Hunted

“Minerva? How?”

Wonder Woman was just as shocked as you, but her protectiveness took precedence and she pushed you further behind her with a hand on your chest. This didn’t help your rising panic and confusion. Cheetah had been locked up in Belle Reve Penitentiary only a couple of days ago and she had already broken out? Why was she here? Was she in league with Lex Luthor or Maxine? Part of Project Metis? Or was this **** on the Amazon for their last encounter that had put her away? The reasoning wasn’t important at this point as the beastly woman leapt forward, claws drawn.

She was met by the Themysciran Princess, who clasped her hands with Cheetah’s and the two became locked in a power struggle, muscles rippling. “What are you doing here?” Wonder Woman demanded, pushing against her snarling foe whose clawed feet were digging into the iron floor.

“Hunting my prey!” she spat back at her, her smile foaming at the edges. The madness in her slitted eyes unnerved Diana. She wasn’t like this last time.

“If it’s a fight you want then you will have your wish!” A knee came up as Wonder Woman launched herself into a backflip, cracking Cheetah in the jaw and sending her somersaulting backward. You winced at the solid sound as it echoed off the walls. Remembering you, Diana turned and looked serious. “Take flight, Doctor. I will handle Che-”

The warrior was interrupted by slashing claws from the rebounding huntress. Agility saved her, though part of her blue dress was shredded as she dodged out of Cheetah’s way. She prepared to move against another strike but faltered when the big cat changed directions. Changed her target. Wonder Woman had miscalculated, but she was adaptable and kicked off the wall. She caught Cheetah’s ankle before the ferocious feline got to you and swung her into the ceiling, smashing her against a caged light. You stumbled and fell, shielding yourself from the rain of the shattered fluorescent bulbs.

When you looked up again Wonder Woman was between you and the feral doctor.

“I will get what I want,” Cheetah growled, her chest heaving, but she didn’t seem injured at all. Just heated with rage. You saw her seering eyes on you. Not one to stay on the defensive, Wonder Woman lunged forward this time. There was the ringing of magical metal on mutated claws as the pair traded blows, Diana’s powerful strikes met with deft deflections by the nimble beast woman. “You’re getting slow, Wonder Woman,” Cheetah jeered as she hopped above a sweeping kick from the Amazon, smashing her limbs down onto Diana who blocked the blow with her bracers at the last second. Now on the counterattack, Cheetah brought clanging scratches against the metal as she drove forward and Wonder Woman took hard steps in retreat. “Your punches are getting weak. Your kicks are sluggish.” And Cheetah checked another low blow from Diana with her knee then stomped against the Amazon’s shin with a heel.

The warrior cried out but caught Minerva’s followup claw with her hand, and two were clasped again, arms shaking with ****. “The more you exert yourself the faster your strength wanes,” Cheetah noted, forcing Wonder Woman to one knee as she struggled to push against the cursed feline bearing over her. “I see it now, Amazon,” the villain sneered. “How it affects you… it’s not like how it affects me.”

Diana grit her teeth and thrust her arms forward with all of her might, but Cheetah wasn’t budging. “It weakens you,” she growled, leaning in inches away from Wonder Woman’s sweating face. “But it strengthens me.”

You watched, eyes as wide as plates, as Wonder Woman’s shoulders dropped and her limbs slacken. She fell to her knees, arms falling to her sides as Cheetah let them go and straightened, powerful and towering over her. Diana looked up, her head light and vision unfocusing. Her body felt heavy, but Cheetah lifted her by the neck like she weighed nothing. The Amazon was flung to one side, hitting the wall hard then slumping to the floor. She could only look to you weakly, dazed and confused. Defeated.

Cheetah now stepped up to you, that predatory smile sending a shiver down your spine. She licked her lips. It was you she had been hunting.