“…friend or foe?”
The phrase made Sophia wince. Kaden had no reason to know how such a tiny phrase would affect the priestess, but it did all the same. Her thoughts immediately turned towards the tailed boy Juno as silence blanketed the already eerily-silent mall; although he would never have admitted it, his eyes screamed panic when she chose to essentially end his life. Pride probably made such a sentiment embarrassing to the kid, but Sophia definitely understood it. Death was a hefty price to pay for anything. The prospect of being killed made her shiver, and even when the tiniest feeling of hypocrisy hit her, she used it as a reminder to stay alive.
That was her mindset. That was her reality.
Reality, however, has a funny way of crashing down around a person. Through the foggy haze of silence came a single shot. The sound was louder than anything she had heard in the small timeframe that she had been inside the mall, and when it ended, the silence seemed even more agonizing. At first, the priestess had no idea what had happened. She looked around; first at her comrades to see if there had been a change in either of their facial reactions. The grim look pasted upon their visages pointed to the same thing, and when Sophia turned, she followed Trisha’s eyes to come to the same grueling conclusion.
“Fuck…he…he really did it…” she heard the trophy wife mutter through the pressure that had built up in the priestess’ ears. All eyes were on the gaping wound in her gut, and after the longest seconds of her life, Trisha slumped to the ground. Kaden rushed over to her and kneeled down, a panicked expression mirroring the expression Juno wore that Sophia remembered so well. He started talking to her in a calming voice, though Sophia was too shaken to comprehend the meaning behind those words.
One phrase from Trisha broke the threshold of understanding, however, as she pointed towards the priestess. “That blonde chick. Get her to heal it.”
Kaden turned to look at Sophia, and she found herself nodding her head violently. It was funny how readily she was willing to help the person she desperately wanted to destroy not ten minutes earlier. She supposed that death was the ultimate cure for a misdirected moral compass as she took a step forward to approach the wounded woman. This was her job; the way she made her bread. This was her moment to shine.
However, a click and an explosion of blue fire later, that moment was gone. Trisha had disappeared; escaped into oblivion for reasons that only she could have understood. Sophia so desperately wanted to know how her mind worked, and if she had time, she would have searched for a way to find the answers she sought. The machine gun fire that had her and Piper pinned down against a wall, however, made it difficult to do anything but focus on her own survival.
Piper voiced the sentiment that Sophia carried as they ducked their heads to avoid the gunfire. “We need a plan, Kaden!”
“Do you have a plan?” Sophia inquired.
“Well…we just need to get up there and bludgeon these guys until they lose consciousness.”
That sounded simple enough. There was just one problem. “How are we supposed to get up there?”
“Leave that to me.”
After saying that, Piper disappeared in the flash of light, leaving Sophia a bit breathless. The gunfire immediately stopped, allowing both Sophia and Kaden to take a peek at the mercenaries overhead. Sophia actually stood up, which upon later retrospect was the worst idea ever, to see what was going on. Had Piper distracted them somehow? Were they dead? Her answers came immediately as the trio flew over the railing and crashed to the ground below.
“She’s a genius,” Kaden laughed as he ran towards the fallen soldiers to assist the medic. Sophia nodded and took a step to follow, but more gunfire halted her progress. She nearly lost her balance as she wobbled backwards to avoid the bullets as they whizzed by.
“There’s one of them!” she heard a man shout. “You attend to the others. We’ll get the blonde.”
Sophia thought about staying and fighting, if only for a second. The ensuing footsteps made her immediately reconsider. The priestess turned around and started running, trying desperately to find an empty hallway to give herself a chance to get away. Thoughts of her allies gradually faded away as she found her destination, hoping that she didn’t run into a dead end. The footsteps behind her grew louder as they began to catch up, and finally, the fatigue caught up with her and resulted in a very annoying stinging in her legs. As the door in front of her flew open, however, she found that to be the least of her worries.
“Sorry, girly,” Kai’s croney smirked. “End of the line.”
Another soldier caught up behind her, effectively closing her in. The man in front of her even cocked his gun menacingly and pointed it at her. “Got anything to say?”
“Well…I guess I should warn you,” she sighed, slowly widening her stance.
“About what?” the voice behind her sounded amused.
“I’m a tired, dirty, and extremely emotional girl right now,” she slowly raised her fists. “Know what that means?”
The guard laughed and tightened his squeeze on the trigger. However, Sophia whipped her hand forward and knocked the barrel to the side, narrowly avoiding a headshot as the gun went off. A gasp immediately followed a sickening thwack. The blood splattered on the wall and the sudden thump made it so she didn’t have to turn around—the guard behind her was, suffice it to say, no longer any danger.
“What the hell?”
Sophia smiled as she kicked forward, knocking the wind out of his lungs and subsequently knocking him unconscious. She bent over and raised a fist to deliver the final blow, however…she couldn’t do it. As much as she tried to explain it to herself in her head, she knew she couldn’t do it. She told herself over and over again that this man was trying to kill her. He would likely try to kill her even if she spared his life and he somehow regained consciousness. He would never give her the light of day. But, somehow, Kaden’s voice remained somewhere in the back of her head, telling her that it wasn’t necessary.
And, as she tried to double back and regroup with his friends, she knew that he had been right.
The phrase made Sophia wince. Kaden had no reason to know how such a tiny phrase would affect the priestess, but it did all the same. Her thoughts immediately turned towards the tailed boy Juno as silence blanketed the already eerily-silent mall; although he would never have admitted it, his eyes screamed panic when she chose to essentially end his life. Pride probably made such a sentiment embarrassing to the kid, but Sophia definitely understood it. Death was a hefty price to pay for anything. The prospect of being killed made her shiver, and even when the tiniest feeling of hypocrisy hit her, she used it as a reminder to stay alive.
That was her mindset. That was her reality.
Reality, however, has a funny way of crashing down around a person. Through the foggy haze of silence came a single shot. The sound was louder than anything she had heard in the small timeframe that she had been inside the mall, and when it ended, the silence seemed even more agonizing. At first, the priestess had no idea what had happened. She looked around; first at her comrades to see if there had been a change in either of their facial reactions. The grim look pasted upon their visages pointed to the same thing, and when Sophia turned, she followed Trisha’s eyes to come to the same grueling conclusion.
“Fuck…he…he really did it…” she heard the trophy wife mutter through the pressure that had built up in the priestess’ ears. All eyes were on the gaping wound in her gut, and after the longest seconds of her life, Trisha slumped to the ground. Kaden rushed over to her and kneeled down, a panicked expression mirroring the expression Juno wore that Sophia remembered so well. He started talking to her in a calming voice, though Sophia was too shaken to comprehend the meaning behind those words.
One phrase from Trisha broke the threshold of understanding, however, as she pointed towards the priestess. “That blonde chick. Get her to heal it.”
Kaden turned to look at Sophia, and she found herself nodding her head violently. It was funny how readily she was willing to help the person she desperately wanted to destroy not ten minutes earlier. She supposed that death was the ultimate cure for a misdirected moral compass as she took a step forward to approach the wounded woman. This was her job; the way she made her bread. This was her moment to shine.
However, a click and an explosion of blue fire later, that moment was gone. Trisha had disappeared; escaped into oblivion for reasons that only she could have understood. Sophia so desperately wanted to know how her mind worked, and if she had time, she would have searched for a way to find the answers she sought. The machine gun fire that had her and Piper pinned down against a wall, however, made it difficult to do anything but focus on her own survival.
Piper voiced the sentiment that Sophia carried as they ducked their heads to avoid the gunfire. “We need a plan, Kaden!”
“Do you have a plan?” Sophia inquired.
“Well…we just need to get up there and bludgeon these guys until they lose consciousness.”
That sounded simple enough. There was just one problem. “How are we supposed to get up there?”
“Leave that to me.”
After saying that, Piper disappeared in the flash of light, leaving Sophia a bit breathless. The gunfire immediately stopped, allowing both Sophia and Kaden to take a peek at the mercenaries overhead. Sophia actually stood up, which upon later retrospect was the worst idea ever, to see what was going on. Had Piper distracted them somehow? Were they dead? Her answers came immediately as the trio flew over the railing and crashed to the ground below.
“She’s a genius,” Kaden laughed as he ran towards the fallen soldiers to assist the medic. Sophia nodded and took a step to follow, but more gunfire halted her progress. She nearly lost her balance as she wobbled backwards to avoid the bullets as they whizzed by.
“There’s one of them!” she heard a man shout. “You attend to the others. We’ll get the blonde.”
Sophia thought about staying and fighting, if only for a second. The ensuing footsteps made her immediately reconsider. The priestess turned around and started running, trying desperately to find an empty hallway to give herself a chance to get away. Thoughts of her allies gradually faded away as she found her destination, hoping that she didn’t run into a dead end. The footsteps behind her grew louder as they began to catch up, and finally, the fatigue caught up with her and resulted in a very annoying stinging in her legs. As the door in front of her flew open, however, she found that to be the least of her worries.
“Sorry, girly,” Kai’s croney smirked. “End of the line.”
Another soldier caught up behind her, effectively closing her in. The man in front of her even cocked his gun menacingly and pointed it at her. “Got anything to say?”
“Well…I guess I should warn you,” she sighed, slowly widening her stance.
“About what?” the voice behind her sounded amused.
“I’m a tired, dirty, and extremely emotional girl right now,” she slowly raised her fists. “Know what that means?”
The guard laughed and tightened his squeeze on the trigger. However, Sophia whipped her hand forward and knocked the barrel to the side, narrowly avoiding a headshot as the gun went off. A gasp immediately followed a sickening thwack. The blood splattered on the wall and the sudden thump made it so she didn’t have to turn around—the guard behind her was, suffice it to say, no longer any danger.
“What the hell?”
Sophia smiled as she kicked forward, knocking the wind out of his lungs and subsequently knocking him unconscious. She bent over and raised a fist to deliver the final blow, however…she couldn’t do it. As much as she tried to explain it to herself in her head, she knew she couldn’t do it. She told herself over and over again that this man was trying to kill her. He would likely try to kill her even if she spared his life and he somehow regained consciousness. He would never give her the light of day. But, somehow, Kaden’s voice remained somewhere in the back of her head, telling her that it wasn’t necessary.
And, as she tried to double back and regroup with his friends, she knew that he had been right.