We passed more bodies. More first-wave teams that had fallen. These guys were people from the city core, in the ‘New York’ area of Gimel. Smaller teams, ones that had been benched, working in coordination with the other squads.

Butchered. Burned.

I was having trouble getting past that.

Especially when we ran another thirty feet, turned a corner, and there were more bodies. Cold. The area was unlit because a power had shut things off.

And then, mercifully, an arching doorway. Another large room, which might have been chemical or water processing. Huge tanks loomed in the center, surrounded by catwalks. The ceiling was high, and tiny windows high above were open to the sky, showing sunset hues. Multiple teams were gathered on the ground level.

Atop the tanks, looking down on us, were three modified Dragon-craft, weapons armed. Each was supported by teams of thralls and a handful of capes.

Modified to be something other than Dragons.

“Those are her old suits that she wasn’t able to find after G.M.!” Balk called out. “She said to watch out for them!”

Mechanical angels now. One with a glowing halo, one with extensive wings that made me think of the Simurgh, another with metal plates connecting into one another in what could have been flowing robes, carrying a glowing sword.

And us with our tinker not in her best state.

“Saint,” Imp said. “You asssshole.”

Dying 15.5

Saint’s angels moved in formation, and that was spooky to see. One suit used its wings to defend another not like it was automatic or robotic, but like it was a friend that had fought alongside its partner for a long time. The movement itself was through the use of tinker tech, and in a confined space, however large that space was, that tech made the air and empty space around us into a hostile, pained, windless force.

Windless because wind went from point A to point B. It could twist, turn, and get caught in itself. This wasn’t that. This was hover technology creating pressure, flight technology creating distortion, and antigrav technology that let three mechanical angels the size of small planes remain in place in the air.

Electrolysis could chemically break down water. Gas bubbles would form out of nowhere. I imagined something similar was happening here. I could fly in rough winds and it would be a hassle, but as I flew over to cover, it was choppy as though I was flying through fireworks without the heat, noise, or smoke. A counter-force hung in the air that drove me uniformly down as the suits moved up.