Black Sunshine
Chapter 12 - Success is a Fleeting Thing, and can Slip Away at a Moment's Notice
Nera sat, arms crossed, shaking in a chair outside the room where Solana was screaming in pain, and trying to think of literally anything else. Olise put a hand on her shoulder. Nera started, looking at the older woman who had taught her everything she knew eyes wet with the beginnings of tears. She had never had Olise show any tenderness before. It just wasn’t her style.
“Don’t get the wrong idea,” Olise said.
Kiddo came up from the main repair area, and immediately hugged Nera tightly. She had experienced affection from Kiddo before. That was just the sort of person she was. Nera allowed herself to be comforted, as tears filled her eyes.
“Don’t get any ideas. I ain’t hugging you,” the badger woman said.
“Gryla!” Kiddo admonished.
“It’s okay, Kiddo,” Nera said, “Your hugs are good.”
Olise coughed, “Now that that’s over, Nera. We need to discuss what happened and the plan from here.”
Nera pried Kiddo’s arms off of her, much to Kiddo’s disappointment, and followed Olise into her office. No sooner had she sat down, than a searing pain like someone jamming a red hot ice pick in her right eye caused her to gasp. Thankfully it faded quickly.
“What the hell?” She asked rhetorically.
“It’s the wards on the garage doors,” Olise explained with a sigh, “we seem to be under attack.”
“I don’t suppose it’s just kids throwing rocks.”
“Not likely. The wards aren’t that sensitive. They’re tripped by offensive magic, and heavy artillery.”
Nera jumped up, and ran with Olise to the armory. Kiddo and Gryla were already arming themselves. Nera grabbed spare clips for her rifle, stuffing them in the pockets of her cargo pants, and a bandolier of grenades from a hook.
“Nera, Gryla, you will be firing through the windows on the second floor, I’ll guard Doctor Shorque and Solana. Kiddo, you’ll man the turrets from the station here in the armory.”
BANG!
“And if they breach the doors?” Nera asked.
Olise scoffed, “If they manage to get through those doors, Kiddo will switch to the interior turrets, and we’ll fire from the balcony.”
BANG!
“You’ll want armor piercing rounds, they have some sort of shielding that even nullification can’t stop.”
“I’ve seen this sort of thing before,” Olise said, “does that gun have a shock mode?”
“Yeah.”
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“Use that first, it shorts out shielding.”
BANG!
“Aim for the mask, they seem to not notice anything else. Once the mask breaks, they fall.”
Everyone acknowledged the information and went to their assigned place with practiced efficiency.
BANG!
Nera peered out the window into the courtyard below. There were nearly two dozen nuns all channeling magic into the one at the front, who looked slightly different. A ball of orange crackling magic grew in front of her outstretched hand. Once it reached a truly ridiculous size, it flew into the garage door.
BANG!
Nera flipped the switch on her rifle to a shock mode, and waited for the magic to imbue the bullet in the chamber. She aimed at the woman in front. She’d have to wait for the ball of magic to get out of the way, before she could fire. It was all about timing.
BANG! Crack!
The ball of magic flew forward, and Nera took the shot. The green barrier formed, just as she had expected. The electricity from her shot arced over the surface, and with a shattering like a beer bottle against a table, the shield was down.
Cracrack!
Two shots rang out from the other rooms, as Olise and Gryla fired. The woman at the front fell down dead, her mask shattered.
Rattattattat!
The turrets on the roof laid down a heavy fire of electrified rounds, and more shields failed. Nera flipped the switch to automatic and the women in the courtyard fell all too quickly to the hail of bullets from every room.
As the last woman fell, Nera felt the garage shake with a sudden explosion from the repair area. She swore under her breath, and ran through the door of Olise’s office. She stopped at the sight of a hole, large enough for a truck to drive through, blasted outward through the garage door. The edges were melted and red from heat, and the leftover magic from the enchantments sparked.
Gryla stood beside Nera and whistled, “What the hell did that?”
“I don’t know, but the assault seems to have stopped,” Nera paused, “Solana!”
She burst through the door to the room where Olise had been guarding Solana and Doctor Shorque. The bed where Solana had been was empty, Doctor Shorque was unconscious, and Olise was bleeding from a sizable gash in her belly.
“Gryla, get the medical kit from the repair bay!”
Nera rushed over to Olise, and immediately applied pressure to her wound.
“I’ll be fine, make sure Sharkie’s okay,” Olise grunted.
“Gryla will see to him. What happened?”
“Solana’s eyes started glowing about halfway through the assault, and suddenly Sharkie was out. She plunged a magic dagger into my gut, and ran out the door..”
Nera shook her head in disbelief, “Solana wouldn’t do that.”
“Oh, good. I’m glad my gut’s actually not got a massive hole in it,” Olise scoffed, “Use your head for something more than a place to hang your horns, Nera. Of course it wasn’t Solana.”
“You’re saying the nuns did something to her.”
“Yes, and until we know what, we need to be very careful around her.”
“No.”
“Nera-”
Gryla entered the room with the medical kit, and threw her a patch that would stop the bleeding. Nera applied it to Olise’s gut, and stood up.
“Nera, listen. We need to plan carefully,” Olise pleaded.
Nera walked out of the room and down the stairs growling in frustration. Now she had to find Solana all over again. With only a day left until Solana started her new job, and the possibility of her falling down at any minute, the clock was literally ticking.
“Nera, you need to calm down,” Olise said, slowly following her down, “We’ll get her back.”
“Not soon enough. I’m ending this now!”
Nera climbed into her car, and ignoring the shouts of Olise and Kiddo to stop she peeled out of the garage.
She would bring Solana home at any cost.