Alfred turned on the lights in the batcave. Being front of the batcopter was a strange sensation; it had been many years since the last time that she had seen it. Barbara never ceased to marvel at that place. It was as if the years left the place untouched.

Alfred helped her to climb in the chopper. Oracle locked her seat belt over her waist. Alfred sat next to her, in the pilot's seat.

"Is it ready?" the red head asked.

"Always.. I'm a prudent man."

"I'm glad to hear it."

"Just like old times," he said.

Barbara smiled and turned on her laptop. "Not too old."

"I agree with that. Oh, my, I forgot my eyeglasses."

Barbara raised her brow and looked him with wide eyes.

"Just a joke." He smirked.

Diana looked for an exit but was unsuccessful. She tried to figure a plan, but Circe had designed her trap well. She looked at Huntress, she had been quiet for more than ten minutes. The girl had her back against the wall. She noticed her breathing quickly.

She kneeled at her side.

"Are you okay?" She took her chin between her hands. The girl answered with a soft groan, half opening her eyes. Diana saw her feral pupils were dilated and her eyes had a yellow color. She touched her forehead, it was cold, very cold. "Don't worry, must be the antidote." Diana said in low voice. "It's normalizing your meta cells." She brushed her hair gently and smiled at her. The girl closed her eyes again.

A powerful blast smashed against Diana's back and she cried out. She felt her body breaking in a thousand of pieces and passed out falling over Huntress.

"Sorry, I don't want any risks." Circe grinned, walking inside the cell.

Huntress growled angrily. She didn't like anyone hurting her friend. With great effort, she jumped toward Circe. The sorceress heard her and raised her hand in time to shoot her with a blast of energy. Huntress smashed her back roughly against the rock wall and slipped into unconsciousness on the ground.

"Dammit." Circe mumbled angrily. She ordered her beasts. "Take them to the place, now!!! We don't have time. We need to start the ceremony."

Two of the beasts dragged both women out of the cell.

Dinah sat in the back seat. Barbara turned to her. "Let me see that wound."

"We need to find Huntress first."

"I have her signal, I left the necklace on her as a precaution so I'd know where she was if she escaped."

"Do you have a license to drive this thing, Alfred?" the teen asked, closing the door.

"Well, I don't understand why the DMV revoked my driver's lisence. I'm just sixty-five."

"So do you don't have a license to drive a car?"

"No..."

"Since when?"

"Don't ask, Miss Dinah."

"And if you don't have a driver license, I'm sure that you don't have a pilot's license."

"Right." He winked at her.

"Hey guys, ever noticed that we are crime fighters and that we break the law often?"

"No comments, Dinah," Barbara said.

She knew she needed to wake up. The pain was intense, she needed to fight against it. She needed to regain consciousness. She opened her eyes, feeling her lids close again. It hurt to swallow. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to think. She was in a cave, a big one and she was lying inside a hole filled with clay, just her head was out of it. She tried to move but her hands and legs were restrained, spread eagle with her magic lasso, and her body wasn't responding.

"Welcome, your highness." Circe said, preparing her sacrifice ritual. She was mixing ingredients inside a cup. "You've recovered already. I really underestimated your power. Make yourself comfortable. This ritual brewing will take me a few minutes." Circe laughed and looked at the amazon. "I couldn't kill you out right. That might fulfill the prophecy as well. Those Gods can be pretty tricky. I had to ponder your conundrum carefully. This is my answer. The nostrum of regression." She raised the cup "I'll send you back to your original clay form."

Diana saw Huntress hanging unconsciously from the ceiling of the big cave. Circe had chained her to the ceiling.

"Don't worry about your friend," the sorceress said. "As soon as I finish with you, she will be the next."

Diana closed her eyes, she needed to recover, the power of the wizard was strong and she still felt so numb.

Huntress felt pressure on her wrists. It hurt, she opened her eyes and blinked. She must be dreaming. She was hanging from a ceiling; her hands chained over her head, and she had an iron collar around her neck, attached with a long chain to her wrists. She examined the place. She was inside a big cave and she could see down a hole with mud. A chill ran down her spine; lying in the mud was Diana, her head was barely visible, and she didn't look well. A woman was standing up, mixing ingredients inside a strange cup pronouncing Greek words. Around the place, that was like a big circle, were some of Circe's beast. Where the hell was she? She didn't remember anything, but it seemed she would have to investigate it later. Being chained wasn't a good thing. She surely had pissed off the sorceress and she needed to escape. She pulled her restraints, trying to break them.

Circe turned her head when she heard the chains moving. "Hey, you are awake. Don't worry little girl, the chains are unbreakable, they were forged by Ares, the God of War; save your energy. Keep you strength for when your time comes."

Now Huntress was extremely worried, that thing about Gods and monsters wasn't her favorite topic, and it seemed it was not just fantasy. She pulled again unsuccessfully "Who the hell are you?" Huntress grumbled in annoyance to the sorceress.

"Princess of Themyscira's executor, and yours too." Circe laughed. "I see you don't know me, little girl." Circe faced her raising her head. "I was once the princess of Colchis, but my traitorous subjects killed my weakling husband. So I found refuge on an Island and I swore I would use my magic and potions to avenge myself on the inferior people who dared to stand against me!!"

"And people say I'm the weird one." Huntress looked for a way to escape. The amazon seemed to be groggy and her situation wasn't any better than her own.

Circe mixed the last ingredients inside her cup. "Unfortunately, my sorcery was ineffective beyond Aeaea. So I used the seductive songs of the Sirens to lure wayward seafarers to my lair. Those who survived the jagged rocks, faced me. I made them beg for the comfort of death, as you will do it in a few... But it wasn't enough, I wanted more power, I needed it. I would have sold my soul for it."

"I'll recommend you my psychiatrist."

"Shut up, you insolent girl!" The sorceress threw a ball of magic at her that hit her in the chest. The girl grunted; that had hurt. "Hecate answered my prayers! I was to be the instrument of her vengence against the Gods who wronged her and the humanity that worshipped them! She made me a proposition. To attain immortality, eternal beauty and incredible power, all that I needed to do was to trade our souls!"

Huntress recovered quickly after the blast and shook her head. Circe smirked at her.

"I found that to be a most agreeable exchange. Her last words were rather cryptic: 'Upon the death of a witch and the birth of a witch, Hecate, by name and choice, shall reposses her soul' With a blinding blast of mystic flame, Hecate's withered husk and my unholy soul burned to ashes... And from those new ashes was born a new glorious Circe! Me!!!".

"Very nice. The Exorcist, Part III" Huntress mocked.

"Laugh stupid girl; you will pray for death in a few minutes. My terror grew so widespread in Colchis, I developed the Bestiamorph, transforming men into beast and every man feared that any woman he met could be Circe, mate suspected mate. Suspicion beget hatred and hatred beget violence. You see, Hecate felt betrayed by both sexes, so both sexes had to suffer. As long as men and women distrusted each other, there could be no peace.. man used his physical strength to dominate while woman learned that sex itself was a formidable weapon. It was when the amazons were born."

"Dammit... that was a history lesson, I hate history." Huntress raised her head and examined the chains. She needed to think fast.

"Laugh, laugh, girl." Circe took her potion. "As soon as I finish with her, I'll finish with you." Circe went to the platform with the potion between her hands. The wizard began to speak in greek.

My potion is ready, it's mixed with the mud around you, it will start to change you. You'll feel the earth mingling with you, become one with you.... Degenerating you, reverting you back to the clay from which you were formed, back to non-existence.. And that, your royal highness will be that.

Hunteess didn't understand a word but that sounded bad, she kept fighting but it seemed that bitch was right, she couldn't break the chains.

Circe, I'm not your enemy. the amazon said to her.

That doesn't matter now, your time is over. Circe began to pour the potion over the mud where Diana was. After empty it, she moved back. Hecate, I give to you this woman... now she is yours...."

"I need to learn Greek... What are you doing to her?" Huntress interrupted, feeling she didn't have much time, she pulled again.

Circe watched in amusement as she tried, unsuccessfully, to break the chains. "I'm going to reverse her to her original form: clay. I have ruled from my Island for centuries, my corrupt influence has spread throughout the world. So pervasive and subtle is it that many of the vice merchants who run my operations don't even know that they serve me. In fact, only my immediate subjects knew I even existed... until this amazon came along."

Diana began to feel numb, a strange tickle began to crawl over all her skin.

"People listened to her!" Circe shouted. "That damned amazon philosophy! Despite my efforts, her words reached even here!!" Suddenly the mood of the wizard changed, she turned angry. "Those who listened began to see the truth about the witch on the Island... they began to resent me, to hate me!! They sought to destroy me!. When some of my beasts rebelled. I had to kill them. Because of her, the rebellion grew!!."

"I see, leadership crisis." Huntress grunted, she looked out of the corner of her eye at Diana, her eyes fluttered, she didn't look well. Time was up.

The amazon felt her body getting heavy and her mind becoming foggy as she saw flashes of light in front of her eyes.

"Right, I can't break the chains," Huntress said, grabbing them with her hands "But I can break the ceiling." she flipped, so that her feet were on the ceiling and pushed hard.

A sleepy sensation began to fill the senses of the amazon, she couldn't keep her eyes open. Circe smiled crossing her arms as she watched her. "Now, the mud and you begin to transform into just... one thing."

Huntress pulled as hard as she could, the rock began to crack. "Come on!" she growled, with a last pull, a big part of the ceiling broke and she fell down. The sound make Circe turn her head. She and the beasts ran to avoid being smashed by the rocks. Some of it fell over her potions and they exploded.

Huntress fell in the mud, next to Diana. Many rocks fell around her. She looked at the princess "You called?" But she seemed to be out cold. "Yes, I guess so." Huntress began to clean the mug around Diana's arms quickly to free them.

Diana opened her eyes and looked at Huntress, but she couldn't react, she was in shock. Huntress saw the princess was restrained with her own golden lasso. Huntress began to undo the knots as fast as she could before Circe attacked her again. She was marveled by herself, she never had been good undoing them. In a few seconds, she was able to free her.

"Can you stand up?" she asked the amazon, but her eyes were blank. "Okay, that means "no"." Huntress knew she was in bad condition, she needed to move her out of there. She picked up the lasso and loading the amazon over her shoulder, she jumped out of the mud, just as a blast of energy blasted the hole.

"Stop her!" Circe shouted.

Huntress kicked a beast, moving it out of her way, and ran through the corridors as fast as she could. The cave began to collapse, killing the beasts.

Huntress ran, staggering through the corridors. It was hard to run with her hands still restrained and the amazon on her shoulder, and she didn't feel so well either. She hid in a small part of the cavern. "Diana? Can you hear me?" she asked, but she didn't get a response; she began to clean the mud that was covering the princess body. "Are you all right?"

The princess half opened her eyes and looked at her.

"We need to go, can you stand up?" Huntress asked, trying, unsuccessfully, to unlock her chains.

The princess shook her head.

"Okay. So, we need to leave here before that bitch finds us." Huntress couldn't break the chains and looked around. Suddenly, she remembered her necklace and touched it. "Oracle, do you copy?"

::Huntress? Are you alright?:: Barbara couldn't hide her emotion.

"I am... but the princess, not so much, she looks bad. I don't know where we are..."

::You are in Green Mountain, a few kilometers out of New Gotham. We are flying toward it. What's wrong with Diana?::

"Circe used a spell on her to revert her to clay, I moved her out but she doesn't look well. Now Circe is looking for us." Huntress heard fingers tapping on a keyboard "To your right, go to your right, there is the exit. Get her out of there."

"Got it." Huntress loaded the amazon over her shoulder again and ran towards the exit. She found it and walked outside the cave; the sky was full of stars.

::I'll be there in 10 minutes.::

A blast hit Huntress' back. Luckily, it smashed against the belt of the amazon and it just pushed them making them fall forward. Huntress stood up as fast as she could.

"Stupid girl!" Circe groaned. "I'll kill you! You screwed it all up!" She shot a powerful energy ball at her. Huntress jumped to avoid it and began to move quickly to avoid her energy balls and to move her far from the unmoving amazon.

The sorceress raised her hands and spoke again in Greek: I call you Hecate, give me the power and the strength to kill this mortal!

Huntress didn't understand a word but she knew it was best to run. She hid behind a tree that burned under the power of the sorceress. She jumped down, but before she could land on the ground, a bright light covered her, she cried and smashed hard against the rocks.

Circe laughed loudly, flying over her. Die!!

Huntress felt her skin burning and grunted in pain.

You will be just ashes. Circe shouted angrily. Beg for a fast death!!

"Huntress, what's going on?" Barbara felt her heart beating faster when she heard her scream.

Dinah looked at her, worried.

"Huntress? Huntress, are you all right?" Barbara waited a few seconds and touched Alfred's shoulder. "Hurry up!"

"Beg for a fast death or I'll let it consume you slowly and painfully!" Circe smirked walking toward Huntress, who was curled up on the floor trying to endure the energy blast.

The girl crawled on the floor trying to move far from the death light, but it followed her, she stumbled down. Her clothes began to smoke.

"It's your last chance, beg for a fast death!!" Circe shouted.

Huntress tried to stand up again, she was on fire.

"Damn, stubborn girl!"