by Dr. Chloroform
Washington, D.C., 1943:
Shiera Sanders was happy to see her friend Lieutenant 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 her boyfriend 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 girls’ night out in the meantime.”
Unknown to the statuesque Amazon princess, another woman had plans for the evening. Priscilla Rich, wealthy debutante who was secretly the villainess known as the Cheetah, plotted quietly in her mansion. Soon she would have what she needed to not only defeat her arch-nemesis Wonder Woman, but also then conquer the world.
***
“Let’s get outta 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 fulla 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 feltgood.”
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 demanded.
“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.
***
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, but it was far too late to do anything by the time they found it. The insane cat-themed villainess had robbed a government laboratory that had been working on experimental devices. In order to make sure that no one knew what she took, the Cheetah had then set fire to the lab, destroying months of work important to the war effort. The Cheetah was now public enemy number one, but that fact would only serve to enhance the blonde villainess’ 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 mystery-men friends weren’t mythic beings, but rather the more fragile human variety.
She opened the door and saw not Diana as she’d expected but a blonde woman in a hat and overcoat. Before the beautiful amateur archaeologist could say a word, the woman at the door raised a gloved 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, Lieutenant 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.