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I gripped the concrete fence, glancing over, my hair getting in my way as it momentarily floated like I was underwater. I could see the robed suit orienting, a sword as long as two eighteen wheelers stuck end to end pointing our way. Before, it had glowed like it was metal fresh out of the forge. Now it was white.

My heart did something between a flip-flop and dropping out of my chest. Sveta, Rain. Even Fume Hood.

Impulsive, I flew over, and the act of flying in this environment was like moving while underwater. I activated the Wretch a hair before it was safe to do so, and felt it hit the concrete barrier.

The sword became a beam, as wide as the aforementioned trucks. The Wretch took the hit, and my forward flight was arrested, stopped.

Hold strong! I thought, as the Wretch absorbed and deflected the incoming fire. It wasn't large enough to block everything, and some of the beam scattered, hitting the filtration system.

Hold, damn it!

When the world had ended, the mind controlling entity that had seized us all and coordinated us for one phase of the attack had used me for this purpose. To take a hit from Scion. It had been almost absentminded.

The beam from the mech suit's sword tapered off in the same instant my instincts told me to get the fuck away. I rolled off to the side, and the Wretch flickered out and died a moment later.

It had always been better against sustained pressure than the single blows.

I took cover along the side of a pipe. Water and steam gouted out of multiple places in the filtration system. The cover was demolished, and my teammates gone. Water rained down from above, cold enough to make my skin contract, while steam rose from above.

My forcefield took some time to return. I moved slightly away from the tank I was using for cover as it did.

***

I took flight. The Wretch was in plain view for anyone who took the time to look. I couldn't afford to dwell on it, so I let it fall to the back of my mind, as a dim awareness of regrettable fact.

The left-hand wing of the winged suit extended, sweeping forward. A wall of what seemed like forcefields, extending between the group and their path of retreat. Extending in my way, so that I crashed into it, hard enough that the Wretch was canceled.

The wing-wall remained intact after I collided with it. I tried to find a way around, only to have a shot from a tinker's cannon pass within arm's reach while the Wretch was still offline.

I backed off. Sustaining big hits like I had killed the Wretch's stamina, made delays longer for a while after. I had to trust they had things handled. They had Wardens with them.

- Dying 15.5