“It’s everyone,” Foil said. She turned my way, visor-covered face aimed right at me, my own reflection dark in the tinted surface. “Even you, Antares, it might be wearing you down more slowly, but I can see it in how you stand.”

No magic at work, no gas affecting emotions and making Switch Hitter break down while it made me angry.

Just… too much hopeless fighting.

It was a repeat of my sentiment from earlier, my anger mixing with my sympathy for the Flower of the Hecatomb. The feeling that existed in the intersection between the two emotions.

I looked away. “I’m going to go get the others. Can you give Switch a ride?”

Foil nodded, “Might be a rough flight, but…”

I transferred my passenger over. Foil made an arm motion, using the Syndicate connection to pass it on.

I flew to Damsel, Solarstare, and Sveta.

“Retreating?” Sveta asked me.

“No,” Damsel said, before I could answer.

“Yes,” I said. I knew Ashley Stillons well enough to know how to handle this. Damsel wasn’t Swansong but both were Ashley. “We need your help to slow them down if they attack us while we retreat.”

“No. If you want me to follow your instructions so you can get me close enough to them? Fine. But I’m here to kill Titans.”

Okay. Maybe not quite.

“Morale is breaking. People are worn out, they’re spooked, we need to regroup. Trust me, there’s two dozen people on the ground there that you’ve impressed by getting in the thick of things and staying there. If you’re not the first one to walk away, they’re not going to care about you retreating.”

Solarstare, right next to us, used her power. I could feel the air rush past us as the massive, twisting column of molten gold sprayed out. Skadi stumbled into a cloud of gas, which solidifed around her. Blisters appeared on her armor.

“I said not to do that so close to me!” Damsel raised her voice.

“Easy,” Sveta said.

Solarstare looked over and smiled. “Sorry. Saw a chance.”

“A chance to blind me?” Damsel asked. “Set us on fire?”

The gold ignited. We all backed away, Damsel blasting with her power, long claw fingers extended to provide the widest distribution possible to provide a kind of shield against the heat.

We were momentarily cast in shadow as Titan Skadi appeared in the air, landing atop Titan Eve.

I tensed, watching. Was this a connection?

The cloak of gas around Titan Eve solidified, and she shrugged free of it, backing away, bumping into a building in the same row of commercial buildings we were perched atop. One of the buildings rumbled without toppling, like the internals were collapsing in on themselves.

The flash of light came next. Damsel snarled.

Snarled more as Titan Eve crashed into the building she’d bumped into, while we had our eyes covered.