The Aegis

Tuesday, 1st of March, 199 A.C, 04:40

“Nobody really thinks they’re immortal, just that their death is always far away. Which is true, I suppose. Until the one night that it isn’t.” - The Gravekeeper

Another Psychon’s skull crumpled under the force of my Veil-hardened fist. I knew that I shouldn’t be using my powers so liberally, but with so much of the squad out of commission or fighting that… thing, I didn’t have much of a choice.

Part of me was aware that dealing with the Duelist had left me on the brink. But I didn’t want to stop. I *couldn’t* stop, not so close to the end. The lights from the Pugilist and Berserker’s Chippers were out there, trying to disrupt the giant Psychon, but even from here it was clear that they weren’t making enough progress. Already it was drawing back for another shot.

A rifle reported to my right, with the crisp, sharp crack of gunpowder and lead. The Deadeye was trying for an encore performance. She hit her mark, to her credit, but it was not enough.

All she managed to do without Knockout was make the monster flinch, buying us maybe four or five seconds. Enough for me to have a realization. There was only one way that the people around me survived this attack, and I was wearing it.

I stared down the bolt of energy on the Psychon’s bow, moments away from its deadly flight, and rapped my knuckles against my breastplate. I was the Aegis, wasn’t I? The shield? The cloak? It was time I lived up to my namesake.

I spoke from deep down in my diaphragm. Everyone needed to get behind the wall, get behind *me*. They obeyed, shepherded along by my Veil and by the arms of others.

Someone was screaming expletives at me. It was the Heister, silly woman. She meant well, pleading in her own way for me to get to safety. But there was nothing she could do, just the two of us alone on the wall.

She grabbed my arm and tried to force me into safety. It was a good effort. She was strong. I was stronger.

I smiled gently as I assured her that this was the way it had to go, then tossed her back where the others had gathered. Who could face such a terrible evil but me?

I turned to face my adversary again. It would not so much as lay a finger on anyone in my care. Not while I still drew breath.

The flames of my aura shone more brilliantly than they ever had before. I became like stone — no, like steel. As I set my stance, my boots dug furrows into the wooden flooring like it was so much dirt.

The horizon was just beginning its transition from abyssal blue to pastel pinks and purples. I could have picked a much worse morning to be my last.

I threw off my cloak now, letting it flutter down until it came to rest over my protesting friends. I slammed my fist again into my breastplate and bellowed at the beast, challenging it to strike me down.

I emptied my lungs, filled them again, and kept screaming. I kept it up until the bolt finally flew, with pinpoint precision, into my chest.

***

The Runner

My memories of that moment are discrete, separated out into individual images like those Pre-Calamity cameras that print out the picture after you take it. I remember the instant that the arrow hit the Aegis, spearing her through for a fraction of a fraction of a second before it detonated.

In the next moment she was gone, consumed by a purple fireball that instantly turned the wall into rubble. There was no smoke, but the explosion kicked up plenty of dust. I remember each of our reactions because they were all different. The Heister swore. The Scout rocked back and forth as he mumbled a prayer behind his Veil. The Deadeye cradled her rifle. The Duelist tossed the Aegis’ cloak over a group of volunteers to protect them from shrapnel. With my own Veil activated to keep the others safe, I couldn’t do much outwardly. But I burned the scene into my mind at least. I owed her that much.

The next thing I remember is the shockwave. We tumbled and fell and slid to a stop, pieces of the wall passing by or striking unfortunate volunteers. The Scout got hit on the forehead by a splintered bit of wood. Several sharp stones scratched my arms and hands. The Aegis’ cloak did its best to protect the people behind it, but even it had its limits. I remember it sailing overhead, torn to ribbons but somehow not stained in the slightest.

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Then everything slowly settled. The clatter of rocks and wood quieted. The wind died down, and the dust cloud parted to reveal the aftermath.

A figure stood in the epicenter of the devastation. Almost a silhouette, framed first by dust, then by the watercolor sunrise. Without her cloak, the Aegis appeared statuesque among the debris, buried up to her shins.

It was like she was frozen in time. Her breastplate was shattered to bits, blood flowing freely through the cracks despite the raging aura surrounding her. Burns covered her body and the right side of her hair had been scorched clean off. But she kept standing, denying the world its beloved causality for as long as she could.

Reality caught up with her eventually, as it always does. She wobbled, then fell back onto the loose rubble.

The Scout ran off to grab the Surgeon while the rest of us hurried to the Aegis’ side. I tried my Veil as I arrived, but for the first time I felt it *fighting* me. Something about the Aegis was affecting it, sucking the power away like a gravity well.

Her eyes retained a dull shine, and her chest was rising and falling in ragged breaths. That was about it for the good news. Her Veil was still raging, unwilling — or maybe unable — to calm itself down, and that energy from the arrow was seeping into her wounds, mixing with her blood until it turned a strange mulberry.

The Heister put her hands on her knees and retched. Her skin was pale and her face was stretched into a grimace. Still, she moved to grab one of the Aegis’ arms.

“Come on then,” she said, “I’m not gonna be able to move her alone.”

Careful to avoid her more obvious injuries, we each got a hold and pulled on three. Nothing. We would have had better luck trying to lift a truck.

The Scout returned with the Surgeon, who was putting on a fresh pair of surgical gloves as he ran. When the Surgeon saw his new patient’s condition, he swore under his breath. Quiet enough that I’m sure he thought nobody heard.

“Alright,” he said, “let’s check the damage.” With our help, he managed to get the breastplate off of the Aegis, but when he went to use his Veil all he got was a brief glow in his fingertips. Clicking his tongue, he opened up his doctor’s bag and prepared to do things the boring way.

The Heister was making a peculiar noise. Some sort of mix between a groan, gurgle, and shout. She stumbled around the Aegis until she was over the woman’s head, then performed the maneuver I had seen her execute back in January against the Veiled outside that convenience store. She dug her fingers under the metal bands making up the Aegis’ Veil, then once she was happy with her purchase, she pulled with everything she had.

The Heister’s body, for lack of a better word, *warped* as she strained against the supercharged Veil. Her hair shortened, then lengthened. Small features in her face took on a sort of instability, as if unsure what the right angles and proportions were. But she kept pulling, and even with whatever it was that the arrow had done to the Aegis, the Veil eventually started giving way.

The Aegis’ aura rippled, looking more like water than flame, and gathered near the edges of her Veil. More and more the light pooled until the building pressure became too much and the Veil launched upward, trailing wisps of aura behind it like the spray of a fountain.

As the Aegis’ aura faded, the dark energy from the arrow took the opportunity to sink down into her skin. Her body shuddered as it entered her bloodstream and turned her veins that strange purplish color.

The Heister fell back and promptly emptied the contents of her stomach onto the ground. Her body had settled back into its usual state of affairs.

The Scout presented a makeshift stretcher and we loaded Sarie onto it, a much easier job now that she was no longer supernaturally dense.

The Surgeon’s aura came to life, full force this time, and he wordlessly set to slowing the bleeding enough for Sarie to survive a trip to the field hospital.

The Deadeye took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood off of her gloves. She motioned to the Scout to follow her back to the remains of the wall. The threat of that titanic Psychon was still present, and they were the only members of Impulse that could provide help from back here.

The Duelist lingered by Sarie, glancing between her and the duo headed to the wall. He eventually made up his mind and ran back to the volunteers to protect them from the few Psychons left that now had a free pass into the city.

I stayed by Sarie’s side, doing what I could to help now that my Veil was working again. She stirred suddenly, shifting her head an inch or so in a circle to identify the Surgeon and myself.

She brought up a feeble hand to confirm that her Veil was gone, then asked, “Nobody saw?”

“Your identity is safe, if that’s what you’re asking,” the Surgeon replied. “Plenty of spectators for that spectacle though. But. Don’t worry about that right now. Just focus on staying alive for me, hm?”

Sarie’s laugh was so weak you could barely distinguish it from her raspy breathing. “Sorry,” she said, then slipped back into unconsciousness.

The Heister slunk over to us and slid the Veil back over the Aegis’ face. The Surgeon was just finishing up his initial treatment, and in short order we were carrying the stretcher to the field hospital for more extensive treatment.

The Surgeon was going through a list of all the operations that were going to be necessary. Foreign body extractions, wound cleanings, stitches, medications, burn care. He said that she would likely be moved to a hospital once they had exhausted their options out here.

He was hiding behind procedure to avoid the fact that he had no idea what was going to happen. None of us knew whether she would survive, nor what would become of that purple energy coursing through her.

I didn’t feel Veiled in that moment. I don’t think any of us did.