Chapter Nine: The Hunt Part Two.


Clark and Diana were back on the hunt. They agreed to work together because quite frankly the two of them needed each other badly. Diana had the knowledge and the experience to track Cheetah and Clark knew all about the area around Smallville. Therefore, the two of them working together made almost all sense.

"The third artifact, she needs it to complete the ritual," Diana said.

Clark shook his head. "And it's a race to find it now."

"Oh, I have a pretty good idea where it might be," Diana said. She allowed her shoulders to come down in a shrugging motion. "But it's the fact that she knows where it is."

Clark remembered what she told him. The three artifacts separated had been completely useless. The three artifacts combined together could bring something to the world that was completely dangerous. Clark folded his fingers together and awaited to see what he could do next. He could see Diana's eyes flicker. She scanned the area around her expertly.

"Are you ready to do this?" Clark asked. He could see Diana tense up.

Diana nodded, her jaw firmly set. She held her hands against her crossbow. "Yes, I'm ready."

There was few things that got the blood of an Amazon flowing as well as a good hunt. She was ready. Armed with a crossbow, Diana was ready to take down the Cheetah and hopefully they would be one step closer to finding her master. While Cheetah was a fugitive that Diana needed to bring in.

"Maybe you should stay out here and keep watching," Diana said. She looked at Clark.

"She caught me off guard last time," Clark informed her. Diana frowned when she looked at him. Clark grabbed her gently by her hands. Firmly, but gently at the same time. "It won't happen again."

Diana nodded. They would waste a lot of time arguing about whether or not Clark could handle this and that was not something that either of them wanted to do. She could see a part of the door cracked.

"She can teleport in with magic, but she broke the door down," Clark said. He realized something. Diana tightened the firm grip that she had on his hand. "It's a trap, we're walking into, isn't it?"

"Yes," Diana agreed. She pushed the side doors open and steadied her hand. She aimed the crossbow in her hand.

She shot a crossbow bolt in the hallway. It landed on the ground and disintegrated in an instant. Diana's eyebrow raised when she looked down onto the ground. She turned around and gripped Clark firmly around the wrist.

The two of them hovered over the ground, carefully avoiding not hitting the ground. Not that it was a matter for someone that flew. There was something that made them light headed.

"Keep your wits about yourself," Diana warned Clark. There was an enchantment down this hallway that made them want to hit the ground and they both knew that hitting the ground would lead to some really bad things.

Diana's head shook when they kept hovering over the ground. Her heart started to race even faster.

She could sense that her prey was close. Sure enough, she saw the Cheetah crouched against the side of a glass case.

The Cheetah didn't notice them at first. She fumbled with the lock trying to allow her inside.

"The game is over, Cheetah."

Cheetah turned around and saw Princess Diana there. She raised her claws and gave a hiss. "It's just like you Amazons, interfering. I can have everything that I want!"

"Whatever you're doing, it's not worth it," Diana said. "You should give up now!"

"Well, Miss High and Mighty, we'll see if it's worth it to be your mother's lapdog," Cheetah said. She got on her hands and knees, like her namesake and motioned for Diana to bring it.

Clark and Diana dropped to the ground. Seconds later, Diana pounced Cheetah. She tried to take her down. Cheetah avoided Diana's attack. She was pretty skilled hand to hand and Diana was amazing. Clark caught himself watching the fight between the two of them. Cheetah balled up her fist and tried to punch Diana hard. Diana avoided it.

Cheetah pulled a sword off of the wall and swung it. Diana blocked the sword with her hands and pushed her back. The two of them continued to go hand to hand. Diana caught Cheetah flush in the midsection with a vicious kick and caused her to doubled over. The wind was knocked completely out of her.

Cheetah was down on the ground and Diana kneeled on top of her with a slightly triumphant pose. "Are you going to give up?"

"Not yet!" Cheetah said. She blew some gold dust into Diana's face. That caused her to lift off the ground.

Cheetah grabbed Diana by the hair and slammed her down onto the ground. Before she could move into the kill, Clark grabbed Cheetah by the waist and yanked her off of her. Cheetah struggled and she found herself be lifted off the ground.

"You don't have the guts to really take me down!" Cheetah yelled. She tried to nail Clark with her claws again.

This time Clark saw the attack blocking. He dodged out of the way and landed on the ground. The wind was knocked out Cheetah.

Diana was back into the fight and she used her Lasso to tie Cheetah up. It wrapped around Cheetah. She struggled and tried to break out. Diana pulled Cheetah forward. The Amazon Princess looked positively intense when she stared Cheetah in the eyes. "You're going to tell me exactly what you were up to."

Cheetah realized that she couldn't do anything about this. "I'm finding the three artifacts….the three artifacts for a man named Felix Faust."

Diana's eyebrow rose. Faust, she heard the name before. A few seconds of thinking made her remember exactly where she heard this particular name and she almost wished that she didn't hear it.

"Faust, what's he planning?" Diana asked.

Cheetah shook her head. Her eyes glazed over when she tried to stare down Diana.

"I don't know what he's planning, he didn't tell me," Cheetah answered. She could feel herself gag against the pull of the lasso.

Clark frowned in response. "She doesn't know what he's planning, are you sure she isn't trying to….."

"She can't, this lasso is a magical artifact that compels anyone who it ensnares to tell the truth," Diana responded. Clark raised his eyebrow and nodded.

Cheetah laughed at both of them. Clark's eyes cast over her in a weary manner. Perhaps it was just him, but he just had a really bad feeling about this. And when Clark Kent had a pretty bad feeling about something, you could take it to the bank that something really bad might be ready to go down.

"What do you find so funny?" Diana asked.

"Oh, it's really amusing, after all of that, neither of you are going to leave here alive and I'm going to walk out with the artifact," Cheetah said. There was something detached about her voice, inhumane.

"She can't say falsehoods with that lasso," Diana said. She felt her nerves heighten. Something really bad was going to happen. There was a rattling sound behind her.

The statues in the museum, they seemed to have minds of their own when they came to life. They had weapons on them and their eyes glowed almost ominiously. Clark and Diana stood side by side.

"Statues coming to life to attack me," Clark said. He breathed in. "I have to admit, it's a new one."

"Not for some people it isn't," Diana said. One of the statues shot a bolt of light at her. "And I'm not sure if that's beyond their capabilities or not."

Clark maneuvered two of the statues in place. They both tried to attack him. Both of the statues smashed each other. Rubble and marble flew in pretty much every single direction when the dust of the statues crumbled down to the ground.

Diana dodged the sword of the statue and disarmed it. She used the sword of the statue.

"Clark, is everything alright?" Chloe asked. She had been on the headset, keeping an eye out for them for anything suspicious. This was the first time she spoke up. "Because, there's a huge amount of static in my ear, and as much money as I paid for these headsets, they shouldn't be given that much static."

"Just an abundance of magic in the air," Clark informed her.

"Isn't magic one of your….oh boy," Chloe said. She closed her eyes with a long sigh.

Clark didn't say anything. He allowed Diana to take them down. His eyes scanned over more of the stone soldiers that made their way into the museum. They all marched towards Clark and Diana.

"So, how many statues do they have?" Clark asked. His heat vision only had a moderate effect on them. Smashing them with his fist with all the subtly of a blunt brick seemed to work wonders better though.

"Judging by the amount that is going after us, dozens," Diana said. She used her shield to block the sword. "More than enough to trample most of us."

There were more came down the steps. Clark wondered how many levels this museum had. Whoever ran it had some kind of stone statue fetish. They were making their way back down the stairs.

A red haired female showed up and took several of the statues down. Maxima showed up and she looked intense. She was going to show that she just wasn't a royal that did nothing.

"Back away from my mate and his concubine!" Maxima thundered. She raised her hands and smashed the statues with a feral fury.

Diana raised her eyebrow and turned to Clark with a questioning look. "Concubine?"

Clark knew that he would have to have a serious talk with Maxima later. Right now he had to focus on the small fact of not getting his head caved in. That was kind of an important thing. He turned towards Diana. "Watch your back!"

Diana watched her back and she took out three of them in one shot. Maxima's arrival caused Diana's fury to be renewed. It seemed like she was trying to outdo the Warrior Queen by taking out more of the stone statues.

It made Clark realize that Diana and Maxima were thrashing pretty much all of the stone warriors, which left him with little, if anything to do. He could feel a little bit distracted from that.

A hand was placed on his hand and Clark turned around. Kara hovered behind him and she was equal parts amused and annoyed. "You know, if you want, the two of us can go watch a movie and we can just let these two clean up. I think that they've got everything well in hand."

"And leave them along with each other?" Clark asked. Kara raised her eyebrow. "Do you honestly realize how dangerous that is?"

Kara thought that Clark did have a point. She did have some amusement in seeing Diana and Maxima finish off the stone statues.

The two of them turned around when they were done and they squared off for a few seconds. Their eyes locked onto each other and it looked like they were going to throw down after a couple of seconds.

Clark, sensing danger better than anyone else, cleared his throat. Both warriors turned around towards Clark and they nodded, backing off each other respectfully.

"She got away," Diana said.

Maxima smiled when she stared at Diana. "Well, I'm sure that's not a reflection on you, not finishing her off when she had a chance."

"That's not how we do things," Clark told her.

"Of course, my king, I forgot myself," Maxima said. She looked towards her. "You should do better though in keeping your potential concubines in check."

"Seems to me like I need to keep you in check better," Clark said. He grabbed Maxima firmly and blocked her attempts to kiss him.

Diana looked towards Kara, with confusion and Kara sighed. "Don't mind Maxima. She has a occasional case of raging bitch. It appears that Clark is going to have to sort it out later, but we have bigger problems now."

"Yes," Diana agreed. She would have to agree that they had bigger problems then some spoiled warrior queen.


Kara, Diana, Clark, and Maxima returned to the recently built Fortress. It was a splendor, a wonder, if a bit dull and dry, and lifeless in some ways. It was practical, useful in many ways. Diana looked it over with a smile and she could only say one thing.

"Not too bad," Diana said.

"That's one way to put it," Clark informed her. The Fortress was not too bad. He could hear Kara snickered.

"Well, I guess Jor-El was in charge of the interior designing," Kara said. "That was never his strong suit….oh yes this is much better."

Kara, Clark, Diana, and Maxima entered a large spacious chamber. It was obviously done up to look much better than ever before. The crystals glowed against the wall and it resembled a nice sitting room. There was a bookshelf off to the side, but instead of books there were stacks of crystals.

"It's amazing how the encoding on a pair of crystals can bring a Fortress this large," Clark said.

"We have outdone ourselves, haven't we?" Lara asked. "What is it you require, my son?"

"It's not what I require, but rather what Diana requires," Clark said. Diana stepped forward and looked towards the mother of this remarkable young man.

Diana was caught off guard by her beauty for a minute. "Lara, I wish to locate an energy signature of an artifact that I have found."

"Just punch in the specifications in the computer, and there is no place on Earth that it would be able to be found," Lara said. A chair manifested itself for Diana. Diana sat herself down and started to type in. "If you need any assistance in navigating the technology, do not be afraid to ask."

"I think that I've got it," Diana said. She recognized this technology as a slightly more advanced model of something she encountered on Themscrycira.

Clark, Maxima, and Kara stood back. Maxima's eyes looked at Diana. "She's moderately skilled, I'll give you that. There's always room for improvement, but we'll find a way to make her improve."

"You know, I believe that she took out more statues than you did," Kara told Maxima. She couldn't help herself from riling up the Warrior Queen. Clark placed his hand on her shoulder in a warning manner. "I'm just saying ,I'm sure that you tried your best, but you've met your match."

"We'll see," Maxima said. She looked towards Clark and she wasn't going to say anything more. "I was going to depart, but I decided that there were things to be done here still. My planet will still hold itself together in my absence."

"And how do you know that they won't stage a coup?" Kara asked.

"Most people tend to fear death as a consequence from rebellion," Maxima said in her calm voice. "And they expect me to return with a mate. And they must realize that given how particular my standards are, they would know it would be difficult for me to find the mate that I want."

Maxima thought that she had found a mate. The fact she had to share him with numerous other women proved that he was strong enough. After all, most men in the universe fumbled with one woman, whilst this one excelled with three women. She allowed herself a smile. Things were getting very interesting and they were getting very interesting in an extremely good way. She could not wait to go further.

"We will depart when this entire mess is solved," Maxima said.

"You know, I'll consider it," Clark said.

Kara nearly broke after that one. Maxima was not used to getting her way. She looked at Maxima with a grin. "You better be careful, your majesty. Or you're going to be having a very dry spell if you push Clark around too much. "

Maxima realized what Kara meant and she scowled even deeper if that was possible. She couldn't go without him. She wouldn't go without him, she needed him and she needed him in all of the worst ways and some of the best ways as well. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath at this.

Clark moved over and placed his hands on the back of Diana's chair. She flinched a little bit in the chair. "Sorry, Chloe hates when I do that."

"It's fine, I'm finished, but we got trouble," Diana said. She got up to her feet and nearly spun around. She was close to Clark. Diana didn't make any effort to step back. "The Hellfire Key is able to breach the gates between life and death and unleash a demonic army."

"And this Faust guy lives up to his name," Clark said.

"Faust is Faust," Diana informed him. "The legend is a bit changed, some of the details are wrong, but some of the general ideas are the same. And he made a deal with Hades and not the Christian devil."

Clark nodded, that made a lot of sense. He suspected that every religion had their own legends about the dangerous of making deals with shady devil like individuals.

"And he is going to unleash this demonic army," Clark said. He could feel a shiver go down his spine.

"Well, it's just more enemies to take out," Maxima said.

Diana turned towards Maxima. She could not tell whether or not this woman was exceedingly brave or just entirely reckless. She thought about it over and over again and she just stared her straight in the eye. "You better not take this enemy lightly, because he'll crush you if you do."

Maxima didn't respond, she decided to ask the follow up. "Where is this army being brought down, Princess?"


Felix Faust thought that of all of the places he could bring down an unholy army, Smallville might be one of the oddest. Then again, who was he to question the will of a far more superior individual than him?

The three artifacts Cheetah gave him was in his hands. The woman waited in the next room for her reward. Faust recalled a lesson that he learned a long time ago, rewards always came with a bit of a price. Cheetah was going to learn that one the hard way.

Faust tapped his fingers against the stone tablet. The three artifacts were laid out. All he needed to do was snap them together. For now, he made his way over to a mirror that he used to communicate with his master.

"My lord, I have them all," Faust said.

"Yes, the gates will be breeched and I will take my revenge on them all," Hades said.

"You remember the terms of our agreement," Faust said. He looked into the eyes of Hades. They were cold, lifeless, extremely intense. Those were the type of eyes which made hardened men step forward in terror.

Hades laughed darkly. That laugh caused the hairs on the back of Faust's neck. "Yes, I'm certain that you want to be let free from your agreement. You have only been plotting for a way to get around it since we made it."

Faust hated when his master had some words that proved him absolutely right. Hades really had everything.

"I just need to make sure….."

"A snake is worried about someone being a snake, its irony at its finest, isn't it?" Hades asked in bemusement. His laughter rose and Faust was pretty sure that he was being mocked in some way. "Rest assured, Faust, you will get everything that you deserve, and you will get everything that is coming to you."

Faust found himself worried about those words. Hades laughed at him and Faust wondered if he had been getting himself a deal.

"The excellent thing is that the key can be assembled so easily that even a child could figure it out," Hades informed him. "Once you have it assembled, the demonic armies will arrive, and there's not a single person that can stop me."

Faust made a mental note that Hades said that no one could stop him. It was almost like Faust was an absolute afterthought to Hades and in some ways, he was. That angered Faust beyond all belief and he frowned even more deeply.

"And rest assured, you're going to get every single thing that's coming to you."

Faust knew that making a deal with Hades might end up with him on the short end of the stick. He had to assemble the key and let the man's demonic armies out into the world. He did as he was directed.

Cheetah was in the next room, waiting for her reward as well.

No one could stop them, not even the Amazon Princess.


To Be Continued.