Chapter 5: Enter the Road Queen

"What? Who?"

"Oh come now," Road Queen laughed. "It hasn't been that long since out last encounter."

Last encounter? Adora stared at her in confusion. As far as she could remember this was the first time she had ever met this woman. But then again, there was something familiar about her.

"Think about it. It was only a few days ago. Or do you not remember what happens to you when you're She-Ra?"

Adora studied Road Queen some more. The bounty hunter was young with a small figure. She had lavender hair very reminiscent of Glimmer's except it was shorter, only about shoulder length, and had a wind swept look to it. Her outfit was black with red highlights and sliver leggings. Over this she wore a long black leather trench coat and a burgundy scarf around her neck. As a final touch she had on a pair of sunglasses with ruby tinted lenses.

Suddenly it all came back to her. "Yes I remember now!" She had met this woman before. It had been such a brief encounter during a highly stressful situation and thus slipped her mind.

"Took you long enough," Road Queen snapped. "Considering I saved your life, the least you could do is remember it! Oh, and you could also thank me for doing it a second time today!"

"What are you talking about?" Sea Hawk shouted.

"It's true Hawk," Adora sighed. "You remember a few days ago when I, or rather She-Ra, went to retrieve the crest shard from the Slime Pit? While there I was ambushed by an enemy agent. I was already weakened from the slime and I would have been killed if this woman hadn't helped me. She killed the agent and then helped me out." for the full details read Mark of the Serpent.

"But what about today?"

"That I don't know. Unless… back at the pub…" She looked back to Road Queen. "It was you who took out the Horde Troopers wasn't it?"

Road Queen smiled. "There now, that's more like it. I knew you were smart Adora. I haven't spent the last few months tracking you for nothing after all."

"Tracking me? What for?"

"For the bounty of course," Road Queen scoffed drawing Adora's attention back to the fact she was holding her at gunpoint.

"Bounty? Who's side are you on anyway?"

Road Queen apparently chose to ignore this question as she paced around Adora smiling. Adora dared not make a move, as the gun has not wavered the whole time. Considering how quickly and effectively the troopers had been eliminated this woman was obviously an expert shot.

"You truly are magnificent," Road Queen sighed. "I've gone after some of the biggest and toughest bounties on Etheria, but I knew that the Rebel leader Adora and the great She-Ra were going to be my biggest challenges. Imagine my surprise when I discovered they were one and the same."

Adora and Sea Hawk exchanged a nervous glance. Neither one could believe they had been so foolish as to not check that they were alone. Now their minds were racing to find a way to weasel out of this predicament.

Road Queen must have guessed what they were thinking, not that it would have been all too terribly difficult, because she scoffed and said, "Oh don't waste all of our times trying to cover. It wasn't your little conversation that gave it away. I already knew about it."

This was even more of a shock to them. "What? How?"

"I told you, I've been tracking you for months. Watching from a distance where I would go unnoticed. I like to study my bounty heads before moving in for the capture. There's little I don't know about both of your personalities Adora. Still, I must admit I'm surprised how long it took me to discover your biggest secret."

"When did you learn then?" Adora prodded.

"Shortly before our first encounter," Road Queen admitted. "I was watching you and your brother from a nearby hill when I witnessed both of you transform. It was a shock I'll admit. But, in retrospect, not too surprising really. Imagine the look on Hordak's face if he knew."

Road Queen laughed out loud. It was not a sinister laugh but an honest good-natured chuckle. Adora made note of this but what she was concentrating on more was Road Queen's choice of words.

"'If he knew'? Does that mean you haven't told him?"

"You don't miss much do you?" Road Queen smiled with a clear sign of admiration. "No I haven't told anyone. Not yet at least. It's advantageous for me to have this knowledge and would spoil things for me if it got out. So I've kept it to myself for now. Besides, I don't give a damn thing to anybody unless it's in my best interest. I have nothing to gain by betraying your secret."

Now Adora's mind was truly racing. It was becoming increasingly clear that this woman was on no one's side but her own. Perhaps there was a way to use that to her advantage and get out of this mess.

"Look, Road Queen, if it's the bounty on my head you're after I can offer you more to let me go instead."

"You seem to forget how well I know you Adora. You're not about to dip into the rebellion's limited funds to save your own damn neck."

Adora nodded but kept her cool. "No, but my parents are the rulers of Eternia. They could and would gladly more than double whatever Hordak's offering."

"Well that's a most generous offer," Road Queen sighed. From her tone it was clear she was at least slightly tempted. "But I'm afraid this is about more than the bounty price. What I want only the Horde can deliver."

Adora had little time to ponder what she could possibly mean by that before Sea Hawk stepped between the two women quickly.

"Enough of this!" he shouted. "Adora just transform into She-Ra and take care of her."

"Umm.. Hawk…"

Road Queen's eyes were hidden behind her sunglasses, but by the movement of her forehead it was clear she had rolled them.

"Apparently you weren't listening to her very well earlier. It's going to be a little hard for her to change into She-Ra without this."

Road Queen held open one side of her coat revealing the inner lining was filled with folds and pockets seemingly all of which were holding some item. There were smoke bombs, flash grenades, vials of different liquids, which appeared to be special fuel mixtures and a series of ignition keys for various vehicles. What she had obviously meant to show them however was the Sword of Protection neatly and securely tucked away.

"You didn't think I was just going to leave this behind did you?" she grinned as Adora gasped in shock.

Sea Hawk was also caught by surprise, however, he quickly recovered and made a move to snatch the sword away. The pirate moved fast but not fast enough. Before he could take hold of Adora's weapon Road Queen had closed her coat, taken a leap backwards and brought her gun up pointing at his face.

"You didn't really think that was going to work did you?"

"Well actually yes," Sea Hawk sighed. "But you're a lot faster than I thought."

Road Queen grinned wide. Hawk had clearly flattered her ego. "I'm the fastest woman on Etheria. If you think that was quick, you should see me ride. When I'm on my bike I'm the fastest anything on Etheria."

"I guess that explains how you caught up with us so quickly," Adora said.

"Sort of," Road Queen shrugged. "To be honest, you very well would have slipped away from me if you had taken one of the Horde Trooper's bikes. Instead of MINE!"

The emphasis she put on the last words made Adora cringe. "That's your bike?"

"Do you have any idea how pissed off I was when I saw you had stolen it? I've killed men for less. It's not wise to steal from the Road Queen. And my bike is my most prized possession!"

"So how'd you catch us if we had your ride?" Sea Hawk prodded.

"I took one of the Horde Trooper's bikes dumbass!" she spat. "I can drive any vehicle in existence like a pro. I prefer sticking with my baby however. Luckily I had the foresight to install a tracking device for just such an occasion. Pretty fucking embarrassing though, having to chase my own bike on that piece of Horde shit!"

"That's quite a mouth on you girl," Hawk muttered. "I'm a sailor and I don't swear that much."

"What do you expect? I'm a biker?" Road Queen shot as she walked over to inspect her hover bike. "Well, there doesn't seem to be any harm done, lucky for you. I'm glad you didn't find my special modifications though. If you knew what my baby's really capable of even I could never catch up." She patted the bike's seat and spoke to it lovingly.

"It's okay sweetie, Mommy's here now."

Road Queen obviously took great pride in her vehicle. So much in fact that she finally made her first mistake and let her guard down. In the spilt second she took her eyes off Sea Hawk he made his move and tackled her from behind.

"Adora go! Get out of here!" he shouted as Road Queen struggled to free herself from his grasp. Adora hesitated not wanting to leave him behind. He must have realized this because he shouted, "Don't worry I'll catch up later! Go!"

To Sea Hawk's relief Adora decided not to argue the point any further and leapt aboard Road Queen's bike gunning it skyward.

"Not this time honey!" Road Queen said. Though still held by Sea Hawk, she managed to bring her wrist up to her mouth and spoke into a small device strapped to her arm that had gone unnoticed till now.

"Stop!"

With that single word Road Queen's bike suddenly and abruptly braked in midair nearly bucking Adora over the handlebars. Try as she might Adora was unable to regain control. The vehicle refused to respond to anything she did but simply hovered in place. Adora made to abandon the bike only to discover she had taken it up too far. Jumping off at this height would cripple if not kill her.

Meanwhile Road Queen had jammed her elbow into Sea Hawk's ribs repeatedly until he was forced to release her in pain. Road Queen rolled out of the way and spun around to face him. Hawk reached for his photon cutlass but she was faster on the draw and shot it off his belt.

Hawk was momentarily frozen in shock but he was never one to stay that way for long. Despite being unarmed he charged straight at Road Queen yelling in fury. He got only three steps however before the bounty hunter opened fire hitting him squarely in the chest. The pirate captain collapsed in a heap and lay motionless.

"Hawk, no!" Adora shouted as her love fell. She again tried to force the bike to obey her but it still stubbornly held still. Road Queen looked up and shook her head at Adora's futile efforts. Finally she spoke into her wristcom again issuing a single word command.

"Come."

Ever obedient the bike turned downward and headed straight towards its master's side. Road Queen smiled at Adora as she drew near but the expression quickly changed as Adora unexpectedly leapt off the bike and slammed into the bounty hunter knocking her head over heals. As Road Queen fell the Sword of Protection became dislodged and slipped out of her coat. Instantly Adora snatched it up and began her incantation.

"For the honor of… aaah!"

Before she could finish a blast from Road Queen's gun had struck her hand forcing Adora to drop the weapon in pain. Before she could react a second blast struck her knee and she fell unable to stand as her whole leg went numb.

"We'll have none of that now," Road Queen said picking up the sword and tucking it back into her coat. "If you're giving me this much trouble as Adora I don't even want to try taking you on as She-Ra."

Adora glared up at her as her eyes filled with tears partly from her own pain but also partly from grief.

"Go on get it over with. Kill me like you killed Sea Hawk!"

"Oh can the waterworks princess," Road Queen spat. "You're boyfriend's not dead. I only stunned him."

Adora's eyes shot open and she glanced over towards Hawk's unmoving form. Now that she was closer she could see that he was indeed still breathing. Her relief turned to fear again though as Road Queen walked over towards him. However the bounty hunter then holstered her gun grabbed Hawk by the shoulders and dragged him over to a clump of bushes. After carefully laying him inside the shrubbery she took some fallen tree branches and covered him completely concealing his resting place.

"There. That should keep him safely hidden till he wakes up." Road Queen then turned back to Adora and grinned. "Of course we'll be long gone by then. I hope you're going to cooperate with me. It'll make things much easier on both of us."

"I don't know what to make of you," Adora said slowly, "but I'm not about to give myself up to a bounty hunter."

Road Queen sighed and took out her gun again. "So be it."

She fired another shot hitting Adora in the chest. The young princess slowly blacked out but before loosing consciousness she managed to hear Road Queen say one more thing.

"Please believe me. This is nothing personal."