Once he'd made up his mind, Solomon took off down the stairs with Kanmi hot on his heels. In no time at all he was pulling open the door to the bottom floor, ready for anything. Nobody came charging out to fight him, so Solomon stepped through. He found the bottom floor as dim and quiet as he had left it.

As far as he could tell, nobody had been here since he headed up. His things were strewn around the room just as he had left them.

Solomon took a moment to pull on his shoes and jacket. He didn't want to bother struggling with the still-wet socks. He took a look at his backpack, but there was nothing left inside that he needed, and he was well past trying to look innocent. He slung his rifle over his shoulder and headed for the exit. Kanmi clutched his flail a little tighter as he followed.

The rain was still pounding down outside. It hadn't slacked off at all since Solomon had ducked inside. The walk home was going to be a wet one, but Solomon held out a little hope that the storm would mask their movements.

Not seeing anybody waiting outside for them, Solomon stepped out into the night. The pedestrian walkways up above were bustling with more activity than earlier, and better lit as well. Solomon led Kanmi in the opposite direction, wanting to get as far away from the searching guards as possible.

For almost a minute, they walked without a problem other than having to dodge the occasional mud puddle. As they moved farther away from the lights of the building, Solomon thought about bringing his own light out of inventory so that he could see well enough to move faster.

Just as they were almost completely out of sight of the building behind them, a bolt of lightning came crashing down. It hit close enough that the accompanying thunder was deafening, but that wasn't why Solomon came to a halt.

No, that would be because of the armored figure standing in their way who had been illuminated for an instant by the flash of light. He'd already been looking right at them when the lightning struck.

Solomon froze, hoping against hope that they hadn't been noticed and this encounter was just a coincidence. Then he cast that thought to the side as wishful thinking and dropped to a knee with a curse, shrugging his rifle off his shoulder and bringing it to bear at where he thought the enemy was standing.

There was no second bolt of lightning. Solomon held his position, ignoring the water running down his face. His patience was rewarded as the enemy finally drew close enough that he could see him. He drew a bead on the center of its armored chest and pulled the trigger. The muzzle flash cast the armored figure in stark relief.

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He had brought both hands together in front of him, almost like a prayer. Then the light vanished, only for the figure to reappear once more surrounded by a soft blue glow. Solomon's vision was partially blocked by the cloud of gunsmoke, but thanks to the system enhancements he could make out small ripples spreading in the glow where he had been aiming, as though he had tossed a rock into a still pool rather than firing a rifle bullet at another person.

Solomon had only a moment to curse the palpable unfairness of a magic shield. Before he could reload or draw a weapon or do anything useful the enemy was on the move again, closing in on Solomon in the blink of an eye. He kicked out like he was punting a football, but despite his casual demeanor the blow hit Solomon like a sledgehammer to the ribs, sending him flying.

Solomon did manage to hold on to his rifle, little good though it was doing him. He crashed into ground softened by rain and tumbled over twice before coming to a stop flat on his stomach, his face in the mud.

He craned his neck, spitting out mud and grass, and squinted as he tried to bring his swimming vision into focus. He could see the armored man striding forward. Before he took more than a couple of steps, though, he had to stop, bringing his hands together in front of himself once more. The shield sprang into existence again as a solid block of concrete smashed into it. Kanmi had stepped between Solomon and the armored enemy.

Kanmi wasn't bothered by the failure of his initial attack, using the rebound to whip the concrete block around in the other direction. The enemy ducked to allow it to whistle past him. Kanmi kept the chain moving. His opponent kept pushing forward. The next attack was batted aside with an armored forearm, but Kanmi was able to use the time to get distance. He was retreating off to the side, drawing the armored man away from Solomon.

Solomon knew he couldn't just sit on the sidelines and watch the fight. Kanmi was holding his own for now, but he could see that this was only going to end one way. Maybe if Kanmi had been wielding his own weapon and geared up with his own equipment it would be different, but asking him to take what was obviously an elite enemy fighter with an improvised weapon was just too much.

The question was what Solomon could do. If this guy could shrug off bullets then most of Solomon's good options were ruled out. It didn't seem like he was straight up immune, though. That shield seemed to require some effort, and at least some conscious direction. If Kanmi was keeping the guy busy then Solomon might be able to get a shot in.

Solomon also needed to be at his best. He pulled the next cartridge out of its pouch and tore it open. He didn't stand on ceremony, leaning in and snorting up as much of the powder as he could. It hit his bloodstream almost immediately, his aches and pains fading away as the world was tinged purple.

The next cartridge he slammed home, working the bolt as he tried to draw a bead on his target even as the armored figure was ducking and weaving at close range with Solomon's friend.