4th February

20:22 GMT -5

Through the viewing window I see Dame Ferris stagger and collapse. A moment later Olympia walks in with some worrying-looking chains and a full head container.

Zatanna averts her eyes, frowning. "What do you mean, 'too big'?"

"Olympia wanted to conquer the world. Heh, when you get access to our database, take a look at the file on Themysciran culture. It's an eye-opener."

Um, yeah. Not sure what an evil version of Themyscira would be like, al.. though… America isn't evil. It's just that a few people changed ends. Themyscira might be exactly the same.

"Did you lose?"

"How do you lose at taking over a world?" He shakes his head. "At our height, there were only twenty one Crime Lodge key holders. How do you conquer a planet with twenty people?"

"Cow them into submission?"

"And get what? I told you, we were already untouchable. And because of that, we got a rather inflated idea of our ability to do anything other than wreck the place."

"Destruction is the work of a moment. Creation, the work of a lifetime."

He looks at me curiously, then shrugs. "Guess you could put it like that. We thought… We'd already peaked as super criminals, maybe world domination was the next step. The next rush. So we took over New York City." He makes a 'forward' gesture with his right hand. "Just strolled in to City Hall and announced it."

"I can't help but notice that you don't rule New York now."

"What the hell did I know about civil administration? Trash collection, electricity, water, sewage… Law enforcement. I managed a bit better than Whizzer-"

Zatanna snort-laughs, then covers her mouth with her right hand.

"-and Olympia. He couldn't really be bothered to do the actual work and she just shouted orders and threats and expected terrified people to respond intelligently. We didn't even last a month before we gave it up." He shakes his head. "I think if it had been a day, we coulda laughed it off. But it meant the world to Olympia, and I… Well, it didn't work out. We tried going back to the way things were, but… The old games got tired, there was nowhere to go… Some problems just can't be solved by a magic ring. Jace and I focused on our regular careers, Vicky… Olympia, went back to Greece to see if she could break the spell keeping the Amazons trapped on Themyscira. Didn't work, which is probably just as well." He nods to himself. "Maybe actually trying to do the work of running a country is just what we need to take the wind out of the sails of the Young Turks who're griping to me about 'letting Wilson walk all over us'."

Olympia heaves Dame Carol over her left shoulder and marches out of the cell. Mister Scott blinks as he brings himself fully into the present, then leads the way out of the observation room.

Huh.

Well, that was… Revealing. What happens to a power tripper when the power trip ends? When the drugs don't work? When the high you expect doesn't come, when your reputation and ego take a huge blow…

Though the fact that he didn't bother learning from his mistake and trying again is rather telling.

Zatanna and I follow him out and then bring up the rear as the party strolls down the corridor, stopping in front of a.. blank wall. Mister Scott looks it over, then touches it with his right hand.

"This'll do. One a' you wanna take the dame?"

I pick her up with a construct and Olympia-. Victoria pushes her away, as if she finds touching her distasteful.

"Wait until the door vanishes before you wake her up. And don't hang around; we're not sure how fast Medea can pick these up, but she can, and they'll be sending people to wherever you end up."

"Or do hang around and just go over to their side."

Victoria clenches her fists while Mister Scott just shrugs disinterestedly.

"Yeah, maybe. Hell, if you can talk Wilson down it'd be worth it. But I think Blue would be disappointed if you died, so just you remember they ain't your kinda people."

I nod. "How do we get back?"

"Assuming you don't end up in the White House or something, I'll ask the Don to open you a door in… Twenty four hours."

Zatanna shakes her head. "I need to tell my Dad where I am. They're probably already looking for us."

Mister Scott shrugs with mock-helplessness. "Blue told you how to block our dimensional shift technology, so we can't use that. We don’t have another zeta radiation based gate, the Mountain is swarming with soldiers and Gubbins has probably already taken it apart. We can build another one… But we haven't yet. And I don't remember anything about Zataras being able to travel between alternate dimensions under their own power." He steps away from the wall. "All yours, sweetheart."

Zatanna sets her jaw. "Rood ot erehwemos esle."

Wooden panels rearrange themselves to form a door, and Zatanna grabs the handle and pulls it open. "Let's go."

I float Dame Carol before me as we head out into.. a dark disused dockside warehouse. I can hear the subdued sounds of the city in the background, and the lapping of water somewhere closer.

"Rood raeppasid."

I generate a construct bed and set Dame Carol down upon it. "Please wake her up."

"Sniahc llaf trapa." The chains binding Dame Carol fall apart link by link, and the helmet decays into flakes of metal to be blown away by an ethereal wind. Zatanna walks up to stand adjacent to Dame Carol's head and places her right hand on her forehead. "Nekawa."

Dame Carol's eyes jerk open and she sucks in a lungful of air. I smile faintly, take the Staff of Love out of subspace and hold it out to her.

"Feeling better?"

She sits up and turns so that her feet are planted on the floor, then rises to her feet. "I do not fear death so much as dying with my work incomplete. Still, it is pleasant to be away from that place." She takes the staff in her right hand and the Star Sapphire in her left, a faint violet glow enveloping her at once. She holds it for a moment and then pulls, the Sapphire coming free of the staff.

"I suggest that you be careful with that. The last wielder-."

She shakes her head and places the Sapphire against her breastbone where it grows a faint violet crystal gorget. "Star Sapphires are trained to avoid losing ourselves to our passions. I had long suspected that the lesson was a holdover from ancient times. I suppose that now I have proof."

"Now that you're free, what will you do?"

"I will do what we agreed, and relay your offer of a conditional surrender. How shall I contact you with any response?"

"Power Ring Yellow wants us back in twenty four hours. Meet back here in… Eighteen? If you haven't gotten an answer by then…" I stare into her with empathic vision, getting snapshots of her triumphs and tragedies, why she-. Ah. "Want to talk to me really hard and I'll feel it."

"Very well." She rises slowly off the ground, flying towards the exit. "I will bid you a good evening."

I nod, watching her go.

"I suppose that's one way to make sure I can't use the staff." I look at Zatanna and she shrugs awkwardly. "It's not like I.. want it, but we're stuck on a parallel Earth. It could have been useful."

"If we get desperate we can chase down Power Ring Green's gauntlet."

She nods. "So what now?"

"Now we do some research. Let's find out if any of what they've been telling us is true."