Rafferty hit the ground hard, and rolled to a stop. There was pain, and plenty of it, but she thought it was of the 'I just fell out of the sky onto an unforgiving surface' variety, rather than the 'my torso has been pierced by numerous hot bits of metal' variety.

She sat up, and didn't have to push any of her insides back into her body, which she took as a good sign.

Trevor was at her side, his hand on her shoulder.

"You all right?" he asked.

"I think so. I didn't get shot," she said.

We'll leave out how everything's throbbing for the moment.

"Because you listened to me," Trevor said, starting to check her arm.

"It's fine," she said, pulling her arm back. He could stitch that up later. "How are we doing?"

"Katrin's about to go," he said.

Rafferty turned and watched as Katrin soared over the God's right side. She marveled at the height that Katrin got on the jump, and maybe felt a twinge of jealousy too.

Katrin descended, striking the God's upper arm on the way down. There was an arc of blue as she swung the sword, the sound of metal on metal carrying over the Breaks.

Trevor grunted, short and harsh. Behind her, the Triplets groaned. The sound of the sword on the God's arm was too brief. It was a hit, but not a direct one. The blow only glanced off the arm, rather than slicing into it and doing real damage.

She's going to be pissed.

The God had marked Katrin as it's new opponent, however. It stopped moving forward, and turned to fire at her, opening up the left side for Seth and Brianna.

Seth jumped and latched on to the God, sticking just below its left shoulder.

I guess the claws were sharp enough.

Rafferty watched as Seth worked her way onto the giant's arm and down toward the elbow joint. She slipped just a little, one of the claws not quite biting deep enough into the metal, and had to punch the blades through to avoid dangling by one arm.

Never mind. Trevor was right. What else is new?

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Seth had this gum, made for her by the Engineers. It activated when she chewed it. When she took it out of her mouth, and stuck it to a surface, it would explode. It was a fickle, dangerous weapon to use, but also extremely effective.

Of course, it meant she had been chewing the same three pieces of gum for four years.

Seth pressed the gum onto the God's elbow, and jumped toward the ground. The explosion burst before she even landed. The arm didn't come off entirely, but there was heavy damage to the elbow joint.

It was Brianna's turn now.

Brianna's jumped at the wounded arm, her special gloves glowing blue as she rose in the air. Brianna was the only Hunter in the Abbey who worked without a weapon.

When Rafferty asked Katrin about it, Katrin had replied "Bree's her own weapon.'

Brianna's gloves amplified her power, but other than she was on her own. She grabbed a sharp edge that had been created by the explosion, and planted her other hand flat against the metal surface. Brianna pulled hard with her right hand, twisting her body and pushing with her left hand, the gloves glowing even brighter. The metal started to groan and give, and Brianna grabbed the edge with both hands, planting her feet against the joint.

Rafferty could hear Brianna yell even where she stood, and then heard snapping metal as the arm came free, both it and Brianna falling to the earth. Brianna hopped off before the huge limb hit the ground, Seth running over to check on her, and now they were dealing with one gun instead of two.

Damn. That was cool.

Perhaps because it couldn't attack on its left side anymore, the God focused its attention of Katrin. B Hall's leader was in a tough spot, crossing back in front of the God, trying to outrun its aim. This was great strategy on a chalkboard, but out here, with the rough terrain, every step brought the danger of sliding out and becoming an easy target.

"I'm going," said Rafferty.

"You're hurt," said Caleb, and she heard a murmur of agreement from the other B Hall Jacks.

"She'll be fine," said Trevor.

Rafferty glanced at Trevor, surprised to find him so agreeable to something that wasn't in the original plan.

"Get above shoulder level. It can't change its firing plane that fast," he said, and Rafferty nodded.

Rafferty took off. Katrin was zagging back in front of the God, only barely staying ahead of the bullet strikes. Rafferty put her head down, and ran straight at the God. When she entered its shadow she jumped, throwing herself nearly straight up to avoid bouncing off its chest. There wasn't anything to do now, only hope that it still considered her a target.

Hey. Remember me?

It seemed that it did, as it broke off the assault on Katrin and raised its remaining arm, pumping out round after round. But the shots sailed underneath her, as Trevor said they would. Rafferty's path carried her over its shoulder, and she landed on the ground behind the God.

Katrin had used the time to step in close to the God. She was directly in front of its right foot, a dangerous spot because she could be kicked. Rafferty thought that the God hadn't noticed her at first, but now, it was drawing its gun back across its body in Katrin's direction.

Katrin glanced up, and Rafferty thought she had charted her path, thought she had an idea what Katrin meant to do. Katrin would have to be patient, and brave, and exact, for this to work. Rafferty watched as Katrin waited for the arm to sweep closer to her, and out of her path, and then watched as Katrin closed her eyes.

What? Is she crazy.

She's not crazy. she's waiting for the click.

There would be a brief click, very brief, when the God chambered new rounds and refocused its aim directly on its target. If Katrin jumped before that, as Rafferty probably would have, it could still fire a wild burst. Its aim might be off, but it might not be. If she waited too long, well there wouldn't be enough left of Katrin to jump if she waited too long.

The scene, so frenetic a moment ago, had gone eerily silent as the God's arm swept toward Katrin, and Katrin waited.

The arm stopped. There was.a pause, and just as Rafferty had decided the pause was too long and Katrin was dead for sure, Katrin shot through the air, turned, and swung her blade, peeling most of the God's face off before descending, and pushing away from its chest to safety.

Wow.

Elegant. That was the word that came to mind as Katrin landed. It was an elegant strike.

The God lurched forward, its face a sparking mess. The fight didn't last long after that, as they took turns delivering solid hits while the God fired haphazardly into the air. Five minutes later they were all gathered around the fallen beast, smiles and backslaps in abundance.

Seth leaned forward to collect her gum from the God's mangled arm.

"I still can't believe you're going to put that back in your mouth," Brianna said.

"I'm sure it's not the dirtiest thing she'll put in her mouth," Rafferty said, surprising herself. Apparently she was a little bitter about the topless comment.

Everyone was quiet for a moment, and Rafferty was worried she'd gone too far, but then Katrin fell to the ground laughing, and Brianna followed. Seth didn't laugh, but did give Rafferty a wry smile as she popped the gum back into her mouth. Even Trevor laughed, and Trevor never laughed at dirty jokes.

The sun was high. The God was dead. They were alive, and laughing.

It was a good day.