Blocking Cradle's mech

Something hit me like a truck, knocking the Wretch out and knocking me almost twenty feet through the air, before I could right myself.

Cradle turned, his attention on those on the ground. A lot of strength in those mechanical hands. There had to be a good fifty feet of armspan when the two longest arms were extended, and he had a lot of arms. He hopped over to one of the shorter arms- almost just a wrist that connected to the central hub, and stepped onto the hand, where he crouched with the hand cupped around him.

I flew at him before he could do whatever he planned to do to the others, my aura down. A hand came up, intercepting me, and I hit it. The building creaked and crumbled as hands twisted and wrenched at wood to maintain his position. He turned his attention back to me.

Another swipe of the hands. I flew down, away from the direction of the swipe, and again, something collided with me, knocking me downward at an angle this time.

"Looksee," I said,

"Mm?" was the response, small and emotional.

She'd seen Rain.

"Can your cameras see-"

I flew to evade as the hands moved. They weren't moving my way, but to get him oriented, as he closed on the others. I changed course, flying more toward Cradle himself.

Two hands came up, one to either side of Cradle himself, as if they were going to slam together, catching me in the middle.

They didn't. I hit something, a field or barrier between the hands. It didn't hit the Wretch so much as it dashed the Wretch to pieces, with me bouncing fifteen or twenty feet back. The hands came after me, and I flew to evade.

***

I flew after Cradle.

I could see it now. Cords or cables, normally transparent, were illuminated in red light. There was lag, the light tracing one cord that extended from each fingertip, snapping to another position when it fell out of sync.

"Annoying," Cradle said. "Doesn't change anything."

He raised a hand, bringing it down from overhead, in Capricorn's direction.

I flew in, and I used the wretch to hit and deflect.

Again, that unreasonably intense force, exploding out and away, as the impact hit the Wretch and the aftershock cascaded out to thrust me away in the air.

The attack was off course- not so much it couldn't have hit Capricorn, but he'd seen me coming and had moved away.


- Pitch 6.5