Lucky Shot (A Warrior Nun Story)

The Girl Who Saved Me

"We need to talk."

Superion dropped her hands from in front of her chest back to where they previously rested clasped in front of her navel.

Beatrice was still tense, despite Superion's attempts at calming her nerves. What made everything worse was that Lilith stood stock-still next to Superion, that deafening gaze latched onto Beatrice's face. Unlike Superion, Lilith remained unmoving, so much so that Beatrice almost wondered whether or not she was even breathing.

Beatrice's eyes jumped rapidly from Superion to Lilith, the air around her no-doubt indicating that she wasn't completely trusting of the two people standing in front of her. Her shoulders remained locked, her knees slightly bent.

"I won't let you take her." She said, her voice coming out confident and firm. It was true, she wasn't going to let them take Ava away, especially not with the knowledge that Superion had essentially put out a hit on her girlfriend, given the phone call they overheard between her and Duretti.

Superion sighed, bringing one of her hands up to rub at the space between her eyebrows. Beatrice took this time to assess her former Commander. The bags she found under her eyes confirmed Beatrice's earlier assumption—Superion was tired. Her hair was pulled into its signature bun, though numerous pieces of hair had fallen free from their hold, framing her face in a frizzled mess, indicating that the past 48 hours for her were not as easy-going as Beatrice's.

She watched as the older woman tucked one of the loose strands of hair behind her ear, smoothing invisible wrinkles from the front of her shirt before looking to Beatrice once more.

"We aren't here for her. We aren't here for either of you, but we really do need to talk." She said, giving Beatrice an almost pleading look. This caused Beatrice to stop for a moment, deciding to reassess the two standing before her once more.

Aside from the changes Beatrice had already noted in Superion, she also observed how the woman seemed to be favoring her right leg, indicating that she might be injured. Additionally, Beatrice noticed the butterfly strip on her hairline—most likely a result of Ava hitting her in the head with the gun.

Moving over to Lilith, Beatrice noticed a similarly exhausted demeanor denoted by the sagging of Lilith's eyelids and paleness marking her cheeks. She also seemed to have a similar disordered state about herself—her hair was slightly crimped in certain parts, another clear indication that she probably hadn't had the time to shower or clean herself up in any way since Beatrice last saw her.

Beatrice felt her resolve weakening. She still wasn't sure if she should trust them, but she also wasn't sure that she had much of a choice. Especially after seeing Lilith, Beatrice wanted nothing more than to jump into her arms (against her will, no doubt), and wrap her up into a warm embrace, apologizing over and over again for keeping her in the dark.

Honestly, she didn't know how to even begin a conversation about her departure with Lilith. She knew her friend (ex-friend?) must be angry with her, and she couldn't really blame her. Beatrice found herself zoning out while standing in front of two people who she had started to consider ghosts of her past. Yet, here they stood. Not as ghosts, but as two real, living people who had somehow tracked down her and Ava to talk about...what?

"Can we come in or are you gonna make us stand out here for this?" Lilith suddenly spoke coldly, eliciting a physical reaction from Beatrice in the form of a sharp shudder than ran from the top of her spin to the bottom. There was something about this moment that reminded her of the classic vampire stories. 'If you don't invite them inside then they can't hurt you'.