VI. DISCARDING DEBRIS “No!” Celia shouted at Rex. “You’ve gotta stop this. Now! There’ll be no going back and no hiding what you’ve done.” That got through to Rex. He forcibly grabbed Lucifer up and out from the pit and said, “Enough.” Lucifer said, “What’s the matter? You don’t got the balls for th...

V. POURING CONCRETE Sensing Celia’s change of heart, Rex pulled her close to him. He held her tightly but tenderly in his arms while whispering in her ear, “babe, I know this has gotten rough. It ain’t easy knocking the crown off royalty, but that’s what we gotta do. And it ain’t easy saying goodbye...

IV. DISABLING THE POWER This was uncharted territory for the Demons, none of whom (other than Lucifer) had signed on to go so far as stabbing a vaunted superheroine. Mounting unease was evident among them. As for Celia, never in her worst nightmares did she envision Wonder Woman suffering this fate....

III. BREAKING NEW GROUND Celia shot Lucifer a look of blazing hatred — fueled by what he’d tried to do to her and had just done to Wonder Woman. Lucifer merely shrugged, as if to say “What do you expect?” He walked over to Rex while Rex ogled the superhuman specimen in all her glory. Lucifer whisper...

II. DISMANTLING THE FOUNDATION Rex was agitated and uncomfortable at this point, but he maintained a brave face for the benefit of Celia and his gang. “Demons don’t scare that easily. And nobody gets to bend our bikes. Nobody. Not even you. We’re gonna see how tough you really are.” At this, Wonder ...

I. BUILDING UP The scrap yard was in a forgotten corner of the city and desolate. Old wreckage was strewn about it but concentrated in mountainous scrap heaps; much of the heavy, rusting equipment dotting it dated back decades and today found use only sporadically A light, cold drizzle was falling a...

(VI. THE TRANSFORMATION, continued and concluded) . . . The only remaining question for the guys is what to do with their improbable conquest. Junior already has his answer. “The costume comes off. All of it. She doesn’t need or deserve it, and we don’t want to bring any more heat or clues with us. ...

VI. THE TRANSFORMATION Junior’s small crew is uncomfortable with where he’s placed them. Wonder Woman is coming for them at maximum speed and they can’t equal the manpower and firepower that came nowhere close to downing her earlier. Nor do they have the element of surprise. But there’s no reasoning...

V. THE REVERSAL Vinny sits alone in his office, ensconced in thought. He studies Wonder Woman’s belt and other accessories as scattered across the desk in front of him, then grabs them up with a heavy sigh. Wonder Woman is utterly oblivious to her plight, which has become even more desperate. She’s ...

IV. THE AUCTION Back at IADC headquarters, IRAC is reporting to Trevor that the warehouse was deserted by the time IADC arrived, but showed signs of recent, intense fighting. Disturbingly, there’s no sign of Wonder Woman, who stopped communicating upon reaching the warehouse; continuing efforts to c...

(III. THE CONTRACT, continued and concluded) . . . Vinny suddenly intercedes by tugging on Talia’s shoulder. He reminds Talia that the contract pays more for Wonder Woman alive than dead, and that each component of Wonder Woman’s iconic costume should be preserved so it can fetch its own price. Tali...

(III. THE CONTRACT, continued) . . . Facing Wonder Woman is her old arch-nemesis, Talia al Ghul, whom Wonder Woman had last left imprisoned on Paradise Island under guard by the Amazons, after sending Ra al Gaul, Talia’s father, scurrying into retreat and obscurity. A ring of Falcone’s mob heavies e...

III. THE CONTRACT Back at IADC headquarters the following week, IRAC buzzes to alert Diana Prince that there’s been a huge bank heist — the biggest yet— traced to Falcone, whose men outgunned the police using heavy artillery and escaped to a desolate, dangerous part of the city. IRAC believes that a...

BLOOD FEUDS I. THE WARNING Our story opens at IADC headquarters, in a secure conference room. Steve Trevor is leading a presentation about IADC’s mounting crackdown against the mob and explaining how, following the fall of the Bertinelli family, Wonder Woman has devoted herself to helping shut down ...

V. THE ESCAPE The Professor returns with Farouk while the trio slips away and takes cover again under the table. Chapman addresses Wonder Woman, whose eyes are open, albeit glazed: “Well, I see you’ve regained your wits and hopefully your powers. Perhaps we’ve managed to dull your sharp tongue. In a...

IV. THE CONTRAPTION Wonder Woman awakens strapped into fearsome technology, held upright but helpless in heavy, metallic, state-of-the-art restraints that bind her arms at the wrists and her legs at the ankles. Surrounding gadgetry is strapped around her head and limbs. She is conscious but weakened...

III. THE SKYLIGHT Wonder Woman makes an acrobatic ascent to the roof, which she then expertly traverses while remaining out of sight of security cameras. Then she peers through the skylight, spying below her a strange, intricate apparatus and workers operating around it. Making sure she remains unse...

I. THE PROPOSAL Somewhere in the Middle East, ia short time ago . .. . Sheikhs in keffiyehs sit around a large conference room, lamenting the future of their oil supplies and market value of same. An advisor in a sharp suit is presenting to the assembly. “No matter how carefully we adjust our supply...

HIGHLY CLASSIFIED VIII. THE RESCUE Responders gathered around us quickly and intently, with looks of concern on every face, and I had plenty of help lifting Wonder Woman down from the table and onto a stretcher, then down to the floor to enable CPR. Someone tried to attend to my arm and I brushed h...

HIGHLY CLASSIFIED VII. THE LASSO Someone behind us slammed the door shut and Bruno wheeled me around to frisk me, eyeing me with heavy suspicion. Franco grabbed me by my collar, “Nice job, Romeo. Now you and your girlfriend get to stay alive another moment or two. But I’m not forgetting about our b...

HIGHLY CLASSIFIED VI. THE RESPONDERS It was at that moment that I saw the distinctive flash of sirens coming through the front windows. My first thought was that it must be a wishful mirage. But then I looked at the screens and saw the cameras picking up a fleet of patrol cars as well as one of our...

HIGHLY CLASSIFIED V. THE TABLE Franco gestured for two of the guys to hoist Wonder Woman up, and they carried her off the floor and unceremoniously dropped her atop the one intact table, where they laid her out spread eagle fin front of the assembly. One of them cracked, “We already wiped the floor...

HIGHLY CLASSIFIED IV. THE BOSS Two men dragged Wonder Woman over towards the table that remained intact and left her leaning heavily on it as she again tried to stand. She now looked thoroughly diminished and only a pale shadow of the woman who’d torn off the door and taken the Bertinellis by storm...

HIGHLY CLASSIFIED III. THE CREW Franco shot me a wink. “I know what you must be thinking, Officer. Sorry, all bets are final. But you shouldn’t be too glum. A man can die happy after gazing upon this sight, am I right?,” Franco asked, as that bastard shot me a sly wink. He looked down at Wonder Wom...

FROM SEALED POLICE FILES: REPORT OF WW DOWN (Warning: Contents are HIGHLY CLASSIFIED) The following is a highly-classified, eyewitness report from Officer Jonathan Kerr of Gotham PD, describing an especially traumatic episode that he underwent while pursuing members of the Bertinelli crime family, a...