The first mission
A month had passed since Camila arrived at the OCS, and things had gotten better, for example, she now had some more "friendships", none of them were close to the friendships she had with Beatrice, Lilith, Mary and Shannon, but it felt good knowing she had more people to talk to in case none of her friends were nearby; her friendship with Lilith improved a lot, and Camila basically became the only one who could hug Lilith, which surprised everyone; and she was now learning tech stuff, such as turning on a car without keys, which Mother Superion personally taught her, how to work with security cameras and turn them off, how to open gates that were closed, etc.
Everyone had noticed how much she improved in such a short time, which is why she was offered a practice mission with Shannon and Beatrice, she wasn't forced to do it, but it was offered to her in case she wanted to practice in a more real situation. She agreed. This, of course, made Beatrice a little nervous, Shannon Camila and she were teamed up, while other sisters were in charge of being the "bad guys" of the situation. The situation? Entering a building, stealing something of Divinium and leaving the place without getting injured. It sounds easy, but every sister was told not to hold back, they needed to make the situation as real as possible, and that meant not holding back, which scared Beatrice. Not because she feared of getting hurt, but because she knew Camila was now in a more realistic danger, she knew that none of the sisters would try to actually kill her, but that didn't mean they wouldn't hurt her. Not holding back also meant not protecting Camila as much as she did. She wasn't sure if she would be able to do that.
The OCS was the owner of an abandoned property, which is where they were going to do the practice, it was a big building, with three big floors, such a big space for only three women meant that they could easily lose someone, this, added to the fact that there wasn't a big source of light so it was a pretty dark place, made Beatrice question if Camila was ready for that type of situation. She had to be reassured by Mary. "You need to let her do her own thing, you have to trust in her, okay?", questioned the older woman, to this, Beatrice just nodded as she finished putting on her gear, getting ready to face her sisters, preparing to let Camila do her own thing. It was easier said than done.
As soon as Camila, Beatrice and Shannon were ready, the mission began, they had half an hour to get the job done, this sort of reassured Beatrice, who knew they had more time than usual to finish the mission; as soon as they entered the place, Shannon made the Halo light up, providing a little bit of light, which made it easier to move around the place. The floor was covered in ropes, old clothes, glass, metals and some other stuff, so they had to be careful not to step on anything that could damage their boots and hurt their feet; thanks to Shannon, they got to the second floor without getting hurt, which allowed Beatrice to relax a little, the whole time her eyes were focused on Camila, making sure she didn't get hurt by accident; unfortunately, being so careful made them waste 6 minutes on walking the whole floor, which was a lot of time considering they walked straight. However, the problems began as soon as they reached the second floor, where they were face to face with four sisters, one of them being Mary, Beatrice knew how dangerous it could be for Camila.
The only good news they had was that none of them had anything of Divinium, so Shannon wouldn't get badly hurt, this did not apply to Camila and Beatrice; two of the sisters launched at the women, Shannon knocked out one and Camila tried to do the same to the other nun, but Beatrice stepped in and did the job for her, Camila wasn't too happy about that, but she quickly forgot about it as soon as Mary approached her, Shannon had put the other girl down as Mary tried to grab Camila, Beatrice stopped her and got ready to fight her. "Beatrice", Mary whispered as she grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her down, with her legs, Beatrice wrapped herself around Mary, not allowing her to get up, "Both of you, go up", she ordered, but Camila didn't listen. She grabbed Mary by the back of her shirt and pulled her away from Beatrice, a quick kick to her leg and punch on her stomach had Mary kneeling on the floor; Camila was in trouble, Mary grabbed her by the legs and pulled them, making Camila fall on her back. All Beatrice could see was red. She didn't think twice before kicking Mary on the face as hard as she could. She knocked her out.
Shannon grabbed Beatrice by the arm and pulled her away before kneeling to see Mary's face, covered in blood from a noticeable broken nose, she was about to snap at Beatrice when she remembered that they were running out of time, she simply got up and kept walking to the third floor, Camila was more angry than before, but she stayed quiet and followed Shannon, Beatrice was walking behind them both.
As soon as they reached the third floor, they could hear the sound of Divinium activating, along with heavy footsteps, the three women stepped mere meters away from the sisters and stared at them, six sisters, one of them was Crimson, Camila was in even more trouble than before. Crimson didn't waste a second before running to Camila, grabbing her by the waist and pushing her to the nearest wall, making the younger woman hit her head hard, leaving her dizzy for a few moments, Beatrice would've killed Crimson right there and then if it hadn't been for two sisters who jumped at her, trying to pin her down. Crimson was laughing at Camila, who got up and grabbed her by the neck before putting a foot of her own behind the taller nun's to make her fall, she got on top of her and began choking her. Meanwhile, Beatrice was struggling to knock out her sisters as Shannon tried her best to not use the Halo. It took her a few moments, but Beatrice was finally able to pin down both sisters, she approached Camila and Crimson, noticing that the woman on the floor was holding a knife, Camila had noticed this and was ready to use it against the older woman, Crimson tried to stab Camila, Camila was ready to move, but they were interrupted by Beatrice, who grabbed Crimson's arm and dislocated it easily.
Shannon was being held by two sisters while the other one was about to hit her in the stomach, Camila snapped at Beatrice as she got up, Shannon stared at both of them and she couldn't control the Halo anymore, there was a Halo pulse that pushed the three nuns around her away, the Halo bearer stepped between Camila and Beatrice to avoid problems. "Let's remain calm and finish th-", an alarm went off. The lights turned on. Mother Superion walked towards them, she had been in the darkest corner of the room the whole time, she looked at the three women, disappointed, as she made her way to the only thing of Divinium in the room, Shannon sighed and stretched, tired. "Go to the van, all of you", ordered Mother Superion, everyone listened and left the building, getting on the vans; Camila was helping Shannon carry Mary to the van, Beatrice was walking behind them. Mary and Shannon got in the van, Camila was about to get in when Beatrice placed a hand on her shoulder, "I'm sorry", said the older woman, Camila simply pushed her hand away, not looking at her, "Are you? Really? You just made me fail a mission in front of Mother Superion! And it wasn't even a real mission, which makes it worse Beatrice!", she said, not turning to see her, the older woman just stared at her, not sure of what to say, "You don't think I'm capable of doing this on my own, do you?", she asked, Beatrice didn't need to see her face to know she was crying, "That's- no Camila, no, no, that's not it, I promise, I-", she stopped talking when Camila got in the van, sitting next to Shannon, Beatrice had no option but to sit in front of them.
When they arrived to Cat's Cradle, Camila was the first one to get out of the van and go straight to her room; Shannon and Beatrice got Mary to the infirmary to get her nose patched up. After it was done, Shannon went to Camila's room, who hadn't gone to eat dinner, she knocked twice before the younger woman let her in, both sat on the bed and Shannon put her hand on the back of Camila's head, "Does it hurt?", she asked, the shorter girl shook her head and stared at her, "Do you also think that?", questioned Camila, the Halo bearer got confused at the question, "Think what?", she asked, not sure of what Camila was talking about, "That I'm not strong enough", she explained, Shannon just hugged her tight, gently stroking her hair, "None of us thinks that, Cam, we just don't want you getting hurt, Beatrice doesn't want you getting hurt", she answered, Camila pulled away just a little to look at her in the face, "There's more to it, why is she acting like this?", she asked, Shannon shook her head and sighed, "You'll have to ask her that", she said before getting up and walking to the door, "She likes you, Cam, that's why she protects you so much", she said before leaving the room, going straight to Mary's room to pamper her lover. Camila was confused, so she went to sleep.
The next morning she went to Beatrice's room as soon as she woke up, she knocked on the door until Beatrice let her in, she stepped inside and looked at her, still a little mad but mostly upset, "Why did you do it?", she questioned, trying her best to not sound mad, Beatrice stared at her before trying to speak, "Because I care about you, and I don't want to lose you", she explained, but she knew Camila wouldn't buy it, "There's more", replied Camila, her tone a little loud, this made Beatrice flinch slightly, which Camila noticed, she took a deep sigh before taking Beatrice's hands, "Can you tell me? If- if you do it because you don't think I'm strong enough, I'll accept it, but if it's for something else, please tell me", she said, her tone now softer, Beatrice smiled and sat on the bed, motioning Camila to sit next to her, which she did. "Less than six months ago, um, a young sister died, and it was my fault. I knew she was strong, too strong, so I just, allowed her to act on her own during a mission, and, well, she didn't make it, you're the first rookie I've trained since that, and I don't want to make the same mistake twice, it hurt a lot when she died, I don't think I would be able to- you know- I wouldn't, recover from yours. I know it's selfish but, you're my sister, Camila, I don't want to lose you", explained Beatrice, not looking at Camila, the younger girl simply hugged her tightly, "I'm sorry, I didn't know", apologized Camila, the taller woman chuckled a bit and hugged her back, "It's alright, I'm sorry for being so protective", answered the older girl.
They stayed like that until someone knocked on the door, Beatrice opened it, seeing Lilith standing in front of it, "You two will go to eat right now or I'll drag both your asses there, you two skipped dinner yesterday, you're not missing breakfast today, come on, go", ordered Lilith, Beatrice and Camila chuckled a little and followed her. They went to their usual spot, Camila and Beatrice were sat together, Camila was still a little upset, but she understood why Beatrice did it, and Beatrice knew she would have to make it up to her somehow. Camila would learn to accept protection, and Beatrice would learn to let her do her own thing.