I just realised that I never explained Bane's having a family here, so let me quickly do that. Everything, including him growing up in Santa Prisca, happened here. The only difference is, in this universe, he broke out with the help of venom at a younger age, and tried to fight his nature by starting a family.

When that fell apart due to his problems with venom and with the law, THEN he hopped a train to Gotham and Nightfall took place. Only, as it was a few years early, Jason was still robin then. That's why Jason talks like he as robin dealt with Bane all the time, even though Bane as a character only came to be during Tim's time as robin in the main continuity.

Clark and Diana brought Jon along when they left that morning, in case one or both of them were hijacked in the same way she had been when Bruce and Diana had initially investigated the country.

The three were flying though the clouds above the capital city of Qurac in the Javelin, when Jon hit the autopilot to return to the Watchtower. It was morning already, but the sun was still coming up. They knew where to head based on Bruce's findings, the glass tower in the center of the city. It took a couple minutes, but when they finally got there, before entering, Superman used his supervision to see what the situation was.

Inside, he saw a burned copse on a bed, along with several unconscious guards. Looking around, hoping to see a helicopter, he saw nothing. He led the way inside, bashing though the wall he'd been looking past.

"Hera...", Diana said when she saw the body, "...it can't be."

"Do you know what did this?"

"The Bow of Ra. An amazonian weapon lost for years. I can feel it's energy still in the area. We have to find whoever did this, now. In the wrong hands, that bow could destroy the planet."

"Then we'll prioritize finding the weapon. We still have no idea where-"

"Diana, Kal. Come look at this."

When the two moved into the next room where Jon had wandered, tehy found even more evidence of metas on the loose. An entire chunk of the wall was missing, as if something had burst through it, heading out side.

"I'm...I sense strange magic. Godly, like the Bow of Ra, but something else, too. something very strong. It leads out that way.", she said, pointing out into the dessert.

"I just got off the phone with Yousef, he's looking into Heneli's claims. Bizarro, you feel it moving, yet?", he asked. The plane and the transport within were in stealth mode, And the three Outlaws were huddled together, now that Jason was off the "phone". Bizarro was sitting a few feet away with both his hands gripping the axe, looking bored.

"No."

"Alright, well. Don't stop holding onto it. She'll call it eventually."

"Hopefully. What if she doesn't?"

"Then we're outta leads. I choose to be hopeful."

It wasn't long before they noticed the three figures flying their way, who appeared to not yet notice them.

"Bizarro, get down beneath the sand and take the axe with you, use your super hearing listen to what we say. Only come out when things get bad or I tell you to. Okay, bud?"

"Okay, Red Him.", with that the big kid dug his way into the earth with incredible speed. When the wind covered up the indention said dig made in the sand, Jason decided to, like he had with Artemis, rip off the band aid and deal with whatever D-listers the JLA had sent to investigate Heneli's death.

"HEY! LOOKING FOR SOMEONE?!"

It was only when the three figures became one in a split second that Jason recognized his MASSIVE mistake.

"Who are you?", said a voice he recognized as his Uncle Clark's instantly. He sounded irritated. Perhaps that was because he couldn't see through any of the three's masks.

"Nobody too bad, lotsa folk like us. Now, are you looking for someone?"

"Who. Are. You?"

"Fine. Red Hood, Ravager, Bane."

"Ravager? Rose Wilson?", Diana said, approaching.

"Hey."

"Hey...none of them killed Heneli. The Bow would consumed you by now, in one way or another. Still, I doubt all of you are just here, in the middle of the desert by coincidence. What are you doing here?"

"To save us all some time, can i see your lasso before I answer that?", she cautiously threw said lasso to him, and he caught it, wraping it around his fist before speaking, "We came here to help a friend. You know her. Artemis, of Bana-Mighdal. The general said someone that Artemis recognized as Akila, whom she previously told me the two of you fought and she killed, was alive and had been forcing him to collect godly shit by commiting all the genocides the poor bastard had to take credit for. An amazon we couldn't really make out but who we assume was Akila, then used the Bow of Ra and several other mystical artifacts to kill the general and take Artemis. We've been waiting for her to recall her axe, so that we can go rescue her."

"We don't need to wait any longer, I know exactly where they both went. The ruins of their old home, Bana-Mighdal."

"In that case", he said taking off the lasso of truth and throwing it back to the princess, "how 'bout a temporary partnership? You don't gotta trust us, but for either one of our groups, this is gonna be a tough fight, we might even lose a person or two. So, just until the crazy lady with the powers of the gods is down, we move together? Unless you wanna wait on whatever backup the league can send you?"

Superman looked to Diana and then to Jon, who he could see standing right behind the man in the red mask invisible, and then nodded.

"Sure."

"Terrific. In that case, can you tell him to just come out now?", he said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder

Jon appeared, making the other two criminals jump, "How did you know I was there?"

"Because I knew. Now, I've had a friend on standby as well. Please, please, do not freak out, there's no reason you should fear him."

"Okaaay, who is this friend of yours?", Clark said, before feeling a rumbling beneath his feet. He sidestepped, just as Bizarro burst through the sand.

"ME AM FRIEND HE REFERENCED!", he yelled.

"B-Bizarro?"

"That Bizarro is a clone of the Bizarro you knew, and, no, he doesn't have the old one's memories. He just got woke up for the first time yesterday."

"Wow...okay. Where did he come from? Lexcorp doesn't even exist anymore."

"He was made before the shutdown, he just never got woke up."

"Hmm. Just who are you?"

"Re-...Bizarro...where is the axe?"

"It right down-", he was pointing down, only for said axe to fly away at speeds so fast it might've broken the sound barrier a time or two, after it exploded from a nearby sand dune. Diana grabbed Supes before he could try and chase it.

"It's okay, based on the direction, I was right. Do not be upset, clone. You couldn't have stopped it if had tried."

"Thank you...uh...Red him, who she?"

"Wonder Woman, Jon, and-"

"Superman.", Bizarro interupted, as if just now recognizing his genetic template.

"Yes. It's nice to meet you, Bizarro.", Clark said, holding out a hand. Bizarro looked for a second to Jason, who nodded. At this, Bizarro smiled and bear-hugged the Kryptonian. Superman, thankfully, returned the gesture without a second thought. He always did think of Bizarro as a child too strong for his own good, and that seemed to still be the case.

"Friend.", Bizarro said, letting the man go. He looked to the other two and asked, "Friends?", holding his arms open.

Diana and, eventually, Jon gave the gentle giant the group hug he was angling for, solidifying their friendship forever in Bizarro's child-like mind.

"Friends!", he said, after the hug was over.

"Yup. Getting back on track, we taking our ride or yours? Cuz they won't be able to see ours coming, but yours is much faster."

"Eh. Speed isn't really key here. Stealth however, will be a massive boon. So, yours. Where is your 'ride'?", Diana said, while obviously giving the question some consideration.

"Right here.", Jason said, pressing the button on the underside of his gauntlet, which deactivated the jet's stealth mode. The Justice Leaguers barely flinched.

The three outlaws who couldn't fly and the two leaguers that wouldn't have been able to keep up got onto the jet, while the...(insert whatever they were to each other)s who both could fly and fly at speeds great enough to more than outmatch even Jason's jet prepared for take off. Bizarro prefered tunneling, but he wanted to fly with his new friend. Soon, he was, the two flying side by side, trailing right behind the jet. Diana gave Jason directions by pointing, Bane and Rose struck up a conversation with Jon about why he wasn't able to read any of their minds, and the Javelin 7 stayed put above Qurac, as they all fastly approached the ruins of the amazon city, Bana-Mighdal in the deserts of Egypt..

After having put back on her black and red battle gear, Artemis was looking over the vast rebuilt city, it's temples and pyramids looking prestine, and she couldn't help but imagine the Bana-Mighdal she'd grown up in. It had been beautiful and full of kindness, sure, but it was not perfect by any stetch of the imagination.

Did Akila not remember the two of them having to survive, sometimes with no clothes and often no food? Did she not remember the heinous conditions men were kept in, if they were even allowed to live? Had she forgotten the very reasons why they'd wanted to become Shim' Tar; so that the queen would be forced to confront those issues?

She couldn't have. But then, if she did remember, why then was she saying that everything would be as it was? Had she fixed those issues while Artemis had been in self-imposed exile? If so, why had male slaves still been present at the Battle for Bana-Mighdal? Why had she killed that man, even if he had been lying about her? That was not like her.

And why had she tried to distract from those things with her body? Artemis wasn't stupid. Of course she still loved Akila and had been more than happy to return the intimacy, but she was not stupid. She could only hope that even if that general had been telling the truth, she would be enough to save Akila this time. She just...even if it was all true, she couldn't kill her again.

"You woke up."

"Yes I did...I just...wanted to step out here, look at it all.", she said, not looking back. Her mistress was still on it's way, but it moved fast, she just needed a few minutes.

"It is beautiful. I'm just thankful I've been able to recreate it so seemlessly. Soon, our sisters will be back here. everything will be okay, as it was."

"Will it be okay, or as it was?"

"What do you mean? Are those two not the same?"

"Akila. We grew up together, and we fought together. Do you not recollect why we did so? Why we both wanted the Shim' Tar title so much?"

"Of course. To protect our home. A home that I failed once and will never fail again."

"That's not it. To fix our home. To ensure no amazons here would ever again suffer as we did."

"Of course. And none will, I swear."

"What about the men?"

"What about them my love?", she asked, genuinely confused.

"When we were growing up, after Henry...we swore that-"

"I remember. We'll fix that, too. We'll fix it all. I promise."

"Good. Good, I...I just wanted to make sure. So, my queen, how did you plan on fixing those problems?"

"Simple, really. The way the Themyscaraians fixed them. Magic. We couldn't do it before, but with these artifacts and the ones we have not yet found but eventually will, we will be able to. Then, we can focus on our true goal."

"True goal?"

"To conquer Man's World, of course."

To this, Artemis wheeled around, looking at Akila in shock. She was now dressed in her regular outfit as well, only she'd left the weapons of the gods in the room.

"Conquer? W-"

"Artemis you've spent so long in Man's World. Do you think they would ever accept us? They threaten even Princess Diana's people, and she has saved them more times than they will ever know. Even after we've stopped keeping male slaves, do you think they would ever stop trying to find some way, some small loophole in our words that would allow them to convince their soldiers to kill us? That they would ever see us as anything but people to war with and steal from?"

"Perhaps not, which is why we need to be ready this time."

"We were ready last time! You weren't there, our forces were armed, we were trained, we were strong, I had the Bow of Ra, and none of it was enough! We can't just be ready, we have to strike first, hard."

"And how many will die in that first strike? How many will die because of it?"

"No one other than the degenerate men who hide and run from justice.", Akila said, putting her hands on Artemis's hips

She kept Akila's chest away from her own with her free hand, and continued, "And who decides what justice is? You? The woman who killed her own sisters and attempted to destory a city she was sworn to defend?"

"...Don't do this, Artemis. I love you I-"

"And I love you. I also know you, and I know that if you were the you I know and love with all my being, you wouldn't have tried to lay with me to win my trust, you would've earned it with your words, by being the Akila I have loved since childhood. No. You...you are something else, entirely. Something I can not stand beside or be with.", choking up at the realisation that she would, in fact, have to kill Akila again.

"Well, my love, then I suppose you will have to die.", she said, her form shimmering to reveal that she was, in fact, wearing all gear, and wielding the Kopesh of Horus.

Artemis wasted no time. She brought out both her daggers and leaped backwards, jumping from the ledge. Akila simply smirked and turned around, heading back to retrieve the Bow of Ra. Artemis had barely hit the ground and hidden herself in an ally's shadow when she saw Akila appear once more, and saw the flash, blinding even so far away, of her preparing an arrow to fire.

When her mistress crashed through the building beside her, giving away her position, Artemis barely had time to jump a couple miles away when the entire radius went up in holy flames, debris from the annihilated buildings flying everywhere.

She threw her mistress at Akila mid-air by reflex, when searing pain exploded throughout her body, an arrow hitting the axe and blowing it far into the horizon as the unbearable pain caused her to fall from her jump instead of landing, injuring herself further.

She looked to her own body. She had a sprained wrist, a broken shin, blisters and minor burns along her side and back, and she was bruised and bloodied all over, including on her face. She was dead already. She picked herself up and onto her right knee, her left shin throbbing with pain. She looked to the now far away, almost speck that was Akila, when said speck ran fast enough that she all but teleported behind her. She felt the flames blistering her back and in vain attempted to recall her mistress, not wanting to go down without at least trying to put up a fight, when the flames disappeared.

She looked over her shoulder, hoping to see that Akila had regained her senses. When she saw the infamous Golden Promise in her hands, when she saw the cruel smile that her former love was wearing, she dismissed that thought and flailed around, backing up on her elbows and pathetically attempting to kick the shins of her opponent with her good leg. The demon in Akila's skin ignored her kicks, unfazed as she fashioned a noose from the golden rope, and continued stalking towards her. When she walked over Artemis, she kicked said worn down amazon in the side a multitude of times.

Her prey refused to cry as she held her now broken ribs. She felt her long red hair pulled up from the sand, her head with it, until her even her feet had left the ground. She felt it around her neck, saw the fact that Akila's other hand was holding onto the rest of the golden cord.

"Shhh, my Shim' Tar.", Artemis hated the fact that those words actually stopped her from making ant more noise, "Good, Good. Now obey, and love."

At those words the lasso grew brighter and Artemis's mind whent numb. Her mind was so clouded, in fact, that she didn't notice when her mistress eventually was in her hand again. Or when all but the artifacts other than the Kopesh of Horus and the Hood of Hecate were moved to her instead of Akila. Or even when all her injures were healed, the exposed bone from her shin mending itself in an unnaturally quick manner. All she was focused on were the words of Akila, her true love. Why had the two of them ever fought?

Jason and all the rest, including the two Kryptonians who had come inside when Jason activated stealth mode, gasped at the city that Diana had called a ruin. Apparently, what had been almost a crater last time Diana had seen it was now a sprawling city, filled with painted temples and large pyramids. There was some evidence, however, of trouble in the paradise. For instance, one spot looked like a hand grenade had went off, and there was some damage to a street half a mile away from that.

What was most troubling, though, was the fact that in the entirety of the city, Jason was detecting only two life forms.

"I suppose this is where we get off.", he said, pressing the button for the plane to maintain it's altitude and stealth, before pressing the button to prepare for a jump from the back. Hood and Bane were toted by Bizarro, while Ravager asked Diana, who accepted.

The group of seven quickly descended into the main courtyard, and decided to head for the explosion site first, then check out the two life signatures coming from the balcony far above, on the highest floor of what Diana informed Jason was a reproduction of the old queen's palace, the one that Akila had razed to the foudation with the Bow of Ra. Diana never took one eye off the empty balcony, looking ready for a flaming arrow at any second.

"Guys, might wanna go ahead and be ready. I don't like this setup. Could very well be a trap.", he said to Ravager and Bane, while looking around at their surroundings for any eyes, or unnatural shimmering. The both of them wordlessly went along, Rose activating her suit's defensive systems, like the Gravity Sheath, Bane pressing the button on his suit that started up the flow of his steroid, immidiatly adding another 50% to his size.

The Leaguers seemed to agree, as Diana got out her sword and shield, Superman started scanning the environment like Jason had been, and Jon fazed out, becoming invisible and unhittable. Even Bizarro nodded, realizing the seriousness of the situation, before burrowing into the ground before any of them could tell him not to on reflex.

At the crater, Diana confirmed that yes, it was the Bow's work.

Knowing that, and what that could've meant, the seven quickly made their way to the front large balcony, which lead into the would be queen's quarters. What they found, was disturbing to another degree.

It wasn't near the level of rape, otherwise Jason would've fucking lost it without even having an opinion on Artemis yet, but still. Artemis, in full gear and kitted out with several of the artifacts they had seen Akila wearing, had glassy-eyes and a half smile on her face, an expression Jason would attribute to smack users like his mother had been. The kind of expression that Roy had been wearing a few weeks ago, in that damn smoke house.

She was sitting on a large bed, with Akila right behind her. Akila was embracing her from behind with her chin on the red head's scalp, one hand on her left shoulder, the other on the golden lasso wrapped around her throat. The Bow of Ra was laid out on the bed on one side of the "couple", and Artemis's Mistress, slightly scorched, was on the other side. Either Jon attempted to walk forward, thinking himself unnoticed, or she did it as precaution, either way, Akila, an almost two-face looking woman who was somehow taller than the woman who was a head taller than him, took her hand from Artemis's shoulder and made a sideways fist in front of her throat, the golden kopesh from last night appearing an inch from her neck. The red head either was made oblivious to this by the lasso, or was made to not care for her own life, as she didn't flinch.

"Not another step.", she said, in a sickeningly Artemis-like regal tone.

Diana, who'd taken the lead, this being her case at the end of the day, held her hands up in surrender, and she continued.

"Leave. Now. I have the domination of a planet to plan."

"Not happening. Not without her."

Akila looked amused, "You know what princess? If you really want her, then you can have her. Artemis...Kill them all."

Artemis's eyes, still glassy, hardened, and she lifted her mistress from the bed as Akila rose to her knees, still on the bed, and kept one hand on the golden cord that still kept the two tethered. Art spoke in an empty, hesitant voice that sounded nothing like the calm, but strong amazon he'd met yesterday morning.

"Y-Yes, my queen, it will be done."

Before Jason or Diana could say a word, Artemis leaped forward at speeds so fast Diana's eyes could barely track her, so fast her axe's blade would been stuck in him had he been the target. Thankfully he wasn't, but Diana went flying through the cluster of challengers. Jon caught her, but the sheer force at which Artemis's axe had hit her bracers with had caused them them to rocket back and hit her head, something Jason had deemed impossible years ago, when he'd been Robin and seen her easily deflect artillery shells with said silver bracers.

Jason and Rose were ready from her next assault. Jason was even more inhumanly fast and strong then he usually let on, and Rose, in her father's words, could see faster than most humans, and while he outmatched her for strength she was even faster than he. Now that all their lives were in danger, the animals inside the two showed themselves. Even with her speed, the two dodged, and while Jason grabbed the axe with both hands, Rose, Bane and Supes at her back, rushed at Akila, all of them recognizing that if they cut off the bitch's power of Artemis's mind, she was fucked.

Unfortunately, Akila barely cared, and flipped up the white canvas hood that had been on her back. When she did, her face became encased in shadow, and when she held up her hand, the three stopped dead in their tracks.

"Foolish mortals. This hood provides what would be my rather paltry magic with the power of the goddess of magic, Hecate herself!"

Meanwhile, Jason was struggling, back literally against the wall, to keep Artemis from crushing his windpipe. A normal amazon, Jason could've kicked her ass, but she was at least a couple multitudes stronger than she had been before, and she was getting stronger by the second now that the effects of her divine gear were being boosted by Akila's magic. Jason pulled out the last stop that could help him at this point, and used some magic of his own. He mentally "attacked" his opponent, forcing the will deep within her to magnify.

For a second, this seemed to be a grievous mistake, as she overpowered him in a second. But, a second after that, her axe clattered to the floor, and she fell onto the ground, her knees hitting the stone as her hands tried in vain to pull the golden lasso from her neck. Akila just snatched the lasso back while Jason picked himself up, Artemis flying backwards and onto the bed. Her free hand grabbed the back of Artemis's head, and suddenly the fight Jason's magic had put in her was gone.

"Fine attempt. Artemis, kill that one first.", she said, pointing to Jason, who was more than ready this time around. When Artemis, axe back in hand, dashed at him, he dodged her swing, sidestepped her punch and booted her with all he had, right into the now recovered Diana.

He then charged up his All Caste strike, the same technique he had used to kill many immortal foes, including Ra's Al Ghul himself. He turned around and jumped up to hit his target, the bitch.

She looked like she would've blasted him back into the stone floor, when the floor and bed she'd been standing on shattered, sending the Bow of Ra flying, and revealing an angry Bizarro. He brought both his arms up and hooked them through Akila's, distracting her for the second that Jason needed. When it hit her, the three who'd been frozen for the rest of the fight now joined it. Bane and Supes went to help Diana and Jon with Artemis. Rose, however, stayed to help him and Bizarro kick the shit out of Akila, who would've been on her knees if not for B, but was still clutching onto the end of the Golden Promise.

Before Jason could start prying off her fingers, the kopesh from earlier appeared once more in her free hand slashing at Bizarro, who, thankfully, knew to avoid it. She broke out of Bizarro's hold and dashed forward, slashing at Jason with it in outrage, but Rose jumped in front of him, her GS sending the blade and it's wielder spinning like a top.

On her second spin, the Golden Promise now restraining her arms as well as Artemis's mind, Bizarro uppercutted her away from the crater the once elegant bed had become. She flew through the air for a second, before Jason hit her with an All Caste strike again, following up by putting all his might into a stomp on her wrist, forcing her to finally let go of the Lasso.

Art immediately fell to the floor, only being stopped by Diana. With her still okay hand and with everyone's attention, Akila tried once more to flip back on her hood, but Bizarro had ripped it off her back while the two had fought, so she settled for the kopesh. Jason was about to pull out Horus and finish her off, when she stabbed the sword into the ground, dissolving in a flash of light. When they looked back for it, the Bow of Ra and the hood were gone as well.

Jason and the others huddled around Artemis, who was still grabbing her throat, which had three distinct red lines across it from where the lasso had held her. The slight injuries she sustained in the fight were nothing to be too worried about, though, and she was soon on her feet, allowing Bizarro to help her stay standing.

"Akila...she…Damnit. I thought I could save her. I thought I...I thought I was enough this time. Where-"

"She's gone, vanished. Do you know where she went?"

"I...I think do. But you can not follow me there."

"Red Her-", Bizarro was cut off by her finger on his lips.

"I am not being dramatic, it's sealed against anyone who is not an amazon of Bana-Mighdal through magic. The Temple of the Shim' Tar. It was the temple I laid her to rest in, one of the only buildings left standing after her onslaught when the bow originally overtook her."

"Damn. Can you guys call in your friend Dr. Fate, or…?"

"Dr. Fate is busy, as is the Justice League Dark team. Nobody else would know how to break an enchantment that old...that strong.", Diana said, never looking away from Artemis.

"That's okay, this is something I need to do alone, in any case."

"Artemis-"

"My friend, thank you for the concern. Thank you for all you have done in the very short time we have known each other, but this is not your decision to make. Now,", She paused, taking a knee for a few seconds as her amulet grew brighter and what wounds she had mended back, until she just looked like someone after a jog, not a life or death brawl, "MISTRESS, TO ME!". Her giant axe flew at her from the corner it had clattered into during the fight, and she caught it with no effort.

She then turned and quickly walked out with purpose on her face, before leaping from the balcony to the oldest-looking building in the small city of paradise, a tall, far-off temple made from light grey stone Diana seemed to know all too well.

"Well...what do we do now?"

"We can at least wait at the steps. If Akila wins...we will still be able to stop her. She gave Artemis that equipment for a reason. Using the tools of the Gods, it strains a person. Using all those tools of all those Gods...I'm almost certain Akila was a few more hours away from combustion."

Artemis had to take a few steps to land without tripping. The boots of Hermes...she would have to watch out for the unnatural momentum they provided at even the slightest provocation, as if they took after their old master when it came to his habit of going overboard. Amazons knew of that habit more than most, the God had professed his love for practically even woman of Bana-Mighdal or Themyscira he'd ever laid his eyes on, including Diana, her mother Hypollita, and even Shimtari herself.

Stop stalling, Artemis. Finish this like you should have last night when you were too busy making fool of yourself and sharing the bed of a demon in Akila's skin.

She hated the temple she was now decending into, she hated what she was going to have to do in mere moments, and she hated the Gods for forcing the duty she once preformed long ago, a duty that had given her nightmares for years, on her again. None of that hatred, though, even compared to the hatred she fely for herself. Last night, if she had not been so busy with tending to her and her old lover's...needs, she could have used one of the many opportunities she'd been given to end the situation before it got out of hand. Before the kind man, whatever his name had been, and his friends or that large child in an overpowered body the two of them had saved could've been put in any danger.

No, instead of being a warrior, instead of being a Shim' Tar, she'd dishonored herself and lain with a madwoman. I woman who, in her gut, she knew was gone. Anything that had happened after to her had been less than she'd deserved. There was only one punishment befitting someone who'd done what she had. Death. There were no willing executioners around up to the task that she would've given the satisfaction of killing her, but a long enough fall onto her head would do the trick.

But that was for later. At that moment, Artemis had an enemy of Bana-Mighdal to annihilate, and a Bow of Ra to retrieve.

She finished steeling her thoughts at the bottom if the long staircase, at the very large doorway missing it's door, which was flanked by two candles. The grey stone was even older inside the temple, but none of it was in disrepair. The souls of the mayn, many Shim' Tar warriors kept the stonework temple from even chipping, let alone collapsing.

Artemis took a few steps into the massive circular burial chamber, where hundreds of amazon bodies were still kept even now. Behind her, the doorway glowed red, and when she turned she saw that a red barrier of magic had blocked her off from the outside world. That didn't matter. She didn't come here so that she could just flee.

She readied her axe in her two hands for a heavy throw or strike, and started slowly walking to the center of the large room. It didn't take but five seconds after she stopped moving her a fire arrow to fly her way. She caught it mid-air, and threw it into the protection field before it could blow up, causing it to turn to ash. She turned, and with one hand, she threw her mistress straight at her attacker. Akila had been readying another arrow, but she still put bow on her back quick enough to get out the Kopesh of Horus, and tried to smack aside Artemis's axe, to no avail. At the lest second, however, she dodged the axe's blade, and charged her Artemis.

Artemis, in turn, recalled her mistress and was about to swing, when Akila dissapeared. She reappeared two steps from Artemis's back, already swinging her curved sword. Artemis responded by using her left hand, and the gauntlet of Atlad attached to it to knock aside the blade a few times, before her right hand brought around her mistress in a wide arc. So powerful Akila didn't bother with attempting to stop it, instead jumping over. She had no time to again ready her weapon, however, before Artemis had brought the axe around again and again, all but chasing her around the room.

Just when Artemis thought she had the upper hand, the cruel, undead smile she'd worn earlier once again appeared across Akila's face, and the woman turned. The shadows hiding her hooded face amplified, the hood began to glow white, and Akila put away her weapon. The huge woman, tall even to Artemis, held out her plams, and Artemis flew backwards, slamming through the statue of another Shim' Tar and into the wall behind it, her axe far from her. Akila was already taking out the Golden Promise again as she walked towards Artemis, when suddenly, Artemis was somewhere else.

She was standing on a tall rock formation, in her favorite place in the world; Zion Narional Park in Utah. Sure, there were many more magical or beautiful places that she'd been to, but all of them held painful memories or had been filled with people who she'd disliked. In Zion, she was free to just be with nature as an amazon she be, without magical beasts or human poachers ruining the experience. It didn't hurt that, at such heights as she was now standing, the wind and the sun together made her feel like all she would have to do was close her eyes, and she would be home. Home to...focus.

Artemis snapped out of the illusion just in time to avoid becoming a brainless slave once more, by headbutting Akila so hard, the magic holding her in place stopped ling enough for her to land a right hook, sending Akila flying. Artemis didn't wait, however, and sped around the flying body of her enraged old friend, elbowing her into the floor before she could break yet another statue. As Akila attempted to get rocks out of her mouth, Artemis shin-kicked the woman straight up into the ceiling, catching her as she fell by the throat, before slamming her back down into the indentation her body had already made once.

She then moved her right hand from Akila's throat to her head, ripping of the Hold of Hecate and thowing it aside. She then kicked Akila in her ribs, just as she had done before, and then dropped onto her knees onto of her. Artemis unleashed a scream of outrage as she pounded her fists into her old friend's now terrified face,beating her until the stone behind her head was cracked, and broken. Akila tried one last time to summon the Kopesh of Horus, but as it appeared, Artemis snatched it out of her hand, along with the Golden Promise on her hip. She threw them both aside. She ripped the Bow of Ra from Akila's back, and before Akila had even opened her eyes, one of which had burst, she'd gotten three arrows ready, leveling them with the opponent between her legs.

"No, p-please, Artemis, it was the Bow, it-"

"I know it was, my love...but you still must die all the same."

"I-I know that, but please...you know the kinds of horrors that have come to be when that bow was used by those who aren't worthy, who use it against the will of Ra!"

"Yes, I do. In fact,", she pulled the arrows back even further, "I'm looking at one of them right now."

She then loosed her arrows, sending one into Akila's forehead, one into her neck, and one into her heart. Instantly, the body began to glow as bright as the sun and Artemis covered her eyes. She was certain she would be burned as Akila was, that her mind would also be taken from her.

But when she opened her eyes, she found no flames upon her body, only a charred corpse between her legs, and a now open doorway.