Rita pulled the trigger again but the woman shifted once more. After having had so much experience with fighting some things become more learned by the body than the mind. In this case Rita felt the woman’s movement before she could even see it. Rita ducked as the woman slashed through the air with her arm as if it were a blade. The woman moved faster than light once more and Rita jumped back avoiding it. She couldn’t see the woman’s attacks or train a shot on her, all Rita could do was dodge, and even then she was just barely managing it. Finally Rita’s back hit the stone wall and she ducked as the woman struck out once more. Her fist smashing through the wall as if it were merely air to her.
Little bits of stone fell on top of Rita's head and shoulders as she stared up like a dear in headlights. This woman, this creature, was something beyond Rita’s skills as a fighter, and without her entire team behind her, she doubted that she could actually defeat such a villain. Even if what was left of her team was backing her up, she wouldn’t let them. She couldn’t risk their lives like that against a creature like this. Not again.
Rita lashed out with a kick to the woman’s shin. The blow made contact but the woman hardly moved an inch from it. Instead the woman swung the back of her hand at Rita’s face and this time she made contact. It was like being hit by a truck driving at full speed. Rita was thrown off the ground and flew a good ten feet before hitting something soft and squishy on the floor and rolling a few times. Every muscle in her body hurt, especially her neck. It wasn’t a deathly blow, but it certainly could have been, and probably should have been. If it hadn’t been for whatever she’d landed on she imagined it would have been much worse.
The woman's voice called out, “Disobedient children need to be taught their place.”
It took a good few seconds before Rita had enough of her senses back that she could move or think again. Looking down at the mass of tentacles growing out of the ground beneath her made her realize that maybe the cold stone floor would have been better to land in instead. Lapis was waving from the doorway with a smile that didn't match the terror in her eyes.
Rita looked back over to see the woman manage to knock Lamont off of his feet with a swipe of her leg. The woman was back up in a standing stance in no time. She moved quickly and while Lamont was on his back she stomped at his kneecap. First there was the sickening crunch that echoed across the room, and then there was the horribly high pitched scream that if she didn’t see Lamont making himself she would have believed it to belong to a murdered woman. Half way through the scream his eyes rolled into the back of their sockets and his head hit the stone floor.
The woman looked down at her foot and grinned. “You should have known better than to try your hand at fighting a goddess, you a creature of light. Now let me end your pain.” She leaned over and grabbed Lamont’s unconscious body by the scruff of his neck.
The fox around Lamont’s neck came to life and breathed fire out at the woman causing her to react with a swipe of her hand. The fox went flying into the wall with enough force to cause the creature to go flying through the wall. With a smile the woman pulled her fist back and hot fire raged through Rita’s veins.
This was the man who had taught her, tutored her, and trained her. There was no way in the seven hells that she was going to allow this injustice to pass by. Rita jumped up to her feet and aimed her light gun. “NO!” A bullet of light energy flew through the air and slammed into the woman’s back causing the woman to yelp in pain.
The woman looked back at her and narrowed her eyes. “You!” she dropped Lamont and he landed with a thud. Slowly she rose to her feet and spread her raven like wings wide. “You!” she began walking toward Rita and every one of Rita’s muscles screamed for her to turn and flee immediately. The shadows around the woman grew and collected into her hand forming themselves into the shape of a massive, pure black, scythe.
Rita slipped her fire revolver back into its holster and grabbed one of the orbs in her pocket instead. “You think you can stop me? I’m Rita Rockford, the Ingenious Rita, no one can beat me!” Rita glanced at Lapis and Wonder, then at Lamont and back to them, Lapis nodded.
“Such insolence!” The woman cried. “Do you have any idea who I am?”
Rita shrugged. “Should I?”
“I am the goddess of the moon, the mother of darkness, and the dark matron and nightmare to all the creatures that dwell in the light. I am-“ The woman began.
“The lady of shadows,” Rita finished.
A much too large smile spread over the woman’s face. “Oh how nice, you could also just call me Nightmare.”
Rita’s arm was starting to shake. The taste of copper filled her mouth. She spat out to the side and watched the red glob hit the ground with a splat. “Well, Nightmare, you think you might be the top dog in the dark, but I’ll tell you this; I’ve met a lot of things proclaiming how great the darkness really is.”
The woman was only a few feet away at this point. “Oh, and why haven’t you joined them?”
Rita glanced over and saw Lapis and Wonder were already at the doorway dragging Lamont between the two of them. With a quick motion Rita threw her head back and her goggles slid down her face. “Because of one simple thing.”
The woman stopped, right in front of Rita. Now it was clear to Rita for the first time just how tall this woman really was, she must have been at least six foot five. The woman stood right in front of Rita, the barrel of the gun pointed directly at her chest. “And why is that?”
“Because,” Rita said as she pushed the little button on the metal orb with her finger. “What lives in the dark can never stand up to the light.”
Rita lunged forward, pulling out the orb with her free hand and slammed it into the woman’s chest. White light flashed across the room bright enough to completely devour everything in sight. Even with the goggles and their automatic dimming features Rita was hard pressed to see anything but vague shapes through the brightness. The high pitched demonic shrieking that followed didn’t help at all either.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out what she needed to do next. Rita ran for the exit. Every ounce of strength she had was poured into each pump of her little legs. If there was anything Rita was good at besides her inventions, it was her speed. Rita was fast, faster than most, and she used that to her advantage to push herself out the doorway with a powerful leap down and over the steps and hit the grass in a roll.
The light had already stopped by the time she was out. The shriek had twisted itself into words, “INSOLENT CHILD!”
Lapis and Wonder were already sprinting down the long stretch of dead grass and toward the woods with Lapis carrying Lamont in her tentacle arms. Rita followed up by screaming, “RUN!”
Of course Rita was already taking her own advice when she felt a cold presence burning into her back. She turned around and saw Nightmare standing at the entrance. Half her body was naked as the navy blue gunk covering it was melting off. Still she held her scythe and burned daggers into Rita with her eyes. The gunk surrounding her reformed and covered her body once more.
Rita slid to a stop half way across the field. She still had two more grenades and judging by the injuries that Lamont had suffered, she was going to have to buy some more time. Maybe even run in the opposite direction. She couldn’t let this creature get to her friends.
Nightmare threw her left arm forward her arm stretched forward like a tendril. Rita took aim with her light gun. The tendril hit the light gun and smacked it to the hard ground with enough force to break it into a half dozen pieces. The tendril lashed out at Rita’s legs but she jumped and pulled out another light grenade. The second Rita’s feet touched the ground again she threw the light grenade at Nightmare. It flew across the field and landed at Nightmare’s feet before exploding.
The tendril dropped onto the ground and burned away, Nightmare shrieked once more. Rita turned to continue her run and got only twenty feet away before she felt the hairs at the edge of her neck stand up. Rita looked just in time to see a half naked and pale skinned Nightmare swinging the scythe at her head. Rita ducked just in time to avoid the blow as Nightmare flew past her and landed in front her.
Rita stared up at Nightmare, her heart skipped a beat as she saw the black gunk regenerating albeit a little slower. Nightmare glared down at her with those green eyes burning with rage. “You, will, die!”
Rita only had one more grenade left, but it was obvious that despite the injuries Nightmare was only just starting and growing more powerful by the moment. There was only one more thing she could do. Rita pulled out her flame revolver and aimed it at Nightmare.
Nightmare moved first, but Rita was starting to be able to follow her movements if only just barely. Rita pulled the trigger, and Nightmare was forced to block the blow with blade of her scythe. Meanwhile Rita threw her last grenade at Nightmare’s face. The flash of light was just as bright as ever and Nightmare howled with pain until she fell to her knees.
Rita took aim and pointed directly at Nightmare’s head. Nightmare’s face, without the black gunk covering it belonged to a completely different person. She was a pale blue skinned woman with soft green eyes, her long hair was a mix of blue and purple looking very much like a twilight sky. Nightmare's eyes were glistening and wet, but not from pain. The look was something sad, desperate, and wounded.
Nightmare’s voice came out tiny, frail and weak as she spoke. “Please run. If you don’t run now-“ the gunk swooped up and as the woman’s eyes widened in horror it covered her face. Her voice dropped into a hiss, and this time her face looked much more like a wolf then a human as she swore with red hot fire in her voice, “-I’ll kill you!”
Rita pulled the trigger but Nightmare was already moving again. The scythe lashed out and Rita jumped back. White hot fire erupted across Rita’s outstretched arm as the scythe’s blade drew a line across it. Rita screamed as she hit a rock with her heel and fell backwards. A dark line from her wrist all the way up to her elbow was a crimson soaked mess and pain flared through her entire arm.
Nightmare laughed coldly as she raised the scythe once more. “You should never have crossed blades with a goddess.”
A pink and white blur slammed into Nightmare and just for a moment Rita was able to see it in perfect clarity. Saturn was flying through the air, a gleaming white sword in her left hand, a pink and white teardrop shield in her right. The shield was being slammed against the side of Nightmare’s face with enough force to throw her off her feet and into the air.
Nightmare went flying into the dirt and earth. Saturn landed right in front of Rita and rose to her feet. Saturn's entire body was beginning to glow a bright white-pink color. She took a shield fighter stance facing her enemy, only taking a few moments to glance over at Rita. “You did good today.”
Rita blinked. Maybe it was the blood loss, or maybe it was the adrenaline which was swiftly fading form her body, but either way Rita couldn’t help but to say, “I can’t believe I was saved by an angle.”
Of course even if Saturn had heard that she was already charging toward the enemy once more so it wouldn’t have mattered. Darkness crept at the edge of Rita’s vision and the pain was swiftly forgotten as her head started to swim. She tried to stand but when the world decided to turn onto its side and the ground hit her, the blackness swallowed her whole.
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