Concrete cracked and groaned. I remained ready to use my power—

I closed my eyes and held my breath as choking dust flowed into our little piece of safe ground. I waited until my lungs were fit to burst, then breathed through my sleeve. I regretted it as I choked on dry dust, coughing.

When I opened my eyes, I could see lights, so distant and numerous that they could have been stars of the night sky. Except they were ordered in rows and columns.

I looked up, and I saw they were ceiling lights, on a floor far above where we had been. Past the choking dust, I could make out the skeletal rows and columns of walls and floors, from the parts of the facility that were still intact, surrounding us on four sides.

Too many had thralls perched on them, staring down at us. Many of those thralls were armed. We stood in no man’s land, an area of devastation so vast I knew that even if I’d flown from the moment the Custodian had disappeared, ducking and weaving through corridors, I might not have escaped the full breadth of the damage.

And yet even with all of that gone, we were still indoors, still surrounded by facility. By thralls.

Yips, instead of waiting and letting us assess the situation, heaved himself free of the concrete slab that was now resting against him. Monstrous and the size of a horse, he shook the dust off.

Byron was wet, joined by the Harbingers and Mortari capes. The remains of the elevator were a spear of metal, stabbing skyward.

Contessa straightened, dusting herself off.

“His lieutenants are here. They know how I operate, so they’ll be careful,” she said. “They’ll be sure to only engage me from a distance, but that doesn’t mean they won’t target you if they can. Be ready.”

I could see Saint’s angel craft. I could see costumed figures with glowing points on their armor, that could have been the Speedrunners. Could have been anything. I saw Scapegoat, Black Lamb, whatever he called himself. Had to be, with the motif to his helmet. He wore tinker gear.

I used flight to straighten myself up, because I still didn’t have my sea legs after that drop. Ashley got to her feet, hand at her ribs, in an uncharacteristic show of weakness. Rain remained crouching, looking around.

“I’ll need your decision,” Contessa said, before stepping forward to pick a fight with what looked like half of Teacher’s facility.

Dying 15.8

The collapsed section of the facility was vast enough that the people at the edges had to organize and travel to reach us. In the gloom, they were visible as white-clothed figures scrambling around us like ants, illuminated by red emergency lighting. Fabric chutes were unfurled, and people began sliding down from the ruined edges of upper floors to the sea of rubble below.