Stronger Together chapter 123 (Patreon)

The little girl's name was Beatrice (Bea for short) and her bunny's  name was Fig Newton, which was apparently her favorite snack. Beatrice  was a talkative girl, apparently she was ten years old and she and her  mommy had been camping in their car as an adventure because their house  was being fixed. She got really sad when she told me that her mommy had  gone away after she got here and she hadn't seen her anywhere. Seeing  this tiny waif of a girl cry because her mommy was gone made me want to  punch Mavra much harder than I had before.

River  had dealt with Raucus easily enough, apparently Jace was as fucking  terrifying as advertised and they'd made short work of the younger  vampire. As soon as Bea saw him she squealed "Teddy!" And hurled herself  past me and onto the Big Foot. River smiled at the little girl as she  clung to him and patted her head and everyone with use looked a little  happier. I left River with Bea. I knew he would protect her. I made my  way over to Ebenezar who was scowling out into the darkness where Mavra  had vanished. We were on the side closest to the kids so she was  probably over with the adults but still she had a lot of hostages if she  wanted to take them.

Ebenezar  scowled into the darkness. "Wily bitch." He muttered that so Bea  wouldn't hear, though we did catch her asking River why santa was so  mad, which did a bit to bolster both of our spirits. "Raucus didn't have  the crown which means Mavra either had it on her or hid it somewhere  here. I'm guessing the latter, but we can't look until we finish her  off." He raised his voice a bit. "River, why don't you take little Bea  back to the church and introduce her to a real life fairy princess."  Bea's little face lit up with joy and River chuckled, though is  expression was unsure. In the end he took her and left.

Herry  stepped up beside us. "That red carpet spell won't work again. She'll  have adapted her veil to it after being in contact so long. I can't  manage anything else new to counter her in any reasonable time frame.  Sir, do you have anything that might help? The kid has been doing most  of the heavy lifting so far anyway. Can't let the rookies show us old  timers up right?" He shot me an encouraging smile. I think he must have  known I was running low on power. I did feel terrible. My aura reserves  were low but not low enough to be in danger, but the only thing keeping  my muscles going was my aspects and the godsteel.

Ebenezar's  beard twitched a bit in a small smile. "I reckon I might have a trick  or two. When you're as good at brawling as I am you have to learn a  trick or two for getting through veils. But then again, why bother with  fancy tricks when Brute force will do the job." He lashed out with a  hand, closing his eyes, and snarled a series of words. As he did, a form  shimmered into being in the middle of the room. Mavra's normally dead  blank face was twisted in rage and I was on her. If I wasn't mistaken  this was magical lockdown, a direct competition for magical supremacy.

I'd  have been worried if anyone other than the Blackstaff was trying this  on her, as it was though I trusted Ebemezar to keep her bust and wanted  to do my part by distracting her. I'll give Mavra this, she was  terrifying even without magic. Getting that small rest had her back at  top form and she managed to keep up this time even with Ebenezar in her  brain fucking up her magic. I imagined combating magical lockdown while  fighting someone with a corrosive magic arm and down a limb of your own  was monstrously complicated but Mavra made it look easy.

I  lashed out with my right time and time again but she drifted back and  forth like a ghost. She seemed much stronger now and I had the sinking  suspicion we might find some dead hostages on the other side of the  cavern. She'd topped up and was good to go now. Her arm lashed out at me  in a dizzying blur of attacks that I probably wouldn't have been able  to counter except i kept putting my right arm in the way of her blows.  She had to pull back before she hit me each time, unfortunately shoving  my arm in the way over and over made it impossible to keep up my own  attacks.

Mavra's  nails were curved like claws as she tried her best to shred me  but  kept having to pull back. She retreated a foot or two to glare at me,  her papery voice filled with an exasperated rasp like the irritated  buzzing of wasps. "What is that metal? Why does it burn me so? I planned  carefully for this, I was cautious and meticulous and some child I have  never heard of disrupts it all?" She actually sounded like a normal  person for a second, the pure frustration and venom was very human of  her. She shrieked and unnatural scream then reached into her dress and  plucked out the crown. It's iron was tainted now, looking blacker than  before, like it swallowed the light.

Ebenezar  howled in pain as whatever magic was in the blasphemous relic snapped  the lockdown but he seemed to be ok. Then without warning Mavra hurled  the evil crown at my face. It was the magical equivalent of hurling your  loaded gun at someone so I didn't expect it and I lashed out with my  right arm to catch it. As my soulfire infused godsteel arm grasped the  crown the energies within them mixed and repelled each other, an  explosion of black light was released, washing over everyone as my arm  purified the crown. When the light cleared Mavra was gone.

I  cursed, looking around for her desperately but she was nowhere to be  found. I looked at Ebenezar who was still wincing but hadn't had his  head exploded like I'd heard could happen when a lockdown was disrupted  so I called it a win for him. When he shook his head in pain though I  felt my anger boil up. That bitch got away. Still, we had the crown now  so we could fix the girls, the homeless were safe and I'd burned off one  of her arms. I doubted she would be back soon. I let my aspects drop  finally and nearly collapsed as my muscles went limp. Harry was there to  catch me though and bent down to put my arm over his shoulder as he  helped me stand.

We  moved to help the homeless in the cages but before we could move a  blonde form appeared in front of me. Kara, moving with every bit of her  normal speed. She made sure to slow down a bit before she threw her arms  around me so I didn't break. She was crying, but not tears of sadness,  tears of joy. "Thank you. Thank you so much Cam, I was so scared when  you were fighting him, but now he's gone and she's safe." I'd expected  anger at me for killing him but it seemed she'd already made the choice  that he needed to go. I wrapped my own arms around her and squeezed  back.

I  chuckled as she squeezed even tighter, still not enough to hurt me but  pretty hard. "Seems like whatever I did when I cleansed the crown  restored your powers, if my creaking ribs are anything to go by." She  released her hold eyes wide and blushing with embarrassment and I  ruffled her hair. "It's fine I appreciate the enthusiasm. Did River get  Bea up there ok? I know she was excited to meet Lily." I suspected the  little girl would have made Kara melt, the kryptonian was good with kids  and Bea looked just like her.

To  my surprise she burst out laughing "He did, but Lily didn't get much  time with her. Yang scooped her up when she heard what happened and  insisted on taking care of her. I think she reminds her of her little  sister a bit. She was on Yang's lap when I left, wearing a little flower  crown Lily gave her and giggling her little heart out." I smiled at the  news, glad the little girl got some time to be happy. My smile dropped  however when I considered the likelihood of that happiness lasting. Her  mother was most likely dead and I didn't look forward to confirming  that.

Speaking  of we still had all these hostages to release. I said as much to Kara  and the others. We all got to work Harry and Ebenezar using magic to  open the cages and warm up the freezing cavern for the captives while  Kara brute forced the cage doors. I just leaned back against the wall,  barely able to move and slid down the wall to sit on the cool stone. I  heard a noise to one side and saw Raven sitting painfully down beside me  Barb walking around to sit on the other side. I smiled at my girls and  threw my arms around them.

I  knew Barb was probably keeping an eye on us weakened folks but being  here with them like this was nice. I groaned in relief "Gods I can't  believe this nonsense is over. On the bright side we made a hell of an  entrance to the supernatural world without tipping our hand too much.  You powers are all still mostly secret and Kara and Cinder never got to  fight. The only one who gave anything away was me and I'm mostly just  good for punching things." They snorted a bit at my self deprecating humor.

Barb  was the one who responded "You aren't wrong about the coming out thing.  We could have done much worse. Always best to minimize the amount of  information one gives away. And look at all these people we saved. We  contacted Henry and he said they're welcome at Safehold. We're  transporting them over after everyone is free. Bea is a little angel,  but based on her story we think her mom is dead and her dad wasn't in  the picture. Kara volunteered to take her over to Michael and Charity's  to ask if they can look after her. Yang wanted to take her home but with  Morgan in the house it seemed like a bit of a risk."

I  nodded solemnly. I doubted Morgan would hurt the little girl on purpose  but she still wasn't entirely stable. Plus she was a little crazy and  who knew what she would teach her. "Yeah I could see that. I don't think  she would ever hurt her but I don't know for sure which is kind of the  point. Charity and Michael are well equipped for kids and Yang will be  able to visit whenever she wants. We all will since we live so close.  She'll be happy there I think." Once we were all home we should do  another barbecue but this time invite Michael and Charity and people we  actually liked.

Raven  leaned against me weakly. "I'm healed up but it took a lot out of me.  Lord Raith had some kind of disgusting energy on him that got in my  wound. I purged it but it made healing slow and inefficient. I'm  just...tired. I can tell you are too. Once we have all the captives  heading for Henry's I say we go home and get some sleep." She paused and  looked me up and down. "Though I think we might need to sleep  separately, you and I could both use a medicine bath." She furrowed her  brows a bit. "Maybe we should get something we can all sleep in. Do you  think we should install a hot tub?"