confess her true intentions. Diana, profoundly distraught that she would be so treacherous, takes back the lasso and returns home in tears. With the subtle approach having failed, Minerva resorts to attacking the Amazon as the Cheetah to rob her of the lasso. Their initial battle ends with inconclusive results, as Diana's friend, Julia Kapatelis, shoots the Cheetah and forces her to retreat. Over the years, Barbara's interest in the lasso wanes and she becomes more interested in besting Diana in battle due to her bruised ego. The rivalry between the Cheetah and Wonder Woman fluctuates over time, however. Wonder Woman saves the Cheetah's life during an adventure in the Balkan country of Pan Balgravia. The country's dictator, Baron von Nastraed, for unknown reasons, chooses to aid a demon named Drax by capturing a powerful metahuman woman. The captive woman's body would be used to provide a body for Drax's alternate dimension bride Barremargux to inhabit. When the Baron captures the Cheetah for this purpose, Wonder Woman travels to the country to save her. At the last moment, when Barremargux is about to enter Earth-One, Barbara closes the gateway before the crossing could be completed by jumping into the gateway instead. Barbara is trapped in this demonic dimension until Boston mob boss Julianna Sazia has her scientists open the dimensional gateway to retrieve Barbara for use as a living weapon. Barbara double-crosses Julianna, choosing to aid Wonder Woman when she is caught up in a war between Sazia and rival mobster Paulie Longo. Considering her debt to Wonder paid, the Cheetah continues her quest to defeat Wonder Woman, but only when it is convenient to her. For a brief period of time, Minerva loses her powers to businessman Sebastian Ballesteros, who convinces Urzkartaga that he could be a more effective Cheetah than she was. Minerva later kills Ballesteros, offers his remains as a sacrifice, and regains her powers. The relationship Minerva has with Urzkartaga is strained at times, despite Minerva showing complete deference and loyalty to her patron god. At one point, the god punishes her for her failures by leaving one of Minerva's hands human looking and untransformed even while she is in her Cheetah form, though it appears to still be fully empowered as the rest of her body and equally as deadly. With help from Zoom, Minerva attains a level of super-speed even greater than she previously