AN: Here's another update, lots of action in this chapter and a good change of pace I think, this has probably been my favourite chapter to write so far.

***Episode Reference 'The Balance', 'Starcrossed', 'Wake the Dead' and 'Terror Beyond' Contains Direct Quotations***

Chapter Ten

'If this doesn't get his attention, I don't know what will...' Shayera mused as she extended her electrified mace and busied herself setting the vast library alight with flames.

A smirk played across her lips as the flames spread from shelf to shelf, truth be told Shayera liked books a great deal and the idea of violating them in such a way was unacceptable to her...however in these circumstances she was content to change her mind. Besides if they were all anything like the one she had picked up earlier...

Shayera just hoped that Hades would be ready; she wasn't willing to engage Faust just yet as she remembered Diana's explanation surrounding the suit feeding from rage, and she knew she had and felt plenty.

'Hawk witch'

'Traitor'

'Filthy Hawk'

The Thanagarian shuddered as she pushed the thoughts aside, she'd made a mistake and she was dealing with the consequences, she just needed to forgive herself because that's what it all boiled down to, she wouldn't allow anybody to forgive her because she couldn't even give it to herself.

Something snapped her out of her thoughts, she could hear movement behind her despite the inferno she'd created so efficiently, Hades was walking behind her somewhere she was sure of it. Then there was another sound, a thud somewhere in front of her followed by heavy footsteps, even heavier than the ones behind and if Shayera were less of a warrior she would have been nervous...as it was she just wanted to beat something with her mace.

"My Books!"

Shayera smirked, the expression informing Faust that she had taken great pleasure in burning his ill gotten gains. Casually she placed a hand on her hip and twirled her mace nonchalantly even as the massive bulk of armour came charging towards her.

'He better do something...' She willed as she focused on the movement behind her as well.

As Faust drew closer Shayera felt the air move slightly behind her, being a Thanagarian and needing to be finely tuned to the air and its movement she sensed it easily, even in the humidity of burning parchments.

Radiating confidence she waited as Faust seemed to assume that he had the upper hand, however his body weight was poorly distributed and he was charging blindly with apparently no pre-considered plan or direction. Shayera realised as soon as he started moving moments ago that he was no fighter and certainly not a warrior, but his supernatural skills were going to prove more than troublesome.

In a matter of seconds as Shayera fought her natural instincts to swing her mace, Hades launched over her and collided into Faust, unfortunately for Faust his poor weight distribution was paying back with interest as he fell back towards the desk, Hades' fist pounding the chest plate of the armour. Hades despite gaining a quick advantage was knocked off from the chest of Faust and as Shayera watched she realised that Hades was more than capable of battle, but he was extremely out of practice. The next couple of moments proved her theory as Faust snatched Hades up in his fist and flung him across the room.

Getting up Hades shot Faust a glare although it was laced with amusement; nothing seemed to wipe that smirk from his face.

"Thanks for the vultures earlier Faust, but I thought you would be more original than to copy Zeus"

Faust bristled at the comment before outstretching his hand in rage "This time I will leave nothing of you behind to torture!"

Less than a second later and Hades was being blasted across the room and had been sent cascading through a number of now very unstable bookshelves.

Diana thanks to Hades' directions had made her way around the library and entered at the other side through an additional entrance. After Shayera had left to start her book burning, Diana had decided that they needed as many elements of surprise as possible, after all, a battle wasn't just about fighting, it required careful strategy to be successful.

'And Teamwork' The Princess smiled as she pushed the rear entrance door open and watched as Shayera remained un-phased as Faust charged at her.

Quickly and quietly Diana took to the air and hovered out of the way as Hades collided with Faust and began his assault, Shayera keeping back and watching with obvious interest. When Hades was unceremoniously thrown into the bookshelves, Diana couldn't help but roll her eyes.

'So much for his help'

However the Amazon didn't get a chance to complain further as Shayera launched into the air to avoid Faust's magic, her wings tight to her body in order to prevent their obvious targeting. While Faust was distracted Diana came up behind him and secured her fists together before raising them in unison and striking Faust heavily across the back, heavy enough and with enough surprise to knock him off balance and send him to the floor.

The Princess wasted no time in telling Faust that they had the upper hand "Give up Faust, I know the secret of the armour...it's fuelled by rage, if we don't fight you, you're powerless"

Before she even considered intimidating him with the concept of Shayera's magic disrupting mace, Faust backhanded her across the room. Enraged the Amazon was quick to her feet but surprisingly so was Faust who proceeded to strike her again apparently demonstrating his power without the assistance of their rage.

Diana was slammed into a fragile wall behind the desk which then continued to collapse on top of her.

"That was before I fixed it!" He declared triumphantly

'Typical!' Diana thought furiously as she attempted to shift the rubble off of herself 'At least we don't have to hold back now'

Apparently Shayera thought the same.

"Good to know!" Shayera expressed gleefully as she smacked Faust hard with her mace, the mace itself travelling in an upward arc to catch him under the chin and fling him backwards.

She couldn't say how pleased she was that Faust had fixed this apparent weakness, it meant she could hit him as much as she liked without worrying it would put others in danger, it had been so long since she'd been in battle, a real battle...and suffice to say she was eager to forget the last one.

'It didn't have to be this way'

'Yes it did'

Quickly the Thanagarian glanced around to check on her team mates, Diana was still buried under rubble and Hades was still sprawled across the bookshelves, she mused that at least he didn't have to rush on the behalf of the flames. For a moment she considered going to Diana and helping her out but changed her mind, the quicker they got Faust dealt with the better and she'd only be leaving herself open if she went to the Princess.

Turning back to Faust, Shayera noticed that purple trails of energy were squirming out of his hands but she disregarded it, they weren't going near her and he was wide open. She wasn't one to miss an opportunity in the mist of battle...preparing her mace and stretching it behind her she grit her teeth ready to swing with all her might and release her war cry, however she was rudely interrupted.

Shayera was taken by surprise as something collided into her, landing heavily on the stone floor she hastily folded her wings and got to her feet, mace in hand, feet shoulder width apart. That was when she recognised her attackers.

'I knew it!' She shrieked in her mind both celebrating the fact she was right about something as well as being aggravated by the fact.

The flaming skeleton decorations from earlier were standing around her in a tight circle, each one very eager to show the Thanagarian how dangerous poor decor choices could be.

There was no delay as the mace travelled by the gentle but assertive guidance of the one that wielded it; the weapon like an extension of her arm met its foes fluently and mercilessly. Shayera swung in a wide arc decimating two skeletons before turning on the spot and bringing the mace north to smash a third which was dropping from a height towards her.

"Having fun with my minions?" Faust jested confidently as Shayera narrowly avoided a medieval style weapon to the stomach.

"Plenty" She quipped back as she effectively at that precise moment parted one of the skeletons with its skull.

Faust frowned but the displeasure was quickly lifted as the nuisance woman was buried under a pile of simultaneously attacking skeletons.

"Ten to one" He mused "Not good odds for you"

"Odds mean nothing"

Faust spun around; it seemed the Princess had managed to relieve herself of the rubble.

"Surrender Faust, you have no choice!" She demanded with royal authority.

The face that glowed behind the visor of the helmet merely smiled "Let's see how good your odds are Princess"

Without pause Diana flew forward and landed a hard right across the armour followed quickly by a left, however her strikes had no effect save to knock him off balance. Determined Diana continued her assault even as Faust managed to gain composure long enough to strike her in return and send her cascading across the room. Recovering quickly the Amazon returned to her onslaught and flew with imposing speed towards him, but apparently Faust had had enough with close quarters combat, instead he raised his hand and sent a beam towards her. Moving too quickly to avoid the blast Diana was hit full on and fell back immediately, being mummified by exceedingly tight bandages.

Despite her predicament she managed to remember sourly when Dr Fate had done much the same to her a few years ago. The memory was quick and fleeting though as she focused her energies on trying to get free.

Unbeknownst to the Princess, Faust was about to step on her and more than likely crush her into oblivion; however help came from an unlikely place.

Hades now fully recovered opened his mouth wide and released a breath of very hot, very painful flames, the God of the Underworld did not take kindly to the idea of the Princess of Themyscira being stepped on. Faust writhed and yelled in pain as the flames engulfed his armour, they were not by definition normal flames, they were however enchanted with the power of a God and therefore very bad news for Faust who despite being a Sorcerer had still been very much a mortal.

Despite the God's obvious advantage, Faust managed to as always so far regain composure and as before resorted to the magic at his disposal. Twisting and blocking the flames Faust extended his hand a third time and struck Hades with purple energy; however Hades rather than be thrown out of the way collided with a wall behind him and was held as the magic assaulted his body.

Despite thriving off of the thrill and challenge of battle Shayera was starting to get very agitated she needed to get back and help Diana. The adrenaline was charging throughout her body as she slammed another skeleton's skull in, her mind and memories assaulting her as the familiarity of the downward stroke reminded her painfully of Grundy's last moments. Grinding her teeth she finished the last enchanted warrior and shouldered her mace.

'Where is that...?' She started as she looked around for the imposing armour.

She didn't have to look far as she saw Hades apparently burning Faust with raw flames, in the next breath though Hades was receiving the same treatment. Sighing Shayera looked down and saw one of the displaced skulls of her previous enemies, briefly a smirk played across her lips as she swung her mace behind her and batted the skull like a golf ball up into the air to hit Faust indignantly on the head. She watched with concealed amusement as Faust turned startled by the sudden interruption before he glared annoyed at the slight mockery. He hadn't expected her to get away so easily and had as the Thanagarian wanted, averted his attention entirely upon her.

"One of yours?" She asked not hiding the mocking tone in her voice.

"I'll deal with you myself!" Faust snapped moving forward but Shayera was already lifting off.

"My mace disrupts magic...what's that tin suit run on again?"

Faust faltered for only a moment before he continued his charge.

Shayera flew quickly towards him and yelled enraged at him as she clobbered him with her mace knocking him back, the strike was hard and the mace crackled with energy as it came into contact with the magic imbued within the armour. The mace thrived on battle and the Nth metal called to the magic as it ripped it apart, Diana would never realise how close she was to being stepped on as Faust was forced back.

Striking again and again Shayera was encouraged as golden energy burst from the chest of the armour, she was infuriated and her blood pounded with it, the battle was giving her a release from her tension, releasing her self-loathing and frustration, freeing her from its burdens as she sought to allow herself a second chance, a chance she couldn't have until these bindings were broken. Again she struck feeling the armour give beneath the unforgiving mace, but so focused on breaking the armour and the danger they were in, Shayera was caught unawares as Faust grabbed her in one large fist.

He squeezed her hard and she yelled in pain, it probably wouldn't have been so bad if she didn't have wings; the pain of them being crushed paralysed the rest of her body and sent the agony to every inch of her. Shayera knew she couldn't escape, knew she wouldn't be able to hit him anymore so she did the only thing she could think of, she dropped her beloved mace. The mace fell from her grasp and she hoped that Diana would take the initiative and wield it.

The bonds around her body tightened further and Diana let out a reluctant gasp as she continued to struggle with her ties. She'd heard Hades shouts earlier as he was no doubtly attacked with more magic, and as Diana had almost broken free she had felt heavy footsteps very close by. Just as she was starting to get loose, she heard Shayera's war cry turn into pain and as she snapped the last ties Diana was startled by the Thanagarian mace landing heavily in front of her.

Glancing up the Princess saw Shayera being squeezed by Faust's very large hand, and Diana noted that Shayera never dropped her mace for any reason. In the few split seconds available Diana wrestled with the idea of grabbing the weapon, she knew Shayera didn't like others using it but it didn't seem there was a choice and it seemed to have been dropped purposefully.

Diana's mind was quickly made up.

"You actually hurt me...allow me to return the favour!" With that Shayera's yells of pain doubled as she was squeezed tighter and she writhed in the huge fist as she tried to withstand the agony.

Diana grabbed the mace and took off heading straight towards Faust, she saw quickly the damage Shayera had made and was content to finish what the Thanagarian had started.

"I hit a lot harder than she does!" Diana warned as she flew forward, but Faust was ready and aimed another bout of magic towards her.

Momentarily knocked back Diana recalled how Shayera used the mace against Dr Fate and twisted the mace forwards so that the head reflected the energy and allowed her to press forward. Finally she reached within his close proximity and she dully recognised that she didn't know how to activate the mace but its non-energised form would have to do.

She flicked the mace and swatted Faust across the head with it, being a trained warrior the Princess knew how to wield such a weapon but it was Shayera's and despite the battle and what she had to do she still handled the mace with careful hands. The weapon was precious to her friend.

The strike itself despite Diana's careful handling had been hard indeed, her Amazonian strength merciless against the magic imbued armour. The force and power of the hit threw him onto his back and successfully dislodged Shayera from his grip, the former falling to the floor unconscious having blacked out from pain.

Diana was quick to land on Faust and forced the mace against the face plate of the armour, the mace itself vibrating violently against the armour as the magic surged and the weapon tore through it. Reaching its crescendo there was an explosion of light as the mace ripped the core of the magic and sent her flying backwards and she was forced to release the mace from the power of the blast.

And then there was silence...

To be Continued

AN: Just a quick mention about the line involving Zeus, Faust was torturing Hades in a similar manner to how Zeus punished Prometheus for stealing the lightning bolt and giving it to Man.

Plus...Updates are going to be quicker, there are just two more chapters remaining. I'm going to be sad to see this finished, but I want to thank everyone who has given me feedback and reviews, I really do appreciate them very much :)