I flew to Sveta and Rain first. Sveta had asked for help and protection earlier, the structure was more damaged than the other, with damage from the very top, down one side, and into the foundation it was built into. I gave Rain a hand, because he could stop himself from falling but not actually get back up to wherever he had fallen from. Sveta was helping others, like Chastity and Grapnel.

The halo was fixated on other targets now, floating in closer to the other structure. Stonewall held up his shields, protecting three other people. The winged angel cleaved into the already damaged structure with one wing, and struck out with another projected wing-extension in the direction of the thralls. Imp’s team, making their way toward that group. The gas was giving them cover, but thralls were climbing down to lower ground where the gas didn’t reach them, hunkering down on pipes and blasting. Imp and all Heartbroken except Chastity were wading in knee-deep water, so their ability to get out of the way was limited.

The one with the sword drove its weapon into the center of the other structure. People slipped, fell, grabbed onto railings, or slid along pipes and then leaped down into the water below. Not a good leap, when the drop was thirty or more feet and the water wasn’t that deep.

I flew over. The halo moved closer to me, and I moved away, keeping my distance.

Ashley used her power to hop over to higher ground. She helped someone up. Withdrawal was agile enough to manage helping more people. Caryatid stood on the most intact part of the catwalk, beside Stonewall. Water flowed over every surface, spraying up the sword and into the mechanical hands that gripped it.

The sword that impaled the filtration structure glowed, then fired. The entire room shuddered, and every single foothold, catwalk, platform, and box on the structure was jarred, knocked down a peg, or made to fall.

Fume Hood, back in a secure position, resumed her attack. Capricorn did what he could to drench the halo ship, then turn the liquid to rock. Ninety percent of the water was vaporized by the halo’s automatic counterattack. Of the ten percent that remained, a majority went to waste.

Every time, it churned up the rocks that made it into internals, then vented them out as rock dust. When he didn’t turn it to rock, the haloed angel vented it out as a spray instead.

But I felt like it was moving in a less fluid way. I didn’t see lights die or dim, but I did notice it wasn’t using its full capabilities, accelerating movement or rapidly repositioning.