The thump of something heavy on Darius’s right caught his attention. As he tried to spin, he actually toppled over and landed on his back with another groan.

“Darius, are you okay?” Avery asked. “Your suit looks beat to hell. How’s your health? Just a second…” Darius saw a faint blue beam of light come out of some kind of Lense in Avery’s right hand. “ Heart Rate: 130, Blood Pressure: 140/90, Respiration Rate: 20-30 breaths per minute, Oxygen Saturation: 95%, Body Temperature: 98.9°F, Pupil Response: Uneven… Health Points: 67/128. Looks like you have some internal bleeding, and a few other debuffs going on, but on the whole, it looks like you are going to live. Let mem heal what I can, then I can activate my Nano-Repair Module. It won’t fix everything, but it should get you back to being functional in a bit.”

“Ugh, I’m glad you got here when you did. It might not have been the best idea for me to come in first. Hey, My comms are down. Is everyone doing okay?”

“Don’t worry about them at the moment. Let me get you patched up, then you can see for yourself.” Avery then began casting his Healing Ray spell. Five seconds later, the green light flowed from his hand and into Darius in a steady stream. He held it there for almost a dozen seconds before cutting off the spell. Then he removed a triangular plate from his chest and attached it Darius’s Power armor. what looked like grey dust flowed out in tiny streams and under the plates of his armor.

N-N-N-Nano-no-no-Rep-repair Module Detected-ed. R-Requesting Access t-to P-P-Power-er Banks to facilitate r-r-repair. D-Do you c-c-consent?

The Dialog window and the voice stuttered constantly through the message, but Darius was able to figure it out. “Yes, I give consent.”

R-Repair un-un-under way. Prioritizing e-e-e-essential systems. P-P-Please st-stand by.

Darius’s screen fuzzed again, and he picked up the scent of ozone coming from within the Power Armor. the screen flickered constantly and the air in his helmet began to grow stale. Remembering that his Life Support System was offline, he focused on opening the front of his helmet. The side panels separated partially, but when it was less than an inch open, it stalled out and froze in place. The opening was enough for a little fresh air to enter and cool his sweaty skin, but it wasn’t enough for Darius. He reached up and slipped his fingers into the opening and, with an immense amount of effort; he managed to force the two sides to slide back with an unpleasant grinding sound. It still wasn’t fully open, but with the sides back a good two-thirds of the way, his face was open to the evening air and he could breathe easily once again.

The bright light of the setting sun dazzled Darius’s eyes for a moment until they adjusted. He was able to hear the sounds of battle, the roar of the Draugr as they entered their demonic rage mode, the sound of metal on stone, explosions and the cry of what had to be the biggest eagle he’d ever heard.

“Help me up,” Darius said to Avery.

“I don’t think you should be moving just yet. I was able to stabilize you, but you’re still concussed, and still have debuffs that prevent me from healing you completely.”

Darius groaned. “look, just help me sit up. I need to see what’s going on.”

With an audible sigh, Avery held out his hand and Darius used it to pull himself into more of an upright position. As he looked around, the first thing he noticed was a creature the size of a horse, with the body of a lion, the head and wings of an eagle and radiating so much fire that it looked like a meteor burning up in the sky. It was making long and low passes just over the heads of the undead army, making them catch fire as its burning aura washed over them.

The giant stone golem was still laying waste to the skeletons and zombies with its massive club, not seeming to give a damn whenever one of them hit it with a sword or axe. Then it hit him. The undead were better armed and armored. It didn’t look as good as the stuff they’d bought from the System Marketplace, but it still made the undead much more effective than when they’d invaded Darius’s home.

“Here, you should drink this. It might help clear some of the internal injuries,” Avery said as he held out a vial the size of Darius’s pinky filled with a cherry red liquid.

Trusting the young man, Darius took it and tossed it back like a shot of rotgut. He was glad he did, because the few drops that managed to hit his tongue damn near made him gag with the bitterness. He choked it down, more to avoid it coming back up and hitting his tastebuds than whatever benefit the potion was supposed to have.

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“Computation Systems repaired to Marginal Functionality,” Pax reported. Darius was glad the stuttering had gone away. It made it rather hard to understand his AI, especially with the pounding headache and general level of pain he still felt throughout his entire body.

“Good,” Avery said when he heard Pax make her report. “This was the first time I was able to try out one of the perks of my new class.”

“What’s the new function? We never really talked about what our Advanced Classes did.” The Pounding in Darius’s head was starting to recede and his guts weren’t as painful, so feeling a little better, Darius had decided to chat with Avery while he waited for the repairs to keep going.

“Right, we never did. As I’m sure you saw, I selected Mechanized Medic for my Advanced Class. It’s a blend of Power Armor Pilot and Healer with a bit of emergency repair tossed in. it gave me a fifteen percent bonus to piloting, fifteen percent to Power Efficiency, that Nano-Repair upgrade working on you now, along with a nice twenty percent bonus to my healing spell potency and reducing the Mana cost for healing spells by twenty percent as well.”

“Not bad. It's similar to my own, the same piloting skill and power efficiency bonuses, but instead of healing it got me more Eidolon slots for Conjuring equipment for my suit, and made those same eidolons cheaper to upkeep. Ugh, how long is this repair going to take?”

Before Avery could reply, Pax made another update. “Power Recharge System functionality restored. Energy recharge rate restored to 24 EPM.”

“I’m not entirely sure. I’m only at Tier one of the upgrade path, and it only has enough Nano-repair materials to restore about fifty points of Durability each day. So, despite how quickly it fixes you up, it won’t fully restore you to peak power, not today at least.”

“Well, some is better than nothing, I suppose,” Darius grudgingly said. I hope I’ll be back into at least fighting shape, even if I’m not entirely patched up.

Avery’s head spun around as he looked over at the battle. “Hold on, Ill be back in a minute.” He said before taking off and leaving Darius sitting in the dirt.

Darius watched as the young man flew out into the battle and was met by the flying griffin. Darius could just make out bloody patches in its hide, as it seemed to have taken some damage. Avery matched the speed and direction of the Aeon and, while staying just outside the fire aura’s range, used the same healing spell he’d used on Darius just a little while earlier to heal the giant cat…bird… thing.

Occasionally, as Darius watched his people fight without him, he caught flickering glimpses of Liam as he seemed to parkour his way through the undead, electricity arcing off of his hook swords while he dismembered one undead after another. In another area of the sprawled-out battlefield, he saw Akira’s samurai-like armor launching columns of golden fire, cutting swaths of zombies and skeletons down while burning holes through every Draugr she could reach. All the while, her pair of Tonfas spun in her hands, deflecting hits and cracking skulls.

“Elemental Flow Pathways repaired; Mana flow restored to twenty Mana per second.”

Pax mentioning his Mana flow upgrades made Darius remember his active Eidolons. Their last refresh was a little while before he’d engaged with the enemy, and he was sure it wouldn’t be too long before they refreshed again. He looked over one shoulder, then the other. Both the Doom bringer 3000 and Rain of Fire were twisted hunks of metal what would never fire again without being re-conjured. With a marginally clear head, Darius canceled the spells and watched as they disappeared into motes of light. Looking at his hands, Darius saw that his Titan’s Fists were still in reasonably good condition. They were made of Orichalcum, and reinforced the structural integrity of his hands and forearms. Since they had fared better than the rest of him, he left them as they were.

“Mass Compensation system repaired. 100% perceptual weight reduction has been restored. Remaining Nano-Repair being directed to restoring Armor functionality.”

One more system fixed. This time Darius managed to get to his feet with only mild discomfort. He pulled up his status window and inspected his condition.

Darius Williams

Modular Mechanist Level 13

Xp: 7,822/7,850

Credits: 7,699

Str 24***

Dex 14*

Agi 14*

Con 16

End 17

Int 18

Wis 18

Hp: 115/115*

Regen: 21/day*

Sp: 230/230*

Regen: 29/min**

Mp: 270/270

Regen: 27/min

Defense 34*

*-10% Maximum Health, Health Regeneration, Stamina, Stamina Regeneration from: Muscle Strain, Bruised Spleen, Tachycardia, Tachypnea, Concussion, Contusions, Multiple Fractures. (Reduced from -30%)

**Blessing from Amaterasu: +10% resistance to Cold and Dark based effects, +5% Stamina Regeneration

**Blessing from God: +30% Resistance to Necrotic and Death Effects, +20% Stamina Regeneration, +10% Defense, Immunity to Fear Effects

***Titan’s Fist-+10 Strength

As Darius came to grasp the full state of his body, he heard and felt a grinding sensation from his helmet, then the side panels finished retracting fully.

“Nano-Repair Module resources Expended.,” Pax reported. “Module temporarily transferred to Dimensional Storage. Final repair results are available. Operational Functionality: 62.5%. Combat functionality: 85.32%. Armor Defense Rating partially restored. Defense Rating: thirty-five out of fifty-five. You may resume operation at your discretion.”

Darius nodded and closed the faceplate of his helmet. It hesitated a moment, but it managed to snap shut and seal itself with a faint hiss. Darius knew he wasn’t at one hundred percent, but he couldn’t wait around while his people risked their lives. Besides, he had some payback to dish out. Darius smacked his fists together like he once had back in the ring then started running. He had a fight to finish.