A receptionist smiles helpfully at Diana as she enters the office.

Diana sticks her head in the door, a curious smile on her face. "Hello,
Mister Dayton?" 

The receptionist nods and smiles to Diana. "Just a moment..." She picks up
the phone and tells someone that his appointment is here. A moment later,
Harold emerges from the inner office. He looks pleased to see Diana,
smiling charmingly. He indicates his inner office. "Thank you for coming." 
he remarks.


Diana

        Diana is a tall, attractive woman in the prime of young adulthood. 
Her raven-black hair hangs down to her mid-back in shimmering waves. Her
sky-blue eyes are wide and filled with innocence and the inner strength of
conviction. Her face is oval, wi th tanned, unblemished skin and an
omnipresent smile. Her body is nearing six feet, and is tanned from hours
under the sun. Her every step and motion is an unconscious exhibition of
her grace and innate power.
        Diana is wearing a loose red button-up blouse with a small
embossed set of gold W's where a pocket is normally found, it's red
sleeves trailing down until the cuffs hide most of her silver Amazonian
bracelets. A blue, frilling skirt billows around her knees with each move
she makes. Instead of her boots, Diana wears a pair of red pumps. Her
golden tiara is still on her forehead, holding back her waves of hair. 

Diana smiles pleasantly in return. "You are welcome, Mister Dayton. I must
admit I was curious why you would wish to speak to me. I know little of
legal matters here."

Harold(#1120Pces)

This is a man in his late forties or early fifties, as can be seen in the
faint lines on his face and the grey that extends upwards from his
temples, but little other indication elsewhere. He is fit and
athletic-looking, and his suit is a well-tailored se date dark blue with a
black silk tie. Rimless glasses with gold frames rest on his nose, and his
eyes are a clear and mild green. His voice is equally mild and clear,
rolling and infinitely expressive and rich. When he speaks, his hands
emphasize and arti culate his meaning clearly, and his whole manner,
casual and nonchalant, does little to disguise the charisma that seems to
draw attention to him. 

Harold nods to Diana as they move to the inner office.

Richardson, Eliot and Dayton: Central Office(#598RFJ)

This is a small law office, and only the closest observation reveals
exactly how busy it really is. The waiting area is comfortable and
relaxed, the atmosphere is quiet and almost sombre in it's seriousness,
but small indicators rise: a continual backgrou nd flurry of keystrokes,
rustling paper and murmured telephone conversation, not always in English.
The distinctive hum of an always-active fax machine and laser printer. The
official-looking vistors in and out, the FedEx packages in and out, the
messenge rs, all camoflauged by the prompt and easy completion of their
tasks from appearing frantic to just appearing natural. 

Contents:
Diana
Obvious exits:
Main Office <MO>

You step into the inner office.

Richardson, Edison and Dayton: Main Office(#1195RF)

The desk is broad and made from heavy mahogany, and is clear of any papers
or equipment other than a dark green, old-fashioned desk blotter. The
chair behind the desk is comfortable-looking and a nearly-black leather
color: the chairs before the desk are similar and well-worn. Wooden
cabinets built into the wall contain rows and rows of law books, titles
too small to distract, but whose presence fills the room with the familiar
smell of old paper. The windows behind and to the right of the desk
command a stunning view of downtown Metropolis, the shining spires of the
skyscrapers extending upwards across it. 

Obvious exits:
Out <O>

Diana enters.

Harold closes the door behind them with a soft click. "I actually wanted
chiefly to speak to you about the League itself." He moves to his desk and
sits behind it, indicating a chair nearby. "First of all," he says,
smiling a little abashedly now, "Is there something I can call you besides
Wonder Woman? It sounds more like a title than a name."

Diana walks over to the chair with obvious grace, smooths down her skirt,
and takes a seat, demurely crossing her legs. "Yes, please, call me
Diana," she says, almost by rote. "Wonder Woman is the name I was given
here, but, my true name is Diana." 

Harold nods. "I gathered that from your file, but..." he looks sheepish. 
"Some people get upset about it." The sheepishness dissolves and he looks
confidently at her face. "Diana, then. The reason I've asked you here is
that I'm hoping for some insight in to the so-called 'demise' of the
Justice League, and also hoping I could give you some in return." He folds
his hands on his desk, leaning forward a little, his voice as soothing and
calm as he can make it. "In your opinion, Diana, why did the Justice
League fall apart? I don't want legalisms or obscure references, I can
provide those on my own. I want to know what you think."

Diana swallows and looks down at her intertwined fingers, her emotions as
always written clearly across her face, and now the writing speaks of
grief and sadness. "I do not think that my insight would be worthy of your
time, Mister Dayton. I was but one member that observed the death of a
friend." 

Harold nods gently. "I understand that this is difficult." he says softly.
"But members of the League had died before..." A pause, a natural pause.
"...the danger was and is always there." he murmurs. "Why...do you
think...the Overmaster crisis was differ ent?" 

Diana looks up at Harold, her blue eyes welling up slightly at the edges. 
"Mister Dayton, were you ever blessed to meet Ice?"

Harold nods gently. "Yes." he says.

Diana looks up, raising her hands as she forms the words. "Ice...Ice was
amongst the most gentle, noble people I have ever met. She could have been
a Queen, yet left power behind. She.." Diana swallows and looks down
again. "She was a tender, caring woman that I was proud to call my sister.
Everyone loved her similarly, and her death was...was terribly sad..."

Harold removes his glasses from his face and looks down at them idly. "Was
she so important to the League...that her...demise would trigger its
destruction?" He looks up at Diana again.

Diana continues to look down at her hands for a few long moments, before
looking up. "I do not know, Mister Dayton, but I truly believe that a
sadness haunted the League after her death," she says, almost speaking of
herself. "I believe it had a profound effect on many of our members."

Harold nods. "What sort of effect?" he says gently, encouragingly.

Diana's gaze glides off to the side in thought, before returning to
Harold. "Mister Dayton, I would not intend any rudeness, but, why would
you want to know of such terrible things?" 

Harold smiles ruefully, turning away and looking out the window at the
immense skyscrapers that tower across them. "When I go to
testify...wherever...the Joint Chiefs...the Senate Defense
Subcommittee...the UN...the Legal Committee...the Secretariat...they're
all going to ask me the same question." He turns back to Diana. "It's a
brutal question, frankly, and I'm not going to be surprised if there isn't
a...pleasant answer." He looks down at his hands and says "The League had
suffered losses in the past. It had faced overwhelming threats in the
past. But it survived those crises and not this one. What was different? 
What happened? And how can it be prevented in the future?" He shakes his
head a little and looks up at Diana.

Diana takes a deep breath, which comes back out almost as a sigh. "Mister
Dayton, perhaps you should ask an impartial observer. I saw the
happenings, I saw the recriminations, I saw the perceived
betrayals...but...it was all because of pain and grief. The members of the
League..those members...many had never lost a friend, lost a sister in
battle, before. So many people lost a dear friend for the first time in
their lives." She looks to Harold with a tender, sad expression. "Do you
remember when you lost a loved one? I still remember when I first lost a
sister at Doom's Gate, and how lost I felt. Mister Dayton, that is how
most of the members of the league felt when we lost Ice." 

Harold nods, gentle again. "Yes. I do know that feeling." he says, looking
at his hands. "You would attribute it to...shock?" he ventures. 
"Inexperience, perhaps, though that is such a loaded word..."

Diana nods slowly, pushing back a dark curl that falls forward. "Yes, I
believe so. So many..Fire, for instance..had never lost someone so close,
especially such a tender, loving sister like Ice." 

Harold nods. "I saw her at the memorial ceremony." he says quietly. "I
couldn't imagine what she must have gone through." He pauses. "There is
only one thing further to consider about this explanation." he adds. 
"Overmaster was defeated eventually...despite the betrayals and the tragic
losses. Why, when it was time to pick up the pieces...to count heads and
try to regroup, for those who could, to move ahead with their lives...why
then did the League continue to falter?" 

Diana's eyes show an inner sadness as she puts a hand to her chest.
"Because of poor leadership, because of my own self-doubts I would
presume. If I were a better leader, it would not have happened." 

Harold thinks . o O (Damn...it's as I suspected...she blames herself. This
won't do.) 

Harold's gaze becomes slightly critical, as if he's evaluating Diana,
sizing her up. "I can't say there wasn't a crisis in leadership after the
crisis. In what way would you change what you did?" 

Diana looks again to the side thoughtfully. "Mister Dayton," she says
slowly, as if still in mid-thought, her gaze moving back to Harold, "I
must admit, I do not think I would wish to share that with you. It
involves some very close friends, those that have fought at my side, and I
would be loath to betray their confidences by telling you of what we
spoke." 

Harold nods slightly. "All right." he says. "I won't press you if you feel
uncomfortable..." he pauses. "Anything you may wish to tell me, I can hold
in strictest confidence. Under...well, the Supreme Court says that unless
it involves a violent crime, I cannot be compelled to tell anyone,
anywhere, anything you say to me." Then he raises a hand as if to ward off
an inevitable protest. "But I understand that your friends also must be in
confidence as well." He pauses, ruminating. "Let me tell you the way I see
it. Perhaps, if I am close to the mark, you may feel you can tell me more
of what you think."

Diana puts her bottom lip between her teeth, hidden from view. She nods
back at Harold, watching and listening closely. 

Harold leans forward. "In the wake of Overmaster, as you say, the League
was emotionally in a shambles. In the past, the League leadership has
always stepped forward at such times and made sure that there was
continuity between the old and the new. However, because losses during the
crisis were so severe, and because there was no chain of command or any
method of appointing new leadership except through acclamation, there was
essentially no leadership to step forward." He paused. "You, and Captain
Atom, with the best interests of the League at heart, attempted to fill a
position which could not be filled and undertook a task that could not be
succeeded at. This inevitably caused friction and frustration, and at the
worst possible time." He looks down. "Am I too far off the mark?"

Diana's face flashes with a fleeting expression of guilt. "Perhaps..myself
and the Captain did not agree on methods I fear, and was the cause of a
distraction. But..I would not know how that might have affected the
others." 

Harold shakes his head. "I understand...but the crucial point...as I see
it...is that neither you nor he were responsible for the leadership
crisis. The failure lay in the structure of the League itself, as it could
not cope with the possibility that the League members might not be able to
choose new leadership through acclamation...do you understand where I am
coming from with this?" 

Diana's brow furrows as she tilts her head slightly to the side in
confused curiousity. "I am not sure...you believe leadership by
acclimation is wrong, I would deduce..but, is that not the democracy of
this world in action?" 

Harold shakes his head. "There's nothing wrong with it...it sustained the
League for many years. But it does have the inherent flaw that a confused
or divided group cannot...well, cannot make any decision at all, much less
a poor one." He pauses, then says, "Putting it another way, the League, as
it was currently set up, could _not_ have a leader, even the wrong leader,
and so your efforts were doomed." He pauses. "As to whether I think it's a
good system or not for the next incarnation of the League, I have no
opinion...this was it's first real failure, after all." 

Diana shakes her head confusedly. "I do not think I am understanding what
you may be reaching for, Mister Dayton. You believe the previous
incarnation of the League was doomed by this method...therefore, you feel
someone chosen as leader in some other way might give the League a
stability to overcome a problem," she pauses, as the expression of sadness
seeps back into her wide eyes, "like...the death of a member?" 

Harold looks sympathetically at Diana.

Harold nods. "Or, alternately..." he then pauses. "But we are getting off
the subject...do you think my description of the leadership crisis is
accurate? Then I can explain what I think of the future..." He smiles a
bit grimly. "A much more pleasant topic."

Diana says "Perhaps...yet, again, I realize I was too intimately involved
for objective introspection, Mister Dayton. I believe I might know of the
causes...Gaea knows I have thought of it on many a night..but you might
know better than I." Her lips crinkle up into a faint, still sad, smile at
the expression on Harold's face.  "Yes, please, feel free to tell me what
you wish."

Harold nods. "All right." he says. "It's not so much that leadership by
acclamation is a bad idea, as I said...it's just that if used exclusively,
it leads to just these problems. There are a number of possibilities to
solve it...a chain of command could be established by the League, so that
if one should fall, or be forced to leave, that there would be no
argument...a vote, as you say, might be proper in some circumstances...But
alone, I think, as Overmaster showed us, it is not enough. What do you
think?"

Diana looks again to the side in thought, her emotions passing across her
face with no thought at their concealment. "Mister Miracle will make a
fine League leader, and I would not gainsay his choice. I would not say
that I was the best choice for deputy leader, but, your acclamation came
into play at the time, although I still feel Superman might have been a
better choice. However, I do agree that a chain of command would be
needed, if it can be applied. My people have always recognized this.

Harold nods slightly. "Really...I didn't know that." he says, clearly
interested, but then he smiles. "I'm glad you agree, and that Mister
Miracle has already started taking steps in that direction. Care must be
taken...these are the crucial weeks for the League's future. Now," he
adds, more serious again, "You may be asked, as prospective deputy leader,
to testify before the UN or some other body, and they will probably ask
you the same sorts of questions, probably even tougher. If it looks like
that will happen, I will contact and brief you as best I can. All right?" 

Diana's lips purse tightly together apprehensively as she nods. "I will do
my best, Mister Dayton." 

Harold nods. "Excellent...I have no doubt you will succeed. Anyone who has
faced the dangers you have will have no problem with a group of sedentary
diplomats." He adds, "Are there any questions or concerns that you have
that I might be able to help you with?"

Diana smiles at the compliment, not her normal glowing smile, but a sad,
still worried smile. "Thank you, yes, I feel I might have a question or
two that I have wondered about, if you still have time?" 

Harold nods. "Of course."

Diana glances down at her intertwined fingers for a moment. "I am
unclear...how have you become attached to the League, Mister Dayton? I
mean no rudeness, but are you a friend of Mister Miracle's?" 

Harold smiles. "Well, not personally, no..." He pauses. "It's sort of a
long story...to summarize it, I was deeply involved in the Senate Select
Subcommittee on Parahuman Affairs hearings in 1985. The League was at that
time also inactive. There was interest about it at the United Nations, and
I was interested in the legal issues. So I applied to the Secretariat to
be Chief Legal Counsel of the Charter Subcommittee. After the League was
established, I was on its legal staff...you probably never noticed you had
much of a staff: we operated mostly through the UN. When it went under, I
and some of the other staffers kept in touch, since we knew it was too
good an idea to just let die." 

Diana nods as the explanation comes out. "Ah, I see, I believe. Yes, I
agree, Mister Dayton, that the idea is far too good to be allowed to fade
away, which is why I would join such a group of noble people, and I would
do anything within my power to keep it, and its dream, alive." 

Harold nods to Diana. o O (Jeez...if my people had half that devotion.) "I
share your sentiments wholeheartedly."

Diana gives a more genuine smile that seems to brighten up the room, with
hardly that intent. "I would gladly do whatever may be needed of me to
help the League along." She smiles almost bashfully. "And I would be happy
to speak to the United Nations again." 

Harold nods. "Good, good. I think it would be a good idea, as long as the
right preparations were in place." he says. "Is there anything else I can
help you with? I'd give you the long version of how I came to be involved
with this group, but it goes back to when the Beatles were still
together." He smiles charmingly. 

Diana thinks . o O (The Beatles?)

Diana says "Mister Dayton, I know little of the League before I came from
my home into this world, but I have seen that it is almost a necessity to
defend all those that could not defend themselves, and I cannot tell you
how strongly I feel this." She pauses and smiles. "If the others in the
League hold you in their trust, I could not hold you differently."

Harold nods slightly and smiles a little self-deprecatingly. "I think most
of those who went through the cave don't even remember me except as
someone always lurking around at official functions, trying to smooth
things over with people they didn't want to talk to. I'm going to have to
run on trust from the last time I helped put the League together, I
think." 

Diana looks at Harold with innocent curiousity. "I do not understand...on
trust? I realize we have hardly met, but you seem to be a trustworthy man
to me, as well as a man dedicated to a noble cause." 

Harold shakes his head. "What I mean is that only those who remember me
from the first time around will trust me particularly this time." He ducks
his head a little bashfully, a strange motion on such a confident frame.
"But thank you. Now," and his bashfulness is gone. "what else can I help
you with?" 

Diana smiles and gives a quick shake of her head. "I can think of nothing,
Mister Dayton. Mister Miracle and Blue Beetle have been kind enough to
give me a room to use while I am in Metropolis, and I would have no need
of money...so, I could not think of anything that might require your
services. But thank you for your kind offer." 

Harold smiles. "It must be nice to have no need of money." Then he seems
to think of something. "Or a car, for that matter." he adds. He rises from
behind his desk and extends a hand to her. "Thank you for coming in. If
you think of anything that might help, or any way I might help, feel free
to contact me any time."

Diana stands up, taking the hand firmly with her omnipresent smile. "Thank
you, Mister Dayton. I only hope to better the League by
participating..just as you do. If you might think of a way I might help, I
hope you will speak to me as well."

Harold nods. "I shall." He shakes her hand firmly and opens the door for
her. "Good afternoon to you, Diana."

Diana smiles and steps over to the door, the hem of her skirt swirling
around her knees with each step.. "Good afternoon, Mister Dayton."

Diana steps out.
Diana has left.