Chapter Ten: The Warrior Sue
"Well, well, well, little Slayers, what are you doing so far away from that little building you call a home?" said the Warrior Sue in a monotone voice.
"As if you didn't know," replied Nicole in anger, "Our base was destroyed by your fellow Sues."
The Warrior Sue's lips first curved into a sneer before she began to laugh without cheer.
While the Sue laughed, Luna asked quietly, "Why are we not charging at her? There is three of us and one of her."
"Obviously," muttered Nicole.
Matt turned his head at Luna and said, "I know, Luna, but Warrior Sues are more than capable of fighting multiple opponents. I once saw one sink an island with a single punch."
"You are kidding, right?" said Luna in an uncertain tone.
Matt shook his head tiredly. "I'm not. Warrior Sues are designed for all forms of combat. It doesn't help that they also have the power of limited precognition."
"You mean they can predict the future?" replied Luna in a dramatically scared voice, her hands pressed to the sides of her face.
Matt considered Luna's statement for a moment. "Yeah, it's kind of like Rachel's Oracle abilities. Then again, the Warrior Sue's precognition only activates in response to danger."
"Rachel is the Oracle of Delphi?" said Luna in confusion.
Matt was about to answer, but he was interrupted by Nicole, who warned, "Guys, she's staring to calm down."
Nicole was right; the Warrior Sue had finally stopped laughing and was now looking at the Slayers like they were prey that she wanted to hunt down and eat.
"Pity, this isn't going to take very long," the Warrior Sue said casually while cracking her knuckles.
"We will see about that, Morgan Tammie Ruby Kickass," shot back Luna.
Luna's voice caught the attention of Morgan, who jerked violently when she heard Luna call out the Sue's name. Immediately, Morgan took off her shades and eyed Luna with her sharp amethyst-violet eyes.
After a long silence, the Warrior Sue finally said, "So, a Mary Sue betrays her sisters and joins the Slayers. How touching."
"Screw you, Morgan!" shouted back Luna, "You can go straight to Hades!"
"We will see about that, Luna Shining Diamond," replied Morgan while she put her shades back on. That was when she rushed at the trio.
The Warrior Sue moved so fast that the most that Luna could see of the Sue was a black blur.
Morgan would have strangled Luna had Matt not step in the way and grab Morgan's arms. The Slayer grunted as he fought against Morgan's strength, trying to stop her from hurting his friends.
Nicole took out her sword to slice at the Sue, but Matt turned in Nicole's direction and said, "No, she's mine! Get your stuff and get out of here with Luna!"
"Matt, don't be stupid," said Nicole, "You can't defeat her."
"NO!" yelled out Matt, but it was too late. The Sue managed to overcome Matt's strength and threw him into a nearby tree.
"MATT!" shouted Nicole.
Morgan turned her attention to Nicole and ran to her. Nicole swung her blade, but it missed the Sue, who casually sidestepped it and kicked Nicole hard in the stomach.
Nicole flew into the tents and landed on her back hard. She grunted as she slowly sat up, her stomach still aching from the Morgan's side kick. She was about to reach for her blade when she realized it was nowhere near her. Nicole raised her head and saw that the Warrior Sue was picking Nicole's sword off the ground.
Before Nicole could react, Morgan had her foot on her stomach, pressing hard onto Nicole's body to prevent her from getting up. The Sue pointed the sword to Nicole's neck, preparing to kill her.
Morgan sneered at her, and said, "Ready to die, Sla-"
The Sue didn't get a chance to finish her sentence, for she was suddenly turning her body around in time to see a giant timber wolf leap at her.
Morgan didn't bat an eye at the wolf; she simply swung Nicole's blade at the wolf and beheaded it.
More wolves rushed at Morgan, but that didn't faze her. She stepped off Nicole's body and charged at the wolf pack, killing almost every wolf that came at her.
At the end of the suicidal wolf charge, leaped Luna, who had her two knives out. The Sue was not impressed by Luna's tactics and casually parried her leaping twin knife stab.
The Sue somersaulted over Luna and threw Nicole's sword at her. Luna sidestepped the projectile, which then almost hit Nicole, but luckily, it flew over her body and landed a few feet away.
Luna got in a defensive stance to fight Morgan, but the Warrior Sue was too fast for her. In a few moments, Morgan had disarmed Luna and was holding her by the throat, choking the life out of the other Sue.
Morgan laughed cruelly as Luna struggled to escape her strangle and said in mock pity, "Luna, do you not know that your own death is inevitable."
Then, Morgan stopped laughing for a moment and did a back-flip in order to avoid a left hook by Matt from behind.
With his backpack strung on one of his shoulders, Matt looked directly into Luna's eyes and said in an urgent tone, "Get Nicole and your packs and use your wolves to get out of here, you understand?"
"What about you?" said Luna.
"I'll take the Sue," answered Matt while he turned to face Morgan, "I'll catch up with you and Nicole later."
Luna nodded and hastily picked up her bronze knifes before going to get Nicole and their backpacks.
"Wake up, you idiot," said Luna to Nicole when she reached the Slayer, "Matt wants us to get away from here as soon as possible."
Nicole sat up groggily in response to Luna's words and slowly stood up. While Nicole tried to orientate herself, Luna ran quickly to get she and Nicole's backpacks. It wasn't easy, seeing how Matt liked to scatter backpacks all over the campsite, but the Sue finally managed to find the silver and blue backpacks and ran for Nicole as soon as she got them.
When she got to Nicole once more, Luna immediately whistled for her wolf pack. Sadly, only three wolves came to her call, but they were still enough to carry she, the Slayer, and their supplies.
Luna gave the blue backpack to Nicole and helped her get on one of her wolves. After making sure Nicole was well-seated, Luna quickly jumped on her wolf and was about to command the wolves to run when she heard a loud cry behind her.
She and Nicole turned around to the source of the noise and saw that it came from the Warrior Sue, who had tried to hit Matt with her fist but missed.
They watched the fight between Matt and the Warrior Sue for a while, awed at the speed both of the combatants were fighting at.
"We need to help him," insisted Nicole in a frightened but strong voice.
The Slayer wheeled her wolf around to help Matt, but Luna, noticing this, quickly said, "Wolves, to Manhattan city, now!"
"No, Matt!" cried out Nicole as her wolf turned around to follow Luna's wolf and started to pick up speed.
Matt heard her. As he dodged another punch from the Warrior Sue, he turned to Nicole's direction and gave her a mock salute and a cocky smile. Then, the forest trees blocked him from Nicole's sight.
Matt looked off into the forest for one last view of Nicole before turning back to his Sue enemy. He was somewhat surprised when he saw that the Morgan was not preparing to strike him, but rather was staring off in the same direction Matt had been looking before.
The Sue immediately turned to him when she caught Matt staring at her with a quizzical look on his face.
"So," she said in a monotone, "You really think you can defeat me and catch up with your friends for dinner as well?"
"Yeah, shouldn't be too hard beating you," replied Matt a bit too boldly. He took out his USB, and it soon became a brilliantly bronze blade that was ready to slice up one Level Two Sue.
The Sue sneered before charging at the Slayer. Morgan was fast, so fast that the average Slayer would have trouble tracking her. However, Matt was an Elite Slayer.
In one swift motion, Morgan threw a punch at Matt's face. It was a fast strike, but Matt was able to follow the path of her fist and quickly roll to his left.
Boom! Morgan missed and punched through a tree instead. As the broken trunk of the tree fell, the Sue turned around, found Matt, and glared at him through her shades.
"You are a son of Hermes, aren't you?" she growled, finally losing the monotone, "That's why you could avoid my strikes so easily."
"Took you long enough," said Matt with a toothy grin, "Then again, you Warrior Sues aren't exactly geniuses."
Morgan eyed him carefully; she was rather impressed with the Slayer in front of her. It wasn't everyday that a Sue faced such a worthy opponent.
"Well, I will have to admit that you are going to be an interesting foe," said Morgan softly while casually cracking her neck.
Matt smirked at her but at the same time, held his blade up. While he was rather flattered by the Sue's praise, he didn't want to fall prey to a surprise attack.
As he expected, the Sue rushed at him with unnatural quickness. At the very last moment, Matt sidestepped and swung his blade at Morgan's head, but something stopped his arm mid-way from cutting the Sue's head off.
Morgan smirked as she pushed Matt's sword arm down and punched him hard in the face.
Matt flew ten yards from the impact of the Sue's punch and landed hard on his back, his backpack somewhat cushioning the fall. Pain rang through the new bruise on his face as he forced himself to stand back up.
As Matt steadied himself, he saw the Sue come at him once more. He raised his sword arm, but the blade wasn't there. Matt groaned inwardly as he realized that he must have dropped his blade when he got punched.
When Morgan got close enough to him, she started throwing a multitude of various punches and kicks at Matt, who was then forced to move at max speed to continuously dodge every single one of the Sue's blows. Matt did try to fight back, but his fists and legs only hit empty air.
Matt backed away to get into a better position, but Morgan moved too fast for that to work. Trying to end the fight as soon as possible, he then aimed a left hook at Morgan's face, but the Sue blocked it and countered with a dropkick to the chest, sending him flying. He fell to the forest floor twenty feet away.
Out of breath and filled with sweat, Matt was regretting not practicing more. While he was one of the fastest Slayers back at the Organization, he didn't exactly have the best endurance.
Before Matt could get up, the Sue's foot was already on his heaving chest.
"Well, that was rather fun," said Morgan, "It's a pity that I have to kill you now."
The Sue reached for something within her suit, but before she could pull it out, Morgan felt Matt's body sliding away from her foot, leaving her unbalanced. As Morgan lost her footing, Matt was already on his feet, using the last of his fading energy to flee from the Sue.
Matt knew that Morgan could easily catch up with him, but with his head start, he would, at least, have some time to prepare. Still, he could not help but remember the rumors, rumors that Warrior Sues were able to improve their abilities and even gain new powers at the drop of a hat. If those rumors were true, then a garden-variety Warrior Sue like Morgan was going to become more dangerous the longer he engaged her in combat.
In ten seconds, he traversed thirteen miles worth of forest, dodging trees and other obstacles while occasionally changing directions and doubling back to confuse Morgan. When he finally ended his run, the Slayer immediately took off his backpack and quickly took out the three thin, wooden rods that were in there. Matt stuffed two rods into his pants pockets while the last one in his right hand lengthened into a seven-foot long spear with a sharp bronze tip.
Matt grabbed the now-empty backpack in his other hand and hopped behind a tree for cover. As he predicted, he didn't need to wait long for the Sue.
With his ears, he heard some fast footsteps running towards his tree and then stop. Although Matt couldn't see Morgan, he imagined her breathing hard, clearly desiring to bathe in his blood. When this disturbing image came to his head, Matt, being the son of Hermes, quickly thought of a plan.
Here goes nothing, thought Matt as he clenched his hand on his green backpack.
Behind the tree, Matt threw his backpack to the side. The Sue, noticing the motion of the pack, quickly rushed towards the projectile and grabbed it before realizing that it was just a backpack.
Wait a minute, thought Morgan as she stared at the backpack. What's this doing here?
Her Common Sense activated, and she instinctively dodged the spear that was thrown at her. The Sue turned towards the direction the spear was thrown from, but before she could react, Matt landed a hard blow unto the left side of her face.
Morgan, for the first time in her life, was knocked to the ground by a Slayer. Through her ruined shades, she watched Matt leap at her with two spears, one in each hand.
Although she was a bit dazed from Matt's surprise attack, the Sue mounted her hands on the soft forest floor and launched her legs into the air, kicking Matt in the stomach. The Slayer's spears dropped from his hands as he fell on his back from Morgan's Chinese getup kick.
Now the situation was reversed: Matt was the one on the ground now, and Morgan was the one, upright and ready to kill.
The Sue, tapping into her child of Demeter abilities, snapped her fingers, causing vines to spout from the ground and wrap around Matt's body. Morgan observed Matt carefully, waiting for him to regain consciousness and try to escape again. However, she didn't need to, for this time, Matt had already fallen into unconsciousness from the Sue's last attack.
Morgan glared at Matt's still-breathing body while she took off her broken shades and threw them away. The Sue's amethyst-colored eyes burned with malice as she finally took out a pistol from within her business suit.
Meanwhile...
Nicole and the Sue were on the rooftop of one of Manhattan's many buildings. They were not enjoying the view up there; rather, they were fighting some monsters, who had been chasing them ever since they crossed the East River to the city.
Luna was using her bow to snipe some of the scythian dracanae around Nicole and her. Meanwhile, Nicole was fighting some empousai, who were rather vicious and bloodthirsty due to the lack of humans in the city.
Nicole felt weird fighting traditional Greek monsters rather than some Sues. It was kind of a relief though, she thought as she ducked under an empousa's arm and stabbed the monster in the chest.
Luna was greatly enjoying the fight; it reminded her the hunts that she had before in her former life with the former Huntresses and their patron goddess, Artemis.
The scythian dracanae were no match for the Mary Sue, who was literally skipping around the dragon women's thrown javelins. Luna managed to kill all of the dracanae, except for one.
"This is going to be a piece of cake!" Luna shouted happily as she put away her bow and quiver and took out her two knives.
She rushed at the last dragon woman with her two knives. The poor monster didn't even stand a chance against the Sue, who easily dodged the monster's sword swings and cut the monster apart.
As the dracanae dissolved, Luna put away her knifes and was about to give a loud, triumphant cry when she heard Nicole's voice yell, "Behind you!"
"Shk"
Luna turned around to the strange sound and was met with a sight of a dying empousa, who had a sword poking out of its chest. As the monster died, it lunged for the Sue, but the claws disintegrated, along with its owner, before they could touch the Sue. The blade that was in the monster's chest noisily clattered to the floor when the monster finally disappeared.
The Sue turned to Nicole, who had thrown the blade, and said rather quietly, "Thanks...for saving my life."
The Slayer looked away from Luna's gaze and muttered something unintelligible in response.
With the all the monsters killed, an awkward silence followed for a few minutes with Luna and Nicole not addressing each other. It was only when they heard footsteps coming up the building did they finally talk.
"That's probably Matt!" said Nicole, who started to make a move towards the rooftop structure that led to the stairs down back inside the building.
The structure's door opened, but it wasn't Matt.
It was Morgan. The Warrior Sue had caught up with them.