The Mother

Chapter 24

Miranda twirled away from both of them to the furthest point back she could get. Scarlett aimed shots and fired, not rapidly so she didn't waste a shot, as Ethan did the same. Miranda still felt the same which worried Scarlett, she had taken so much energy from her and she didn't feel her weakening yet. Then again Miranda was old, over a 100 years if Scarlett's calculations had been from seeing Eva's grave, she had a lot of time to learn to use her powers and store energy in her immortality.

  "You understand the love of a parent to her child, don't you? How can you deny me?" Miranda shouted as mold surrounded her and she changed forms, this one replaced the wings with long spiderly legs from her back. She attacked as they shot and backed away, one of her legs catching Ethan's legs deeply so Scarlett had to step in front of him and shoot her back so he could use med liquid to heal.

  "Why the hell can't you realize Rose is my goddamn kid, not yours?" Ethan asked as he poured half of the liquid onto his leg while Scarlett got Miranda to back away. Scarlett snarled when Miranda cut her healed arm again and hopped back a few paces before leaping back up onto a ledge away from them out of the ring the room and mold had made for their fight.

  "This is the end." Miranda hissed and Scarlett tensed, shoving Ethan one way and going the other again as Miranda leapt from the ledge and hit the spot that they had been standing in seconds before. They shot her repeatedly and Scarlett had to reload one of her magnums so her slipped it away with one hand and reached back for the grenade launcher she had two grenade rounds for and fired with it causing Miranda to scream in rage.

  "I've never seen a human live without his heart. Are you sure you're not one of us?" Miranda asked Ethan as she backed away from the middle of the ring before charging forward in a straight line trying to spear him  with her long spiderlike legs. Miranda paused a second after the attack, this meant that she couldn't go none stop, and Scarlett shot with her magnum. She knew she didn't have many shots left so this could go very interesting very soon.

  "Die!" Miranda hissed as she turned and tried to stab Ethan, but he used his gun and backed away quickly to block the attack. Scarlett grinned when she saw that little improvement in his defense and offense combined. They continued to shoot and dodge until Miranda fell into good that pulled up and floated before unraveling to show her in a new form that allowed for flight.

  "The Megamycete saved me from the pits of despair! It granted me this splendid power!" She yelled as she twirled in the air, her large thick fluffy wings dropped feathers, before she shot toward Ethan who dodged quickly as he turned and fired at the woman and Scarlett tried to load her last grenade into the grenade launcher, she had already reloaded her empty magnum and had half a clip with the other one.

  "Yeah, right. All it's done is drive you nuts." Ethan said as Miranda tried to swoop down at him, but he got out of the way in time. Scarlett had gotten her launcher reloaded and was waiting for Miranda to turn enough that the shot would hit her. When Miranda twirled and stopped, raising her hands, Scarlett shot, and the explosion made Miranda scream but otherwise nothing happened. Scarlett cursed loudly and knew this fight would last longer than she hoped.

  Above Miranda's upturned hands a large greyish black mass began to form, floating in the air there. Scarlett soon realized there were actually several forming and pulsing. She and Ethan were quick to take turns aim at Miranda and the forming blobs, they popped with one shot of Scarlett's magnums and two with Ethan's shot gun. Miranda soon started moving again once all the blobs were gone, Ethan and Scarlett as well so they could dodge or shoot.

  "Hold still!" Miranda yelled when she missed Scarlett for the second time and lashed out with her claws. Scarlett moved enough that they skimmed her skin lightly leaving scratches on her lower left ribs and breaking part of the zipper on the jumpsuit. As Scarlett fell back and shot Miranda in the face with her stronger magnum as she fell. Miranda lifted back a bit and Scarlett rolled to her feet and backed away so she could assess the damage. She was surprised when she realized she had moved faster than she had felt like she was, and she had barely gotten scratched so there was nothing but smooth pale skin through the claw marks in her shirt.