In the early 2000s, billionaire Hershell Rich, the appropriately named industrialist went on a safari in North Africa. On his journey, he came upon a cheetah twice it’s normal size and poached it. Unbeknownst to him, he had in fact killed the avatar of the tribe of Urzkartaga, who worshipped a primal Cheetah-God of the same name. Chuma, a dwarfed member of the tribe was designated to carry out the tribe’s revenge. Being a master of stealth and subterfuge, he infiltrated Rich’s camp and managed to stow himself un-noticed in their wares. He even made the journey overseas back to the states inside the cargo deck of the plane, and made it all the way to Rich’s estate, a sprawling compound on a large hill in Gateway City, where he would live for years un-noticed inside the leviathan property. In pocket doors, closets, and nooks he observed the Rich family and laid his plans. By means of poisoning using archaic jungle-derived plant extracts he killed Hershell’s wife through her coffee (cause of death was found to be anaphylaxis resulting from an unknown allergy), leaving behind Hershell and his young daughter, infamous wild-child icon Priscilla “Prissy” Rich. Entering her 20s, Prissy was known for wild partying, extravagant spending, ‘accidental’ sex video leaks, and rampant self-marketing via everything from reality tv to cosmetic lines.
Over the next couple of years, Chuma was stealthily manipulating the young Ms. Rich. Putting oils from the plant said to carry the very essence of Urzkartaga into her drinks and performing archaic rituals in her room, Priscilla’s already jealous and caustically elitist personality became more and more amplified accompanied with abrupt mood swings. Diagnosed Bi-Polar by the family psychiatrist, she was medicated for her raged mania to little avail, carrying the secret that she was hearing voices and seeing strange movements in the night.
Then came Wonder Woman. A new figure of obsession in Gateway City, a beautiful and compassionate woman with super powers who took the city by storm. Her largely emotionally unavailable father developed a fixation on this fantastic creature and was determined to find a way to captivate her through sudden over-the-top philanthropy endeavors and a high profile visible presence. Priscilla’s boosted jealousy reached a boiling point mixed with the bizarre goings-on of her mind. One night as she sat in front of her bedroom mirror, her own reflection began speaking to her, telling her to take charge and exact revenge on her unfair life. Upon instruction, Priscilla went to her father’s enormous trophy room and found the taxidermy head of the giant beast and placed it on her head. Instantly, the spirit of Urzkartaga filled her mind, body, and soul. Next from his vast weapons collection, she found two fists worth of silver rings with curved claw-hooks he’d bought on one of his retreats. That night, when Hershell returned from an event, a lithe body with the head of his prized kill moved at him with lightning speed and ripped him to shreds on one of the decks behind the home in a very disturbingly and thorough fashion, leaving the police to begin hunting for a vicious animal throughout the area.
After Mr. Rich’s estate settlement, Priscilla was called to a meeting at Rich International with chairwoman Helen Sekowsky to discuss terms of a buyout. Sitting across a long table from her, Priscilla leapt to her feet and onto the long table and scurried to the far end in a matter of about 5 seconds landing her face an inch away from the board’s leader with a terrifying feral gaze leaving a thinly veiled threat to her about her role as a publicly ‘silent partner’ to the company’s controlling body and the understanding that any attempt to undermine her would incur strong loss in her personal life extending onto her families. Ms. Sekowsky is now her underling, giving her access to world-wide resources from weapons to agricultural products.
In Priscilla, Urzkartaga has found not only a powerfully connected body to share, but an avatar of power it had never known before. Any time someone buys a magazine with her face on the cover, downloads a video, or buys her fashions and make-up, Priscilla’s cult of personality works it’s way up to the Cheetah-God itself and increases it’s magic. This makes him even more empowered than Zeus himself at this stage of the game. Using her incredible speed, strength and weaponry in her first brutal attack on Wonder Woman, The Cheetah left the Amazing Amazon covered in deep wounds and breathless. The ancient siren-witch Circe decided to take her on for damaging her favorite ‘toy’ with a horde of her Beasteomorphs, who all threw themselves on their backs in total submission. The witch is now fairly terrified of her, and realizes she must help Diana any way she can in ridding the world of this creature.
The Cheetah can move at roughly 100 miles per hour, and her limbs travel in battle to a total blur. She is skilled with virtually any ancient weapon ranging from spears to blow-guns and swords. When she appears, animals in her presence go into a frenzy adding to the chaos. Her avatar mask can only be removed by Priscilla/Urzkartaga itself. Aside from her own abilities, she leans heavily on her servant Chuma to use his talents for stealth and espionage, as well as her lacky Ms. Sekowsky to do her global bidding. Whereas Diana is here to elevate society as the first step in bringing the Utopia of Themiscyra to it, Priscilla is her diametric opposite who seeks to raze society, destroy it’s trappings and sit at the throne in a world of jungle-law. Wonder Woman has no idea who the lady behind the mask is, as she is even impervious to the powerful magic lasso of truth. The Cheetah is clear in her intent of mass death and destruction, and Diana has realized her only option in the future is to stop her even if it means outright killing her.
Full face Cheetah image by Dennis Culver
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Saving Wonder Woman 