph over Evil, and maybe I can get into Heaven. But it seems unlikely that I will get into Heaven. And if Good loses the final battle, I will do what I can for the poor and oppressed in this world.