Tristan had walled off the tunnel, and up until just a short while ago, that wall had served as a dam, which was part of why the water had risen to the level it had.

Judging by the hole in the wall and the fact that the wall wasn’t intact anymore—Damsel had blown it up. Helping, kind of.

I carried Lookout out, then flew down for the others. Byron was next, heavy as he was soaking wet and wearing armor. Rain was easier.

“My tech,” I could hear Lookout’s lamentations.

“I thought it was waterproof,” Byron said.

“Water resistant, a lot of it,” I heard her.

I flew back into the hole. “Byron! Light!?”

The light was meager, but it caught the edges and foaming rises of water as it flowed over the dam, past debris that had been dragged from the room to here.

There was a hole in the wall. My first destination. Damsel was within. She’d blasted a hole that pointed back and away from the flow, forming an alcove she could stay within. Thane, Teacher’s tinker from the server room, was lying in the rubble and dirt at her feet.

“You okay to stay for a minute?” I asked.

“You okay with making a lady wait, when she can blast your head—” Damsel started. Her teeth chattered hard enough to interrupt her. “—clean from your shoulders?”

My own teeth chattered, partly because of a sympathy reaction. “Somewhere in there, there’s another lady who can do that. I’m really hoping she’s behind a closed door. I’ve got to help her.”

“If you must,” she said, before nodding in a way that didn’t match the words. “Save her.”

“Huddle for warmth for now,” I said.

She looked down at Thane and sneered. “I’d rather be cold. Huddling with me is a privilege.”

“Then see if Capricorn can make you a ladder.”

“Will try!” I heard Capricorn. Tristan now.

“Vic—Antares!” Lookout called to me.

I looked up.

She turned on a flashlight, then threw it down to me. A small one, bright.

“You’re awesome,” I said.

“Help my friends,” was the response. “I want us all together again.”

I wasted no more time. I plunged into the dark.

Sveta, Crystalclear, Ashley, Ratcatcher.

Kingdom Come, if he didn’t come part and parcel with Sveta.

The water had vented out enough that I could fly over it. I flew into the room with the server, and found it nearly empty of water, now. Debris at the door was damming it, and I destroyed that debris using the Wretch.

“Sveta? Kingdom Come?” I asked.

Tendrils whipped out of the water. They seized me. I activated the Wretch, then dismissed it a moment later.

Calm, I thought, as my heart hammered.

She hauled herself up. She was too coordinated to be Kingdom Come. Most of her was outside of her shell though. In a way, she wasn’t our Sveta.

Raising herself up to eye level, she brought her forehead forward, until it rested against mine.