Originally posted to Classic BC July 26, 2004

.Sue and Cassandra cross swords in a fight to the death to decide Sue's & Patrick's destiny.

by Dana Short

========================== ==========================

Sue drove Patrick to the same Wal-Mart she had visited the day before to obtain the supplies she used in Patrick's 'Breakout'.

Once inside, they pushed a cart over to the Men's section, and Sue let Patrick select several pairs of pants, along with matching shirts. Two packages of underwear, joined the growing pile in the cart as they headed over to the shoe section, where Sue had Patrick get two pairs of athletic shoes and several pairs of white tube socks.

They then headed up to the front, where Sue paid for it all.

Back outside, Sue drove to a nearby gas station, where she topped off her tank, while Patrick took the opportunity to hit the bathroom and switch into clean clothes that fit. Returning to the car, Sue had him stuff everything but the socks and coat into the "Evidence Bag", the dirty socks went into a zip lock tossed in the trunk, and the coat onto the back seat.

"So now what?" Patrick asked Sue.

"I guess we wait. I made Cassandra a promise. I will keep it. I think I need to make a phone call though."

Sue pulled out her phone, and once more called Joe's, thinking as she did that at the rate she was going, 550 minutes were not going to be enough, over an hour of the slightly more than 9 it comprised having already been used.

"Joe's Bar" came Mike's voice from the other end.

"Mike, it's Sue."

"Sue. Hold on." Mike said somewhat tersely.

Sue could hear some conversation in the background, but other than her name, she could not make anything out.

Finally she heard a click, and Joe's voice came through the phone. "Sue. What is it?"

"Joe, I just wanted to let you know, I had breakfast with Cassandra. She literally was waiting for me at the foot of the stairs at the hotel this morning. She knows about the Watchers."

"What do you mean she knows about the Watchers. You told her?" Joe asked, as Mike took an audible breath.

"No, she told Patrick. Pointed out her Watcher at the bar to him, and identified her as Sally Macgregor. Said that the Macgregor line has been keeping an eye on her for almost four hundred and twenty five years, ever since a Neil MacGreggor and his nephew, Brian. She also said Sally takes after Neil's wife's sister Mary. She called us Observaters, and told Patrick not to look at the Watchers, that they prefer to think Immortals don't know about them." Sue explained.

Mike just started laughing, and Joe was silent. Finally while Mike's laugh started to die down, Joe spoke up, "Sue. I just had a frantic call from Sally and her supervisor in Scotland. She said you pointed her out to Cassandra and the other Immortal, and now Cassandra has deliberately lost her. She was furious at you, and worried at the same time that you really are a Hunter, and had deliberately told Cassandra about her so that you could separate her from Cassandra to kill her. Her supervisor agreed. He asked me to send all available hands to Memphis to find you and Cassandra. He also called for a formal Tribunal on you."

"But, I didn't tell them. Joe, you have to believe me!" Sue said with a touch of panic in her voice.

"Sue, once again you have exonerated yourself by calling in. Even if you were a Hunter, there is no way you could have known Sally's name, let alone the history of Cassandra's Watchers, unless you had really studied her chronicles, and I know you've never even seen them. I checked on that this morning after talking to you." Joe replied.

"There will be a Tribunal though, Susie-q. I can't call it off at this point. But Mike and I will represent you before it. You shouldn't worry. If you find Cassandra, could you call us and let us know where she is. She may still be interested in you, you know. Did she say what she wanted?"

"Eadgils was her Teacher. She is looking for his ghost. She says it's following me seeking an agent for vengeance or something. She wasn't quite clear. She knew I was his Watcher somehow. But I told her I couldn't give her any information, other than that the two who attacked him were dead. I described his last fight as best I could for her. Since there weren't any other Immortals involved, I didn't think it would be any worse then just talking to her. I told her about the Hunters, and that the Watchers are hunting them, and that it is a capital offence to get involved with a Hunter cell. She seemed to accept that, and was a bit relieved. Then she said she had to call Elvis, who is one of her students by the way, and she left."

"ELVIS?" Joe asked incredulous.

"Elvis. I suppose Sally hasn't been doing a very good job of watching the witch if she missed that one, heh?" Sue added wryly.

"Not Sally, her mother. And she did note a student about twenty to twenty five years ago. It is possible. We lost him when he left Glenfinnan, and he hasn't surfaced since then. He was named John Burrows. We'll have to check into that. Thanks for the info Sue. If nothing else, new information for the Chronicles may help offset any perceived damage you have done. It can't hurt." Joe replied.

"Well, I just wanted to let you know I had met with her. I still have Patrick with me, Cassandra didn't take him. Could be the touched bird syndrome or something, I may be stuck with him," she said, turning to grin at Patrick, sitting silently in the passenger seat.

"Well, you know how I feel about that. I most certainly do not approve of a Watcher shepherding a new Immortal." Joe explained.

"Yeah, and now thanks to Cassandra, he knows that is what I was." Sue responded. "But in a way, it works out. Means I don't have to break my Oath to tell him the things he has to know, and you should know I won't tell him anything he doesn't have a reason to know about the Society itself. I may be mangling my oath worse than a squirrel in a wood chipper, but there are some lines I will not cross."

"Ouch. That's not a pretty image, Sue!" Mike called with a chuckle.

Joe on the other hand was more serious, "Sue. I would strongly advise you to separate yourself from him at your earliest convenience."

"I can't Joe. But there is something else you need to know. I told Adam, but he might not pass it on. When Patrick introduced himself to Cassandra, he named me as his Teacher."

"HE WHAT!" Joe bellowed.

"That's what I'm trying to tell you. Like it or not, until I can get to some Immortal I can trust with him, I'm stuck with him. Cassandra made an analogy at breakfast about starving children under a bridge, and its apt. I can't anymore leave Patrick to his own devices than I could abandon those hypothetical kids. I'm sorry, and if the Tribunal wants to kill me for it, then that is what they will have to do. That is how strongly I feel about this."

Silence stretched out on the other end of the call. Finally Joe spoke again, "Ok Sue. I'll make sure that all that is in the record. Thanks for calling, and I'll do what I can for you. I want you to know, I still care a great deal about what happens to you. If there is anything else, or if you find Cassandra, please call again. I'll talk to you later."

"The same goes for me, pumpkin," Mike put in. "I've got to run as well, but you know I'll be camped out here for the next while, so you can call if you need anything. Anytime. Take care."

"Bye" Sue said, the lines clicking off in her ear even as the word left her mouth.

Turning to Patrick, she said "Sounds like Cassandra has lost her tail at least."

Patrick spoke up for the first time, "Did ya have to tell them about Elvis?"

"Have to, no. But it won't hurt anything, they lost him after he left Glenfinnan about twenty years ago. They just didn't know it was Elvis. He had been using the name John something."

"Oh. Ok." Patrick said, then sat looking at his hands in his lap. Finally he spoke again, "Did ya'll really mean it? About the Tribunal I mean?"

"What about the Tribunal?" She asked.

"That ya'd let them kill ya 'afore ya'd abandon me?"

"I meant it. I may not be the best teacher, but I've always tried to finish what I started. And I do know enough to get you going. If Cassandra wants to take you on though, you probably should let her. She is literally thousands of years old. You don't live that long in the Game without some skills. And think of the Alumni Meetings, if Elvis is a member."

"I don't want Cassandra. I wouldn't mind letting her show me a few things, but I already HAVE a teacher. I told her the same thing before ya'll arrived this morning. No one has ever really put themselves on the line for me before. But last night you literally broke in to the county morgue ta break me out. Nothing made ya do it, ya just did. And ya did it for me. The Japanese say that if someone saves your life, your life is theirs. Well, I died. Literally. Whatcha did after that, is like saving my life. I owe ya'll so much I can't even begin to describe it. An' I've always paid my debts."

"Patrick, you don't owe me anything. What I did for you, I'd do for anyone who I knew was in your situation. I expect you'd do it too. It's nothing. Really."

"No, it's not nothing. I wouldn't of broken into a building and attacked some attendant to save a virtual stranger. I still don't understand why you did it, but the fact is, that I respect you. I feel like a little kid, I want to point at you and say, 'When I grow up, I want to be just like her'. I know it makes no sense, but that's how it is."

Sue's phone chose that moment to ring, the Caller ID displaying "Unknown Number".

Turning it on, Sue answered, "Sue here."

"Sue, it's Cassandra."

"Hi Cassandra. What's up, other than the fact you seem to have lost your Watcher and gotten me in a whole lot of trouble?"

"Trouble?"

"Sally called her Boss in Scotland, and told him I am planning on killing you. You'd darn well better not lose your head now, or mine is probably going to follow it, no matter what." Sue explained.

"Sorry. But you did say you wanted no witnesses, didn't you?"

"Yes. Did you come up with a place?"

"Yes, I spoke to Elvis, and he told me that he still owns a roller rink called 'Skate Place', on Orange Avenue. Can you find it, do you think? It is closed currently, the roof was leaking and the floor suffered water damage, Elvis is waiting for a business study to decide if he wants to close it for good, or if he wants to invest the money for a new floor."

"Sounds ok," Sue replied, before adding, "Oh, Cassandra, I hope I didn't do a bad thing, but when I was talking to Mike and Joe, I mentioned that Elvis was a student of yours. They said he must be the John you were teaching about twenty years ago, who they haven't seen since. I didn't say where he was now."

"Elvis thought they knew who and where he was all along. He mentioned to me today how impressed he is with the French Watchers, since he almost never sees them."

"He may see them, but they aren't seeing him. They don't even know he's there." Sue explained. "At least as far as I know. They may have him under observation, and may even have him identified as an Immortal, but they haven't linked him to you, and weren't even looking for Elvis Pressley, at least no more than they were for Bigfoot."

"Well, I'll let him know. I'm on my way to the rink now. I'll meet you there. Ok?"

"Will do. See you in a bit, Cassandra."

Hanging up the phone, Sue pulled out a map and tried to find Orange Ave. Finally locating a tiny street a bit off the 240, she started the car and headed out.

Skate Place was a vintage building, reminiscent of the fifties. The outside was in need of paint, and the empty parking lot screamed of neglect. Sue could see why in this semi industrial area sinking any more money into a skating rink could be a questionable decision. Pulling her car around the back, she spotted Cassandra's vehicle, and at the same time felt the trill of her Quickening.

She stopped her car and got out, walking to the open back door. "Cassandra?" she called to the darkened interior."

"In here" came the reply, echoing from the empty building.

Patrick at her heels, Sue stepped through the door and into the darkness. Pausing for a few moments to let her eyes adjust, she was able to make of faint shapes of tables, a railing, and a large open area in the middle of the building, with a vague shape standing just this side of it. The figure gestured, and said, "Patrick, if you could find the lights, Sue and I will get ready here; I think the wooden floor would be best. It seems to be fine over here, not warped like it is towards the center and on the left over there.

Sue squinted at the floor in the darkness, but she couldn't see enough to tell if Cassandra was right about the surface or not, but she took the elder Immortal at her word.

Patrick moved off to the left towards what looked like a control booth next to the rear door they had entered through.

Sue made her way through the tables and scattered chairs towards the railing around the center of the room.

She could hear Patrick banging around inside the booth, flipping switches and pushing buttons to no avail, as she reached the opening in the railing which surrounded the open center of rink floor it's self.

Suddenly the lights in the ceiling flickered and leapt to life, illuminating the eerily deserted interior.

"Yeah" came Patrick's triumphant cry.

Sue on the other hand was ready to meet with Cassandra.

"Rules?" she asked Cassandra simply, while reaching behind her head and loosening her Katana, but leaving it in the scabbard hidden in the back of her coat.

"How about anything goes, short of actually cutting off a head?" Cassandra asked, with a wicked grin.

"Never tried that before." Sue replied, "At least not in real life." She added, at Cassandra's sudden odd expression.

"Ah. That's what was wrong," Cassandra explained, "You didn't quite believe what you were saying at first. Remember, Child, I always hear a lie, even when it's to your self."

As Cassandra pulled a single ring rapier from beneath her coat, and took up a ready position. Sue stepped out onto the wooden floor of the rink.

"Anything, like I can kill you, as long as I don't follow through? Are you sure this is what you want to do, Cassandra? Not just some simple sparing to first touch, or first blood?"

"Actually, Child I am planning on making it to the death. It's the only way I can truly judge how you will fare in a true combat. You can do what you want. I will promise that as long as you refrain from trying to take my head, I will not take yours. However, as I said, other than that, anything goes. Feel free to use any dirty tricks you can think of. In most likelihood, I've already seen and beaten them all in my thirty five hundred years."

Sue nodded, then said. "Ok, do you want to attack, or defend?"

Cassandra smiled almost evilly, and took a step towards Sue. "I think I'll let you figure that out yourself, Child."

Even as Cassandra lunged towards her, Sue reached up and back again, this time pulling the Katana out in a smooth, practiced movement. As Cassandra's first blow stabbed in at her heart in a simple lunge, Sue's blade swept down in a continuation of the arc which freed it from it's scabbard, and blocked the blow in a single, smooth movement.

The blades clanged, and the combatants stepped apart for a moment. Sue shrugged out of her coat, letting it flump to the floor behind her, and kicked it away towards the edge of the rink. It was then that the Roller Rink's Sound System started to thump out the familiar Stomp-Stomp-Clap beat of Queen's "We Will Rock You". Both combatants dropped the tips of their swords for two beats, and turned to glare at Patrick in the control booth. He just shrugged his hands as the words to the song started

As the chorus started, they both looked at each other in chagrin, and resumed their combat. Sue took her first tentative swing, as Cassandra simply stepped back and shook her head, as the song continued: "...Buddy you're a young man, hard man, Shouting in the street gonna take on the world some day..."

Cassandra scored a hit on Sue's cheek, even as Queen sang "...You got blood on yo' face, You big disgrace, Wavin' your banner all over the place..."

Sue backed into a roll to escape Cassandra's attack, as the chorus rang out "...we will, we will rock you...". Sue stayed low, swinging from her position on the ground at Cassandra's feet.

Cassandra easily dodged the blade, and pivoted around gracefully, aiming a kick at the conveniently placed target of Sue's nose, to the accompaniment of the words "...You got Mud On Your Face...".

Sue dodged the kick from Cassandra, and rolled back to her feet, settling her balance as the music played on, "...Big disgrace, Somebody betta put you back into your place..."

Sue stepped in for another swing at Cassandra, but diverted the move to block a sudden thrust from Cassandra's rapier, to the accompaniment of the last chorus, "...We will we will rock ..."

As the audio cried out "...Alright!" and the music segued into the opening bars of "We are the Champions", Sue stepped forward again, double thrusting her sword, causing Cassandra to go on the defensive as voice of Freddie Mercury again began to sing, "I've paid my dues, Time after time, I've done my sentence, But committed no crime..."

Cassandra's rearmost foot reached the edge of the rink, where a lip followed the line of the railing along the floor, and she stopped backing up as the music continued; "...And bad mistakes, I've made a few..."

As the music built, to the accompaniment of the words "...And we mean to go on and on and on...", Cassandra once again took the initiative, and lunged back at Sue, causing her to shift her advance to a retreat, even as the song continued; "We are the champions my friends..."

Sue paused in her retreat, and apparently decided to hold a line drawn in her imagination, as Freddie's voice belted out the first chorus; "...We are the champions, We are the champions, No time for losers, 'Cause we are the champions, of the World..."

Sue changed tactics, and instead of simply responding to Cassandra's attacks, again started trying to initiate some of her own, shifting her weight to her right leg, and bringing the Katana down in a sweep from right to left, while simultaneously sweeping her left leg up off the floor in a scissors motion intended to trip Cassandra; "...I've taken my bows, And my curtain calls, You brought me fame and fortune, And everything that goes with it, I thank you all..."

Cassandra easily stepped back from Sue's assault with an odd expression on her face, and resumed her advance, closing the distance between the two combatants, as Sue continued to hold her imaginary line, and the song, went on; "... it's been no bed of roses, No pleasure cruise, I consider it a challenge before, The whole human race, And I ain't gonna lose..."

Suddenly, Sue surrendered her line, and dropped back several strides to the words; "...And we mean to go on and on and on and on..."

As the music built again, and the chorus resumed, Sue once again dropped to the floor and rolled.

The Queen song continued with the chorus, "...We are the champions..." as Sue fished the Bowie knife out of the scabbard under her shirt with her left hand, and came up swinging with both it, and her Katana in a two-handed style.

Cassandra adjusted her own style to one much more defensive, as she matched her single thin blade against the two much sturdier and heavier blades now wielded by Sue.

"We are the champions - my friends, And we'll keep on fighting, Till the end" the final chorus started up as Sue tossed the Bowie at Cassandra, and tossed her katana to her left hand, sweeping it up and around in a chop at Cassandra's right arm in a single move, before again dropping to the floor as the music wrapped up, "...We are the champions, We are the champions, No time for losers, 'Cause we are the champions..." Sue came up off the floor, her right hand flicking out with the stiletto, even as her left hand and the Katana swept Cassandra's rapier down towards her leg. The needle point of the stiletto buried it's self into Cassandra's chest, as the final strains of the music died away. Cassandra dropped towards the floor, as Sue pulled the blade back out, and wiped it casually off on the right leg of her jeans.

Silence descended on the building for a few moments, as tiny sparks twinkled from the little hole in Cassandra's chest.

The sound system started up again, this time with the opening strains of Bohemian Rhapsody. "Is this the real life, Is this just fantasy, Caught in a landslide, No escape from reality, Open your eyes, Look up to the skies and see, I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy, Because I'm easy come, easy go, A little high, little low, Anyway the wind blows, doesn't really matter to me, to me..."

Cassandra's body convulsed and her eyes opened, to lock on those of Sue standing over her, her Katana back in her right hand, casually slung over her shoulder. "Do I win?" Sue asked simply.

Cassandra nodded her head, and sat up as Queen played on in the background "...Mama, life had just begun, But now I've gone and thrown it all away..."

Sue retrieved her Bowie knife, sliding the Stiletto back into its holster as she bends over and transferring the Katana to her left hand. Standing, she slid the Bowie back under her shirt, and transferred the Katana back to her right.

Cassandra in the meantime stands up herself, and retrieves her Rapier from the floor where she dropped it as she died.

Bending over again, Sue collected her coat, and shrugged it on.

"...Too late, my time has come, Sends shivers down my spine, Body's aching all the time..." sang Queen.

Cassandra collected her own jacket, and placed the rapier into an upside down pocket, with a snap to hold the pommel against gravity before pulling it on.

As the music played on through the sound system, "...anyway the wind blows, I don't want to die..." Sue slipped her Katana back into the scabbard in her coat, and turned to walk towards the door.

"Patrick, go ahead and shut the power off. Lets hit the road." Sue called, walking towards the door, Cassandra following.

Patrick started banging around in the control booth again, apparently once more flipping switches and pushing buttons to no avail. The music continued, "...I see a little silhouetto of a man, Scaramouch, scaramouch will you do the fandango, Thunderbolt and lightning - very very frightening me!" Suddenly, there was a brilliant blue flash from the control booth, as a fried bacon smell wafted through the Roller Rink and the lights and music finally went out while the crisped form of Patrick thunked noisily to the ground.

Cassandra stopped, and turned to Sue. "Does he do this often?" she asked.

"He seems to have acquired the habit lately." Sue replied with a dry grin.

"It could get annoying very fast." Cassandra said, stepping into the booth with Sue.

As they watched the smoke rising from his form, and the little lightning's of the Quickening healing the burns on his skin, Sue answered, "I'm sure it's a habit he'd rather break than keep."

Patrick's form shuddered and he sat up with a gasp, little flakes of ash settling to the floor from his hair. He looked back and forth between the two women standing before him and asked, "Did I die AGAIN?"

"Yep", Sue said, stifling a grin.

"I HATE this Immortal crap" Patrick said with the thickest drawl Sue had yet heard from him as he pulled himself to his feet with Cassandra's help.

Looking at him, Cassandra shook her head. "It's not Immortality that's doing it, Youngling. It is the Curse. It is trying to kill you."

"Looks like it's doin' a damn fine job, too." Patrick muttered as the three of them made their way back to the open door.

"Yep," Sue chimed it. "Must be frustrating the hell out of it when you keep getting better though."

"Curses don't work that way, but the agencies which fulfill them may be getting frustrated. Perhaps the vengeance on the placer will work itself. Magic has that tendency." Cassandra opined as they stepped out into the Memphis noon.

"So, Cassandra, I killed you. Does that mean I'm good enough to train Patrick?" Sue asked, stopping by her car.

"Good enough with the blade, yes. A Teacher, I am not yet sure. I would let you go, but there is one area you are not skilled in, which I am." Cassandra answered seriously.

"What is that?" Sue asked.

"It is no reflection on you, Child. This is an area which I started my own training in over thirty five hundred years ago, at the knee of my Guardian, our tribal Healer, Hijad. It was he who started me on the path of Seer. And it is those skills you will need to lift the curse upon your student. However, you are in the process of a journey to your home. I on the other hand am journeying away from my home, with no set destination. I can easily accompany you, for a few days at least. That way I will have a chance to help your Student with his Curse."

Sue looked at Patrick, then back at Cassandra. She thought back to the story Patrick had told her in the Arby's. She thought her life was a disaster, but by comparison, she was living the life of Riley. "Ok, Cassandra. You can come with us, but please, let's let your Watcher know where to find us. I don't want to be considered responsible if anything happens to you, and right now I would be."

"Very well. Would you like Sally's cell phone number?" Cassandra asked with a grin.

========================== ==========================