Thea grimaced. This aspect of "Heroes of Justice" was really unlikable: stubborn, rigid, clinging to their principles. How many criminals had escaped with their lives due to the "No Kill Rule," only to break out of prison and continue doing evil in an endless cycle?
But she couldn't ignore Diana's emotions. She had no choice but to put away her bow and arrow, lead Diana around for a bit, let her realize Cheetah's evil, and then shoot her dead with a single arrow.
With her nice vacation plan ruined, Thea reached out to Amanda Waller with a scowl. "Give me all the data. Dead or alive, we will deal with her."
Waller smiled very happily. "Alive is best. If you catch her alive, I will owe you a huge favor."
A huge favor? Thea's eyes narrowed, thinking fast. If nothing unexpected happened, Waller was talking about Oliver. Using something Thea already knew to act as a "huge favor" made Thea feel sour inside. But Waller indeed didn't know that Thea knew. Overall, she was still quite sincere.
In the original timeline, Oliver mysteriously broke free from Waller's control in the fifth year of his disappearance, one year before returning to Star City. Presumably, it was due to this "huge favor," right?
On one side was her lover; on the other was her brother. Even if Thea was a hundred and twenty percent unwilling, she had to make this trip—and she even had to catch Cheetah alive to exchange for Waller's "huge favor."
The two ignored Waller; let her go back however she came. Thea opened a portal directly to the location where Cheetah last disappeared: the dense forests of Louisiana.
Neither of them were special forces scouts and didn't know how to track footprints, but Thea's Eye of Horus could see extremely far. She hovered in the air, concentrating on her observation.
"There are a few staggering figures over there; they look like the Infected Waller mentioned." Thea pointed to the northeast, and the two flew over rapidly.
"Speak! Where did Minerva go!" Diana was also a bit depressed. Being dragged out to do this during a break in their "sparring" naturally made her temper a bit hot. Seeing an infected person, she threw out the Lasso of Truth and interrogated him loudly.
" Hrrrk... "
Half of the infected man's face was covered in bruises, his eyes were rolled back showing the whites, and the canine teeth in his mouth were clearly longer than a normal human's. Seeming to detect the life signs of the two women, several of them turned their heads. Their movements seemed sluggish, but their acceleration was extremely fast. In less than 0.1 seconds, they completed a series of actions: turning, bending knees, and lunging.
Thea knew Cheetah was extremely fast and her attacks were infectious, so she had already changed into combat gear with Diana beforehand. The opponent's lunging speed might be considered extremely fast in the eyes of ordinary people, but to them, it was just meh.
Flying up with a kick, massive force slammed directly onto the leading infected. The opponent crashed through more than ten large trees before falling to the ground. What sprayed from his mouth wasn't fresh blood, but rather some kind of black, viscous substance.
"These aren't human anymore!" Diana said uncomfortably, facing the several infected lunging at her.
But the movements in her hands weren't slow. Thea benefited from their weekend "sparring," and Diana naturally gained benefits too. Physical growth wasn't apparent yet, but Diana's resistance to Fear had now reached an inhuman height! At least, her resistance was much higher than when the two women reunited.
Increased resistance also improved her will. Reflected in combat, this meant abnormal calmness. No matter what disadvantageous situation she faced, Diana could handle it easily, using the minimum force to deliver the deadliest punch. Her fighting style had been imperceptibly influenced by Thea.
Deadly, efficient, concise. This was Diana's current fighting style. Compared to the unskilled shield bashes of a hundred years ago, her current style was far more artistic.
Thea coordinated with her, drawing her artifact longbow. One melee, one ranged—they coordinated seamlessly. Thirty seconds later, over a hundred infected were all knocked down by the two. Black, viscous fluid flowed from the wounds of the infected, converging into a filthy little river.
"It smells too bad!" Thea, who was a bit of a clean freak, couldn't stand this. Using Mage Hand, she gathered the pile of guys—unsure if they were alive or dead—together. The freeze gun on her power armor froze the entire pile of bodies solid, finally curbing the pungent stench.
What next? Diana automatically looked at Thea, just like the day they left Themyscira. Thea didn't disappoint her. The sub-control system on her arm connected to the Queen Consolidated mainframe. A massive amount of information was analyzed and summarized. Combining it with the simple clues Waller originally gave, Thea determined the next target.
"Minerva was originally adopted by a woman named Leita in Idaho. This woman seems to run a religious school. Let's go there and look for clues."
Diana had no objections. The two continued flying northwest.
The opponent's school was built in an extremely remote location, surrounded by mountains. Many locals' faces changed drastically when mentioning this school; everyone kept their mouths shut. Thea used a mix of fear and suggestion to finally get the detailed address from an old man.
Since they were seeking clues, the two naturally wouldn't fly over blatantly. Instead, they changed into casual clothes and drove a Jeep. Sitting in the car, the two looked exactly like adventure enthusiasts out for a trip.
"Halt! This is private territory!"
The two women drove to a wooden palisade wall. A fierce woman holding a submachine gun blocked their car.
When it came time to show off acting skills, Thea usually went up to talk, and this time was no exception.
Thea spun a web of lies: lost travelers, enthusiastic female college students passionate about charity—saying whatever sounded harmless. Surprisingly, the fierce woman guarding the gate actually believed it. Amidst Thea's enthusiastic thanks, she opened the gate of the camp.
Entering the wooden palisade, they realized the internal space wasn't small. Surprisingly, the residents here were all women, old and young, with different hair and eye colors. The only exception was their clothes—all rough skirts made of linen. Children carried baskets, adult women held various farming tools; only a few women with fierce temperaments held rifles.
Aside from those few rifles, Thea didn't see any modern equipment. This group of women had managed to recreate a medieval atmosphere in the twenty-first century.
But she didn't look much further. Thea's gaze was automatically attracted by a statue standing in the square.
A maiden with deer antlers growing from her head, holding a bow and arrow!
Thea looked at Diana and found the other party was also looking at her. Incredible. This statue was of Artemis. In other words, this group of people who had traveled all this way to America actually worshipped an Ancient Greek Deity.
"No." Thea, having the status of a Chosen One, had a higher perception of the Goddess than Diana. She quickly discovered the problem. There wasn't a shred of true divine presence on this statue. Combined with the ascetic dress of the surrounding crowd, she knew it wasn't that they weren't devout, but that there was another story inside.