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The Brave and the Bold
Wonder Woman & Hawkgirl
Times Past, 1942
The Eye of Bastby DrChloroform
THE EYE OF BAST: Part 1
Washington, D.C., 1942:
Shiera Sanders was happy to see her friend Yeoman Diana Prince waiting for her as she got off the train. In the early months of the war they had served together as nurses before Diana's duties as the secretary of the Justice Society of America forced her to return to the States for the duration. Needless to say, Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman did their part to keep America safe.
"Let me take your bag, Shiera," Diana said, easily handling the suitcase that even the fit and trim Miss Sanders found heavy. "How's Carter?"
"He's fine, but tied up at the moment," Shiera replied, referring to Carter Hall, alias Hawkman, "both at work and on a case. That's why I'm here. I'm qualified to determine if this artifact the British are sending over is real. When does it arrive?"
"Tomorrow at 0900 hours," Diana answered as they loaded Shiera's bags in the car and got in. "We can have a girl's night out in the meantime."
Unknown to the statuesque Amazon Princess, another woman had plans for the evening. Priscilla Rich, wealthy debutante and secretly the villainess known as the Cheetah plotted quietly in her mansion. Soon she would have what she needed to defeat her arch nemesis Wonder Woman, and then conquer the world.
THE EYE OF BAST: Part 2
"Let's get out of here," a rough looking man shouted as he stood watching Wonder Woman holding a car up by its bumper, its wheels spinning as the driver attempted to escape. "That dame ain't human."
"Yeah, well let's see if she can stop a bullet with her hands full of Buick," his companion said as he aimed his pistol at Wonder Woman's back, only to have a net fall on top of the both of them. "What the...?"
"First you try to rob a medical supply warehouse and then you try to shoot a woman in the back. You're definitely no gentlemen," Hawkgirl said as she landed in front of the struggling pair, and with one swing of her mace knocked both the thugs out. "That felt good."
Hawkgirl turned to see Wonder Woman deflecting bullets with her bracelets. The driver emptied his pistol, and then turned to run. Wonder Woman tossed her magic lasso around him, and he stopped dead in his tracks.
"Who's behind this robbery?" Wonder Woman asked.
"The Cheetah," the driver answered, unable to resist the truth telling power of the magic lasso. "She wanted you distracted while she robbed something else."
"What was she stealing?" Wonder Woman demanded to know.
"She didn't tell us," the driver said, causing Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl to exchange concerned looks.
At that moment, across town, a truck carrying a device stolen from a secret government lab was being driven into the hideout of the Cheetah. The driver, wearing a skin tight cheetah-print bodysuit stepped out and laughed. All was going according to plan.
THE EYE OF BAST: Part 3
Shiera Sanders awoke in her hotel room, wishing she could get a little more sleep. She and Wonder Woman had searched the city for signs of the Cheetah's robbery and found it far too late to do anything about it. The mad cat-themed villainess had robbed a government lab that had been working on experimental devices. In order to make sure that no one knew what she took, the Cheetah had set fire to the lab, destroying months of work important to the war effort. Cheetah was now public enemy number one, but that fact would only serve to enhance the blonde villainess's already huge ego.
As she sat eating her room service breakfast, Shiera heard a knock on the door. She looked at her watch, and thought Diana must be earlier. She envied her Amazon friend's stamina, but wished she'd recognize that even her superheroine friends weren't mythic beings, but rather the more fragile human variety.
She opened the door to see not Diana, but a blonde woman in a hat and overcoat. Before the beautiful amateur archaeologist could say a word, the woman raised a glove hand and sprayed Shiera in the face with the contents of a perfume bottle. Shiera had but a moment to realize what had just happened before she collapsed to the floor unconscious.
A half hour later, Yeoman Diana Prince arrived to take her friend Shiera Sanders to the dock where the artifact would be arriving. She did so, a little surprised by her friend's formal matter. Diana left the hotel with her without knowing that the real Shiera Sanders was in the bedroom, bound and gagged to a chair, and in a drug induced sleep.
THE EYE OF BAST: Part 4
Yeoman Diana Prince was concerned about Shiera's behavior. First, she hardly said a word as they drove to the dock. There was an MP driving them, so they couldn't actually discuss JSA business, but they would have at least talked a little. The normally friendly formal socialite had spent the ride reading the rile on the artifact and ignoring Diana.
Now the statuesque Diana found herself outside the dock warehouse, relegated to guard duty as Shiera and Major Steve Trevor talked inside. The look that Shiera had given the Major shocked Diana, who knew that her friend was deeply in love with Carter... Then it hit her. She wasn't Shiera. Diana looked around and found a place to change into Wonder Woman.
When she returned the Amazing Amazon found a scene of chaos. A greenish gas was pouring from the windows and doorways of the warehouse, and a large van was pulling up next to it. The Cheetah ran out of the warehouse, and opened one of the van doors and hopped inside. Then she saw Wonder Woman.
"I was hoping you'd show up, Wonder Woman," the Cheetah said with glee.
"I'll bet," Wonder Woman said as she charged at the now moving van.
"No, really," the Cheetah replied, and opened the other door to reveal a strange looking device inside the van.
The Cheetah flipped a switch, and the device began to glow. Suddenly Wonder Woman's wrists were pulled ahead of her, and she was pulled off her feet and right into the flat metal side of the device. Despite having the strength of Hercules, Wonder Woman couldn't free her wrists from the metal plate.
"Great Hera, what madness is this?" Wonder Woman exclaimed.
"An experimental electro-magnet," the Cheetah replied, and then sprayed Wonder Woman in the face with her perfume bottle. "And that was a little dose of my catnap gas. Say goodnight, Amazon."
"Merciful Minerva, so sleepy... can't fight it... everything... getting... black," Wonder Woman said as she sleep drug rendered her unconscious, and at the mercy of the Cheetah.
THE EYE OF BAST: Part 5
Shiera Sanders opened her eyes to find herself tied to a chair in her underwear. The memory of opening the door and getting a face full of sleeping gas for her trouble came back to her. Looking around, the resourceful archaeologist saw a letter opener on the nightstand. After a superhuman effort, she managed to get ahold of the sharp piece of metal, and cut herself free of her bonds.
Soon the winged form of Hawkgirl was landing at the warehouse. Diana had told her where the artifact was arriving the night before, and the place looked like a battle had taken place. Hawkgirl recognized Major Steve Trevor, and asked what had happened.
"It was the Cheetah," Trevor answered between coughs, fighting the after effects of the gas that the villainess had used. "She disguised herself as an archaeologist and stole the Eye of Bast."
"The Eye of Bast!" Hawkgirl exclaimed, realizing the significance, and deciding to kept it to herself for the moment.
"Has anyone seen Diana Prince?" Steve asked, and began to go look for his secretary, while Hawkgirl took off again, intent on finding the Cheetah before it was too late.
Meanwhile, Wonder Woman was coming to, only to find herself tied to a chair as Shiera had been. The difference was that the Amazon Princess was bound by her magic lasso, a rope that not even her powerful muscles could break. The Cheetah came into view, smiling in triumph.
"I'm glad you're awake, Wonder Woman," the blonde villainess said, "I want you to bear witness to my taking over the world."
THE EYE OF BAST: Part 6
"The Eye of Bast is a power source, created by the Ancient Egyptian cat goddess, Bast," the Cheetah explained to the bound Amazon Princess. "I'm going to connect it to the experimental electro-magnet I used to capture you, and shut down every machine in the world."
"Great Hera!" Wonder Woman exclaimed. "Millions will die if you do that!"
"Exactly, Wonder Woman," the Cheetah said with an insane look on her face, "and the survivors will have to obey me if they want any of their machines turned on again."
"Then I guess we'd better make sure that doesn't happen," Hawkgirl said as she fired her crossbow into the electro-magnet machine, causing it to overload and explode.
"No, you've ruined everything!" the Cheetah cried in anger, and charged the winged heroine. "How did you find me?"
"I know something about the ancients and their devices," Hawkgirl said as she threw a net which entangle the Cheetah, causing the blonde villainess to fall to the ground bound and helpless. "This is the only place in the city where the moon and river are in the same relationship as they are in Egypt. They'd have to be in order to activate the Eye of Bast."
"Thanks, Hawkgirl," Wonder Woman said after she was untied, and as she picked up the netted Cheetah, she said, "I'm glad you were here to save the day."
"I'm sure that you would have managed without me," Hawkgirl said modestly.
"Perhaps, but I guess this proves it's good to have friends," Wonder Woman said as they left the building.