A low hiss echoed throughout the empty museum as two eyes, deep black slits against a luminescent vermilion, stared hungrily at the fantastic display of gold.

A woman . . . more catlike than human, with a soft layer of spotted fur covering her skin, a long twitching tail, and long wild brown hair . . . sprang from the shadows of the museum.

Her feline speed carried her over the ground and towards the center of the display, a golden tiara, decorated with intricate designs of cats and inlaid with jades and rubies.

"Hrrrrrrr . . . " the catlike woman purred. "The Crown of the Golden Queen . . . a treasure from a most ancient Egyptian shrine to the Cat Goddess Bastet and said to grant the wearer incredible power . . . the purrrrrfect treasure for the Cheetah, even though I don't know why something so valuable is in a museum in such a nowhere town!"

Cheetah leapt over a fifteen-foot series of laser sensors, invisible to the human eyes but not to her feline ones. She grabbed the crown in her talons and flipped back over the lasers, sprinting towards the door.

"Whoa! Who let the cats out?"

Cheetah stopped and spun around to see a huge man in bulky black armor rushing toward her. On his chest was a bold display of a swastika, patterned from skulls.

"I recognize you! You're that stupid Jug Man or whatever that Wonder Woman whipped a month or so ago!"

"That's the Juggernaut, Cat Chick!"

"That's The Cheetah, thank you very much! You don't exactly seem like the thief type to me, Captain Steroids!"

"And you don't exactly seem like the fighting type, Queen Slim Fast! I don't think my employers want one of their priceless artifacts stolen by a Meow Mix reject!"

"Fssst!"

Cheetah moved like a blur, her claws slashing across the Juggernaut's helmet with a horrible grating sound.

"Ow! DO you realize how bad that sound echoes in this helmet?"

Juggernaut struck Cheetah with a massive backhand, plowing her into the wall. The crown hit as well and was shattered, showering the ground with golden shards.

"NO!" Cheetah screamed, her voice turning into an animalistic howl. "You fool! I don't have time for these games!"

Cheetah ducked agilely under the Juggernaut's arms and hefted him above her head. She hurled him towards the ceiling, which broke a large hole in it. The hole grew larger and an entire dinosaur exhibit, skeletons, statues, and more tumbled down to pin the Juggernaut to the floor.

"I could hear the cracking of the floor up there!" Cheetah crowed as she swiftly stole out of the museum. Armed guards burst in, just as the Juggernaut exploded in a rage from the wreckage.

"Where is that stealthy little skank? I'll tear her to pieces!" Juggernaut raged.

"Marko, enough!" a female voice, heavy with a German accent, commanded. "You're . . . ‘talents' are needed elsevere! You vish to avenge yourself against Vonder Voman, ja?"

A tall, slender woman, with icy blue eyes and blonde hair pulled into a painfully tight bun walked into the wrecked room, her high heels clicking against the marble floor. She wore a militaristic uniform consisting of a tan colored skirt and jacket, the swastika of skulls printed clearly on a crimson armband.

"The Baroness!"

The guards all saluted the stern looking woman.

"Marko, report to ze oasis to meet with General Saotome, but first, visit ze room with ze jewel . . . mein vorkers have discovered something zat may help you!"

"On it!"

As the Juggernaut lumbered out, he accidentally destroyed a section of the wall, and let loose a string of curses.

The Baroness smirked.

"Ze Amerikaners are so pitiful," the Baroness mused, shaking her head.

"Baroness Von Gunther, what brings you here? Surely we aren't in trouble; we've managed to bring in several valuable and powerful items here!"

"No, zat ees not ze problem! Unfortunately, ze deal with zat black dummkopf ees off! Zat Vonder Voman got to her. Quickly evacuate ze museum and bring all valuables to ze base!"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Goddess! This is truly amazing!" Ororo said. She spoke perfect English, tinged with a heavy, exotic accent. Diana looked towards her in surprise.

"You speak English?

"Yes, I do. I learned from a wise elder in a village. Now, do tell me where this came from."

"We Amazons have a great deal of advanced technology and magic," Wonder Woman explained.

"Amazons?"

"My sisters and I are the reincarnated souls of women who were thrown into the Underworld by Man's violent ways. We were reborn into beautiful bodies of women who are far more powerful than mortal men. Because of our unique training and immortality, we are far stronger and swifter than mortals, but it is our compassion for life that truly sets us apart. By the way, I am Princess Diana of Themyscira, the Isle of the Amazons."

"I am pleased to meet you, Princess Diana. I believe you already know who I am. Please, tell me what properties of your lariat compelled me to speak the truth?"

"This is the Magic Lasso, woven from the girdle of Gaea. It has many powers, but the most useful one I have found is that it can control whomever it is bound around."

"There! There is the oasis where I meet with those of the spiral skulls!" Ororo cried, pointing towards a large grouping of trees.

Wonder Woman willed the plane to hover above the trees. Ororo summoned a wind, which bore the two women down.

Ororo cried out in an African dialect, which Diana did not recognize. A Japanese man walked out of the trees. He was stout and pudgy, clad in a brown uniform.

"Konnichi wa, Ororo-san! Oh! And the famed Diana-hime as well!" he said in a mix of English and Japanese.

"I do not know how you came to know my name, but I suggest you give some answers!"

Diana's Magic Lasso was instantly wound about the man, who let out a small squeak of surprise.

"Now! You will answer me truthfully! Who are you and whom are you working for?"

"I am Saotome Ryouga! I work for B-Baroness Paula Von Gunther! We are the Schutze der Menschheit, or the Protectors of Mankind. We are dedicated to riding the world of the filth that is here! The Baroness shall rule the world and reshape it to suit the desires of our organization!"

"Monster!" Ororo hissed. Her exotically beautiful chocolate features hardened in rage. Her sparkling blue eyes were suffused with elemental energy, melting away to become pure white. "You will pay!" Lightning sparked around her clenched fists.

"Ororo, wait! We can still question him!"

Saotome took advantage of their distraction to let out a shout. A group of armed men burst from the oasis. They leveled plasma rifles at the two warrior women. With a flick of her wrist, Ororo summoned a gale that struck the Nazis like a solid brick wall. They crumpled under the attack, and were hurled into the trees.

A sudden beam of red energy tore out of the oasis, striking General Saotome. It exploded upon impact, and Ororo was thrown backwards, sliding across the dusty ground.

"Suffering Sappho!" Diana cried. Shards of wood exploded like shrapnel as a familiar behemoth charged out of the oasis. "The Juggernaut!"

It was the Juggernaut, only his armor was no longer a dull black. It seemed to be made of an ebony diamond that glittered dangerously in the afternoon sun, and swastika upon his chest glowed with a hellish red light.

"Yep, babe! I'm back, and I'm big, and I'm better than I was before!"

The Juggernaut charged towards Diana like a bull. The skilled Amazon dove between his thick legs, leaping up into a fighting stance. The Juggernaut spun with far greater speed than Wonder Woman expected, and a fist the size of a small boulder slammed into her chest. She felt the wind forced out of her lungs as the blow lifted her up and hurled her away, flying over a mile away from the oasis.

"You filth! How dare you trick me?!" Ororo screamed in rage. Lightning lanced from her fingertips, dancing across the hard armor shell of the Juggernaut. He wasn't even fazed, and, behind his immense helmet, his eyes glittered with arrogance. "Bright Lady preserve us!"

Juggernaut charged, but a powerful wind lifted Ororo away from his massive fingers. Hovering above her gargantuan foe, the tempest taming goddess switched tactics. Sleet, hail, and snow whirled from thin air, propelled by a spiraling Arctic wind. A thick sheen of ice and snow formed over the Juggernaut's helmet. Suddenly, his armor began to glow a scalding crimson. The ice and snow melted away.

"Just keep on trying, weather witch!" the Juggernaut crowed.

Ororo narrowed her eyes dangerously. Raw, crackling electricity surrounded her body. A powerful wind swirled around the Juggernaut, and the sands were lifted into a venerable tornado. Juggernaut was spun about until his body became a black lump hanging in midair.

Red beams of energy began to shoot out of the Juggernaut's hands, searing the air around him. One sliced straight through one of Ororo's ‘wings'. The winds holding Ororo aloft met with greater resistance on one cape, sending her spinning out of control. She lost her concentration and crashed to the ground. The tornado holding Juggernaut up deteriorated, and the huge monster fell to earth, the ground trembling as his huge form created a large crater.

Ororo moaned and rubbed her head as she tried to clear the stars from her eyes. The Juggernaut pulled himself to his feet, slightly dazed from his fall. Suddenly, a glimmering streak of red, gold and blue struck him like a freight train. Diana pummeled him with lightning quick blows as she summoned her Amazon fury. Her fists rained blows on the Juggernaut's hard armor, and she ignored the pain that spiked through them.

Wonder Woman drove her opponent back, a final punch sending him sailing high into the air. He landing hard, managing to stumble to his feet. Diana's eyes widened in horror, but her millennia of warrior's training allowed her to feel no fear as she once more prepared to meet her foe in battle.

Diana struck the Juggernaut in the face in an attempt to dislodge his helmet, and received a numb hand in return. She dodged yet another punch, as a lesson taught to her by Antiope, the general of the Amazon Army, came back to her.

"When a warrior is outmatched with one ability, she must focus upon using her others."

The Juggernaut's strength and invulnerability outmatches mine, but his agility and speed, not to mention his skills, leave much to be desired!

Wonder Woman hurled herself through the Juggernaut's outstretched arms. Her hands shot forward, bracing herself against the Juggernaut's helmet as she vaulted away.

"Why don't you just give in?" the Juggernaut taunted. "You're gonna lose anyway!"

Diana turned in midair to stoop like a falcon towards her opponent. The Juggernaut extended a palm, a brilliant beam of light lancing towards Diana.

"The flames of the sun will die out before an Amazon surrenders in battle!"

A blur of silver, Diana's bracelet snapped in front of the attack. The energy was deflected away and struck the Juggernaut, sending his helmet skittering away across the burning sand.

"Gaah!"

With a flick of her wrist, Diana sent her lasso whirling around the Juggernaut, its unbreakable coils tightening around his massive body.

"I summon the power of Gaea to dispel whatever magic grants you this power!" Diana cried.

The lasso became aflame with the primal power of the earth goddess, and the armor around Juggernaut faded out of view. Cain Marko collapsed to the ground. With an explosion of crimson light he vanished again.

"Son of a sire!" Diana cursed. "He vanished again!"

She turned to a man sitting at the control panels.

<"Now! You know where to strike!">

"Great Hera! It seems to be a volcano . . . but there are none here, are there?" Diana asked.

<"Goddess—NO!">* Ororo cried.

*(Translated from Ororo's tribal African dialect - Kevin)

Merciful Athena, tell me that is not what I fear it is!

Ororo was already shooting through the air towards the explosions, shooting through the air at blinding speeds. Diana leapt after her, riding the same winds that bore Ororo aloft.

"Bright Lady preserve me!" Ororo wailed, falling to her knees. "I have failed in my oath . . . I swore to my mother that I would protect this village! I am a shame to her memory!"

Diana knelt beside her, placing a hand on Ororo's slim shoulder. "Sister, no, you couldn't prevent this devastation. That madman, the Juggernaut, it is his fault. Don't blame yourself!"

"No! My beloved people," Ororo wailed, shaking away Diana's hand as she hurled herself onto the earth. "No! I cannot live without you! All my friends . . . Matriarch Akilah . . . you were like a mother to me, I cannot live without your wise guidance! I cannot live without any of my people!"

Ororo's grief consumed her as she began to weep uncontrollably. Tears glistened as they streamed down her ebony cheeks. Her beloved people, gone!

"Ororo, listen to me!" Diana cried. She pulled Ororo into a kneeling position, forcing the African goddess to look into her eyes. "You must believe in your inner strength; you can overcome this! It's okay to mourn the loss of good friends, even family, but you cannot allow it to overcome your life. You can move on."

"But all is lost! My family . . . my friends . . . my . . . life . . . I have nothing to live for!"

Ororo shook with her sobs.

"A woman . . . anyone is only beaten when they give up on themselves, sister! I will help you to move on," Diana promised. "Lovely memories are a gift from the Gods, sister, and should bring happiness to a life, not plague it!"

"I-I thank you, Princess Diana of Themyscira. I will cherish and honor the memory of my people, but I will move on."

"Good. I have a friend, Callista Domaine, who traveled here recently with me. She is very wealthy and owns a large home. I'm sure she'd open it up to you."

"That sounds wonderful. Your friend is here?"

"Yes."

Diana concentrated hard, her mind reaching out to Callista. Their consciences briefly touched, long enough for Diana to learn where she was. The Transparent Craft landed near them, and the two boarded, swiftly flying away.

"Callista," Diana said as she leapt form the cockpit. "This is Ororo the Windrider, the goddess we came here about. The Schutze der Menschheit, that Neo-Nazi organization, influenced her actions. Due to a tragedy instigated by the Schutze, Ororo has no home. I was wondering if she could stay with us?"

Callista stared at Ororo, contemplating.

"Please, Callista? I trust her with all my heart and soul!"

With a sigh, Callista shrugged. "Why not?"

Diana hugged her. "Good, I knew you'd say yes!"

"I-I thank you for this, Miss Domaine," Ororo said, bowing to her.

"Please, call me Callista."

The Transparent Craft contorted again, as the three women walked aboard, and flew back to America for a well-deserved rest.