Chapter 32
Several days later, secret Cadmus base...
Amanda Waller watches on as the DONNA sits in a chair, now dressed in a one piece black suit, complete with metal bracelets around the wrists to match Wonder Woman's, as more tests are run on...her. Despite General Lane's insistence on calling DONNA an 'it', what sat before them was a living being. A girl, physically, approximately 16 years old or so Hamilton claims except she was only suppose to be 15 when she broke her tube. If anything she looks older than that. Perhaps Amazons matured quicker. They had little data on them so it was possible.
What Waller does also notice is that the resemblance to Wonder Woman is quite striking and a little surprising Waller thinks considering the many genetic strands used in the creation. However the base code was Wonder Woman's mother so what sits before Waller is the princess' sister. Waller can suppose that is enough of an explanation for the physical commonalities.
Waller pulls Dr Hamilton away and leaves the many other scientists to continue the tests. Waller flinches slightly when she catches the gaze of their weapon, piercing into her. That look is unsettling. Almost as unsettling as the strange fact that their weapon has gone from being bald to having long ebony locks in a matter of days. Didn't make sense and no-one could explain it.
Waller shakes off the unsettled feeling she is currently experiencing. "Have you come up with an explanation as to why she woke up?" she asks Dr Hamilton.
"Uh...no," Dr Hamilton has to confess. He has no idea why she woke up before she was meant to and she hasn't given any explanation...assuming she is even mentally cognitively aware enough of what she did to give one.
"How did she shatter the tube?" Waller asks, having had the surveillance footage analysed over and over and seeing that the DONNA never moved before the glass broke.
"Not 100% certain on that."
"Your best guess doctor," Waller demands.
"Some form of Telekinesis."
"Did we implant a genetic code from a subject who possessed telekinesis?" Waller asks, unable to remember that power being on the list.
"No."
Waller looks at Hamilton with a stern frown. "Then how?"
"An unexpected side-effect," Hamilton guesses. "We don't really know the effect of merging all these abilities into one body. That's why we need to test her."
"Has she been compliant?"
"Oh yes. Donna has obeyed every directive given to her," Hamilton says, pride clear in his voice.
"Donna," Waller says, in a low tone. "Are we just going to make that her name now?"
Hamilton fidgets slightly. He knows many of his superiors have been quite insistent on dehumanising Donna as much as possible. "Well we need to call her something," he tries to defend the use of her acronym as her name.
"I suppose we do," Waller relents. "Has she manifested other abilities?"
"It's slow work. She's very young, technically speaking. All her abilities may not have activated due to her premature arrival but so far strength without question. Perhaps not on Wonder Woman's level but Donna's not fully mature yet. The same goes with speed and..."
"And?"
"Well she hovers erratically," Hamilton mentions, a little self-conscious that it is not a developed or controlled ability.
"Wonder Woman's powers," Waller describes them as, a little suspicious at how she would seem to have those when the princess' DNA was not used.
"So far it seems like that yes," Hamilton concedes. "She has not repeated the telekinetic burst she produced when she awoke but it must be there. As I said Director Waller it's slow work when we don't fully know what to expect. Donna's a prototype...the first of her kind. There is going to be a lot of unknowns and guess work involved," he tries to make Waller understand.
Waller can accept that for now. "Continue your tests doctor," she permits. Of course she still holds the option to terminate this project and the life they have created if she chooses to. Waller looks at Donna once more and finds herself once more looking into that stare that seems to penetrate right through her. Waller involuntarily shivers. There is something in those eyes that is very disconcerting and leaves a feeling of cold foreboding in her very soul.
"You promised." It was an accusation. Stated in cold harsh tones, seething with anger and disappointment.
"I know I did." The reply is contrite and weak as if the person saying it knows how much they are letting the other down.
"And you don't even have the guts to tell me to my face. Instead I get a phone call!" Definitely anger.
"I'm sorry." Another contrite sounding reply.
"If you were sorry you'd come." Hurt leaks into the voice.
"I have to work." It's an explanation...a truthful one.
"That's the last excuse of the pathetic when they have no decent reason." It ain't getting bought for one second.
"It's a perfectly decent reason." It's a defence. Not a strong one and it shows in the voice.
"This can't go on." Another statement. It has the ring of finality.
"What can't?" A question hoping to clarify that which escapes the person.
"You're avoiding of anything involving death. No wait that's not right. You don't avoid it. You claim you learned to cope with it except, apparently, when it involves my mother or a certain planet of your origin." It's a metaphorical kick to a sensitive area and could backfire spectacularly but the person has had enough of it.
"I'm not talking about Krypton." Steel suddenly comes to the voice that had been so weak before.
"Big surprise!" Sarcasm. A lot of it.
"And as for your mother surely you would prefer to go alone." The tone is softer but still retains a little steel.
"If I wanted to go alone I would never have asked you in the first place!" Suppressed anger, covering over the pain at the rejection. "You Clark Kent are just a mess of contradictions!" The insults begin.
"Now wait a minute Dinah." The beginning of the denial.
"No!" The sharp cut-off. "I get it might be painful to you Clark but this is the one area where I'm constantly butting my head against a brick...no steel wall. Now I've been patient and not pushed but I won't let it slide Clark! Not today of all days. Not when I had been prepare to let you in...to let myself be vulnerable and to let you see my private pain! And what is my reward for this? You coming up with some lame excuse to avoid spending time with me!" The ire in her voice is breaking through the roof.
"Of course I want to spend time with you." Truthful sentiment but not particularly helpful right now.
"This is disrespectful to me and my mother's memory. In fact the way you pretend like your people don't exist is disrespectful to their memory too." Laying it down as she sees it.
"You can't disrespect the dead. They aren't alive to feel disrespect." The tone is low and emotion forcibly removed.
"No...but I'm alive! And I've been disrespected."
"I...Dinah..." The struggle to explain the feelings he himself can't explain.
He never gets a chance to try. "Well fine Clark! If that's the way you want it! If you would rather wallow in whatever denial you've dreamed up that makes you comfortable then you've got it! Have a nice day!"
In her office in her martial arts school Dinah hurls her phone across the room where it breaks upon impacting the wall.
"Damn it," she whispers, tearfully. She raises a hand to her face and wipes a few actual tears away. Her emotions, which she usually keeps under control, are always much rawer on the anniversary of her mother's death.
The feelings Clark stirs within her don't help with that control. She takes a few shaky, emotion laden, breaths as she calms down...although a few choice insults about Clark are still crossing her mind.
She just doesn't get it. She was right about him being a mess of contradictions and she just doesn't get what it is that is going through his head. She has tried to get him to open up about Krypton but nothing. He clams up, puts up these emotional walls and refuses to let her in.
She thought by her opening up and inviting him along to visit her mother's grave he would reciprocate. More fool her it seems.
Dinah wants this to work; her and Clark but if he isn't prepared to pull down those last few walls then she can't see how it can.
She isn't prepared to throw in the towel. Not yet...although she certainly doesn't want to see nor talk to him for the next couple of days.
Speaking of Clark...
"Dinah? Dinah? Hello." She hung up.
At his desk Clark looks at the phone in his hand, his brow deeply furrowed as he tries to work out just what the hell happened there and how it all suddenly just blew up like that. His excuse wasn't pathetic. It was true. He doesn't want to intrude on Dinah's personal grief and she had no right to lash out by mentioning Krypton. She doesn't know what she is talking about in regards to that.
CRACK!
Clark closes his eyes and sighs. He just squeezed the handset too tight. He looks at it. Luckily he's just cracked the plastic a little. He places it back down and laments a little bit. This is the part of being in a relationship he hasn't missed. The fights.
Clark rubs his temple with his hand. He wants this to work. He cares for Dinah a lot. He'll make this up to her...somehow as soon as he works out what it was he did so wrong.
Luthor Mansion...
It had not been an easy time for Diana to be a prisoner of Lex Luthor. Oh he calls her and her fellow Justice Lords his guests but it's a prison. An entire section of these underground levels had been altered to accommodate them. Lex must have been planning this for quite some time. Camera, guards, reinforced doors that even her, with her enhanced Amazon physique, couldn't hope to shift.
It was also extremely difficult to be in the presence of the man. There were very good reasons she killed the Lex Luthor of her universe and did Diana feel remorse? Gods no. She got a lot of satisfaction from her act of beheading the repulsive man. He deserved a lot worse for what he did. The quick death she inflicted was mercy personified.
However a bargain was struck with this Lex Luthor and, as much as it galls and sickens her, Diana will keep to it. After all without her word what is she?
Right now Diana is allowing herself to be escorted through Lex's mansion by 4 guards. Only 4. She's insulted. It took over 3 dozen heavily armed men to capture her even after the loss of her powers. She could take apart these 4 in seconds.
Diana is escorted to Lex's study where she finds him behind his desk. Beside him is the Asian woman in the red dress and on the other side is...
"Tala," Diana spits in disgust.
Tala arches a delicate eyebrow in surprise that she is known to this Wonder Woman.
"You ally yourself with this witch. Are you mad?" Diana asks Luthor in disbelief at what her eyes behold.
Lex finds this fascinating. "You know her," he states the obvious.
"I killed her," Diana states back, with a venomous glare aimed at the purple haired woman in the purple dress.
"Impossible," Tala dismisses that notion.
"Even immortal sorceresses can die if you possess the right weapon witch," Diana points out threateningly.
And Lex may have to see if he can discover what this weapon was. It would be handy to be in possession of a tool to use should Tala betray him. He allies himself with her because it's necessary but her power makes her difficult to control and she is unpredictable to say the least. Therefore any means to ensure his position over her is strengthened would be something Lex would seek.
"Why am I brought here?" Diana asks, her impatience evident.
Lex turns back to why he summoned her. "Our deal. I restore your powers. You assist me."
Diana's brow wrinkles in mild revulsion at the reminder that she has fallen so far to be doing deals with Lex Luthor. "Is this why Tala is here? To restore our powers?"
Lex smiles slightly at how quick Wonder Woman is. "Indeed. There was a magical element to the power disrupter I used. Tala here will recreate it."
Diana's brow drops and her eyes narrow. "You lost the previous one?"
"No. I gave it to your counterpart. That was our deal. I helped defeat you and then she gets the disrupter."
Diana had thought her double a naïve fool for making a deal with Luthor. She was spitting mad with fury about it at the time and yet here she is making the same choice. It seems she is not so different from her counterpart after all. "What is it you need my assistance with precisely?"
"A couple of things. First off there's this," Lex says as he picks up a remote off his desk, aims it a tv in the wall and turns it on.
Diana turns 45 degrees so as not to turn her back to Luthor and looks at the images Lex has brought up. The images playing are a collection of Superman's heroics that Lex has been using to study the powerful alien hero. Diana's expression twitches almost beyond perception.
"Recognise him?" Lex inquires of Wonder Woman.
"No. Should I?"
"He has no double in your world?"
"Not one I am aware of. Who is he?"
"The press refer to him as Superman. He's an alien from a planet called Krypton."
"I have never heard of such a place. Perhaps it does not exist in my universe," she proposes.
"Perhaps," Lex will concede.
"Is this why you asked me here? To see if I knew him?"
"Yes...and to tell you as part of our deal you and your friends will help me capture him."
Something flickers across Diana's face. "A deal is a deal," she repeats.
"It is...and well that's more for later. Capturing him is secondary for the moment. First off is dealing with Cadmus."
"Cadmus," Diana practically snarls.
"You had a version?"
"We did."
"Kill them too?"
"We removed threats to order and stability," Diana justifies hers and the Justice Lords' actions.
"Of course you did and you can help me do the same for this world. You see I have learned that Cadmus are creating a counter to the Justice League. An Ultimate Weapon. A Doomsday weapon so to speak. A living being with power to challenge even those Gods of yours."
Diana turns her attention to Lex. "Why don't you want it captured? Surely you would prefer to have it under your control," she knows from her experience of Lex Luthor.
"It's past that point," Lex explains, feeling no reason not to reveal the truth. "I've learned it's awake and already learning to control its abilities. If we don't strike soon, before it figures out what it is capable of, we will not get another chance."
Diana deduces something. "It was designed to take you down as well wasn't it." This is about Lex's own self-preservation. Diana should have known.
"It was designed as the ultimate deterrent to the metahuman population."
"And once it is taken down Cadmus will be much weaker. Might even need to make a deal with you. Isn't that so Lex?"
"You know any version of you Wonder Woman is refreshingly clever and honest," Lex smiles, meaning it as praise. "However remember our deal," he always reminds her. "This world's future is not your concern."
"When will we get our powers back?"
Lex looks to Tala for the answer. "The new crystal is almost complete," she reports of the one she is making to replace the one Lex had to give to Wonder Woman along with his device. It would be why Lex allied himself with her in the first place as she is one of the few with the skills to recreate it. Then all Lex has to do is, in simple terms, reverse the polarity of the energy of the device and it will undo what his original device did.
Tala finishes, "One more day should be enough to finish charging it with the mystical energies required."
"One more day," Lex repeats. "You can tell your friends that by this time tomorrow they will have their powers back," he permits Wonder Woman. He then signals at his guards to take her back to the lower levels.
Once she is gone Lex sips on a drink. "Now that was interesting," he remarks.
"What was?" Roulette asks.
"Her reaction at seeing Superman. Did you notice?"
Roulette and Tala look at each other with the same puzzled expression that shows they missed whatever Lex saw.
"What do you mean Lex darling?" Tala asks, with her usual flirtatious overtones.
Lex smiles. "When I asked if she knew him and said no neither of you saw what was really going on?" he inquires.
"No," Tala and Roulette say together.
Lex states it exactly what was going on. "She was lying."
Across in Metropolis...
"Oh I know that look."
Clark's brow creases as he turns his head to see Hal float down to the rooftop, over whose edge Clark currently sits, as he broods. "What look precisely is that?" he asks Hal.
"You had a fight with Dinah," Hal guesses.
"Is it that obvious?" Clark asks wryly, not having the energy to try and pretend otherwise.
Hal sits down next to Clark. "It's always obvious. Trust me I've been where you are. There's a reason the saying is 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned' you know."
"I didn't scorn her," Clark defends himself. "We just had a...small disagreement over something."
"Uh huh," Hal says, not buying that. Clark's look is one of someone who had a big disagreement with their significant other.
Clark scowls. "Is there a reason you're here?"
"Nope. Was just flying around when I spotted you," Hal explains how he comes to be here.
"No date with Lois?"
"I wouldn't call it dating what we do."
"I really don't want to know."
"Don't want to know what?" another person asks, preceded by a gust of wind that signals the arrival of the Flash.
Clark turns his head to look at the new arrival. He hadn't interacted a lot with the Justice League members since he started using his powers to help people. Apart from Hal, he had barely spoken to any of them. He had met the Flash only once when he, Hal and Dinah were chasing down an Intergang lead and ended up in Flash's home of Central City. Flash...was ok. Liked to joke around but to Clark he seemed a good person.
"We were just talking about women," Hal informs Flash.
Flash grins as he imagines what kind of conversation that might have been. "Sounds interesting."
"It's not," Clark replies, being very short.
Flash looks to Hal.
"He and Dinah had a fight," Hal explains.
"Ooh," Flash remarks. "I would hate to be you right now."
"What does that mean?" Clark asks.
"Dinah's hot and all but even I know never to cross her."
Hal scoffs. "Sure you do Flash. That's why she smacked you one last time we worked together."
"It was a friendly slap was all," Flash explains that off. "She loves me!" he says assuredly with his usual cockiness.
"Why are you here?" Clark asks Flash, unsure how he keeps getting spotted.
Flash shrugs. "I was bored. There's nothin' goin' on at home so I thought I would drop in on ol' GL."
"Well since you're here we should try and cheer Superman up. What do you say?" Hal proposes.
"Sounds like a plan!"
"No. That's really not necessary. I'm fine," Clark insists.
"Nice try. Not buying it," Hal says.
Flash zips next to Clark and place a supportive arm across his shoulders. "There's only one solution to women troubles Big Blue. Alcohol and lots of it."
"Alcohol has zero effect on me," Clark points out.
"Really?" Flash queries with surprise.
Clark nods.
"Earth alcohol maybe...but I know a place," Hal proposes.
Flash grins. The kind of places Hal knows are always great.
"Guys that's really not necessary. I'm fine. It was just a little fight," Clark insists, not in the mood at all for what they are proposing and trying to wriggle his way out of it.
Hal and Flash each grab an arm and haul Clark to his feet...ok Clark lets them haul him to his feet.
"Trust us," Hal says. "You come with us, have a great time, give Dinah the night to cool off and you can give a grovelling apology in the morning. In the meantime Flash and I can help you forget all your worries."
"No problem," Flash says in agreement. "If there's anything the Flash knows it's how to have a good time."
"I..." Clark starts to protest but then concedes what else is he going to do. Dinah was obviously far too angry at him to have a rational discussion. He needs to let her cool off...and he did say to himself he would stop moping around. "Ok. I'm in," he agrees.
"You won't regret it!" Flash avows.
Somehow, at that, Clark has a feeling by the time this night is over he probably will regret it.
Luthor Mansion...
J'onn, stuck in his natural Martian form, had been observing Diana since she returned from her meeting with Luthor. Many of them were in this 'common' area where they were allowed to interact...under the watchful gaze of guards and security camera inevitability.
Diana had sequestered herself into a seat in the corner, her face one of deep contemplation. J'onn moves over to sit next to her. "You have much on your mind," he observes and he doesn't need his telepathy to see that. He has known her a long time.
Silence.
"What did Luthor say?"
"That we'll get our powers back tomorrow," Diana suddenly decides to respond. "He wants us to destroy some kind of living weapon this world's Cadmus have created."
"He'll betray us. You are aware."
"I would be disappointed otherwise," she says in what is almost a joke. "It is a gamble J'onn but at least we have a chance. There was none on Alcatraz."
J'onn agreed with Diana's logic. Better to take the slim chance Luthor offered than to sit and waste the remainder of their lives away. If somehow they can return home with their powers then retribution can be theirs for what was done to them. The completion of their great work can be theirs where they instil the order their world needs once again.
"He's alive," Diana suddenly says, her voice trembling with emotion.
J'onn looks at her intently.
"Kal," she explains. "He's alive on this world."
"You are certain?" J'onn asks, since when they were last here there had been no sign of a Superman of any kind that existed.
"Luthor showed me his image. Wanted to know if I recognised him."
"What did you say?"
"That I did not. I won't tell Luthor what he, no doubt, wanted to know about Kal's weaknesses. I won't let Luthor harm him. Not again!" she swears passionately.
"Diana...you don't know what kind of person he is on this world," J'onn cautions her about equating this Superman with the one they knew...and lost.
"He's Kal and he's alive. That's all I need to know," she dismisses J'onn's argument out of hand.
J'onn is about to further his argument of caution about assuming too much about this world's Superman when there is a scuffle as Lex and several guards forcibly push their way through to where Diana is.
Diana gets to her feet and stands as tall and imposing as she can.
"What game are you playing?" Lex demands to know, his expression and tone one of anger and Diana would call it betrayal.
"I do not know what you refer to," Diana replies truthfully.
"If you want to play it that way, fine," Lex snaps, his temper short. "The guards went to check on Black Canary...she's gone. In fact she's nowhere in this complex."
Diana wants to school her features but she is surprised by this and can't hide it. "I know nothing about that," she says, a little uncertain sounding. Dinah had said nothing to her about trying to escape.
"As leader I hold you responsible for ensuring our deal is upheld," Lex tells her, his anger simmering just below the surface.
"And I am upholding it Luthor," Diana insists sternly. "If we wanted to escape do you really think you could stop us?" she asks of him. "Black Canary just proved that you could not...but I knew nothing of this. She is acting on her own."
"If she gets caught she'll ruin everything!" Lex rages, because using the Justice Lords for his plans relied on surprise.
"She won't get caught," Diana states simply. Dinah is simply that good.
"For your sake I hope not," Lex warns her. "We'll have to accelerate our plans," he decides.
"Can you?" Diana asks, since Tala said she needed another day.
Lex muses the problem before concluding, "It can still work...although it will involve restoring the powers of only a handful of you. There isn't enough time to charge the crystal fully. Choose the 5 you need for the mission. I'll need an hour to get ready."
With that Lex departs while Diana decides which 5. Herself, J'onn, Flash, Aquaman come instantly to mind. She would like Hal along too but the trick is his powers came from the Lantern ring. They would need, most probably, to steal the one from the Hal Jordan of this universe. That still leaves a 5th member to have their powers restored.
If Dinah hadn't vanished it would have been her Diana chose. Diana looks around the room and peruses over her colleagues. Her eyes eventually fall upon Zatanna.
Yes that would be useful having someone who could command magic along...and more to their advantage since Zatanna lost her powers she had spent the time in prison building herself up in strength and fighting skill. She was quite formidable in hand-to-hand now. Zatanna would be the 5th.
Diana looks to J'onn and addresses the Dinah issue. "Did you know she was planning to escape?"
J'onn shakes his head. "Since we arrived she has not talked to many. My conclusion would be this was what she planned to do from the start and has spent the last several days exploring how to escape."
"Where would she go?" Diana asks, not seeing where Dinah could possibly wish to escape to.
J'onn thinks and he suddenly remembers something. "Remember what the date is?"
Diana frowns. "The date? It's..."
"It's the anniversary of her mother's death," J'onn fills in.
"She's gone to the graveyard where her mother is," Diana realises. Dinah did that every year without fail before they were imprisoned. "The question remains why?" Diana asks, unable to see why Dinah would do that, no matter how important it might be to Dinah personally.
A perplexed expression comes to J'onn's features. "I do not know," he speaks the truth.
Diana's expression becomes as puzzled as J'onn. She use to be close to Dinah but it is becoming clear that is not as true as it was for she knows not why Dinah would d this. There must be something behind this. Some reason Dinah has decided to act this way. The question is what?
Gotham City...
A woman with long blond hair, deliberately dressed down, in dull colours walks through the many headstones of a cemetery until she stands in front of one.
The name of the inscription reads; Dinah Drake. Beloved mother.
"Hi mom," Dinah says, as she bends down and lays flowers next to the headstone. Dinah exhales an emotion filled breath. Somehow every year she thinks this will get easier. It never does.
"Sorry I don't visit more often," she repeats her many a time spoken apology. "But you know how it goes don't you. Life of a hero. Always so hectic," she says wryly. Her mother had been the Black Canary too. It was why Dinah chose the name. It was to honour her mother.
"So...uh...I've got news. I have a new boyfriend and I think, finally, I'm ready to lay all that drama, pain and hurt with Ollie down. Of course now I have all new drama, pain and hurt," she lamely jokes.
"That would be why I didn't bring him to see you. We had a fight over...I don't know. It seems ridiculous...maybe. I just...want him to open up to me you know. Instead it seems like he is stuck on this one issue over his origin and I don't know how to break down his walls. I want...god I don't know what I want. I think maybe I want him to open up so that I can see everything there is and not be surprised. Then, perhaps, I can let himself love him and not be hurt like last time...or I'm just being stupid about the whole thing. I really wish you were here to give me advice mom," she expresses a deeply held wish to see her mother again. It's been so long now that the memories she has of her mother are fading away.
"You know I make that same wish every year too."
Dinah instantly spins on the spot, immediately on guard, and comes to be greeted by the sight of her mirror image only with short cut hair. "Who are you?"
The other Dinah smiles lopsidedly. "Now what was it you called me again last time? Oh yes I remember. A cruel mockery of both yourself and our mother and of what she stood and died for."
Dinah's eyes widen as recognition dawns. "You," she hisses hatefully. She said that to her Justice Lord counterpart. "How did you...they're free aren't they," she suddenly understands what the presence of her double means. The Justice Lords are free and must be here on this Earth.
"Free yes. Still powerless only not for much longer if Luthor upholds his end of the bargain."
"Luthor. I should have known," Dinah mutters at the only person with the resources to create a gateway device. "Is he insane?" she just has to ask at releasing possibly the most dangerous foes Dinah has ever come across. Twisted versions of herself and the Justice League without any kind of scruples or morality.
The other Dinah laughs a little amused. "Of course he is. So was our Luthor and they still elected him president. Go figure huh?"
Dinah tries to assesses her double, on guard more than ever, her eyes looking around.
"Oh it's not an ambush. They're not with me," the fallen Justice Lord assures her parallel twin. "Whatever Luthor wants to use them for I'm not interested. I'm only here to settle up with you."
Dinah really doesn't want to do this at her mother's grave. "I beat you before," she reminds her double of how it ended last time.
"I know...but not that kind of settling up."
Dinah frowns in confusion as she watches her double walk over to stand beside her and the grave, her defences completely down. Dinah can tell if she struck suddenly she could take her double out with one blow.
The other Dinah smiles. "Kudos for not taking the opening I left. I guess you're still playing at being a hero."
"You were testing me?"
"Yep."
"Why?"
"Why is the question isn't it. Why did I end up the tyrannical monster and you end up the hero when we're the same person?"
"We're not the same person," Dinah spits out in disgust at being compared in anyway to her borderline insane double.
"Aren't we?"
"I would never do what you did," Dinah insists.
"We brought order to a chaotic world. Was that so wrong?"
"And how many did you murder to achieve that?"
"I stopped counting at 50."
Dinah is repulsed by how casually how double admits to mass murder.
"Did you ever think about how we ended up so different though?" the other Dinah asks, returning the topic to that issue.
"Not really." Dinah didn't like to think about it on the risk she might end up finding a reason to justify how twisted her double had become.
"I did. Not much else to do when you're locked up in prison."
"If you're expecting sympathy you're wasting your time," Dinah warns her double off.
"Sympathy? No Understanding? Yes. That's what I mean when I say I want us to settle up. I want to know how we ended up so different."
"I would rather go ten rounds with Shiva," Dinah instantly dismisses any notion of a sit down and sharing with her twin here.
"Who wouldn't? God it's funny the stuff you miss once it's gone," the other Dinah laughs a little at the irony of missing fighting Shiva to a finish.
"Why am I talking to you? I need to alert others that you and your friends are here."
"Not yet."
"I'm thinking yes."
"No...because once we talk I'll tell you everything you need to know. I'll tell you where they are...once we're done and not before and you know as well as I do there is no other way you'll get the information out of me."
Dinah hates that she's that stubborn but her double is right. "Ok but first why? Why are you doing this? Why are you here?"
"I want to understand. That's all. I want closure before the end comes," the other Dinah says, sounding very melancholic and wistful all of a sudden.
"What end?"
"The end where I'll be seeing our mother soon," the other Dinah says with a sad happiness at the idea. She turns to look at her double in the eye. "You see what no-one else knows is this. I'm dying."
Author's Note: This is just the start of the build-up of the showdown where we will get to see what kind of Ultimate Weapon Donna is. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews. Next up; The 2 Dinahs talk while the Justice Lords have their powers restored.
