by Libbylawrence
Later, Artemis groaned and sat up slowly. She was no longer in the house on Park Place but in a wooded glade near Raeburn University. Snarls echoed around her, and feral eyes gleamed in the darkness. Pushing herself to her feet, she frowned as she noticed red and white boots had replaced her customary black ones. She also realized that her star-spangled hot pants and golden eagle top resembled another famous costume, not all that different from the one she had worn as Wonder Girl.
“She dressed me in Diana’s old costume! Why?” she muttered.
Laughter greeted her comment as her foe pounced down from a tree above. “Why? I want to kill Wonder Woman, and you are one of the two closest copies I have left!” said the woman in the animal print.
“The Cheetah!” cried Artemis. “I thought you had reformed! Still, with an alias like Panthea and an attack on a lab that used animal experimentation, I should have known it was you.”
“What’s wrong, my pretty?” sneered the Cheetah. “Feeling dizzy? That’s to be expected. I drugged you heavily while you were out cold.”
“You lured me here on purpose!” cried Artemis, stalling for time to clear her head.
“Right,” said the Cheetah. “When you and your hubby showed up at Raeburn, I just couldn’t allow you to escape my wrath. I was so pleased when Terry Long joined the staff. I had planned to attack the town’s lab because of their animal experimentation. You were just a lovely surprise!”
Artemis stated, “You used the cybernetic devices to control those poor men. You want their work for yourself.”
The Cheetah hissed like a true feline. “You wrong me! I am the living champion of the natural world. I abhor animal experimentation. I simply used that deluded Brinkley to gain access to his lab, and then I decided to see how he and his friends liked being experimented on themselves. They had mistreated animals for years. I have no desire to use their creation on animals — I merely wanted to stop their work and apply their devices to humans. I value animal life much more than humanity. When you arrived, I gladly waited to order them to destroy the lab until I could use them to lure you here.”
Artemis declared, “I can still stop you.” She hurled her lasso, but the Cheetah rolled forward, tumbling just under its arc.
The Cheetah leaped forward to tackle Artemis and knock her to the ground. Her red claws raked across Artemis’ bare arms as Artemis raised her legs to flip the Cheetah through the air. As expected, her feline foe landed on her feet in a feral crouch, snarling as Artemis kicked out at her, missing by inches.
“You recover quickly. I suppose I should even the playing field. Come, my pets!” she called.
From the night emerged three growling, catlike humanoids. Artemis gasped as the creatures surrounded her. “These things are mutated animals!” she exclaimed.
The Cheetah laughed bitterly. “Get with the program! They are evolved men. I do not experiment on animals. They are my sisters and brothers! I merely offered the gift of transformation to these men. One Dr. Moreau who fought Black Canary and Green Arrow perfected the process.” (*)
[(*) Editor’s note: Marcel Moreau fought Green Arrow and Black Canary in “Isle of Hate, Island of Dreams,” World’s Finest Comics #247 (October-November, 1977); although Moreau seemed to have died in an explosion, he evidently survived.]
Artemis jumped high into the air and landed just beyond the three beast-men. She spun around to kick the first one down as his allies leaped for her nimble form. She hurled herself flat and allowed them to sail over her body. Quickly rising, she snared one with her lasso, pulling him down and using his bulk to block the path of the remaining creatures.
I don’t wish to hurt these poor victims of Debbi Domaine’s madness, she thought. Still, I can’t let them make me their nightly snack, either!
Wrestling the huge black panther-man down, she shoved him into the cheetah-men. A rapid twist of her arm sent the nearest cheetah-man crashing into his partner. Artemis delivered three swift blows directly to their snouts, watching them back away in pain.
They react like animals! Just maybe I can try something new, she mused. “Down! Get down!” she cried in a commanding tone.
The creatures hesitated, waiting in uncertainty.
“You’ve left them so confused that they respond to any female voice!” said Artemis triumphantly. She used the moment of hesitancy to stretch her lasso around them with the speed of Hermes.
“Little does it matter!” the Cheetah growled. “I have the cyber-technology. I possess Moreau’s process. I have destroyed Raeburn’s little torture chamber. I’ve bested you in battle. Oh, and I delivered a warning to one of the worst polluters in the nation! Mr. Preston Wainwright should know by now that those who harm nature suffer the claws of the Cheetah!”
Artemis stopped in her tracks. “Wainwright! No, you didn’t!”
The Cheetah laughed. “Right, Donna, honey! I captured Wainwright’s trophy girlfriend, Marcia Long. I only meant to use her to force him to stop the polluting ways of his company, but she was wearing a fur coat. That made me angry enough to deliver a fatal lesson to her boyfriend. I skinned Marcia and sent her carcass to his office!”
Artemis gasped in shock, horrified not only by this terrible act but also by the fact that the Cheetah knew her real name. Thoughts of Jennifer and Terry flooded her mind, and she felt the pain they would endure at the murder of Marcia Long. Despite her past rudeness, Marcia was Jennifer’s mother.
“How could you?” cried Artemis. “It gives you pleasure to hurt others! You knew of her connection to my family!”
The Cheetah raised one hand and idly licked it clean. “My, how angry you are! How like a mother defending her cubs! I admit that the fact that the late and now bare Mrs. Long was connected to you made me crueler than I might have been otherwise. You should really get a mask. Kory Anders is obviously Starfire, and her photographer Donna Long is clearly her partner Artemis. It took little deduction.”
Artemis leaped through the air to grab the Cheetah’s foot, but the agile villainess dodged and clicked a switch on a device in her palm. An explosion shook the night air as flames erupted from the college’s lab, and Artemis could see the smoke rising.
“I’d run into town and put out the fires, if I were you. I left that little bomb there when I first seduced Brinkley. It should give me time to escape. Ta-ta for now!” the Cheetah mocked, pursing her lips and blowing a kiss to Artemis.
Frowning, Artemis ran toward the nearby community. The beast-men were still bound by her lasso, and she knew she would see the Cheetah again. She had to help extinguish the fire before others were harmed.
Poor Marcia! What am I going to do? How can I tell Jen and Terry? she thought, her mind reeling from the shocking revelation. I guess Jen will have to move in with us now.
Soon, she reached the burning Science Building and joined the firemen in smothering the blaze.
Terry and Jennifer watched from the parking lot, unaware of Marcia’s murder. Donna Troy-Long realized that Wainwright would be receiving the grim news soon, too. Her sister’s old foe was back with a vengeance, and many lives would never be the same.