A/N: The Inhibitor collar is a device that were seen in Kingdom Come. They release trace amounts of drugs that make their wearer mentally malleable and seem similar to the ones used by Marvel's X-Men.

Some parts of this chapter might make some who are squeamish or have hemophobia a bit uncomfortable obviously YMMV and I tried not to get too graphic but just to be safe I'm putting a warning here so proceed at your own risk.

The Tower Of London

Calvin Thomas was on guard duty, it was dull work same routine day in and day out. He was part of a team assigned to guard the Crown Jewels, the way he and his teammates saw it they were merely props. At one point there may have been a need for armed guards to protect the jewels but nowadays with the advent of laser tripwires, pressure sensitive floor plates inferred cameras, R.F.I.D tracers and motion detectors the jewels were nearly unreachable. Attempting to steal the jewels was like trying to rob Fort Knox; you'd have to be insane to even think about trying it.

That's why when there was a loud crumbling and a huge gaping hole appeared in the wall in front of him he thought he'd fallen asleep, when he saw a Giantess of a woman looking at him he knew he was asleep. That all ended when she reached through the hole with a hand that was larger than his whole body and grabbed him in a tight grip.

Suddenly everything was much too real.

He tried to struggle against her grip but it was like trying to a fight against a hydraulic press, she cocked her arm back and suddenly a sick feeling hit his gut.

The last thing he saw was the ground racing up to meet him.

Fifteen minutes earlier

Doris Zeul and Barbara Ann Minerva stood outside the Tower trying not to attract too much attention. Given the fact that Doris was six and a half feet tall and had fiery red hair made that effort somewhat superfluous.

Barbara Ann glanced at her watch. "We move in two minutes, look sharp Dee."

Barbara Ann was almost the exact physical opposite of her companion; whereas everything about Doris screamed 'look at me' Barbara Ann was the very definition of average. Her hair was shoulder length and brown, she was of average height and weight and her features were plain.

But much like her companion nothing about Barbara Ann was average.

Doris had grown up in the circus where she had been dubbed Giganta for her unusual height, her parents had died when she had been fourteen leaving her orphaned and to fend for herself.

Without much of a formal education she had done what many people in similar desperate situation's had, she turned to a life of crime. At first it was only to provide food for herself but she had quickly discovered she had a talent for crime and had fallen in with a gang.

Because of her size Doris had always intimidated those around her and as she grew older she had found out she was stronger and tougher than ordinary people, at fifteen she was shot but the slug left nothing but a slight bruise. Six months later she had been hit with a pipe that had actually bent around her, but she had barely felt the impact. A few weeks later she discovered she could increase her height and mass, becoming proportionately stronger and more durable as she did. She quickly became the leader of her gang and consolidated a power base for herself becoming infamous in the criminal underworld.

Then she had heard about the diamonds.

Lex Luthor was going to be importing over a hundred million dollars in diamonds from a buyer into a warehouse owned by Luthorcorp. The idea of a take so large had been irresistible to her.

Arriving at the warehouse it had all gone so smoothly the guards were down, the alarms disabled…it was a cake walk.

That was when she had found the truth, there were no diamonds…it had been a trap. Before she quite knew what was going on the room had been flooded with a colorless, odorless tranquilizer.

When she awoke she found out she had been 'recruited' to Project 33.1.

It seemed Luthor had been intrigued by the tales of her exploits and had leaked the information about the diamond transference and like a moth drawn to flame she had played right into his hand. During her stay at the facility unspeakable things had been done to her, things that would turn any ethical scientist stomach. In fact her body still bore the physical scars of her time in 33.1, and she was one of the lucky ones. Not all of the subjects had made it, only the hardiest and strongest had managed to survive through the experiments.

The lead scientist, Doctor Harper had referred to the process as 'trimming the fat'

At first she tried to escape several times but inhibitor collars and massive dosages of electricity had discouraged any further attempts. Hour by hour, day by day they wore on her until she finally broke. By the time Barbra Ann had found her she was a mere shell of herself, praying for death each day so she didn't have to endure another of Doctor Harper's sessions. Barbara Ann had given her hope and due to her status she had been able to pull favors for Doris, occasionally even getting Harper to back off and give her a few hours without the collar.

She found herself living for those hours, were the constant fog she seemed to be in was lifted slightly and it was all thanks to the kindness of Barbara Ann.

The way she figured it she owed a life debt to Barbara Ann and would do anything to protect her friend's interests, no matter the cost to herself or others.

In contrast Barbara Ann Minerva had grown up in a well-adjusted and loving family. At age five it was discovered she was a child prodigy; she graduated from high school at fifteen, college at nineteen and had her doctorate before she turned twenty five. She was a young paleontologist with the world in front of her and it seemed to be on the fast track to a prosperous and fruitful life. Her dissertation on the Urzkartagan tribe, a lost civilization in the heartland of Africa had even sparked enough interest that a private expedition had been funded by a grant from Luthorcorp.

After months of searching her team had succeeded in their attempt Unfortunately her team hadn't been prepared for what they had stumbled onto, one night on the full moon the Urzkartagan had descended on her team's camp and had brutally slain them all, sparing only her.

She had been taken before the leader of the raiding party and one of the warriors had asked him a question She had a basic enough understanding of their native tongue to understand that the leader's response confirmed that she 'was the one'.

What that meant she would soon find out.

She came to and found herself stripped naked and tied spread eagle to an altar of some kind, a low purplish haze hung around the room and although Barbara Ann couldn't see them she could hear what sound like dozens of men chanting in the background.

She had tried to escape her bonds but it was futile, the high priest (she assumed that was what he was given his manner of dress) noticing she was awake and decided to proceed with the next part of the ceremony.

This involved cutting her beating heart from her chest.

She vaguely felt the large knife in his hand impact her under her sternum as he proceeded with his grisly task. She was drugged and hallucinating, she had to be…it was the only way she could explain how she wasn't feeling what would have been unbearable pain or fainted from the massive blood loss.

She watched as her lifeblood spilled from the gaping wound in her chest and the altar she was tied to begin to glow and a wispy…shadowy thing entered her body.

Suddenly the pain that had mercifully been numbed was suddenly cranked up to full intensity, a piercing, burning sensation unlike anything she had ever endured seemed to hit every pain receptor in her body at once. She was screaming at the top of her lungs and yet the pain went on and on until mercifully she blacked out.

When she awoke she found herself whole again she also knew why the Urzkartagan had spared her; she was to be the avatar for their Cheetah god in a desperate gamble to repel a neighboring tribe that was threatening their survival they were attempting to call on their god to smite their enemies for them. That night the woman she had been, the woman with the world at her fingertips had died. She had been reborn as the Cheetah.

The god had been summoned but there was the matter of tribute. Her blood had merely acted as a conduit and anchoring force to the dimension the god had inhabited.

As they say there is no such thing as a free lunch.

The Cheetah had killed all the men around her, unsatisfied she had gone to the village slain the entire Urzkartagan population and feasted on their blood as well. In a poetic twist of fate the Urzkartagan had been undone by their own sword as is often the case when one meddles with force beyond one's comprehension.

The night passed and Barbara Ann awoke the next day to find herself naked and in a pool of carnage. Every action she had undertaken she remembered in vivid detail and while she felt little sympathy for her captors' demise given what they had done to her she was still horrified that she had been party to their wholesale slaughter.

She had become the host to something awful and perverse…she was tainted.

She had stumbled away from the ruins of the Urzkartagan village and made it to a neighboring tribe whereupon she promptly collapsed.

She remained unconscious for nearly four weeks when she had awoken on the night of the full moon, she had involuntarily assumed the form of the Cheetah and had killed again, that seemed to be the deity's cost, in order to call on its power a life had to be sacrificed and its blood consumed.

Desperate Barbara Ann tried to kill herself, but every time she nearly succeeded the Cheetah would seize her body at the last moment and save her life. Unable to do anything else she retreated deep to the jungle surviving on animals and the occasional native or tourist that ventured too close to her lair. It was there that a Luthorcorp team sent to investigate her disappearance found her. They managed to subdue her and returned her to America.

She had been kept in a facility and monitored and at the full moon she had unwillingly transformed and had slain eight people in the facility before she had been subdued.

When she next awoke she was facing Lex Luthor (from behind a reinforced cell). He had asked to hear her story and what had transpired on the expedition, seemingly unconcerned about the deaths of eight of his employees.

She answered him truthfully and when she finished Lex offered her a deal; she was to work for him as an enforcer and he'd put his best people onto finding a cure for her and provide her with the prey the Cheetah required. Naturally she jumped at the offer, willing to do anything to be rid of the curse of the Cheetah. She had been assigned to guard one of Lex's facilities a job she did It was there she had encountered Doris who had been trying to kill herself. Feeling revitalized in the hope Lex had offered her she had prevented the other woman from taking her life, explaining that if there was hope for her there was hope for anyone. Barbara Ann had offered Doris her friendship and Doris accepted, and shortly thereafter the two of them formed a deep kinship.

Things had been looking up and then Green Arrow and his team had shown up.

They had been there to 'liberate' the metahumans in the facility and in the process they had destroyed the computer banks containing the information that had been painstakingly gathered about Barbara Ann's condition, destroying any chance of a cure being found.

She had flown into a rage and attacked the Green Arrow and was close to savaging him for what he had done but she had been stopped by a young sorceress named Zatanna. That would've been the end of her but Doris showed up and at great personal risk had managed to fend Green Arrow's team off long enough for her to gather up Barbara Ann and escape. They had fled to Europe and Barbara Ann had begun to do her own research on a way to rid herself of the creature inside her. Thus far progress had been minimal and they managed to fund Barbara Ann's research for a cure by stealing and acting as mercenaries. She believed she was close to finding a cure several exotic plants had shown promising preliminary results and she believed that after this job she'd have enough money to complete her task.

"It's time, you ready B.A?"

Barbara Ann looked over at Doris and saw the determination on her face and nodded. "Let's do it."

Doris closed her eyes briefly and focused, slowly at first and then quicker she began to grow larger and larger. Her muscle and bones became denser Her clothes were made of a special material that allowed them to stretch with her as she grew. Before long she stood close to twenty-five feet tall (about a fourth of her maximum obtainable height).

Meanwhile Barbara Ann took a deep breath and called upon the power of the Cheetah, Hoping this would be the last time she would be subjected to this torture. As always It started with her eyes, the irises began to change from brown to gold while the pupil became vertical and elongated. Golden fur sprouted all across her body and her bones began reshape as her muscle increased in mass and density. Crying out in pain she fell on all fours as her fingernails were replaced by three inch claws and brown spots began to pattern themselves along her fur. Her spine elongated and a tail began to form from where her tail bone ended, her jaw unhinged and her teeth sharpened and lengthened into deadly fangs. The final change occurred as her ears migrated up the side of her face and reshaped in the telltale triangular shape of a large hunting cat, she stood breathing ragged for a moment before her enhanced senses and the bloodlust that came with them came online.

Her ears twitched and she saw Giganta stomping around the structure ripping out huge chucks of stone and tossing them at the guards shooting at her with automatic weapons. Moving with a speed that put human reactions to shame she leapt into the air and landed in front of a guard. He didn't even have time to process her properly before her claws raked across his face and into his skull, literally tearing his face off.

He was dead before he hit the ground.

The two women made short work of the guards and a few minutes later Giganta had resumed her normal height, she looked over at Barbara Ann- the Cheetah she amended mentally and saw the maniacal glint in her eyes as blood (the guards, not hers) dripped obscenely from her mouth. She wasn't worried about the Cheetah attacking her, the Cheetah seemed to share a kinship with her much like Barbara Ann, she wasn't sure why but if pressed she would venture to guess that it was some small part of Barbara Ann's personality that the Cheetah couldn't squash. She hated seeing what the transformations did to Barbara Ann, it seemed like each time she assumed the Cheetah form another piece of her soul was taken from her.

Doris may have been a criminal but she had no particular fondness for killing. She justified it by saying that it was all for the greater good, she would do anything to make sure Barbara Ann didn't have to suffer anymore.

"Come on let's get what we came for, before reinforcements show up."

The Cheetah walked over and wrapped an arm around Giganta's waist (Doris repressed a shudder) and with a twitch of her powerful legs leapt up and into the tower through one of the many holes Giganta had created during her rampage.

An alarm was going off and a group of armed guards were waiting for them less than ten feet away from their impromptu entrance.

Cheetah dealt with them quickly and brutally.

The pair made their way deeper into the structure dealing with any resistance they encountered and before long had reached their destination.

Cheetah stood around her tail swishing to and fro in anxious nature as Doris loaded up bag after bag with priceless treasure, of course in their current form they were nearly worthless on the black market, being too hot and all, but by breaking them down to their components and given favorable market conditions Barbara Ann figured they could make a quarter of a billion dollars easily.

When she had finished her looting They returned to their entrance point and as Doris looked out onto the lawn, she saw what looked like every Police officer in London waiting for them. As much as she may not have liked it, there was only one solution to their predicament, one way to ensure Barbara Ann would finally be rid of that thing inside of her.

Kill them all.

Since their departure from their homeland Diana and Artemis had limited their travel to mainly Europe, there were many places in the wider world Diana was anxious to see and learn about, if they had the luxury of time on their side she would have spent the time such a journey required. Unfortunately that wasn't the case and Artemis kept them on schedule not allowing them to spend more than two or three nights in a city before moving on.

Since arriving in England a week ago they had been to a variety of locations including Stonehenge, Westminster Abbey and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (Artemis had read Macbeth and found it lacking, having allegedly met and had a rather heated affair with the legendary king during her time as champion).

But their time in this country hadn't all been enjoyable.

Diana considered Artemis her sister in every sense of the word but traveling together for four months had allowed them to wear on each other's nerves in a way few would understand that had not undertaken a similar journey. As of late they had been having a number of disagreements at first they had been about trivial things but as of late they seemed to all center around their differing interpretations of Diana's duties as champion and her mission as a whole.

"Your mission was given to you by the gods and needs to take priority over all else, you are to spread not only our existence, but ideals to the world at large. Your duties as the champion are to represent the Amazon nation as the height of what it means to be an Amazon, in other words you can be seen as a missionary, diplomat and emissary."

She had heard this more time than she can count. "I know all of this Artemis, what is your point?"

"My point is that your duties are much larger in scope than stopping street crime or battling so called super villains, you are trying to affect change on a global scale and in order to do so you must give yourself wholly to your- our cause."

I can give myself to my cause and help those who need aid on an individual level as well the two are not mutually exclusive."

"In this case they are; the Patriarch's world has police, armies and the so called superheroes to worry about the individual. Your focus should be the big picture."

"The bigger picture is irrelevant if we forget the people who make up the bigger picture."

"I know you Diana and you are stubborn to a fault, trust me when I say you will only end up failing if you choose to travel this path."

There was something in her voice that Diana couldn't quite identify. While she tried to work it out she continued the discussion. "Then you also know telling me that I'll fail is the surest way to get me to do the exact opposite."

Artemis had a hard expression on her face looking as serious as Diana could ever remember seeing her. "I do, and I also know that there are lessons one must learn for oneself….especially those with heads as hard as yours, but you would do well to remember you are playing not only with your fate, but the fate of the entire world."

From there the 'discussion' had devolved quickly into a full on argument and it wasn't much later that they had reached an unspoken agreement that they both needed some time away from each other.

That is why Diana was alone at a café enjoying a cup of coffee, and reading The Art of War, it was a fascinating book, and many of the tactics Sun Tzu described were similar to the battle concepts thought up by the Amazons it amazed her that people separated by thousands of miles, vastly different cultures and centuries of time could come up with ideas that paralleled each other so closely.

Perhaps people were more alike than they seemed on the surface.

Turning that thought over in her head she marked a place in her book, got up and went to the counter to pay for her coffee. She was dressed in jeans and a sweater, one of the first lessons she had learned after venturing away from Themyscira was the importance of blending in, she enjoyed observing her surroundings but that was hard when she drew attention to herself for her unusual garments. The first time she had gone out in a Grecian style dress and had drawn more than a share of attention than she was comfortable with. By adopting local fashion she blended in a bit better.

That didn't stop the cashier working the register from gaping at her like a fish on dry land when she inquired about her bill.

She was counting out money when the relatively quiet atmosphere was broken by the piercing wail of sirens blaring not far from their location. A moment later the portable radio that had been playing music cut to an emergency bulletin and an anxious announcer relayed a report that The Tower of London was under attack, there were already over two dozen confirmed fatalities and the numbers were rising. Details were sketchy at best but witnesses at the scene had identified two perpetrators, one as a woman in the form of a cat and the other was reportedly nearly ten meters tall.

In that moment Diana flashed back to the argument she and Artemis had earlier, she knew what her sister would do, let the authorities handle the situation and stay out of their affairs, but from the sounds of it that wasn't working and people were dying. She couldn't imagine even Artemis would be stonehearted enough to turn her back on helping defenseless innocents and she couldn't either.

Decision made she looked at the cashier. "Tell me where the Tower of London is."

His eyes bugged at her. "Are you insane, why would you want to go there now?"

She was tempted to grab him and shake him but resisted. "Please, it's important that you tell me."

He stared at her for a moment before he finally relented and told her that it was about ten kilometers from their present location.

Thanking the man she dashed out onto the sidewalk and began twirling around a brilliant white light enveloped her as she spun faster and faster. The cocoon of light dissipated to revel that her street clothes had been replaced by her champion's garb, not hesitating a second she launched herself up and into the air.

Inside the café the cashier wide eyes got even wider as he watched the beautiful woman fly off, his eyes rolled back into his head and he fainted.

Flying over London, she thought about returning to the hotel and rousing Artemis but discarded the thought, she didn't have any time to spare; time lost were lives lost. Her keen eyes picked out the structure and she picked up speed, the sounds of sirens and gunfire became clear as she got closer.

The authorities were trying their best to take down Cheetah and Giganta but nothing they were throwing at them seemed to slow them down.

Diana landed at the police line, before she could get her bearings an Inspector was stalking over to her."Who the hell are you lady?"

"I am here to offer my asistence dealing with the two women responsible for this."

"And what the hell can you do that we can't?"

"Didn't you see her fly in Inspector? She's probably one of those goddamn metahumans." Diana turned and saw an officer quaking under her stare, he mumbled an apology.

"I am not a metahuman but regardless of that I am willing to offer my help, given the limited results your men have achieved, is it wise to refuse my aid?"

The Inspector growled before yelling into his radio. "Fall back! Okay lady you got five minutes, if you don't get killed that is."

He looked over and saw she was already gone.

She landed in front of the two women determined to avoid further conflict. She didn't think it would work but she had to try anyway, the Amazon code demanded that she try and negotiate a peaceful solution wherever possible.

When she found herself in the Giantess's grip a few moments later she thought it was safe to say a peaceful solution wasn't happening.

Giganta felt a stinging impact in her wrist. She looked down and was startled to see an arrow sticking out of the joint. She was exceptionally durable and it took a lot to pierce her skin, normally when she was in her giant form everything but the heaviest of artillery bounced off her; the idea that an arrow could somehow break through her tough skin was laughable, except that it somehow had… and it hurt like hell.

"Release her at once."

Giganta looked around for a moment before she saw a tall woman with extremely long red hair standing on the crumbled remains of the gate aiming a loaded bow at her. She also caught sight of Cheetah perched in a tree behind the woman and resisted the urge to smirk; whoever the odd woman was she was about to get mauled, any sympathy she might have normally felt for the woman's approaching fate was mitigated by the fact that she had a foot and a half long arrow sticking out her wrist.

The Cheetah leapt, what went down next occurred so fast Giganta wasn't exactly sure what happened, but the next thing she knew the mysterious woman was standing some five feet to the right of where she had been a moment before, the cheetah was on one knee growling in pain the source of which was an arrow sticking out of her upper quadricep muscle and the woman had her bow pointed at her again, another arrow at the ready.

In the confusion Giganta's grip had loosened enough for Diana to have enough space to flex her muscles; she powered out of the large woman's hand, flew straight up and connected with a double uppercut to Giganta's jaw.

The big woman stumbled back and shook her head clearing the cobwebs, Diana pushed the attack flying in and hitting the big woman again, using her body as a projectile. Giganta stumbled again but still didn't go down. Diana swooped back around coming in for a third strike but this time Giganta anticipated it and swatted the Amazon out of the air and into the ground carving a large trench in her wake.

Artemis caught Diana's crash out the corner of her eye and it distracted her long enough for Cheetah to catch her with a devastating kick that sent her flying back through the remainder of the gate and into a tree.

She crouched in front of Diana. "Are you okay Princess?"

Diana swept her hair out of her face and shot a glance at her friend. "Yes, how did you know to come for me Artemis?"

The usual smirk adorned the fiery woman's face. "If there is trouble afoot I can usually find you somewhere nearby…not to mention I saw you on the news."

"The news?"

"Yes… after tonight I believe the inconspicuous part of our journey is at an end sister."

Despite their recent tension Diana was glad Artemis was here, there were few she would have fighting alongside her and even fewer she trusted as much as this woman. "Which opponent do you prefer?"

Artemis' face settled into a warrior's mask as she looked them over briefly. "The giantess seems like a worthy advisory and… I dislike cats."

"Fine with me." Diana responded before launching herself at the werecat.

Artemis watched her for a moment proud of the warrior spirit that Diana was exhibiting. Regardless of Diana's status as champion she was not to be outdone by her friend, after all she had a reputation to maintain. She strung her bow and launched an arrow at the Giantess that was making her way over to Diana, the arrow that impacted her in the kneecap bring her down on one leg in a roar of pain. Slinging her bow across her back she flew off to engage her opponent.

Diana clashed with the were-cat in a high speed dance, in the span of seconds dozens of blows were exchanged. To a casual observer their movements would have resembled little more than blurs punctured by the loud booms characteristic of super powered combatants. But to them each punch, slash and kick was aimed with precision to debilitate and subdue or in the Cheetah's case maim and kill.

There were dozens of small nicks and cuts on each of their bodies but they sized each other up with a newfound degree of respect.

They clashed again and this time a vicious back hand caught Diana on the jaw and knocked her to the ground. Seeing her downed prey the werecat leapt high into the air thinking to bring her full weight on the Amazon's neck and snap it.

Diana caught sight of her opponent and acting on instinct slammed her gauntlets together, a terrible ringing noise issued forth from the struck metal and concussive wave of sound caught the Cheetah in mid leap and flung her back a dozen feet. She landed in a sprawl, her ears bleeding profusely. She stood on shaky legs, but before she could gather her bearings a loop of golden rope caught her around the waist, pinning her arms to her side. The Cheetah attempted to flex and break the rope but it didn't give an inch. Looking around she saw the hated Amazon had the other end of the glowing rope wrapped around her hands.

"You are bound in my lasso creature; you cannot resist its power or my commands. I command you to halt."

The Cheetah growled hatefully but it didn't move.

Artemis had managed to land over a dozen arrows to her opponent but she knew this wasn't a sustainable offense. She needed to take opponent down and fast, because she was creating more damage and mayhem by the second. Truthfully she could have landed a shot in the Giantess eye and ended the fight right then and there but that went against the Amazon code of not killing except as a last resort.

Taking a page out of Diana's play book Artemis launched herself at her opponent she hit the already weakend knee of Giganta at full speed, the knee buckled and gravity took over. There was a loud boom, glancing over her shoulder Diana saw Artemis had managed to fell the Giantess; she was standing on her opponent shoulder, her bow aimed directly at Giganta's face.

"I suggest you don't move unless you want my hand to accidently slip on my bowstring." It was a hollow threat of course but Giganta didn't know that and thus it was very effective.

A pitiful moan sounded and Diana looked over to see that the werecat was gone and in its place was a ragged looking woman, she looked up at her captor, unbearable despair tinged with self-loathing were written across her features. Tears were leaking out of her eyes and she looked like a woman who had given up all hope. "I can't go to jail…not with the Cheetah inside of me, it'll get out and keep killing. Please…please just take my life, put me out of my misery."

Her opponent was bound in the lasso; everything she was saying was the truth.

Before Diana could more than process what the woman had said there was hiss of air and then the woman bound in her lasso jerked as if struck and slumped forward onto the ground and did not move.

"We'll take it from here ma'am. If you wouldn't mind untying her we can be on our way."

Diana turned around and saw seven people behind her in dark body armor; the speaker was holstering a weapon on his right hip.

Her voice rose in anger at the act of cowardice she had just witnessed. "Why did you kill an unarmed and defenseless opponent?"

"Relax I only put her to sleep, she' not dead." The man replied curtly

"Who are you?"

The man flashed a badge, she caught sight of four letters on the badge before the man placed it back in his pocket: H.D.S.A "I'm part of a special task force trained to deal with rogue metahumans."

"I meant what is your name?"

He didn't blink. "None of your concern. Now unless you want to join her in snooze town, move out of my way."

"Watch your tongue." Artemis growled at him

He looked Artemis right back in the eye seemingly not intimidated by her (whether through bravery or stupidity Diana wasn't sure). "You watch yours lady. If it were up to me I'd take all you freaks in, but my orders are for those two only, so count yourself lucky and keep quiet."

Artemis took a step towards him and instantly half a dozen of the blasters were leveled at her.

"Go ahead, give me an excuse." He dared her coldly.

Diana quickly looked around, she wasn't overly concerned for either of their safety but her instincts were telling her this wasn't the place or time to pick a fight.

"Artemis, stand down."

Her companion stared at the troops for almost a full minute before finally stepping back. "As you command Princess." She replied not taking her eyes off the leader of the group.

The lead man looked at his troops and indicated Giganta and Cheetah. "Take them."

They observed the two women loaded up in a patty wagon but not before some kind of metal collars were strapped on there necks. The two Amazon's contemplation was broken by the deafening cheer taken up by the crowd behind police lines.

If either woman had looked at the back of that crowd they would have seen a familiar figure with short blond hair and crystalline blue eyes that at one time had looked upon them with love and friendship and were now observing them and the scene with a look of smoldering fury. Upon seeing her former sisters hatred, raw and molten consumed her and demanded release, every instinct in her was screaming to attack Diana and Artemis.

She was close to summoning her spear and giving into that instinct when she spotted the adornments Artemis was wearing; the gauntlet of Atlas and the winged sandals of Hermes.

She knew with certainty that she could beat them both under normal circumstances; however those two artifacts gave her pause, having used both before she knew firsthand what those items were capable of bestowing on their bearer. Even with the gifts Ares and Eris had bestowed upon her she was unsure if she was strong enough to take them on with the two artifacts present. Logically she knew Artemis wouldn't have the artifacts on her at all times and she would get another chance to kill them, but it did little to assuage the bloodlust roaring in her veins. Grumbling in frustration she slunk into the shadows and disappeared in a blur of speed.

Diana awoke the next morning to the sight of Artemis walking into their room a large sack slung across her shoulder. Diana raised an eyebrow in question and in answer Artemis strode over to her bed and turned the sack upside down. Hundreds of letters and packages spilled out onto the bed.

"These are all for you." She said dryly.

Diana eyes widened. "Are you sure there wasn't a mistake with the postage?"

"No, in fact there is another one in the hallway and several that the manager of the hotel won't release until you pick them up personally…one of them is from the Royal offices and one from the Prime Minister's office."

She returned a moment later and sure enough another sack filled to the brim with mail. She dumped it on the bed before going over to the minibar and rummaging around for something. "This is only the tip off the iceberg, your face is on every major news outlet, there have been dozens of calls for you to do an interview on television, you are trending worldwide on Yahoo and if you were to go downstairs you would see the paparazzi camped outside the hotel entrance waiting for an interview with Wonder Woman.

"With who?"

"You haven't seen? They are calling you Wonder Woman."

"This is troubling." Diana replied sitting down on her bed heavily.

"What do you mean? You don't like Wonder Woman?" Artemis asked still digging through the minibar

"No, what's bothering me is that two dozen innocent people died last night and all anyone can focus on is me. They are more concerned with giving me a name than about a woman who has a monster inside of her she can't control. Is this what the outside world is truly like Artemis? Are their priorities so mixed up that they celebrate me as a hero instead of honoring their fallen?"

The elder Amazon stopped looking through the minibar and stood to see the pained and troubled look on her friends face.

"You were right to intervene, had you not have there would have been many more.

You are now a symbol, not only to the Amazon's and your gods but to this country and the world at large and they are now rallying behind you. It does not lessen the value of those sacrificed this is just the way they choose to deal with the tragedy, by celebrating the good that has come from it. This is just the nature of man, it was like this a thousand years ago and it will be like this a thousand years from now.

Diana smiled ruefully "You sound as if you know this from personal experience."

"I do." Was the only reply she got.

Artemis squeezed her companion's shoulders reassuringly. "Besides we can use this to our advantage, this is an excellent way to get your message to the world."

"That is true." Then a thought occurred to her. "You said the media is calling me Wonder Woman, what are they calling you?"

Artemis flushed and mumbled something that sounded distinctly like 'The Amazing Amazon Archer'

Diana blinked before falling over in a fit of laughter.

Her friend grumbled something unintelligible and went back to the minibar.

It was three in the morning and Mercy stood on the balcony of Diana and Artemis' hotel room. Given the media circus surrounding Diana's act of heroism it hadn't been hard to track her down, Diana was plastered across every paper, web feed and television show in the country.

They were on the thirtieth floor that would've been security enough for most people, however Mercy was not most people she had the powers of a godling at her disposal, if she wanted to go somewhere there weren't too many things on the planet that could stop her. Silently she wrenched the pathetic lock on the balcony doors and stepped through into the hotel room before closing it lightly behind her, lest she let a draft in with her and waken the room's occupants. She padded across the room where she saw Artemis of Bana-Mighdall the first Amazonian champion, the current Shim'Tar and perhaps the greatest fighter to ever come out of either Amazon tribe… laying askew in her bed snoring loudly with her mouth open.

Whatever she had been expecting…this wasn't it.

A quick glance at the area revealed the culprit; various empty bottles littered the area around her bed. Being a trained warrior Artemis always kept her weapons within easy reach, it had been something instilled into her for almost twelve hundred years and even a night of (if the amount of bottles were to be the judge) heavy drinking wasn't enough to break her of such an ingrained habit.

She hadn't even bothered to hide them, sitting next to her bow and quiver were the Gauntlet of Atlas and Sandals of Hermes. Mercy lifted both enchanted items and was ready to leave when she spotted Diana's sleeping form.

Narrowing her eyes she stealthily approached the Princess. In contrast to Artemis, Diana was sleeping much lighter; her breathing while deep, was the measured even pace of one who was ready to awaken at a moment's notice, the moonlight played across her features giving her an untroubled and innocent look.

Mercy tilted her head almost mesmerized by what she was seeing; there her prey was, defenseless and dead to the world. Somewhere deep in her gut the familiar

began to stir and take hold. Whether through conscious will or not she had actually summoned her spear and had the tip of the blade pointed at Diana's throat, it would be so easy to do it now… but it wasn't the proper time, she wanted…needed Diana to see not only who was the better warrior but who was responsible for ending her life right as she plunged her spear inside her. Killing her in her sleep wouldn't accomplish either goal, closing her eyes with an air of regret she dispelled her weapon before slipping back out the balcony and away into the night.

When she came to a stop several miles away she examined her pilfered booty. Neither instrument were of particular use to her, she already possessed speed and strength greater than Diana's and usage of either artifact would have placed her abilities at a level that would have made them too difficult to effectively control. Looking upon the artifacts she had thought to destroy them and had set out to do that very thing but for some reason she had found herself unable to bring herself to do so. Frustrated she had done the next best thing and had flung them far into the sea, what happened to them from there she didn't care.

Satisfied and ready to begin the next stage of her plan she disappeared in a blur of speed.

A/N: That was my first simultaneous fight scene, it didn't come out quite as clean as I wanted but I'm hoping as I write more of them they'll come out smoother. I took some license with Cheetah and Giganta I tried to stay true to their origins in a way that is both familiar and bring them in line with the SVU canon. The biggest change obviously was making Cheetah a victim of circumstance as opposed to the greedy/vain character she's mostly established as. I wanted her to be more sympathetic and have this destructive force in her that she's aware of that repulses and disgusts the human part of her that remains whenever she assumes that form. I burrowed elements from a variety of sources including Jekyll and Hyde, The Wolfman and The Hulk.

A good friend of mine even suggested that the way I've portrayed Giganta and Cheetah's relationship of them against the world has hints of Thelma & Louise in it (I don't see it).

The H.D.S.A is a creation of mine that has a role to play down the line and I can tell you right now Lex has absolutely nothing to do with them.

With Cheetah the questions I kept coming back to with her are: Is evil the act itself or the intent behind the act? Do the ends justify the means? Not terribly original but I thought it'd be fun to explore.

My little niece came up with the Amazing Amazon Archer title for Artemis and I thought It was adorable so I put it in.

As always thanks for reading and I'll see you guys in a week.