Gawain’s biggest problem? He tends to get in trouble way over his head. And ends up thrashing the whole place when he does pull it out by the skin of his teeth.

-Jake Kabrinski

“Whoever did this shall pay dearly!” Diana was clearly angry beyond words as she addressed her fellow amazons in their great hall on Themyscira, all looking just as furious as she was. “Was it not enough that my sister died in battle? And now to have her very body stolen, our temples and land desecrated by grave robbers?”

Chancellor Phillipus spoke, “We have little evidence as to the identity of these villains. Diana, these intruders disappeared without a trace. In your opinion, how many people are capable of such a feat?”

Diana sighed, her anger draining away as she sought to bring her emotions under control and think carefully. “Too many. It might be easier to work from a list of people who had the motive for such a vile act.”

“And that list would be?”

Diana looked at Phillipus, her steely blue eyes flashing, “Decidedly shorter. It’s clear that whoever did this intended to hurt Donna’s closest friends and families, namely us. I’ve already informed the Teen Titans and the Outsiders. They’ve promised me their aid, and I intend to make full use of it.”

“But it could be anybody who fought Donna before, and that includes her various friends.”

Diana shook her head, “No, it has to be somebody with a personal grudge against her, my mother, or me. Perhaps even against the Titans, but that’s a bit of a long shot. In fact, I can already guess who’s responsible for this.”

“Who?” It was Artemis who spoke, slowly honing a long knife along a whetstone, her actions making it apparent that whoever had been behind the foul deed would be in for lots of pain. The ‘shk, shk’ of the knife across the surface of the whetstone was the only sound present in the hall other than the voices of the Amazons.

“Dark Angel,” hissed Diana. “The only one of Donna and my mother’s many foes to have a personal grudge for both of them.”

“But both the Queen and your sister are dead,” Io pointed out, “If this Dark Angel is responsible, then why…”

Diana sighed, “I do not know. But consider that Dark Angel once stole Donna off this island right under our noses. It’s not unconceivable for her to do it again. Her sorcery is formidable, and my mother,” Diana tried to suppress the tinge of pain in her heart at the memory, “often said that had she been a bit less careful, she would have fallen to Dark Angel during the war and after.”

“At least it is a place to start,” said Phillipus. “Diana, keep us appraised of your investigation. If you need help, you will only need to tell us.”

Diana nodded gratefully, “Thank you for your support, sisters.”

The Amazon Princess thought to herself. And the first thing I need to do is to check with Oracle to see if she has any information…

“So, Donna Troy’s body has been stolen from Themyscira…” Ares murmured with Phillip sitting at the conference table. Morgan Carter and Joshua Peres were also in attendance, but the other two ranking minions were busy with their own things. Half full beer cans laid on the table in front of them, and even Ares had a can in his hands, taking an occasional sip from it.

“Yes, my lord.” Phillip hammered in a few keys on the keyboard in front of him, bringing up a short overview of Donna Troy on the screen at one end of the room. “Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl left for Themyscira immediately after the Princess was informed of the theft. The rest of the embassy staff and her friends were told to visit Rachel Keist at the hospital.”

“And you simply walked out of there?” Joshua frowned. “How did you end up in the embassy in the first place? You sneaked in there?”

Phillip tried to stay calm as he replied, “The Princess invited me over for dinner…”

Joshua barked, “Hah! That was fast, Phillip! And you say you had never been a ladies’ man?” He took a long pull of his beer, finishing the can. Then he threw it at the small basketball hoop-and-net set up at one end of the room. The can bounced off the backboard, into the ring, past the net, and into the trash bin underneath.

“And he scores with a 3 point shot! Morgan, note it down!” The financer raised his hands in mock triumph, while the others rolled their eyes in annoyance at his antics. It was well known by now that Joshua was a New Jersey Nets fan, while Stanley rooted for the New York Knicks, which sometimes made for fun discussions and even more aggravating bragging sessions after the teams played each other.

The two men held a running score sheet of beer cans and other rubbish thrown at the basket. It annoyed Ares to no end that at times their misses tended to make the area around the bin very messy. It didn’t help that even Morgan, Phillip, and Reinhardt were tempted to try their own skill at the basket, though Phillip had the curious distinction of never missing a shot.

Phillip tried to look abashed at Joshua’s question, “I had no idea what she was thinking, and I was hardly in a position to refuse.”

Morgan scoffed, “You should be able to tell when a girl is interested.”

“Not really.” Phillip sighed, “Look, whatever is going on in my social life, I’ll try not to let it interfere with what we’re doing, okay?”

Ares smiled, “And since I’ve picked you for this role, I have every confidence that you shall succeed. After all,” Ares’ voice dropped to a deadly whisper, “You have your vengeance to think of.”

The mention of his revenge ignited the fire in his eyes and the pain of his memories. Phillip bowed his head to his lord, “Yes, and for my vengeance the rest of the world can die and go to hell for all I care.” Morgan and Joshua shuddered at the promise of bleak doom in his voice.

Ares smiled even wider, “Very good, though such drastic measures are not necessary. Leave the Donna Troy matter. It does not concern us. The recent terrorist attacks, however, provide an excellent opportunity to expand the company and our influence…”

Gawain Sharpe peered through the observation binoculars of his room at Angelo Bend’s apartment about a hundred meters away. Various electronic equipment laid in the room behind him, along with pasted detailed layouts of Bend’s apartment on the wall, and a small recording device tapping Bend’s line. He had brought all the equipment over in his duffel bag, since it wasn’t readily available in Argentina.

The weapons, though, were a different matter. Beside him on a table was his favorite sniper rifle, the AWP. Several pistols of different makes were tucked inside his coat. Cortez had even been nice enough to provide a few grenades, which Gawain had not ordered. Nice to see that being a long time customer has its perks.

It had been several hours since he had managed to set things up in the small room he had rented opposite Angelo’s apartment, as well as break into Bend’s apartment to tap his phone and place several minuscule cameras around the place. A small TV set showed him exactly what was happening inside Angelo’s apartment.

If Gawain had been only after Bend, it would have been pretty easy. He had loaded the AWP with a special tranquilizer round that would disable the man almost immediately. But since he was also hunting for Angelo’s boss…

When Angle Man popped into his apartment, appearing in the literal blink of an eye, Gawain’s eyebrows rose in slight disbelief. He really does have the ability to teleport from place to place. But is it innate? Or by use of some technological or magical artifact?

Magical, Gawain decided almost immediately, seeing the simple equilateral metal triangle Bend held in his hands. The thief himself was dressed immaculately in white suit and pants, looking very classy. He also sported a pair of sunglasses, adding to the effect. Good. I only have to take away that triangle, and he’s down. But what if it is only a focus for an innate meta ability? No matter, same thing.

Gawain smirked. The man obviously seemed like the con artist, high class thief and opportunist type, which fitted in well with his description. It was also carefully stated that Angelo Bend was not the killer type. Gawain decided that the bounty for Angelo dead or alive was an exaggeration. The man deserved to be caught, sure, but not killed.

Angelo Bend, wait till I know who you’re working for, then BANG! Gawain twitched his finger with one eye shut, as though pulling the trigger on his rifle, imagining a crosshair firmly focused on Angelo Bend’s head.

Angle Man frowned. He had had a slight inkling of danger ever since he had returned to his apartment. Having the talisman which enabled him to teleport from place to place had its perks. Because of it, he could spend his nights at home in his own comfortable bed instead of the hard beds provided by his employer.

Speaking of my employer… Angelo resisted the urge to snort. If she wasn’t so powerful, and had the ability to literally control souls, he would never have thought of working for her.

As it was, he was only playing the role of the faithful minion, until she had done what he wanted her to do: Revive Donna Troy.

Angelo thought back to his first meeting with his present employer…

“You are Angle Man, and I have need of your services,” said the well dressed and attractive woman as he sat at her table in a café in New York. :I am Dark Angel, a sorceress of no small ability.”

“I was intrigued by the money you offered,” he replied smoothly. “But that was only for this meeting alone. Whether I will work with you, well, that depends. I’ve been burnt before.”

“Yes, by Ballesteros, the man who dared to take the Plant God’s power and become the Cheetah.” The woman smiled as he shifted uneasily at her knowledge. “I know many things, Angle Man, and amongst those is your own regret at not having the opportunity to know Donna Troy, otherwise known as Troia, better!”

Bend stared at her, “What do you want?”

The woman smiled, “I can bring Troia back to life, but it will require many magical artifacts to recall her soul from the abyssal dimension it is currently trapped in, as well as her body to store the soul and return her to life.”

“What’s the catch?”

The woman nodded approvingly, “You are a thief of extensive abilities. I need your skill to procure artifacts of power, which I can use to increase my powers. With enough artifacts sacrificed for my power, I can be the greatest user of magic on the planet, and nothing can stop me then!”

“And I suppose I get nothing in return?”

She laughed, “Oh, do not worry! I shall make Donna Troy fall in love with you. I can control her emotions and her very psyche once she is revived. Does not the idea of a powerful, beautiful woman in love with you inflame your loins?”

He risked a smile, “Oh, it certainly does.”

Since that meeting, he had been collecting various magical items from all over the planet. Because Dark Angel needed extra power in order to cast the spell that would bring Donna Troy’s soul back, he ran errands for her, already fulfilling his part of the bargain.

A few days ago Dark Angel had announced that she was ready for the process, and it was the signal for Angelo to claim Donna Troy’s body from her grave on Themyscira. He figured the Amazons would be pretty mad, but the return of their princess should mollify them.

He didn’t want Troy as a mindless puppet devoted to him. He much liked the strong, independent woman he first met in Europe. And she had such great taste in clothes… According to what Dark Angel had said, Donna wasn’t truly dead, only in a halfway state where her soul was somewhere else.

Angelo had barely managed to follow the complex magical theory Dark Angel had expounded at length, but the gist of it was that Donna Troy had certain peculiar circumstances that meant that even if she was killed, her soul would not proceed to the afterlife.

He wasn’t stupid. He had done his research. If anyone was responsible for Troy’s unique condition, then it was Dark Angel. The sorceress had previously cast a spell which condemned Donna to a multitude of lifetimes, each one ending in despair. The spell was thought to be broken, but apparently it still had some effect, throwing her soul into some strange dimension of purgatory instead of the true afterlife, or whatever the Greeks believed in.

Angelo also knew there was a good chance Dark Angel might screw him over, and he had prepared accordingly. If he guessed things right, Dark Angel only wanted Donna Troy back in the world of the living so that she could torture her again.

As for why he wanted to help Donna… Angelo wasn’t sure himself. But he had been raised to be a good Catholic, and despite his profession, he liked to think of himself as a good man, stealing from the rich and giving only to… well, himself. But here was a life at stake, and if he had the chance to save it, then he was going to try his best.

Besides, she was a real classy lady.

After ironing and preparing his clothes for the next day, Angelo changed into his sleep clothes, and promptly fell asleep. It would be a long day tomorrow, with the revival ceremony and all. He needed to be at his best, and he would only work at his best when he looked his best.

Deep in his dreams, Angelo did not notice Gawain entering his apartment, silently slipping through the door. The intruder headed for the set of clothes he had prepared for the next day, slipping a tracer under the collar. Then Gawain left the apartment just as silently, leaving no trace of his passage.

The next morning found Gawain staring intently at the tracker in his hands, tracing the signal from the tracer he had planted on Angle Man. The tracer contained a GPS chip, which would send the signal to an orbiting satellite, and then back to his tracking device. No matter where Angle Man had teleported to in the world, he would still be able to know where he was.

Although getting there could be quite a problem. For example, if Angelo Bend went to the other side of the world…

But he’s only fifty klicks south of Buenos Aires, Gawain grinned as the signal bounced back to him after Angle Man teleported away from his apartment. That’s just dandy.

He gathered up his weapons, going through them one last time to check that they’re in perfect working condition. He headed for his jeep, and within seconds he was off, humming cheerfully to himself, unaware of the danger he was heading into.

“There’s been a spate of thefts involving magical artifacts, particularly those related to rituals concerned with life, sacrifice, and blood,” Diana told Cassie as her investigative team gathered in her office. “More importantly, there were reports of a man in a white suit spotted at the scene of every theft. Does that remind you of anybody?”

Cassie blinked, “Angle Man?”

Diana nodded grimly, “It looks likely that he was also responsible for stealing away Donna’s body. He had the ability to teleport directly to Themyscira.”

“But why?” Cassie looked puzzled. “Sure, he was a creep, but he was one of the nice creeps. And he helped us in Argentina with the Cheetahs.”

“I can’t know for sure, but my guess is that he’s working with somebody else, probably Dark Angel.” Even if that’s still not confirmed, Diana reminded herself.

“So what else are we waiting for?” Cassie asked, shifting her weight nervously from foot to foot.

“We need information on Angle Man’s whereabouts…” Just then, there was a beeping tone from her computer, “And I guess that’s probably it.”

Oracle’s computer generated mask appeared on the screen, while a monotonous voice spoke through the speakers in the room. “Wonder Woman, I’ve managed to trace a bounty hunter on Angle Man’s trail. He used an Ares Macrotech GPS track system, and when the signal jumped from Buenos Aires to a location south of the city, and stayed there, I figured that should be it.”

“Thank you, Oracle.” Diana turned to Cassie. “Let us depart now. The invisible plane is waiting!”

Gawain left the jeep about 2 miles away from his destination, and fast hiked the rest of the way, moving quickly and stealthily through the plantation. He was weighed down by his weapons, but one thing he had learnt in infantry combat school was that it didn’t matter when you got there. It was what you did when you got there that counted. Being first was nothing.

He slowed down as he came across a man taking a piss. The man was dressed in strange red robes with a hood, pulling the robe up over his thighs as he cooed to himself, urging the stream of urine to water the tree in front of him. He did not notice Gawain’s presence.

Sharpe grinned.

It was simple for him to creep up behind the guy, knock him unconscious, and tie him up to a nearby tree. A few minutes later, feeling somewhat awkward in the robes with all his guns underneath the rough cloth, Gawain strode towards the building that his tracker indicated Angle Man was in.

It was a mansion, with a large hall in front. However, the large hall had been converted to some sort of ritualistic chamber, with a dais in the middle with what seemed to be the body of a beautiful woman in a white toga on it. Around her in a circle were several more robed men, all waving their arms and chanting. There was a certain break in the pattern, and Gawain could see where he was supposed to stand.

A pale woman with flowing black hair stood opposite the door, her red costume leaving little to the imagination, exposing significant portions of her cleavage that Gawain had to literally force himself to look away from. She emanated a sense of power and purpose as she chanted in some weird tongue, an aura that reminded Gawain of vampires and other dark beings. In other words, he was out of his depth. Again.

So much for a third rate supervillain wannabe loony, he scolded himself mentally for his assumption as he moved towards his position. Angelo Bend stood near the door, his triangle in one hand, observing the entire ceremony carefully. Go with the flow, Sharpe. Wait for an opportunity.

Once he reached his spot, he started waving his arms like the others, not knowing what exactly was going on. Maybe I should have come in here with guns blazing.

“Dertri Cuos Forrent!” The pale woman shouted, throwing her arms out, and a glow started to surround the woman’s body on the dais in the middle. Gawain started to feel the hairs all over his body start to stand up, and his instincts were telling him that something big was happening.

“You!” The woman pointed to him, “I need more magical energy, and you’re not contributing!”

Not daring to speak, Gawain grunted and waved his arms faster, hoping that at least he looked as if he was trying harder. He also tried frantically to recall what he had learnt back in Magical Theory 101. He could recall the gruff professor droning on while he and the rest of the tired cadets half dozed in their seats in the lecture hall. Some cadets even snored in their seats. Only a few, like Tom Serra, remained fully awake and paid diligent attention…

Magic is simply a manifestation of the natural energies present in the universe, in some respects considered the background energy that results from the presence of life itself and its ability to manipulate the environment. Magic users tap into that background life energy, drawing it into themselves and utilizing it to power their spells and artifacts. It is much alike to controlling your own inner soul energy. The difference lies in that magic energy is drawn from outside you, but soul energy is drawn from within yourself. Psi is another matter, as I shall soon explain.

Gawain blinked himself free of the memory, then focused. He had tested out to have some potential for being a mage, though he never had the inclination to go into that particular vocation. He could feel the strands of magical energy surrounding the dais, and the slow ebb and flow of magic from the other robed figures and the pale woman into the magical matrix slowly forming around the dais. He controlled his breathing, trying to gather up magic from the air around him, and pushed it towards the web.

Success! Gawain could sense a tiny trickle going into the matrix, but it wasn’t completely magical energy. He was also, somehow, dumping in some of his own soul energy. He hoped the woman wouldn’t notice and accuse him of mucking up the works. The last thing he needed was undue attention.

Apparently she didn’t notice, because the others were just as feeble as he was. The vast majority of the energy came from the pale woman herself as she chanted.

The glow grew until it was almost blinding in its incandescence.

Angelo Bend watched as Dark Angel shouted out in triumph, raising her hand into the air, as though completing the spell, “Yiggras Poze Gwill!”

Then she stopped her chanting, but the glow remained. Angelo forced himself to continue watching as Dark Angel walked towards the motionless, still form of Donna Troy.

“And one thing to do before we drag her soul back from whatever it is…” Dark Angel hissed victoriously as she held a metal object in her left hand. It was a neck collar studded with jewels and circuits, and carried with it a sense of impending doom. Dark Angel leaned over Troia, her arms moving to clasp the collar around the woman’s slender neck.

A control collar! Angelo had heard of such devices, combining both magic and technology, in use by certain rogue states to control their metahuman population, but he had no idea how Dark Angel had gotten her hands on one. And obviously, she was going to control Troia. Placing the collar on her before her soul returned was obviously a precaution.

Angelo raised his triangle to stop her, but before he knew it, he felt a bursting sensation of pain through his chest.

He gasped as he leaned back against the door. He looked down at his own chest to see blood all over his white suit, staining the pristine cloth red. He tried to use the triangle to teleport himself out of the mansion, but it only brought another stab of pain. He fell on his knees, looking at the triangle as though it had betrayed him.

“Did you think I was not prepared for you, Angle Man?” Dark Angel laughed as another man, previously hidden in the shadows of the mansion appeared with a smoking gun in his hands. “I have cast a spell around the mansion that prevents you from leaving by use of your triangle. That reminds me. It would be a worthy trinket to sacrifice for my power!” She threw her head back, laughing.

That was when the room erupted in gunfire.

Gawain tried to remain calm as he saw Angle Man get shot through the chest. Then the gunman had appeared, and the woman was laughing carelessly in glee when he decided to make his move, his hand reaching under his robes for his weapons.

He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he sensed that the collar in her hands was an object of evil. Furthermore, Angle Man might have been a thief, but he did not deserve to die. And I need him alive for the capture bonus.

He tore the gunman beside the woman apart with a burst from his M16 in his right hand, taking the man with a weapon to be the greater threat. His left hand came up with a Colt 1911, the automatic pistol barking sharply as he fired at the woman.

She waved a hand casually, the bullets bouncing off some invisible shield. Mana shield, dammit. Gawain wanted to kick himself for his tactical error. Always kill the bloody mage first!

He changed targets even as he threw himself sideways to avoid an answering magic bolt from the sorceress.

“So, it seems like we have an intruder here. Tell me, little man, who are you working for?” The sorceress grinned, firing off a series of energy bolts at him. Gawain dodged, flipping through the air desperately, then flung a HE grenade in an underarm throw at her. The explosion slammed into her shield, but did not seem to distress her at all. However, the other red robed men were caught by the shrapnel, and laid on the floor bleeding.

She looked at the groaning men around her, and muttered, “Waste not, want not.” She spread out her arms, drawing in colored streams of magic energy from the dying men, “Besides, I only needed your magical colors to draw back Troy’s soul, not the actual amount of energy itself. And since the spell is nearly complete, I don’t need you anymore, boys!” As she fed on their energies, she screamed in ecstasy.

Gawain rolled himself to a stop beside Angelo Bend. The thief was slowly slipping towards death, and Gawain took him by the shoulders and shook him slightly. “Hey, stay awake! I need you alive! Come on, fight it!”

Angelo Bend shook his head slowly, then he opened his lips and gasped out, “Take… this…”

Gawain found the other man pressing the triangle into his right hand. Angelo Bend seemed to say something else he could not quite hear, and there was a slight tingling sensation in his palm. Then Angle Man flopped to the ground, blood all over his torn body, obviously quite dead.

He stared at the man. Poor bastard. I’m sorry for not being able to help you. But, he looked at the woman, shrieking in euphoria as she absorbed the very last magic of the other men, maybe I can avenge your death.

The bounty hunter hung the triangle at his side, then swapped out the magazine on his M16 for a fresh one. He also prepared another grenade, although this one would hopefully even up the odds for him. He stood slowly, then faced the sorceress, who was smiling broadly as they confronted each other, with the dais on one side.

She said, “You haven’t answered my question, little man.”

“No one. I work for no one. I’m a bounty hunter, and I was tracking Angle Man.” Then Gawain snarled, “But you know what? I’m going to enjoy dragging your corpse in, bitch.”

“You can try!” She screamed as she fired off a whole series of fiery bolts at him. Gawain flung himself backwards, while lobbing the grenade towards her. He averted his eyes as he rolled on the floor, hoping that none of the bolts would hit him.

The grenade was a special composition of part strong acid and part flashbang. There would be a loud bang along with a burst of blinding light, followed by sustained acrid, noxious fumes produced by the acid as it ate away at anything and everything it encountered.

The woman backed away, gasping at the fumes invading her nostrils, blinded by the burst of light, holding her ears in pain, and obviously very confused. Gawain fired at her, only to have the bullets still bounce off her shield. Damn, she kept the shield up.

He didn’t have too many options available as long as the sorceress maintained her shield. The normal counter taught in combat school was to pour a entire infantry section’s gun and laser fire into the shield and break it down with brute force, but that choice wasn’t available to him with only one M16 and several grenades. Furthermore, she had obviously huge amounts of magical energy to sustain the shield, and once she recovered, he was going to be very dead meat.

The doors of the mansion were shut tight, and he wasn’t going to leave the place any time soon. Feeling more than a bit desperate, Gawain drew his Bowie knife with his right hand, and charged forward at her, while she was still in a daze.

The blade clattered off her shield with his first charge, and Gawain swiped at it several times with all his strength, while pouring gunfire from the M16 in his left hand into the shield at an oblique angle to avoid the ricochets from hitting himself. But none of it seemed to get past the damn magic shield.

“Enough of this!” She roared as she finally regained her senses, pushing him away from her with a repelling spell, ready to follow up with a killing spell.

Too close to dodge, Gawain was hit by the spell. He flew backwards and struck the dais with a pained grunt, falling almost directly over the woman on the dais. The triangle on his hip touched her, and suddenly the glow around the dais intensified and started collapsing towards him and the woman below him.

He had only enough time to shout, “Shhhhhhiiiiiit!”

Then there was nothing but a brilliant explosion of magic and light.

“Diana! Look at that!” Cassie pointed towards the bright glare off in the distance.

“Cassie, let’s go!” Diana jumped from her seat in the invisible plane and flew as quickly as she can towards the flash of light. It was exactly where Oracle had directed them, the location of Angle Man. The flash didn’t portend anything good.

Diana’s beautiful face became grim as she saw the red robed figure standing amongst the ruins of a building, beside a dais that held the body of her sister Donna on it. Dark Angel!

She called upon the power of Hermes, and dive bombed towards Dark Angel, one hand reaching for her magic lasso. Dark Angel seemed to have spotted her, and desperately fired several powerful bolts of magical energy at her. Diana slapped the bolts away with her bracelets, and was about to tag Dark Angel when she crashed into a magical shield.

Diana gasped with the momentary pain, and tumbled away on the ground for several meters before she flipped onto her feet almost immediately. Dark Angel seethed in exhaustion, her shield sorely taxed by Diana’s blow.

“So, you’re here, Amazon,” Dark Angel hissed, “Prepare to go to hell to meet your mother!” She gestured, and suddenly several trees in the plantation creaked into wood golems, monstrous beings with incredible strength. “I am now far stronger in my magic then when I faced your stupid mother!”

Diana tensed at the insult towards her Queen and mother, letting her rage lend her blows additional strength as she literally punched a golem several hundred feet away. Several more surrounded her, their agile, quick movements belying their size and toughness.

The Amazon Princess fought ferociously, her motions a blur as she chopped and kicked her way past the wood golems. One golem hit her hard, but she shrugged off the punch. She lassoed the golem, spun it in a circle, then flung it back into its animated compatriots, shattering the other golems with the impact.

Soon after, she was joined by Wonder Girl, and the two heroines reduced the remaining golems to scrap wood.

Dark Angel gasped for breath, leaning against a tree as she tried to escape while the superheroines fought her constructs. But she was not able to get far when Wonder Woman looped her magic lasso over her.

Diana instructed sternly, “Now, Dark Angel, tell me what happened here, and what you were planning to do with my sister!”

Cassie flew over with Donna in her arms. “Diana, something’s strange. Donna’s body… I can feel a pulse!”

Dark Angel grimaced at the news. Diana glared at her, and asked again, “What have you done?”

The evil sorceress sneered, “Your simulacrum is not dead. My spell of lifetimes still had some effect, and when she was ‘killed’, all that happened was that her soul was sent to another dimension. Foolish amazon!”

Wonder Woman stared at Dark Angel in surprise. Donna is still alive?

Dark Angel continued, “I was conducting a ritual to bring her back, as my slave, when some fool bounty hunter interrupted the ritual, to hunt down that traitor Angle Man.” Dark Angel’s features grew genuinely puzzled, “After that, I don’t know what happened exactly. I pushed that idiot away with a spell, and then he landed on Troy. There was an explosion of light, and when it was gone, he had disappeared, and the place was wrecked.” She frowned. “I can’t explain it.”

Diana looked at the ruined mansion. Dark Angel could not lie; the lasso prevented that. But if she didn’t know what was happening…

She turned to Wonder Girl, “Cassie, take Donna in the invisible plane back to Themyscira. I’ll take care of matters here.” In her mind, Wonder Woman was already planning her next moves. Inspect the mansion, and call in magical help.

Gawain Sharpe groaned, picking himself slowly off the ground. What the fuck happened…

He halted suddenly. He was in the middle of a freaking desert. Worse yet, the sky was red. And there was no sun. And there was no crazy bitch trying to kill him.

I’m not in Kansas anymore? The bounty hunter looked around frantically. But all he saw were sand dunes, sand dunes, and yet more sand dunes. He was beginning to sweat from panic, and he automatically told himself, calm down, calm down. All things considered, he preferred being back in the mansion facing the crazy bitch rather than stuck here in god knows where.

He looked up at the sky again. Nope, no sun, no obvious source of light. His internal compass sure as hell wasn’t telling him which way was north.

Gawain gulped. Hard.

Feeling a weight by his side, he raised the triangle hanging from his belt. He said to it, feeling more than a bit silly as he did so, “Uhm, you wouldn’t happen to know a way outta here, would you?”

No reply.

He shook the triangle a little, trying to see if he could make it work, bring him back to planet Earth.

“FUCK!!!” In a burst of anger, he threw the stupid triangle onto the ground. He started to look around, and that was when it happened.

The vague combination precognition, clairvoyance, and psychometric ability that he and a few others had somehow developed decided to kick in at that moment. Gawain glanced at the direction it seemed to be prodding him towards, and sighed. Why the hell not? At least it’s something.

He started trudging across the hot desert, leaving a long trail of footsteps in the sand behind him.

As he marched under the red sky, Gawain did not notice the triangle had reappeared around his waist.

Wonder Woman glanced worriedly at Zatanna as she cast several scrying spells on Donna’s body.

It had been a week since she had captured Dark Angel, who was now languishing in one of Themyscira’s prison gardens, specially meant to hold magic users.

Donna’s body was brought back to Themyscira where every method known to the Amazons had been tried to bring her back fully to life. But none had succeeded. Not that Diana expected them to.

Her sister’s body was alive, blood somehow pumping through her veins again, electrical signals pulsing through her nervous system. But she remained motionless, a shell without a soul.

A soul whose location that even Dark Angel admitted she did not know. Her initial spell was an extremely powerful one meant to draw in the soul from whichever dimension it had ended up in, but the interference in the ritual had messed things up.

From the wreckage of the mansion, Angle Man had been found shot in the chest, and Dark Angel had admitted she was behind that. More interesting, though, was the fact that his triangle was missing. Also, no sign of the bounty hunter was found.

Thankfully, Zatanna had arrived to provide magical aid.

The stage magician said to Diana after a while, “It’s not easy to find out what’s wrong, but my closest guess is that Donna’s body is still not ready.”

“Not ready?” Wonder Woman frowned.

“Her body is slowly preparing itself for her soul. Dark Angel would have finished the process faster, but she was prevented from dong so. I can speed it up, but there’s a slight risk that Donna might be hurt in some way if we rush it.”

Diana nodded, “But you can bring Donna’s soul back, can’t you?”

Zatanna smiled, “I can bring her back. It’s just not the right time yet. I also need to properly locate the triangle artifact that Angle Man used.”

“Why?”

“Because it seemed that the explosion was a result of the triangle somehow messing up the revival process. I’m not sure what it did exactly, but I’ve put together a theory. The triangle is now probably with the bounty hunter in wherever Donna’s soul is. We need Donna and the triangle to come into contact, and for her body to be ready before we can bring her back. I can prepare a spell to try to speak to the bounty hunter, but I need his name.”

“His name is Gawain Sharpe.” Oracle had provided the name, and Diana had a slight sense of déjà vu as she told Zatanna.

“Sounds very complicated.” Cassie commented on the process.

“Magic almost always is.” Zatanna smiled tiredly. “Gawain Sharpe, is it? Then I guess I had better start preparing a way to contact him. It’s not going to be easy either.”

It had been a week since he had arrived, and Gawain was on his last legs despite every precaution he had taken. The human body could survive for quite a while without food, but without water, it would die in three days.

He guessed he had been lucky to have lasted as long as he did. He had a small water canteen, which he rationed for himself very, very carefully. He recycled his piss and sweat, constantly wiping it off his own body and squeezing what he could back into the canteen. He ignored the smell, the stench, the salty taste. He had tasted worse in more than ten years of brutal soldiering.

Still, it had not been enough. He had not come across any oasis, any source of water. The dry air sapped water from his body and even the canteen rapidly. He fashioned a small umbrella-like covering over his head to provide some shade for his own body from the red light constantly beating down on him.

He looked back fondly on his last meal, when he had come across several small cactus-like plants in the desert. He had cut them open and devoured their juicy contents despite the intensely bitter taste, using several strips of cloth to handle the prickly plants. That had provided him with enough moisture for another few days.

But his time had run out. His instincts still dragged him along, pulling him resolutely towards some faraway goal which he did not know if he was able to reach.

As he walked, his mind wandered, back along familiar paths to his past. He recalled his youth growing up on the hard city streets, then later on when he had been a cocky recruit enlisting in the army. Years of being a starship trooper, fighting through some of the most suicidal missions alongside Jake and Tom. And somehow surviving all that, to end up on this Earth, which for all its faults seemed like paradise to somebody who had known only war in his life.

I’m not going to die, I’m not going to die, the mantra ran in Gawain’s head as he pushed himself forward. He was barely cognizant of his surroundings, half walking, half stumbling into a small ruined city, the stony structures around him not registering at all on his delirious mind.

Then his body gave up on him. Gawain collapsed onto the ground face first, his parched lips giving out one final groan before his mind succumbed to darkness.

“My lady, there is somebody here!” The female soldier reported as the column of warriors and beasts of burden entered the small lost city.

“What is it?” She was a tall woman, standing as tall as many of the men, and carried herself with an air of authority. She had forged the people of the land into an army to fight back the demons, a warrior princess whose battle prowess was fast becoming the talk of the land. Her sword and shield hung by her side, well-worn from constant use as she defeated the demons ravaging the land.

She was Donna Troy, but her name and her skills were all that she remembered of herself.

“Seems like a traveler. He’s unconscious, and badly dehydrated. What should we do?” The soldier snapped to attention.

“Give him water, and place a guard on him. Remove his tools and weapons. The rest of you, we have to prepare our defenses. Get to it!” She ordered in an authoritative voice as the men and women under her command got to grip to their tasks.

She caught a glimpse of the desert traveler as he was dragged into a tent, and the long metal object on his back as her people took it away seemed to spark a memory. That’s a gun.

Then she saw the metal triangle which seemed harmless, and stayed by his side. The triangle seemed to spark another memory. This time of a man in white, holding the triangle and pointing it at her, smiling politely all the while. In its wake, it brought forth a torrent of further images. A dark haired woman much like herself, a sense of belonging, a memory of a small child that brought pangs of pain to her heart, a man with a beard that made her feel regret.

Donna shook her head, trying to center herself as she swayed slightly from the sheer mental impact of the images.

“Lady Troy?” asked her second in command Craddock. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, yes I am.” She forced a grin to her face. “Must be the heat.” She added, “I’ll like to speak to the traveler once he awakes. I have a feeling that he might be important.”

“Of course, my lady.” Craddock bowed slightly to her.

Donna looked at the tent holding the traveler. Who are you, and where do you come from? What is it about you that makes me feel so strange?

He had better awake soon, to give her the answers she wanted.

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That’s it for this chapter. Cool huh? I certainly hope so! Now, press that review button! Come on, I’m starved for comments!

Next chapter, Donna’s reason for leading her band of soldiers to the city in the desert is revealed, and an all out battle with a demonic army ensues. Meanwhile, can Wonder Woman and Zatanna bring Donna’s soul back before it is too late? And what are Donna and Gawain doing together in bed?!?

Those special abilities of Gawain? Phillip/Tom has them as well. There’s a reason for that, of course… to be slowly revealed. Heh.

Maybe I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again. This fic is meant to take place in current continuity, but putting back some of the elements that had been missing(plus sex scenes, of course!). Competent, dangerous villains. A genuine love interest. Interesting characters. A Wonder Woman who actually acts instead of talk, talk, and talk…