A thunderous collision echoed against the cliffs surrounding the valley.

Chris called over his shoulder, “You okay, Robin?”

Jack peeled himself off the control panel. The M5000 needed shocks and airbags. Chris rubbed his sore neck, and Jack confirmed, “I’m fine.”

Karter navigated back on the controls. “Good, cause we’re going again. Brace yourselves.”

Dereka let out a shrill war cry as the crawler rammed into the Cruor Villam again. Grunts emitted from each station as the pilots shared in the impact. A wet thwack from behind concerned Chris. “Kid?”

“He’s hurt,” Karter answered.

“Shit.” Chris pushed away from his station and crossed the control room.

Jack sat up, slow and touched his head gingerly. Still he hissed, “Fuck.”

Batman turned Robin around and checked the teenager’s hazel eyes. “Yea, you’re concussed pretty bad.”

Jack groaned, “Hurts. Ow! Don’t touch it!”

Chris palpated the tender scalp wound and offered a distraction, “Thank goodness for nacre healing or your sister would kill me. Remember what she said when she agreed to let you fight?”

“One scratch and you die? But she was talking about me.”

Even as he triaged it, the wound stitched together, and the swelling subsided. “That’s what you think. But I know how to read between the lines.”

“You two want to see this,” Karter called from the front with Dereka at her side. They both stared out the windshield toward the action.

While Tameka drained the machine of its functions for a good five minutes, the nacre technology eventually restored itself. The Villam consumed victims in an unstoppable wave of death and horror. Until now.

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Para led the Valkyrie on a mission through the sky. Each carried a staunch and pissed-off enemy Icarus. They dodged and persisted behind the flying troops guarding the Villam. One such soldier swatted down a Valkyrie with her load.

“We’re helping them,” Karter ordered.

They returned to their stations with a purpose. With Dereka controlling the front legs and Chris piloting the back, they orchestrated an interference for the offense. The M5000 batted the enemy from the hopper.

Jack observed, “It’d be nice to have Tumu right about now.”

Karter grunted her agreement.

Para took advantage of the break and soared through. With only seconds for her opening, she dropped an Icarus into the machine. An Icarus with a nacre.

Through the amber glass, they watched as they had so many awful times before as the Icarus landed on the sieve. It consumed his back, sinking him into the glass.

Then it stopped.

The crowd held a collective breath as the Icarus shrieked in agony. The pilots within fought with the controls to reverse or stop the process to no avail. Before too long, they abandoned the machine for a fate Chris assumed worse than the Villam’s backlog.

He was wrong.

Jack muttered, “Oh, shit.”

Para shrieked at the crowd, “Run! Get away!”

Collective and Icarean forces alike dispersed in all directions.

Electricity sparked and crackled from the half-processed Icarus. It bounced and danced from his chest along the nacre vehicle until encompassing the entirety of it.

Dereka and Chris reversed the crawler as Karter increased the speed. Jack tried his best to pilot the body for stability as they rushed to get away.

He asked, “What’s going to happen?”

Karter answered, “I don’t know.”

Chris ground his teeth. “Avoiding pedestrians with this thing is a bitch.”

Dereka muttered, “Mhmm.”

Jack grumbled, “If we go too far, we won’t get to see it.”

Karter’s laughter filled the space with warmth. Or maybe it was just Chris. He liked the sound of it even in the middle of a dire escape.

Dereka gasped in awe, “You’ll see it.”

They all turned. The shocks and crackles of light from the Villam towered into the sky. Hard to make out from this distance, but Chris thought the Icarus inside still writhed around his nacre. After another second, the hair on Chris’ arms stood on end.

As if invited, a bolt of lightning struck the Villam and splintered out and beyond the valley. Cliff walls exploded, and fires started. Even this far, he saw the electricity cooked the trapped Icarus. Yet, he still struggled as the damned thing healed him.

“I don’t wanna go out that way,” Chris announced.

Jack nodded.

Karter grinned. “Guys, we did it. We destroyed that abomination.”

Dereka stared wide-eyed as if she weighed the odds heavily against the Collective forces. “I can’t believe it.”

Chris nodded in the destruction’s direction. “Yea, our teams did an outstanding job. But we still have work to do. Let’s put these fires out.”

Karter acknowledged, “You’re right. Let’s do this.”

Jack beamed. “Then we can help Rayne kill Nox.”