Unwanted Thoughts (Olivia POV)

Goddamnit! She screamed internally. They were supposed to be fighting a boss and training, but here Olivia was, unable to stop thinking about-

No! She refused. She wouldn’t let herself think about the thoughts she was having.

She definitely wasn’t missing the scent of her former friend’s body, or the feel of her on top of her. Nor was she missing the sound of her voice, so clearly-

Focus. She breathed, calming herself. She refused to surrender control. She was better than that. She had her body and her mind under control.

Besides, there were more important things to think about. Like the rotating barrels of the minigun, pointed straight at her.

Wait. Shit.

As if finally kicking back into gear, Olivia rapidly morphed into the fastest form she had, an aeroray. She took off just as the helicopter started to fire at her in earnest.

Instead of flying away, she flew towards it, knowing that she had a better chance of outrunning their aim that way.

Flying under the body of the chopper, she changed forms again, becoming a petradon, and clinging onto the landing gear, thankful that this helicopter didn’t seem to have retractable wheels.

Her weight alone was disrupting the flight pattern of the helicopter, and she had a pretty good view of the fight from up here.

Mia was similarly doing her best to disrupt the ranks of the helicopters, flying between them and generally causing confusion and being a nuisance (something she was really good at, in Olivia’s affectionate opinion).

Gemma and Ivy were on the ground, working in tandem with Skylar to damage the flying opposition, and stop them from unleashing any of the deadly missiles they had in their arsenal. And Belle, her beautiful red hair tied up to-

Nope, focus. She had a job to do.

Gemma and Ivy didn’t have enough firepower at long range to entirely wipe out the boss. They needed support.

Turning back to the helicopter she was hanging under, she formed her fists into giant crystal spikes and used them to stab through the underside of the chopper.

She guessed it was made from a vibranium alloy, as it was sturdy, but not as strong as she’d expect pure vibranium to be.

The crystals on both of her hands rapidly grew into stabilising anchors for herself, hooking around the metal and securing her hold on the aircraft. She had no idea what it looked like in the interior and was firing essentially blind.

Knowing that, she poured mana through her fists, firing devastating crystal blasts into what she hoped were the enemy pilots.

Whatever she did, the helicopter started to stall and lose altitude. She retracted her grip immediately as soon as she knew it was definitely crashing, changing back into her aeroray form and flying safely away from the doomed helicopter, watching it explode into golden dust from a distance.

She landed next to Gemma and Ivy, and took stock of the situation. Belle was currently fighting a group of soldiers that had managed to land safely from one of the aircraft (and she definitely did not look stunning doing it), while Mia was still harassing some of the other aircraft.

The fighter jets were rapidly approaching. Olivia wasn’t sure what weaponry they had, but she was sure it wouldn’t be pleasant.

She made her decision. They needed more firepower. She changed into a form that had seen a lot of practice, but little actual use in a battle: she turned into an angelwitch.

Gemma looked at her briefly and grinned, the expression on her gorgeous face indicating just how much fun she was having. Olivia grinned back, used to the young cryomancer’s personality.

Taking aim, she unleashed the powerful light magic inside her new body, aimed at bringing down the fighter jets before they had a chance to show them what they were capable of.

The twin beams of light magic were perfectly aimed, and extremely powerful in their own right, but seemed mostly just to scratch the wings of the jet she aimed at.

Whatever they were made of, it was durable. As the jets screeched past, Olivia saw them both let loose bombs, headed directly for Belle’s position, and hers.

Gemma had seen it too. “TAKE COVER!” Their leader screamed, sprinting away from the incoming destruction, leading Ivy with her.

They all scattered, none of them sure how much destructive power the imminent explosions would unleash. The first bomb exploded, where Olivia, Ivy, and Gemma had been a few seconds earlier.

A fiery explosion engulfed a large area, although they had thankfully managed to get away. It was far less powerful than the devastation that was usually expected of bomber jets, and Olivia supposed that was intentional by the dungeon designer, to give them a chance at winning at all.

Her eyes searched for Belle as soon as Olivia knew she was out of harms way herself. Belle, as fast as she was, had been slower to react to the falling explosive, and hadn’t managed to fully get out of the way in time, since she was distracted fighting the soldiers on the ground.

She was saved from the most deadly impact of the monstrous explosion, but the shockwave catapulted her away, sending her slamming into some of the random crates strewn about the helicarrier.

Olivia’s heart wrenched at the sight, and she fought to keep herself from crying out. Why did it matter so much to her now? She hadn’t felt that way seeing Belle get injured before.

She shook off the feeling as vines sprouted up next to where Belle was recovering from the impact. Healing magic flowed from Ivy to the Scarlet Witch, aiding her in her recovery.

Olivia **** herself to tear her eyes away from her former friend, searching instead for the fighter jets. They began a wide arc to circle back around, presumably to continue bombing their position.

They needed to take out the jets, but Olivia wasn’t sure if her or Mia could intercept them in the air. They needed to combine their power.

She turned to Gemma. “Remember what I taught you about combining your magic with others?” She asked urgently.

Gemma saw where she was going immediately. “Belle!” Her leader shouted over the whirring helicopter blades indicating the other parts of the enemy squadron were reforming.

Belle looked at them, and Gemma waved her over. Belle scowled, but ran over anyway. Knowing her, she probably didn’t like being beckoned.

“We need to take out the jets first. Can you combine your magic with Olivia’s and mine?” Gemma asked. Belle nodded, not looking at Olivia.

Gemma turned to Mia and Ivy. “Ivy, get clear. Mia, go harass the choppers.” She ordered. The two of them nodded, with Ivy stopping to give her girlfriend a forehead kiss before she went.

“Be careful.” The healer said.

The jets were rapidly screeching their way towards the three of them, and it wouldn’t be long before they were once again on top of them. They got into position, ready to combine their firepower.

Belle, not looking at her, stepped just in front of her, and raised her arm up.

The helicarrier shook with the **** of an explosion as one of the helicopters fired a missile at Mia, but missed and hit a random spot on the deck.

Belle rocked off balance and stumbled backwards into Olivia, grabbing her arm for support as her former friend’s entire body pressed into her.

The intense contact made Olivia squirm, even despite still being in her monster form. Belle looked up at her, glaring, but notably blushing.

Belle pushed herself off of her, and Olivia couldn’t help but immediately miss the feeling of Belle’s-

She shook her head, chasing away the unwanted thoughts and feelings, and trying to focus on the mission. She refocused her aim as the jets approached, Gemma preparing to add her magic to theirs.

As soon as they were in range, the three of them fired as one, and the combined power of Olivia, Belle, and Gemma, tore through the wing of one of the jets, sending it careening out of sight below the deck of the helicarrier.

They sprinted away as soon as the damage was done, doing their best to avoid the bombing of the other jet. They weren’t completely successful, and were blown in all different directions, thankfully managing to avoid being killed. Ivy healed them all within seconds.

Olivia was grateful that she and Belle had been launched in separate directions, although her stomach still lurched as she saw Belle hurt.

As they dusted themselves off, they got back into position to be ready for the second jet.

Mia did an admirable job distracting the other aircraft so they could all focus on taking down the jets first, especially with Skylar helping her from the command centre.

The jet came back around and once again, a huge blast of power from the three of them was able to take it down, sending it crashing into the deck, the flaming remnants of the bomber jet screeching down the runway and dropping off the edge, fading into golden dust.

With the big threats out of the way, they were finally able to help Mia with the remaining helicopters, and just in time to relieve her after she got hit by a stray bullet.

Ivy patched up the aeromancer while Olivia, Belle, and Gemma dismantled the remaining **** with ruthless efficiency.

Once the last enemy had been downed and destroyed, Gemma received the notification that they’d won the dungeon. Olivia was glad it was over, she’d barely been able to focus the entire fight.

She was hopeful that there wouldn’t be any more awkwardness with Belle through the rest of the day. She didn’t know how much more of it she could take.