Father Tomas finally lost his composure. His face turned red as he sputtered at the young woman’s boldness. Surely she didn’t think she stood a chance? They had her surrounded!

“You have some nerve!” he spat.

He finally released his grip on the censer and swung it by the chain in their direction. Bellicosa stepped forward to meet the swing with her gauntlet, blocking it with a loud clang as metal collided. Father Tomas yanked on the chain, pulling the censer back to him and winding it up to swing again.

Bellicosa quickly traced another rune into the air in front of them and a pale blue shield of magic surrounded the two just in time for a bullet to bounce off of it. Shaking off the initial shock, Avida looked to where the shot had come from and tracked it to the rafters at the back of the church. The area was still cloaked in shadow, making it impossible to see the shooter’s exact position. Bellicosa blocked another incoming swing from the censer.

“Dammit, there’s a sniper too? How annoying!” Avida complained.

She pulled out her pistol again and fired in the general direction of the shooter, but without being able to see them clearly, she was certain she missed. Meanwhile, Bellicosa continued to block the censer repeatedly.

“A basic projectile barrier should protect us for now. Let’s focus on these grunts first,” Bellicosa suggested as two priests armed with silver short swords rushed at them from either side.

Bellicosa ducked down on instinct, and Avida used the larger’s body as leverage to propel herself into a roundhouse kick, knocking the charging priests backwards. After landing back on the ground, Avida stomped on the head of the one closest to her to make sure he was down for good, before turning to see that Bellicosa had done the same.

“Wow, we’re really in sync today!” Avida happily pointed out.

“Look out,” was all Bellicosa said in response before Avida was yanked off-balance, landing on her back on the ground.

“Oof!”

She looked down at her feet to see a chain wrapped around her boot, the other end leading back to Father Tomas in the aisle.

Technically, a chain wasn’t a projectile, so it was able to get past the barrier. The man had managed to latch onto Avida while she was distracted, and Bellicosa had noticed too late. Father Tomas pulled the chain towards himself, effectively dragging Avida along with it.

“HELP ME!” Avida cried as she got further away.

Bellicosa reached out to try and grab her extended hand, but was interrupted by a sudden pressure on her back. A nun had snuck up behind her and jumped up, wrapping a thin metal wire around her throat. She yanked her backwards and used the momentum to pull hard. Bellicosa could feel the wire begin to cut into the skin and her hands flew up instinctually to try and pry it off.

Suddenly, Bellicosa heard the sound of a gunshot and the weight disappeared along with the wire, dropping to the floor. She looked up to see Avida with her gun raised, struggling on the ground as she arrived at the foot of Father Tomas. She had shot the nun off her back while still being dragged. Bellicosa thanked the gods that her partner was an extremely capable marksman.

“Pay attention now,” Father Tomas said as he stomped on Avida’s wrist, “the sermon’s just beginning.”

Avida winced at the pressure but didn’t let go of the pistol. That was definitely gonna leave a bruise, at the very least. Pain shot up her arm, but she kept her grip firm, refusing to let go.

“Sorry, but I’m not interested,” she quipped back through gritted teeth.

Belatedly, she realized she was also no longer within the protection of the projectile barrier. Great, now she had to worry about this overgrown priest while simultaneously trying not to get her head blown off. Hopefully, the sniper wasn’t as good a shot as herself.

“What’s wrong? Not gonna use your other pistol there?” Father Tomas asked tauntingly, tapping the untouched pistol on her other thigh with his irritatingly polished dress shoe.

“Unfortunately, that one’s reserved for someone else,” Avida replied before kicking upwards into a… rather unpleasant area.

Father Tomas doubled over in pain, and the weight on her wrist disappeared as he stumbled. Avida quickly took the opportunity to free the chain from around her boot. As she bent forward, a shot lodged into the ground where her head had just been. She jumped in surprise before rolling to the side and standing up.

Just in time, too, for Father Tomas to (barely) recover and get back into a fighting position, albeit warily. He sent out the chain again, this time the end wrapped quickly around her opposite wrist and pulled her forward before he slammed a knee into her stomach. He actually did her a favor, as another shot fired where she had just been. She was thankful that the shitty low lighting worked both ways. It was hard for her to see the sniper in the dark, but the reverse was also proving to be true. The shots were slightly off the mark each time.

Still, Avida fell to her knees with a groan. A blow to the stomach was unpleasant, and she just barely managed to swallow down her lunch again. Her one arm stayed suspended in the air due to the chain still holding it up, causing it to tighten painfully. Now both wrists were in tremendous pain.

“You know, close combat’s really not my specialty,” she remarked with shaky breath.

With her free hand still gripping the pistol, she raised it to fire a shot at a nun that was approaching from the side with a spear. The nun’s body fell lifelessly as the weapon clattered to the ground. Avida quickly shot another bullet aimed at Father Tomas, but it was blocked by the censer. She frowned at the man’s deceptively quick reflexes, getting back to her feet with a grunt. She would have to take hand-to-hand combat training more seriously from now on.

Meanwhile, two more nuns were rushing at Bellicosa. They were armed with short silver daggers this time, poised and primed for slashing. However, they were slightly out of sync, and one arrived a little sooner than the other. Bellicosa dodged and grabbed the woman’s arm as she reached forward with the dagger to stab her. She twisted the arm harshly, hearing the crunch of bone as the woman screamed and dropped her weapon. At that time, the other nun arrived and attempted to sweep Bellicosa with her leg, trying to knock her off-balance. But she was too slow.

Bellicosa avoided the sweep and swung the other nun around by the broken arm at the same time. Recovering from the failed attempt, the second one rushed back in with an aimed dagger. Leaving herself open before using the first nun as a shield at the last second, Bellicosa caused the second nun to quite literally stab her comrade in the back. She then shoved the lifeless body onto the startled woman, momentarily knocking her backwards. Bellicosa took the chance to deliver the finishing blow to the nun’s head with the enchanted gauntlet.

Just then, another bullet clamored off the weakening projectile barrier, which had started to develop thin cracks. Bellicosa looked up to see a priest several meters away holding a handgun with an incredibly shaky and nervous grip. He was standing by a candle, the small flame revealing the fear etched into his face. She realized that he and one other silhouette were all that remained apart from Father Tomas and the hidden sniper. Even if this was a trap, they were clearly underprepared for the mercenaries’ skills.

The young priest was definitely outclassed in this fight, most likely a recent recruit into the Church’s ranks. He seemed scared out of his wits at watching his comrades be slaughtered in front of him. He likely never had to fight real enemies before, and seemed frightened at the prospect of having to kill or be killed. Firing another shot recklessly, he closed his eyes as he pulled the trigger. When he opened them again, Bellicosa was standing directly in front of him.

“Agh!”

The priest yelped in terror before Bellicosa landed a swift blow to his neck, effectively knocking him out. Then, she turned to the final nun who appeared to be armed with a sword, both of them now only a few feet apart near the altar. Bellicosa noted in her head that the sniper was most likely in the rafters somewhere around this position as well.

She risked a glance behind her to see that Avida was once again locked in hand-to-hand combat with Father Tomas. But any time a shadow of Avida was visible from behind the man, a bullet whizzed through the air as the sniper took a shot, just barely missing as she ducked behind the man again. It was only a matter of time until one of those shots hit.

Bellicosa looked back just in time to block a strike of the sword with her gauntlet. Sparks flew as the metal collided with metal. The nun wore an irritated expression as she took a step back.

“Do I not pose enough of a threat to deserve your attention?” she asked, swinging her sword in an arc aimed at Bellicosa’s face.

“I need to make this fast,” Bellicosa commented to herself, ignoring the other, as she dodged the slash.

“In that case, I promise I’ll send you off to meet the gods nice and quick,” the nun promised with an affronted laugh.

She raised her sword and charged again, Bellicosa deflecting the blade with her silver gauntlets. Suddenly, the blade started to glow as the nun traced a rune on it with her fingers, pouring magic into it. When she swung again, the blow knocked Bellicosa’s arm back with much more force than before.

Bellicosa reciprocated by drawing a rune of her own. The metal on her hands began to glow stronger. With a deep breath, she held her hands up palms facing outward, a barrier more resilient than the last forming before them. The sword bounced off, but the nun did not relent. With each strike it left tiny cracks in the barrier that quickly began to spread. Still, Bellicosa pushed physically closer and closer to the nun, who stepped back with each step the other took forward.

When they were what felt like inches away and the barrier seemed like it wasn’t going to hold anymore, Bellicosa gestured outwards with her hands and the barrier exploded in a flash of light. The nun cried out as she was blinded, momentarily too stunned to swing her sword. At that moment, Bellicosa reached forward and grabbed her by the throat.

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“You can go on ahead and meet your gods first,” Bellicosa remarked before squeezing, crushing the nun’s throat instantly with the help of the powered gauntlet.

She sighed with relief, dropping the body before turning back to see how Avida was faring. The shorter mercenary was starting to slow down. The nonstop smoke coming from the burning incense was making Avida’s head fuzzy. She didn’t know how much longer she could keep this up. Her vision was starting to blur and she stumbled as the censer smacked into her again.

Repeated hits from the weighted metal had already begun to leave bruises on her arms and legs. She’s sure both her wrists were badly injured from where the chain was wrapped and the other was stomped on earlier, but she couldn’t let the pain slow her down. One slip up and she knew it’d be over, so she continued to meet Father Tomas blow for blow. The frustration built as she couldn’t raise her pistol quickly enough in this range without being blocked, the injuries slowing her down, but she also couldn’t put distance between them without risking being shot.

“Avida! Now!” her partner suddenly called to her from a bit away.

As Bellicosa shouted, she punched the wooden pillar beside her, cracking it, causing it to shake and crumble due to its age. More importantly, it effectively knocked the sniper in the rafters above off-balance. The sound also distracted Father Tomas, who turned to see the commotion, long enough for Avida to raise her pistol again with a smile on her face.

“Good work, partner,” Avida commended as the sniper finally lost footing and began to fall with the splintering wood.

Their cloaked body came into view for the first time as they tumbled out of the shadows. Avida quickly fired her gun over Father Tomas’ shoulder, killing the sniper in the air before they even had a chance of surviving the fall. They hit the ground with a dull thud, their gun clattering beside them. Chunks of the wooden beam rained down from the ceiling.

“I can finally put some distance between us,” Avida said happily, jumping back out of Father Tomas’ reach just as he made another swing after regaining focus.

“Enough! I’m going to deliver you both to hell personally!” he shouted as he rushed forward.

However, this time Bellicosa was there. She quickly grabbed the chain as it stretched out towards Avida and wrapped it around her own hand a few times. Father Tomas was stunned as the chain was intercepted.

“It’s two against one now,” Bellicosa reminded him calmly.

Father Tomas made to punch the woman with his other hand, but it was easily dodged. Belliocsa yanked the chain from him effortlessly, swinging it around tauntingly as the man now stood unarmed.

“Wha-” Father Tomas was cut off as she smacked him in the face with the censer.

Before he could recover, she was wrapping the chain around his throat, tightening the grip slowly as he frantically clutched at it. Soon, Avida fired the final shot between his eyes and the man’s limp body fell to the floor. The blood began to seep into the aged wood, staining it red.

Finally done fighting, the two took a moment to catch their breath. Avida coughed a few times before she kicked the offending censer far away, eager to breathe air clear of smoke. It clattered against the wall in the distance before relative quiet returned to the small church.

“I hate that thing,” she grumbled, gathering herself again.

“You alright?” Bellicosa asked.

She already knew how her partner would answer, but thought she should ask anyway. She noted that Avida took quite the beating from fighting Father Tomas. Black and purple bruises were already beginning to color her wrists. The girl’s hands were also shaky as she put her gun back into its holster. As predicted, though, Avida just nodded. She was always one to downplay her injuries, no matter how much her partner nagged her not to.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just promise me you’ll handle all the close combat fights from now on, okay?” she half-joked.

“Of course,” Bellicosa agreed with a smile. “By the way, I think I noticed something earlier near the altar.”

She began to walk back in that direction, with Avida following behind slowly. The shorter had a hand clutching her stomach, no doubt hurting from the blow she had received there yet refusing to acknowledge it. As she approached the altar, Bellicosa circled around behind it.

“Aha, I knew it,” the taller proclaimed, gesturing for Avida to come see.

After she finally made her way over, careful to straighten up and erase any indication of pain from her posture, Avida saw a rug pushed aside to reveal a trap door. She guessed it was originally supposed to be hidden, but the clergy members who attacked them had most likely forgotten to move the rug back into place.

“They must’ve forgotten to cover it back up after they came through it,” Bellicosa thought aloud, coming to the same conclusion.

“So that’s how they popped up outta nowhere,” Avida grumbled.

“Aaaaand if there’s a hidden room, there’s a good chance it has what we’re looking for,” the taller added.

“Then, what are we waiting for?”

Bellicosa stepped forward and swung open the heavy metal door, revealing a narrow set of concrete stairs leading down into a previously concealed basement. It was just as dimly lit as the rest of the church, except now with weak fluorescent ceiling lights, giving it an ominous vibe. Avida motioned for Bellicosa to go first, who rolled her eyes before relenting and starting to descend. Avida followed close behind, and the two arrived at the bottom of the stairs where they were greeted by a thick door locked with a keypad.

“It requires a code,” Bellicosa pointed out.

It looked slightly rusted, but the door didn’t budge when she tried to pry it open by force. Whatever lock they had used to build it had stood the test of time, effectively keeping out the intruders. The tiny window on the door was dirty to the point that they couldn’t even see what was inside.

“Code? I got the code right here,” Avida snarked, waving her trusty pistol in her hand.

Bellicosa took a step back with a sigh and covered her ears, used to this kind of behavior by now. Avida aimed and fired at the keypad, turning her own body away slightly. The keypad burst into pieces and clattered to the floor, leaving a sparking hole in the door. She grabbed the handle and yanked it open. This time there was no resistance.

“Never fails,” she stated proudly.

Bellicosa just shook her head as the two crossed the threshold. One day, she was sure it would fail, and they would be stuck with a broken door and no way in. However, Bellicosa already knew better than to try and talk her partner out of doing something. She could only go along for the ride.

On the other side of the door was what appeared to be a grungy and, surprise surprise, dimly lit laboratory. There were no windows, as they were underground, and the few ceiling lights looked as though they needed desperately to be replaced. However, they were still able to make out a lot more than they had been able to upstairs. Dingy electricity was still better than sparse candlelight, after all.

A few lab tables were located throughout the room as well as shelves lining the walls filled with various medical and scientific devices the two couldn’t make heads or tails of. There were also tanks, meters, and chambers filled with mysterious liquids of all colors of the rainbow. More shelves were lined with various jars and other objects too numerous to name, not that the mercenaries could if they tried.

Scattered papers covered the lab tables in an unorganized array. The place looked suffocating and dreary, but also just like a complete mess. Another door with a keypad was located in the back of the room. Overall, it looked like a mix between an apothecary and a research lab. A troublesome and strange marriage between magic, alchemy, and science. There appeared to be no one else in there at first glance.

“Can’t the Church of Solomon invest in some better lighting?” Avida complained as she looked around.

“Keep your guard up. They could be waiting for another ambush,” Bellicosa quietly scolded as the two slowly moved into the room.

Avida huffed but nodded, keeping her pistol raised as she moved. Her whole body was sore, and she wanted nothing more than to take a nap right now. Or a shot. Still, she forced herself to stay alert out of instinct. They had a job to do, after all.

Suddenly, a faint rustling noise from the corner of the room drew both of their attention, the two briefly making silent eye contact before moving in unison towards the sound. Bellicosa took the lead since she knew her partner was still struggling to keep up.

“Please just be a rat or something,” Avida whispered under her breath.

As they grew closer, they saw a young woman cowering behind a lab table. She wore a long white lab coat and a pair of research goggles were plastered to her head over light blonde hair. The scientist looked up frightfully at the two standing before her.

“I.. I heard the fighting upstairs,” the woman said, eyes hazy with moisture. “PLEASE DON’T KILL ME!”

She burst into tears and got to her knees in front of the two, pleading. She folded over as if offering herself in surrender, but it came across like she was awkwardly bowing to the pair of mercenaries. She seemed genuinely terrified.

“Well that depends, are you gonna try and kill us?” Avida asked, pointing her gun at the woman.

“No! I’m just a researcher, please! If you have a grudge against the Church, I promise I don’t really work for them! Please don’t kill me, PLEASE!” the woman continued to cry and grovel.

Avida rolled her eyes. She really couldn’t stand pathetic people. If you think you’re gonna die, why not at least die with some dignity? She gazed at the woman without a drop of sympathy, icily sizing her up.

“Listen, lady. We don’t care about who you are or your life story. In fact, we’re here for something very specific. Maybe you can help us, and then maybe we can let you live. Deal?” she proposed with a smirk.

Even though the woman’s attitude disgusted Avida, she didn’t mind letting her live. Besides, the Church would probably just track her down and kill her soon after anyway. It saved Avida the wasted effort and ammo.

“Anything! What is it?” the woman agreed hopefully.

Her tears seemed to stop at the prospect of living. It was a little alarming how quickly her entire demeanor seemed to change. Even her body had stopped trembling, and she gazed at the mercenaries with a blank expression. Her eyes were such a deep shade of brown that they almost looked red, and with the current blank stare, the sight of them became unsettling.

“We were told a dangerous weapon was being kept here. Do you know where it is?” Bellicosa asked calmly.

The woman sat still for a second, her expression now looking painfully conflicted. She then turned to the side, suddenly quiet compared to how she was just previously. It seemed like she wasn’t going to answer any time soon.

“Well? Do ya?” Avida asked, growing impatient.

She pressed the tip of her pistol to the woman’s forehead. The slight tremor returned, but the scientist still pointedly refused to make eye contact, even as more tears resurfaced in the wells of her eyes.

“… maybe?” she responded, voice strained.

“It’s a yes or no question,” Avida pushed, becoming increasingly agitated.

“I… I can’t say! They’ll kill me!” the woman finally exclaimed, the tears bursting forth again.

“Oh for f- Look, ma’am. You can tell us and at least live long enough to make a break for it, or I can kill you right now without even thinking twice about it. This is your last chance,” Avida declared, pushing the woman’s head back with her pistol until her neck was bent uncomfortably.

“F-fine! Fine…” the woman relented.

Avida holstered her gun and gestured for the woman to continue. The tears stopped falling once again, and she took a deep breath before continuing to speak.

“The weapon you’re looking for, I’m sure it’s the one through that door,” the woman said, pointing to the locked door at the back of the room.

“You’re sure?” Bellicosa asked for confirmation.

The woman nodded. She removed a lanyard from around her neck, holding it up to them. It had a card on the end with an ID photo printed on it. Under the photo it read, ‘Rhea Green - Head Researcher’.

“It’ll be behind the last door, on the right. Here, you can use my keycard to get in, but after that, I’m long gone. Please, pretend you never saw me,” she explained, seeming to have calmed down a little.

“Fine with me,” Avida replied, snatching the lanyard and turning to the door.

Bellicosa went to follow before pausing. The scientist was now standing up as well, looking like she was ready to bolt. Before she could get away, Bellicosa stuck out an arm to stop her.

“Wait,” she said, startling the woman. “Is there anyone else here?”

The scientist hesitated for a moment, her eyes darting to the metal door she had pointed to a moment ago. It only lasted for a split second before the blank expression returned to her face and she shook her head.

“No.”

“Wha-”

“Belli, hurry up! I wanna get paid by the end of the day!” Avida interrupted from in front of the door, waving the keycard impatiently.

Bellicosa sighed. Her partner’s impatience loved to rear its ugly head at the most inconvenient of times. She wanted to question the scientist more, but decided to just take the woman’s words at face value for now.

“Go. You better get out of here quickly before she changes her mind,” she warned, pointing a thumb in Avida’s direction.

The scientist just nodded fearfully before scurrying away towards the exit, disappearing from sight. Bellicosa looked back to her partner after watching the woman go. She was inspecting the mechanism on the door before looking up and gesturing for the other to come quickly. Bellicosa finally joined her.

Next to the keypad on the door was a place to swipe a card. Avida used the ID they were given and the door opened with a beep. On the other side was a long, dark corridor lined with more metal doors, each with an identical, small window. The two wasted no more time, walking to the end of the hallway and stopping outside of the last door on the right as the scientist had instructed them. Holding up the card one more time, Avida remarked “Here goes nothin’,” before swiping it.

The light above the keypad flashed from red to green, indicating that it was successfully unlocked. As Avida pushed the heavy metal door open, neither of the experienced mercenaries were prepared for what they saw. While they weren’t sure what to expect going in, it certainly was not a room that resembled a prison cell.

A dirty one way mirror covered nearly an entire wall. A worn old mattress was pushed into a corner on the floor. An abandoned coloring book with a page still left unfinished sat open next to a box of scattered crayons in the middle of the room. The walls were made of a dark gray cement and a single fluorescent light bulb was screwed into the middle of the ceiling. It definitely was not the kind of place they expected a weapon to be.

Most confusing of all was a huge clear glass chamber in the corner filled with some kind of translucent liquid that was so bright green it almost hurt to look at. Several metal tubes branched out from the chamber and disappeared into the ceiling. But what caught the pair’s attention more than anything wasn’t any of that. It was the little girl inside the chamber, suspended in the liquid. She looked to be sleeping peacefully in a tattered white gown.

The two momentarily gaped in surprise at the sight before Avida blurted out,

“What the fu-”