"Here, you're gonna need this."
Sunny looked at the two tiny objects. She was now starting to understand what Lemon's secret weapon was, but it was yet to be stated loudly.
"What exactly are you going to do?"
Lemon smiled. A small, innocent smile slowly grew in size until her canines were showing, a held back, maniacal laughter started coming out from her. Sunny turned to the other four, each looking slightly away and pursing their lips in fear, as if a bad memory resurfaced in their minds at the same time. Beads of sweat trickled on their foreheads. Even Sugarcoat had a different aura around her. She swallowed and listened when Lemon Zest carefully explained everything.
Until now, in her personal ranking of how dangerous the Shadowbolts were, Lemon Zest was at the bottom.
Currently? She ranked third.
Yes, she counted herself too.
Sombra was quiet for a bit after learning that Dean Cadence was no longer his prisoner, but it wasn't for too long.
"You think you're so clever," his voice boomed from the speakers "but this changes nothing! I lost one bargaining chip, but the better one is still here. Looking at me pleadingly, wondering if her heroine will come to her rescue, or will abandon her. Like she already once did! Hahaha!"
Sunny grunted, tightening her fists, fighting the urge to snap back. She looked at the nearest security camera and weighed her options. She let out a long sigh, brushing her hair with her fingers before talking back.
"Nice try. Knowing Coco she's probably sitting where you put her. Obedient, sure. Watching your every move in complete silence. Waiting for a single mistake. Anything that'll lower you guard," she said confidently, playing with her long, curly locks "isn't she?"
She got no immediate answer, nor was she expecting one. She was only killing time with the mental image of Sombra looking suspiciously at Coco, possibly expecting her to attack any moment now.
Four more minutes. Just don't get any stupid ideas, Coco!
Locked up alone in the recording studio and hunched over a laptop, Lemon Zest smiled.
After defeating their mini-bosses, the Shadowbolts acquired a few more walkie-talkies, one of which was delivered back to Lemon Zest. They could now hear not only Sombra on the speakers, but also Sunny, as well as anyone else who used this line. They couldn't use them to communicate with each other, but they formed their plan in a way that would allow it to proceed without the need for it. They only created a few signals for Lemon Zest to look for.
Playing with you hair meant: proceed as planned!
"Acknowledged!" She said to the feed of Sunny. She knew nobody could hear her, but she believed Sunset Shimmer got her reply in spirit.
"Forgive me if I don't take those threats seriously, Sunny," Sombra's voice announced via the speakers "we're not done with the game."
"Yes, we are. All the mini-bosses are defeated, just like you asked. Check the camera if you don't believe me."
This was Lemon's cue to switch the fake footage she was using to fool his side of the security feed with the real one. The PA was temporarily turned off, as they enjoyed the mental imagine of Sombra finding out that all his men were defeated without him noticing a thing.
"HOW!?"
Sombra immediately went from relaxed and enjoying himself into fuming with rage.
"She was gone for a few minutes! There's no way she... ugh!"
And Coco watched him all the time, just as Sunny said she was. She was a damsel in distress for sure, but being scared and helpless was an excuse for bystanders who weren't given a choice. She wasn't one of them. She was invited into a life of crime fighting and was allowed to leave any time she wanted, but she didn't. She left Sunset Shimmer for personal, selfish, dumb reasons, but not Magical Girl Sunny or the mission. This was the life she chose for herself. That initial wishful thinking that she could slam something heavy at his head? It turned into a real goal.
The only problem? Sombra's rage was now literally visible and tangible, floating over him as a corporeal shadow spectre that could no doubt rip the head off her shoulders.
But he was going to make a mistake. And she awaited it.
"I did my part. Come on, show yourself!"
No answer. The time she was trying to kill suddenly slowed to a crawl. Crap, did I go too far? I swear, if that bastard actually hurt her... She shook her head. No, calm down! Lemon Zest has eyes on them, she would've sent us a message! She looked at the camera, in particular the tiny green light next to its lens. Green meant it was recording, while red meant it was inactive. It was the only way for Lemon to send messages to the group. Red meant 'something went wrong, improvise!'.
But it wasn't and that was what kept Sunny at bay.
"You... you cheated!" Suddenly the voice returned.
Despite the menacing tone and less than ideal implications, she couldn't help but roll her eyes. Here we go...
"It was those five girls, wasn't it? Shadowbolts, were they? There's no way you could've beaten all of them AND tampered with the cameras on your own!"
Sunny rolled her eyes. "What, I'm cheating? Double standards much? We both know you wouldn't have revealed yourself even if I played along, so why bother? It's almost as if you didn't want to meet me eye to eye," she snorted "it's almost as if... you were afraid of me! Look at me: my clothes are all destroyed, I'm tired, wounded, out of magic. I can barely stand still. And yet here you are, still refusing to get closer. What are you afraid of, Shadow Boy? Still think I have enough fight in me to take you on?"
No answer. She could almost smell his fear even a few floors apart. She knew that he wasn't scared of her personally, but of the trap she had no doubt prepared for him with the help of five friends he hadn't seen since they found her in the hallway. He wasn't the type to get easily provoked into going out of his safe space. He wasn't going to fall for her trap.
Which is why they didn't prepare any and they had him exactly where they wanted him to be!
Sunny looked at the watch. Three more minutes.
"You seem to be forgetting one little detail," he hissed "I did warn you what would happen to miss Pommel if you went off-script!"
Sunset lowered her head and took a deep breath.
"I was nice to her until now, but maybe you will learn your place once you hear her screa-"
"Do it."
"-ming for mercy... wait, what?"
Sunny's face remained emotionless as she repeated herself.
"I said do it..." she glared into the camera "...you coward!"
Between the walkie-talkies and the speakers, everyone in the gym had pretty much the entire conversation laid out to them and reacted accordingly. The tied up students and teachers who were close enough to overhear the walkie-talkies went wide-eyed. The henchmen in the gym all shared confused glares among them, distracting themselves from the entrance. One could sneak up on them if they were careful. But nobody did. Not yet.
"Woah, what the what?" Sour Sweet almost shrieked at the walkie talkie, having to be shushed by other three, who shared the sentiment in silence. The double doors to the gym were thick, but not soundproof.
"Everything's fine," Indigo said "she knows what she's doing. I think."
"But does she really?" Sunny Flare asked.
"Go on, do it," Sunny insisted "I dare you!"
Sombra stuttered through the microphone. "A-are you... are you officially insane?"
"You know how I dress for battle, so maybe. I'm just fed up with those empty threats and I'm done doing what you told me to! Don't get me wrong, I want to save Coco more than I want to beat you and I was ready to pay the ultimate price for it. But..." she took a deep breath before continuing.
"This isn't about Coco, myself or what we want anymore! This is what has to be done, no matter what! I will NOT let you get away with anything, what you've done to all the students and teachers in the school, to my friends, to Dean Cadence, to Captain Shining Armor and every police officer in the city! For what you've done to Coco. For you've done to ME! And I promise you, I will make sure you won't ever hurt anyone else ever again if it's the last thing I do!"
Silence. Other than held back heavy breathing from both sides, there was no other sound.
Sombra broke it first. "You... you're willing to sacrifice your best friend?"
"If that's what it takes!" She answered immediately. "I know that Coco would never forgive herself if I let you get away with your crimes," she smiled weakly at the camera "she's... she's the most gentle person I know! The kindest I ever met. She never put herself before the others and I know that she's willing to do anything to... to save everyone else! And as much as it pains me... I have to! It's what she would've wanted. Ask her if you don't believe me!"
She looked down, supposedly down on herself, when in actuality she just wanted to look at her watch so she could start counting down the seconds. Almost there. Just a little longer...
She continued. "But before you do anything... just a warning: I will never forgive myself if something were to happen to her and I will have nightmares until the day I die... but that will happen AFTER I let out all my anger and sorrow on you! Do you have any idea how dangerous I am when I'm angry?"
Pause.
"Neither do I. And you... you will be the first one to find out!"
Sombra looked at his microphone with mouth wide opened. With time he would've figured out what was going on, but time wasn't a resource that his confused mind was granted.
"She's right!"
He almost jumped up when he heard his hostage speak. Coco pierced him with her gaze, smiling confidently.
"Sunny and I had a... difficult week, but wha-whatever is going with the two of us, one thing didn't change- we're in this together! If she's willing to give everything she has to fight you, then I... then I..." she looked around herself, then picked up the empty ceramic teacup and stood up with it "...I have to do what it takes too!"
I'm sorry, Dean Cadance! Suddenly, she smashed the teacup on the table! Sombra was too shocked to react and only watched as she grabbed the biggest shard in her hand, brandishing it like a shiv.
He raised his eyebrows and asked. "Do you really think this will do anything?"
Coco breathed heavily for a moment. Her eyes went from Sombra to her improvised weapon, shaking in her tiny, weak hands. She knew all too well how stupid attacking him would be at this moment.
She smiled. "It's not for you!" She pointed the shard at herself, bringing it closer to her left eye.
This caught Sombra off-guard. "Oi, what are you...?"
"What do you think she'll do to you if she finds me without an eye?" She brought the shard closer. Her breathing got more erratic, but as terrified as she was, she was desperate enough to try. She knew full well how her self-destructive tendencies worked when she was on an adrenaline rush. And deep inside, she enjoyed every second of it, in her own twisted way. "Do you want to find out?"
"THAT'S ENOUGH!"
The shard didn't get an inch closer, neither did the rest of Coco's body, which was now covered in a bunch of shadow tendrils holding her entire body in a tight grip, encasing her in a block of semi-transparent shadows. A lone tentacle rose out of it and smacked the shard away from her. She couldn't even move her neck anymore and had to watch as the angry, white haired boy closed in on her, one hand held forward and controlling the shadows around Coco.
"You forgot your place!" He hissed at her. "And you forgot what I was going to do to your precious school friends if you did anything like this!"
"Then do it!" Coco snapped back. Being completely immobilized didn't stop her from giving him a massive stink-eye. "Sunny was right. You talk a lot, but when it comes to actually doing anything, you're just a coward!"
Sombra's eyebrow twitched as he raised his hand up at her. Coco closed her eyes and braced for the impact. It was exactly as when she met Sunny. Everything was similar: the rebellious comments, the adrenaline rush, the incoming slap. Back then Sunny appeared in the nick of time and saved her, so maybe...
A few seconds passed. There was no slap. She opened her eyes and saw Sombra standing before her, hand held up high, shaking but not moving. Sunny wasn't here, the one who held Sombra back was himself. He took a few deep breaths and lowered his hand.
"I... I almost lost myself," he commented, his shadows still holding her in place "I see what you are trying to do and you almost got me. You have a lot more fight in you than I originally thought and it caught me off-guard. But let me tell you something, miss Pommel," he closed himself to her to look her eye to eye, she couldn't turn away even if she wanted.
"I'm not going to hurt you. Or anyone else, for that matter. Sunny is my only target and she's the whole reason why I'm doing this whole charade. You guessed it, I'm scared of her powers, now more than ever. She proved that she's a force to be reckoned with and I'd rather not face her directly... so what? I might be a coward, but that's how I survived this long. I was shot at by snipers, but the bullets never reached me, even when I wasn't aware of them- hence why I never tried it on her. Magic is a finicky thing: just when you think you know how it works, you fall once you realize you know jack-all!"
He turned away and walked a few steps. "Bravery is what made my father lose in the end. It's not his enemies that eventually got him, it was those he trusted, his friends, who were the ones to break his spirit. And his own kin who delivered the final blow. So forgive me if I keep my distance. But if she wants to fight...!"
He extended his hand to the side. Few shadow tendrils went out into the floor, separated themselves from his body and quickly formed their own shapes, becoming three shadowcats.
"This is how I fight! Hope you're satisfied, miss Pommel!"
Coco swallowed, watching the three shadowcats burst out of the doors. I really hope this was your plan all along, Sunny!
"Crap, this wasn't part of the plan!"
Lemon Zest followed the shadowcats on her monitors, from one window to another. Bad news: they knew exactly where Sunny was. Bad news: Sunny was in no condition to fight three of them and then fight Sombra. Bad news: He would definitely make more even if she could. Bad news: They were going to reach her in maybe twenty seconds.
Good news: That's all the time they needed!
Lemon took a deep breath and started punching on her keyboard. The moment of truth was incoming!
Standing before the doors to the gym, the four Shadowbolts prepared themselves. Sunny Flare and Sugarcoat brandished their rapier and taser, respectively. Sour Sweet already stood on her knee with an arrow pulled, waiting for Indigo to make her move.
"You wanted a fight, Sunny?" Sombra yelled over the speakers. "Hope you like the gift I sent you!"
Magical Girl Sunny stood motionless in the same place she was before. A lot of grim possibilities appeared in her head, most of them concluding in Coco getting hurt, but she fought those thoughts away with sheer logic. Sombra needed her alive. He needed Coco in top condition to keep her in check. Hopefully. She was breathing heavily, mentally preparing herself, when from the corner of her eye she noticed three shawodcats coming from the stairs, straight at her.
"Come on, show me what you can do! How many aces do you have up those borrowed sleeves? Because I can assure you that I can send you more. In fact, I can do this all day. Can you?"
Sunny didn't answer him. She glared at the shadowcats and didn't move.
"Hate to break it to you, but they're not zombies. Just because you don't move doesn't mean they will ignore you!"
The shadow creatures started circling around her. She looked at them carefully, but didn't move otherwise.
"Last chance, Sunny: give up your earrings and I will release everyone and end your suffering quickly. Yes, I know about the earrings. Don't ask me how I found out, I have my sources."
Sunny sighed. She raised her hand to brush her hair again, using this moment to look at the watch one more time.
"I don't expect you to make it easy on me, but it can't hurt to ask fi-"
"Whatever you're trying to tell me, don't bother," Sunny interrupted him by raising the walkie-talkie to her face "I haven't heard a single thing you just said."
That last comment gave Sombra a slight pause. His eyebrow twitched as he looked at Coco.
"She really can't help herself, can't she? Defiant until the very e-"
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Suddenly, a loud, ear piercing shriek went out across all the speakers throughout the entire school building. Like scratching the building sized blackboard with freshly polished car sized nails, making all the glass exhibits on the corridors shatter, along with some frames with diplomas, some monitor screens and various other things, but not the actual windows. It also sent everyone inside the building into brain bursting suffering. Sombra covered his ears with his hands, but the damage was already done. Unable to concentrate on it, the shadow holding Coco instantly dissipated, giving her a chance to defend herself from the supersonic sound breaking her eardrums. This wasn't the first time she experienced this feeling, but it was a little different.
This time it was intentional!
Once upon a time, there was a Crystal Prep radio station playing in the background during breaks. The school was always equipped with that technology, as it came bundled with the PA system, but nobody had any idea, enthusiasm or time to operate it, and even then, the many rules and regulations Cinch put on it discouraged all who tried. Enter Lemon Zest, the first one who gave it a real try. The available selection of music genres left very little to work with (no metal made a sad Lemon), but even then she managed with the timeless pop and rock hits from the 70's and 80's, with a few classical pieces thrown in the mix, so that even someone as cold as Cinch couldn't disapprove. Spliced with school news from the student council, recruitment posts from various clubs and other 'pre-Friendship Games school propaganda' sounding things that further convinced Cinch to agree, Lemon Zest managed to keep the station running for almost two weeks.
She was the newscaster, DJ, manager and technician of the radio station. She had Sugarcoat help with the grunt work, but she still did most of the important work herself. Being a fast learner she quickly figured out the ins and outs of the broadcasting system. Unfortunately, the club funds were limited and radio equipment wasn't cheap, so she had to learn how to improvise with parts that weren't meant to fit together. And for the most part everything went well.
Until one day, when a few seconds of wrong settings on wrong hardware was all it took to break all the windows, trophy cases, bottles, glass mugs, some low end glasses (nobody was hurt at least) and even a few car windows on the parking lot, not to mention temporarily deafening a few hundred people, including herself.
She was lucky that she was already guaranteed to become a Shadowbolt as soon as the third years graduated, because anyone else would've been expelled on the spot! The faculty in Crystal Prep, Cinch especially, wasn't too keen on admitting one of the star pupils was ever at fault, instead blaming the hardware provider and extorting a sizeable insurance money from them. But even though all ended well and the new windows were of the bulletproof kind (not that they would ever nee-oh wait!), the radio station was completely dismantled, never to be used again.
...is what they claimed, but Lemon Zest knew better. The infrastructure was almost the same as before and operated by a software she had a copy on the cloud (thus she wasn't bothered when they confiscated it), easily fixable if you knew what you were doing. She knew better than to point it out or try it ever again, since she was in enough trouble as she was. But if she ever wanted to attack everyone in the school for more or less petty reasons...
Only twelve people in the building were prepared for the attack. One group was in the basement level, behind locked doors, in a place with few speakers and wearing makeshift earplugs made from the fabric Suri had on her at all times. It only helped a little.
The other group was the Main Shadowbolts. Lemon Zest found six pairs of high grade ear plugs, which protected them from all the damage. Sunset used the time Sombra had to deal with Coco to discreetly wear hers, her long hair perfectly masking them from the cameras.
Everyone else? No such luck.
Those gathered in the gym felt it the hardest. Some of the tied up students and teachers passed out on the spot, others barely kept their sanity with no way to protect their ears. The terrorists all closed their eyes and shielded their ears with their hands, letting off of their assault rifles, now dangling on their straps.
The double doors to the gym suddenly slammed open, kicked from the outside to deaf ears, literally. A single arrow shot inside the gym, passing by three guys who didn't even see it and hit the man who stood by the other end right in the shoulder. He let out a scream that even he couldn't hear nor could he warn anyone of the incoming attack. Four girls swiftly moved inside, all but Sour Sweet rushing forward while the archer did as promised and shot an arrow at the one standing at the upper seats, too high for anyone else to reach. The arrow struck right in the right arm, making him scream in pain and preventing him from using the rifle.
Meanwhile Indigo, being the fastest, zapped past the two closest ones and jump kicked the third guy, toppling him on the ground (probably with a loud thud). Falling on the ground didn't knock him out outright, but the follow up punch in the nose finished the job. Sunny Flare and Sugarcoat reached their targets roughly at the same time: one was stabbed several times in the legs and arms, the other fell after getting electrocuted, none of them knew what hit them until it was too late. Sugarcoat's opponent fell unconscious on the spot, but Sunny Flare had to kick her crouched opponent in the face to finish the job.
Sour prepared one more arrow and looked around for suitable targets. Three down, two wounded, one to go. Here's hoping Shimmy is doing good too!
Coco remembered this feeling all too well and now that she recovered enough sanity to think, she knew who was behind it and instantly forgave her. She opened her eyes, hoping to see Sombra was just as stunned as she was and this was her chance to attack.
But she couldn't see him. Someone stood in her way. Someone turned back to her, wearing the familiar, long white boots, that she designer herself. Shivers went through her body, as her gaze went further up. She recognized the grey spats, a borrowed purple Crystal Prep blazer and she started crying when her eyes saw the messed up, fire colored hair.
Sombra opened his eyes shortly after and saw exactly the same view, except towering over him from the front. His heart sank once their eyes met. Despite the overall tranquility and neutrality on her face, when looking deep inside Magical Girl Sunny's eyes, he could feel two things.
Rage he expected.
Joy... he feared.
Despite the initial success, the four Shadowbolts didn't stop to celebrate just yet. Sour Sweet scouted the area with one arrow ready to fire. At first she was going to get the only one that hadn't been attacked yet, but she noticed that Sugarcoat had already locked onto him. Indigo went for the furthest one she shot first, so he was of no issue. This left the one who had the high ground and tried to do the same thing, swapping the rifle to his other arm, about to shoot her with one hand, left one to boot! He had no chance to hit her like this, but full automatic could hit someone else by mistake and she wasn't having any of it.
He aimed straight at her, but before he managed to pull the trigger, an arrow went straight inside the barrel of the rifle. He looked wide eyed at the impossible shot, then back at the smug teen archer. He tried pulling the trigger a few more times, but nothing happened, the arrow jamming inside the rifle. Wounded, with a broken weapon and an arrow sticking out of his right arm, he panicked and ducked behind the bleachers.
Sour Sweet chuckled. Yeah, he's done with. Not worried about him, she looked at the others. Indigo had no problems beating the wounded guy into submission, as expected. Meanwhile Sugarcoat reached the one unharmed guy and lunged at him with her taser, except he was less dazed than he looked as he sidestepped at the last moment! She didn't get a chance to turn back, when he grabbed the rifle in both hands and smacked her in the back with the butt of his rifle, making her fall and dropping the taser.
Sour's eyebrow twitched at the sheer nerve of someone hurting her friend. She knocked a single arrow and took aim at the guy as he was preparing to shoot... but Sunny Flare beat her to it, piercing her rapier through his arm. Sour watched him get stabbed again and again, each strike aimed at the least vital organ that still hurt, before he fell on the ground, ready to give up. While she couldn't hear it, she certainly imagined the crunch of smashed nose when getting STOMPED by Sunny Flare's boot!
She cringed at the viciousness (which she approved of) and sighed with relief, lowering her bow, fully believing that they just won with minimal damage (though they would hear Sugarcoat's complaints for weeks going on, no doubt). The only one standing was about to give up any time now. And just a moment later he raised up from behind the seats. His arrow was removed and rifle dropped, but otherwise he seemed like he was harmless.
Her Sweet smile was short lived and quickly Soured, paled even, when she noticed something else. A little detail that everyone overlooked because it didn't seem important at the time. He had something in his left hand.
A handgun.
Sour's eyes widened. THEY HAVE SIDEARMS!
And he aimed straight at her. She instantly jumped to her side and pulled an arrow, just when he shot first. She couldn't hear the shot or ricochet, but she saw something bounce off of the floor where she was just a moment ago. In panic, she sent an arrow his way, but missed by a longshot! She continued her dash as he kept on shooting at her, each time missing by a hair, literally in one case as she felt something fly by her ear! The gym was a large open space with no cover other than the bleachers, which he was smartly using against her. The only safe place she could think of was the doorway they went through, so she lunged there, landing face first into the ground just behind the frame, still feeling the vibrations of the last bullet hitting the floor even after she was in the safe zone.
Her heart never beat this fast as she got up, huge beads of sweat falling on the floor. Holy crap I almost died! But at least I'm safe he-OH CRAP! THE OTHERS!
It only took another second to realize another detail: they were still wearing the earplugs and if she couldn't hear the gunshots and screaming, then neither could the others! And since Sunny Flare was busy taking care of Sugarcoat, and Indigo Zap was on the other side of the room...
OH NO! She instantly got up on her feet and went back inside, her own safety left behind as she pulled an arrow and aimed at the terrorist again. Just as she was afraid of, he wasn't aiming at her, instead he went towards the closest targets, which were Sugarcoat and Sunny Flare, neither aware of the danger. The arrow went straight at him and hit the gun out of his hand... nanoseconds AFTER he shot first!
The bullet went straight at Sunny Flare, hunched over Sugarcoat to help her stand up, neither knew what was going on, too busy with their own problems. Sunny Flare didn't even know it when she was hit...
...by Indigo Zap! Unlike the other two, Indigo saw everything and rushed at full speed to push Sunny Flare out of the way, but at the cost of taking the bullet herself, getting hit in the abdomen and falling on her back before her two friends. Sugarcoat looked at her as she always did, but it was Sunny Flare who screamed!
Sour Sweet blinked too, unsure what to make of what just happened. Her gaze went from Indigo to the guy who just shot her. He looked at the situation, unarmed, wounded and alone, and raised his arms up, screaming something at them, probably giving up. Sour didn't care; she pulled out an arrow and shot it at right at him. The arrow went right at his head, missing so narrowly it grazed his ear. The combined pain, blood loss, ear damage (internal and external) and now a near death experience took a toll on him and made him pass out on the spot.
Sunny Flare rushed to Indigo and lifted her head up. She tried screaming something at her, having heard nothing she removed her and Indigo's earplugs.
"Indigo! Indigo, no, don't you dare..."
The others also took off their earplugs, but kept their distance, fearfully observing from the distance.
Indigo slowly opened her eyes. "Ugh, damn that hurts!" She moaned weakly and coughed. "Hey Sunny Flare, you okay?"
Sunny Flare's dignity was beyond anyone else they knew, but even she couldn't stop the waterfall of tears coming from her eyes as she was cradling her wounded best friend.
"I-Indigo, you dummy! You-you're..."
"Pretty... friggin'... badass?" Indigo chuckled through her pain, then coughed. "Oww, the pain!"
"D-don't joke around! Y-you, you got shot be-because you... you saved me! You shouldn't have..." She said through the tears, but was stopped when Indigo's hand reached her cheek and wiped some tears away.
"I'm just happy you're safe... Flary!" She coughed again.
Sunny Flare almost choked. "Indigo, I... I..." she shook her head "we need to get you to a hospital! You're hurt and... and..."
"It was a rubber bullet." Sugarcoat said.
"...and it was a rubber... bullet?" Sunny Flare asked, looking at Sugarcoat. She held the sidearms from the other terrorist in her hand, with the magazine pulled out.
"Yes, they use anti-riot ammo. They're used mostly for crowd control, they only cause minimal damage," she shrugged "which makes sense, since they're keeping so many hostages and Sunny, not you, is all but immune to firearms anyway." She blinked. "It probably hurt more when I was hit in the back."
"You wanna swap?" Indigo said, massaging her belly. "Goddamn, I think he hit my kidney!"
Sugarcoat blinked. "I'm good, thanks."
"Rubber... bullets?" Sunny Flare repeated, staring blankly at Sugarcoat. Her eyes went towards Indigo, particularly her abdomen. She didn't pay attention to it, but her white shirt was not bloodied, not beyond what she had before from the duel. She raised Indigo's shirt up to reveal a purple bruise on her belly, but there was no fresh blood.
"You... you're not dying?"
"Who said I was? All I said is that it hurts like hell!"
Sunny Flare blinked. Indigo blinked back. Sunny Flare dropped Indigo's head on the floor, making an audible thud.
"Oww, why did you do that?!"
"You dummy, you knew it wasn't real ammo!"
"Well, duh!" She shrugged. "I found out just a few seconds ago!"
Sunny Flare pursed her lips, groaned and turned away, crossing her hands. "I actually... I actually thought you were... you were..."
Indigo smiled at her friend and raised her hand to pat her head. "Hey, you're not getting rid of me that easily!"
Sunny Flare hunched over to pout even stronger, but the thought of smacking Indigo's hand didn't even cross her mind. Eventually she sighed, stood up and turned to her best friend.
"I guess not!" She said while offering a helping hand.
Indigo accepted the hand and stood up with the offered help. "For the record, I would've totally taken a real bullet for you if I had to!"
Sunny Flare blinked, then shrugged. "Yeah, I know."
The two smiled and were about to burst into laughter, when Sugarcoat interrupted them.
"That's not a good moment to 'out-cute' Coco and Sunny, but if you step it up a bit you just might." She said in the same deadpan as she was. The two looked at her, then at their hands, still connected. They quickly let go and looked away, blushing slightly.
Sugarcoat looked between the two of them. "Just to clarify, nobody will judge you for harboring romantic feelings towards each other..."
"WE'RE NOT!"
"...but we will be judging you for hiding it from us or refusing to admit it to each other, whichever is the case. Isn't that right, Sour?" She asked their archer friend, but got no answer. "Sour Sweet?"
Sour Sweet was neither of her two selves at the moment. She tuned out after finding out that Indigo was fine, along with realizing that she was in no danger at all (though if Indigo felt it, it meant it REALLY hurt!). She looked intently at the last arrow she shot, stuck in the wall right behind where the terrorist passed out.
"Sour Sweet?"
"What? Oh, yeah, I-uh, sure!" She shook her head and walked to her friends, trying to brush away the thoughts of almost murdering a guy. I was never this glad to miss! Thankfully, nobody thought much about it, blaming the (ultimately false) near-death experience on the odd behavior.
Sugarcoat looked around the gym. "Did we just win?"
The others looked around as well, then one after the other smiled and nodded.
He tried, and really wanted, to do anything other than hold his ears even after the sound stopped. His head was spinning, eyes blurring the towering visage of Magical Girl Sunny, making it appear as if there were two of them when one was enough to send him into panic. She grabbed him by the collar with her right hand and shook him up a bit as her mouth opened and she started chanting something. Nobody, herself included, could hear exactly what she was saying, but it went something like this:
"SUUUUUNNYYYYYYYYYYYYYY..."
Her left hand stretched back, forming a fist augmented with the literal power of her new friendship: the Shadowbolts watch, once again acting as a brass knuckle.
"...SHADOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW..."
She put everything she had into her left fist, all of her remaining strength saved up for this moment, and launched it straight at his face!
"...PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!"
Sombra let go of his ears and tried to form some sort of shield, but he wasn't fast enough. She couldn't hear the smack, or crack or any other sounds that followed her usual strikes, but what made up for it was the feeling of an impact that met a little resistance in the form of a nose, but easily breaking it and sending him flying back, smashing into the bookshelf a few meters away! She watched him exhale the air mixed with blood as his back broke a few shelves, before he fell on his rear, eyes still open but no longer conscious. To add insult to injury a few thick books fell off straight at his forehead, clinching his defeat.
Sunny remained in her after-strike pose for a moment. She allowed herself to breathe again when Sombra was not standing up for a while. She could have sworn she saw him breathe slowly through his wide opened mouth, but not through the devastated, bleeding nose, that was for sure. Feeling a little dizzy, she stumbled on her feet, grabbing the edge of the desk to keep herself on her feet through the worst case of vertigo. She looked at her left hand, at her watch. Still not a scratch on the case, only blood of her enemy. She then looked at her right hand, closed tightly in a fist that until just recently held Sombra by his collar. She slowly opened her hand to reveal what she was after all this time: a golden, heart shaped necklace, with remnants of a torn golden chain still hanging from it.
I... I did it... She clenched her fist. I actually did it!
The sheer exhaustion was finally catching up with her, just when she was in the mood for a victory dance or at least a cool line, which nobody would hear. Her legs, arms, lungs and other organs pushed themselves to their very limits, fueled by her willpower and adrenaline that carried on to ensure her survival and victory. With the mission accomplished, all relented at roughly the same time, making her fall on her knees, but no lower, as she still held onto the desk.
More than the celebration, she was in a mood to pass out. Sleep for a few days, possibly in a hospital where they could give her the treatment she needed, but even that had to wait. There was one more thing she needed to muster some last embers of her strength into. She turned around on her knees. A familiar feeling once again went inside her head, body and soul. The sheer sight of Coco, alive and well, in the flesh, was enough to give her the energy to smile again.
Coco was far from composed as well. She stood behind this entire time and watched everything. At some point her hands went from covering her ears to mouth, trying to contain the sheer joy she felt when she saw her friend for the first time in what felt like an eternity. She was there for her, as promised. Neither of them could hold back the tears anymore.
Sunny nodded and said something, a single word. Coco couldn't hear a thing, but she replied with a single word, which couldn't be heard either. But it didn't have to. Neither of them had to say anything else. With no hesitation, Coco went on her knees and hugged Sunny tightly. The initial impact hurt a little, but that didn't stop Sunny from welcoming her friend and embracing her as hard as she could. Other than the lack of hearing, Coco was in top condition, so Sunny wasn't shy about leaning over her for support. Coco gladly took over her burden and held her weight on her shoulders.
Both of them were where they were always meant to be. And neither wanted to ever let go.
"No answer..." Sunny Flare sighed, putting the walkie-talkie away "now I'm actually getting worried."
"She's probably too busy cuddling with Coco and forgot to take out her earplugs," Sour Sweet said cheerfully, earning a raised eyebrow from the others. She sourly shrugged. "What? You're all thinking it right now!"
Sunny Flare rolled her eyes and raised the walkie-talkie again. "Lemon, any visuals on Sunny and Coco?"
"Negative," Lemon replied "the Sonic Zestboom..."
"We are not calling it that!"
"...cracked the screen on the laptop, I can't see anything!"
"That makes me worry even more." Sunny Flare said and looked down, when Indigo Zap touched her shoulder and smiled at her.
"Hey, if we did our thing, then so did she. Sour's right, she's probably too busy to take out the earplugs and Coco will be deaf for a few more minutes. I know they're fine."
Sunny Flare opened her mouth, but quickly closed it and just nodded back to Indigo, then to Sour Sweet, who smiled as well. Only one of them wasn't smiling, as always. Sugarcoat wasn't even looking at them, instead intently staring at the bulletproof gym windows that withstood the Zestboom.
"Shouldn't that thing be gone by now?"
Everyone looked at the windows, where Sugarcoat was pointing. Despite still being the middle of the afternoon, the outside was pitch black. The smiles instantly soured on all three and without saying a word, they nodded to each other and rushed to the doors.
Not too long ago, being embraced by Coco would've put her to sleep on the spot, but the sudden surge of positive energy, coupled with her body warmth, kept her awake at least for now. The feeling must've been mutual because Coco's grip wasn't weakening. She was touching her wounded back, not that Coco could tell through the blazer and Sunny hadn’t gone through all this pain and suffering to just push her away because she was scratched recently.
If I say anything, she'll just worry some more and we're way past that!
They were connected by a hug for who knows how long until Coco relented first. She didn't leave, but her grip weakened and no longer hurt her back, which was good. She started patting her shoulder, trying to get her attention. Sunny loosened her grip and pulled back to look at her. With her mouth wide open, Coco wasn't looking at her at all, her eyes glued to something behind her instead.
Sunny's sweat suddenly got cold. She slowly turned her head around, dreading the sight that awaited her.
Oh no...
A single book got kicked away lazily. Using the edge of the bookshelf for support, Sombra slowly raised himself up from the rubble, stumbling along the way and barely keeping his legs straight. He was breathing heavily with his mouth, his eyes were half-closed, looking down under him. He touched his broken nose, cringing in pain, possibly cursing something to himself as he wiped some blood off his face.
Sunny's eyes widened. She could feel her throat go dry. All her limbs went numb and only Coco's support kept her from collapsing.
No, oh god no!
Two sets of eyes met again, one filled with rage, the other with fear, except this time the roles were reversed. The dark shadow mists coming from his body only made it worse.
Sunny instinctively extended her hand to cover as much of Coco as she could, all but giving up on stopping her panic attack. Nononono, it can't be happening! Why? But, but how?! She looked at her right hand. The necklace was still there and she couldn't feel any power coming from it.
In fact, she couldn't feel anything from it at all!
Wait, don't tell me...
She noticed Coco pointing her finger at Sombra, shouting something at her.
What is she...? She shook her head and took off one earplug.
"The ring!" Coco yelled. "He gets his powers from the ring!"
If she wasn't the most pale version of herself before, then she certainly was now. She didn't notice it before, and how would she? This was literally the second time she saw him in person, first time that she cared. She only saw a duplicate made with the intent to confuse her, of course it didn't have his weakness on display! But now she saw it- out of all the parts of his body, the shadow seemed to be the thickest at his right hand, where in between the mists she could see a charcoal black ring, contrasting with his pale white skin. She looked back to the heart-shaped necklace in her hand. She didn't realize it before, but it was one of those opening necklaces and sure enough, it had a small photo inside. It was a portrait of a smiling, white skinned woman in her mid twenties, with long, even whiter hair tied in a ponytail and kind, blue eyes.
Her eyes went back to Sombra, who regained his footing enough to make a slow step towards them. His breathing was irregular, awkward, but somehow stable, with shadows around his legs keeping him stabilized.
"Suuuuunnnnnyyyyy...!" He yelled through his teeth.
His teeth... She thought of another unsettling discovery. She lost count on how many times she knocked a tooth or two when she punched someone before. Bigger, smaller, with or without magic, almost everyone lost something on the way or at least cracked it, but Sombra's jaw was still whole. Except for the nose, his face was mostly intact and she knew she hit it straight on! Whether he was tougher than he looked or he had more magic tricks than he gave away was a less important question than crap, what now?!
She shook her head and hid the necklace in a pocket, also reaching to another for her scalpel, immediately throwing it in the general direction of his head, consequences later. Despite the fatigue and shaking arm, her aim was true and it flew right at his forehead... but got caught in mid-air by a shadow tendril. She swallowed, watching as the scalpel got bent and thrown aside, with Sombra not even blinking as he made another step toward them.
This was it for her, she was officially out of ideas, even the stupid ones. The shadows grew in size, Sombra was now more or less enveloped in a thick, dark full-body armor, with his right hand growing three large claws. She couldn't even stand up on her own strength, but thankfully she didn't have to, as Coco grabbed her by her arms and used all her might to pull her back on her feet. Sunny looked back to see Coco, struggling to lift her friend with her frail body, scared but brave at the same time.
That was enough to bring her back to her senses. I can't get us both to safety, but... she turned to her and looked her in the eyes. The two spent the longest second looking at each other, concerned but somehow at ease despite approaching danger. Sunny gently touched her friend's cheek and smiled.
"Coco," she said, probably unheard, but confident that the message would get to her "please stay safe!"
Coco tilted her head at Sunset. "What? What do yo-" She didn't finish her sentence as she disappeared!
Coco's shriek was short lived. She was falling for less than a second before landing in the familiar, soft bed. Her own bed. In her own room as she remembered it, except a bit more messy. She frantically looked at the other, unkempt bed full of old clothes, but nobody else teleported in.
"Sunny!" She shouted to herself, finally hearing herself, but that's besides the point. She rushed towards the door, finding them locked. She reached in her pocket to fish out the keys, but they were not there and she quickly figured out why.
"Don't do this to me, Sunny!" She muttered and slammed the door, but it didn't budge. She dropped on her knees, knocking the door in vain hope someone would open it from the outside.
"Not like this!"
Sunset looked at a purple hat shaped keychain, along with a pack of keys attached to it. She sighed as she hid them in her pocket.
I'm sorry Coco, but if anyone is getting away from this... then it has to be you!
Just standing was painful. She was at the "almost empty" state for a very long time, but everytime she thought it was it, she mustered a bit of energy to do what had to be done. But this time was different. She pushed away the pain, head splitting migraine and general 'why am I still alive' queries and looked Sombra in the eyes. He didn't seem like he was in a rush. Even without the brain induced slow motion, his movement was sluggish, her strike had clearly hurt him a lot, and even more than that, it shocked him into taking her more seriously. He wasn't talking, gloating or hiding from her. At this point he probably forgot all about the earrings and their con. What he wanted more than ever, was blood. Her blood.
She took a deep breath and raised her fists to form a clumsy guard.
I've gone this far on my own... with help from my friends...
She swallowed, watching as Sombra raised his shadow-claw hand up at her.
...I think I earned myself a little miracle, right? I could really use one right about now!