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It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
It was supposed to be a simple mission.
Go in, eliminate this particular powerful branch of Adriel’s followers and call it a day.
That was supposed to be the plan.
Beatrice had spent hours outlining the escape routes that they were to take, calculated how many zealots that were to be present and strategized how they were going to make their entrance. Lilith had suggested that she’d teleport in and take out as many guards as she could but she needed Camila to shut down all of the security cameras first.
That became Phase one of the plan.
Lilith was to teleport Camila into the building first, have her deactivate all of the security cameras and grant all of them access to the entire structure. Then she’d take out all of the guards.
Phase two of the plan was for her, Ava and Mary to infiltrate the complex.
And Phase three was for the Warrior Nun and her team to free the possessed humans, kill the wraiths and cut down whoever stood in their way.
Easy.
They had done this countless times. After the Holy War had been won by them, Adriel’s followers were still convinced that in due time, they could make a comeback. As such. Ava, Beatrice, Camila, Lilith and Mary had taken on the task of preventing the stronger groups from gaining power.
Then, only then, could they allow themselves to take a break.
And this group was on the last of their list.
It’d taken them time to cross off every group on the list but at least they had each other to fall back on.
Ava, who had been ungraciously kicked out of Reya’s realm because she’d annoyed ‘God’ led the team as the Warrior Nun or in Lilith’s words, "the reanimated dumbass that stole the halo from her" (she was totally over it). Beatrice, who’d revoked her vows was their strategist and the one who kept the team’s mind on the mission (if she wasn't busy drooling over Ava). Camila, who’d become famous amongst the sister warriors for irritating Adriel until he conceded, was their resident hacker and glue of the team (though she spent more time documenting Avatrice more than anything, "I planted the seed of their relationship, I deserved to witness the harvest!").
Lilith aka sister chicken wings (coined by Ava) who had fought on their side during the war was part of the muscle of the team. Her powers and her wings made her formidable and she was basically invincible. And Mary, though she had developed an unhealthy obsession over molotovs was still known as Shotgun Mary (even though Ava had started to call her Molotov Mary) made up the other part of the muscle. Having been seriously injured in the Vatican attack, she had recovered in time for the start of the War and had jumped headfirst into the fight.
They were the dream team or as Ava liked to call them, the badass Fifth Harmony. She would've liked to call them the female version of One Direction (she totally had Louis's hair) but it was hard pass from the rest.
But now, they were feeling a lot less badass.
When Ava recalled the whole story to Mother Superion, she told her that the plan started falling apart the moment all five of them burst into the main atrium to stop Adriel’s zealots from ‘baptising’ more people with wraiths. Expecting 30 or so people, they were not ready to face double the crowd.
If they could kill them, it would be a lot easier.
But since the possessed were leaning towards the ‘innocent and naïve’ side, all the five could do was beat the wraiths out of them.
That being said, the five proceeded to do that.
But after beating up 20 or so more possessed people, they were beginning to feel tired. Even Lilith was too, even though she was more bored than anything. Killing was more joyous than severely beating up her enemies. The only relief she got out of the entire situation was murdering Adriel’s zealots.
As for the rest, exhaustion was beginning to set in. Camila and Mary were running out of crossbow bolts and ammo, the halo was starting to be depleted of its energy and Beatrice’s knuckles were starting to ache from punching.
However, there were still more people for them to free from the wraiths.
“On your left!!!”
Ava ducked an incoming left hook in time before she used her right fist to hit her attacker several times in the liver. That made the possessed woman double over and Ava took the opportunity to land a strong uppercut to the woman’s jaw, knocking her out.
Glancing to her right, she saw Lilith grabbing a few possessed before teleporting them away, Camila using her crossbow to incapacitate a man twice her size and Mary using the butt of her shotguns to knock a few of the possessed out.
But the one person that caught her eye was Beatrice.
Wearing her OCS battle outfit complete with the chain mail on her face, she was using her bo staff against four possessed men. Her movements were fluid and every hit felt calculated as if she’d studied her attackers’ fighting patterns. She reminded Ava of a ballet dancer and if they weren’t in the middle of a battle, Ava would’ve recorded her girlfriend’s fight.
It was illegal to look this graceful during a battle.
“Stop gawking at your girlfriend and help!” Mary yelled at her and Ava flipped her off before she drew her divinium sword. Watching Beatrice kick one of the possessed in the calf before landing a hit to his torso using her staff, Ava joined in the fight by punching him in the face. That made the wraith emerge out of him and she proceeded to use her sword to stab it and the demon dissipated.
“Ava incoming!!”
Turning, she sidestepped as Beatrice kicked another possessed man in the chest, sending him stumbling towards her direction. Jamming the butt of her sword into his head, he dropped like a sack of potatoes and the wraith phased out of him which had Ava quickly slicing it in half.
This was repeated a few more times between the two of them until a few of the possessed caught on. That forced them to change tactics but having trained and fought alongside each other for months, they were still able to take out many wraiths.
That being said, after taking out ten wraiths together, Ava could feel the halo’s power start to dim and fatigue was starting to hit her. But with at least twenty more possessed to deal with, she wasn’t going home anytime soon.
Turning to look at Beatrice who was glowing from the evening light that shone down on her from the skylight above, Ava wanted to capture this perfect image. Even if Beatrice was busy beating the crap out of two men, she still looked ethereal.
That was when Ava formed a brilliant idea.
She’d watched it in a movie about Pirates and found it really cool.
Well, when she told Mother Superion about it much later, she received a heavy sigh and a scolding but to her, it was all worth it.
Why?
Because she got to do this.
“Bea!!” she yelled over the fighting and Beatrice knocked a woman unconscious before asking, “Yes?”
“Marry me!!”
That made Beatrice freeze for a few seconds. This was not how she imagined herself getting engaged and marrying Ava. This made her ask, “Really? Now?”
Stabbing a wraith with her sword, Ava asked, “Is that a yes?”
Sighing, the former nun wanted to tell Ava to ask her again when they weren’t fighting for their lives but the younger woman was grinning excitedly at her. That and she knew that this might be their only chance to get married.
She loved Ava even if she had horrible timing but she knew that even after all this was over, her job as the Warrior Nun would not be over. Based on what Ava had told her from her time in Reya’s realm, Adriel was not the last enemy that they had to deal with. There were more like him and soon, the OCS would have to deal with them.
With that in mind, Beatrice made her mind up, replying loudly, “Yes!!”
Not expecting her to agree, Ava soon realised that they needed an officiant. And since the newly-repented Father Vincent wasn’t here, that meant that there was only one other person qualified to do it.
And said person was the so-called captain of the Avatrice ship (Bea still didn’t understand the term, shipping) who had become an officiant the moment she found out that they were together and was busy pulling out crossbow bolts to reuse them.
But it was now or never.
“Camila!! Marry us!!” Ava shouted across the atrium and Camila who was re-arming her weapon, turned to give the couple a look that resembled bewilderment and exasperation.
“Seriously? Now?”
Sure she was the captain of their ship but they were in the middle of a battle. Did they really have to get married right now?
“Yes!!” the couple replied in unison making Camila face-palm herself while Mary who was standing next to her, simply rolled her eyes. Even Lilith who was teleporting in and out shook her head and sighed heavily.
“Fine!” Camila yelled back before shooting a possessed woman in the shoulder before Lilith teleported her away.
Raising her voice so that it echoed throughout the atrium, she said, “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of—I don’t have time for this!! I now pronounce you two wife and wife!! Now kiss!!
As much as she would’ve loved to give the full speech and hear Ava and Beatrice say their vows, they were beating the wraiths out of people. It didn’t exactly set the mood. But after they were done, she was going to make sure that they got the wedding they so deserved.
That being said, the moment she had pronounced them wife and wife, Ava dropped her sword, grabbed Beatrice by the back of the neck and pulled her in for a searing kiss. Feeling Beatrice’s right hand grab her waist and the other cup her cheek, the halo glowed brighter. That caused a surge of energy to emit from it and knock down the possessed around them.
“Are you two done making out?” Lilith’s annoyed voice cut in.
Pulling away from her wife, Ava turned around to see that all of the possessed had been dealt with and her friends were shaking their heads at her.
“Did you seriously get married while we were fighting for our lives?” Mary sighed.
“It helped free the possessed!” Ava countered.
“I don’t normally agree with Ava but she’s right,” Beatrice stated.
“Hey!”
“Please, we all know you wanted to re-enact that scene from Pirates of the Caribbean,” Lilith rolled her eyes.
“That and I love Bea.” Ava shot her wife her signature smirk which made her facepalm.
“Well, let’s just call this a hasty decision and a practice run because there’s no way I’m letting this be your official wedding,” Camila stated.
And that was how Camila became the official planner and maid of honour of their wedding (she even made a plaque and everything). When the couple was forced by her to have a proper ceremony, no one was safe from her planning.
Delegating roles left and right, she had Lilith put in charge of the catering (Ava is deathly allergic to shellfish. That does not mean you can add it. I am watching you very closely!), assigned Mary to babysitting Ava duty ( That means chaperoning her on the night before the wedding and walking her down the aisle. If she’s hungover on the day itself, I will hunt you down.)
Even Mother Superion wasn’t safe and was to be the officiant because Camila still despised Vincent. And Yasmine was the flower girl and Camila’s assistant.
Safe to say, the ceremony went as planned and Camila was glad that she was able to witness it (she still hadn’t forgiven Lilith and Yasmine for what they did, she’s the Captain, she deserved to see it all).