The O erupted, winking like a star, firing everything it had—laser, tacstars, spheres, xmax. Highways of light came right at me, and then I was down again and the world was aflame, a hot white sky.
"Three's hit."
"Seven is hit."
"Nine?"
"Get the O."
I struggled to my feet. Focus, a cloud of black smoke. Fire rippled above me. The O stood before me, enveloped in a hazy violet field, cold air shimmering all around it, ice forming on my A-suit. The head, moving; armor, it's in armor; the eyes, glowing red, right into mine. Something came down, a weapon, writhing like a snake in hazy air. My life flashed before me. Tara, and the Legion gate. Hell and Valkyrie and our landing on the New World. Priestess appeared before me, glowing like an icon. I saw Moontouch, the Princess of the Dead, holding up my baby—what a beautiful baby! I fired canister, right into the O's ugly face. The world exploded, a tremendous flash, and hot sparkles danced in my vision. I was on my back now—the world was spinning around, and I was blind. The battle raged around me.
"Canister! Biobloc! Pour it on!" Multiple explosions deafened me. The transmissions were fading.
"Biobloc! Get him, Merlin!"
"No…no! He's gone."
"Get the O! Get the O!"
"Use flame!"
"No—not the tacstar!"
"Canister! More!"
"Don't stop! Don't stop!"
I struggled to my feet. My vision was coming back; I was still alive. I spat blood and aimed with my good arm. I saw A-suits in the smoke, walking in flames, firing into the dark. Something writhed in the shadows. Four leaned into his fieldfaxer; and it was shrieking, whining, howling biotic death at the thing in the shadows. Plasma dazzled my eyes; Sassin firing full auto from his Manlink, full auto plasma, spitting and burning, lighting up a wild thrashing form like a great metal snake in its death throes. Pulsing violet flashes, on and off, a dying star. Coolhand fired canister, the air full of humming death, riddling the target, full auto canister. Psycho, the snout of his chainlink almost touching the creature, firing auto xmax; we're much too close for tacstars. The shield is down! I switched to auto xmax and fired one-handed and kept my finger down on the trigger, a death grip. Someone fired flame, and the O ignited.
"Burn the bastard!"
"Blast him!"
"Don't stop!"
Junk, the O was flaming junk, whirling in a firestorm of cenite, dancing in the lightning of xmax and melting in the plasma's hot breath, cooking in the biobloc. The buildings came down around us, falling down on our armored backs, but we didn't care. We kept firing until we knew, beyond a doubt, that the O was dead.
"Don't die, Boudicca! Oh my God, please don't die! Priestess! Priestess! Help me!" It was Valkyrie, frantic.
The world whirled around me. I found Valkyrie on the tacmap and staggered dizzily to the site. She was on her knees, cradling Boudicca in her arms. Hell burned all around them. Boudicca was horribly wounded, her frontal armor burnt away and smoking, white-hot, her abdomen a bloody mass of melting cenite and bubbling gore, her legs two black, shredded metal stumps. I wrenched at her visor with my one good hand and got it up. She was pale and still, in shock.
"Thinker! Thinker, you're hit!" Valkyrie exclaimed. She was also in shock, breathing shallowly.
"I'm all right. Gamma, speak! Priestess, where are you?"
Boudicca's eyelids fluttered and she tried to focus on me. "Beta? Three? Did we get the O?"
"We got it, Gamma—it's stone dead!"
Blood spurted out of Gamma One's mouth, and she began coughing.
"Valkyrie, get my medkit!" I couldn't seem to get it open with my one good hand.
"Don't die, Boudicca! I love you!" Valkyrie was clinging to Boudicca and crying, hysterical.
"The medkit, Valkyrie!" Priestess suddenly appeared, slamming a bloody biotic charger on to Boudicca's charred and smoking chest. Priestess hit her with a max charge, and did it again, and again.
"Valkyrie…Val…" Boudicca was trying to speak.
"Boudicca! You're going to be all right!" Valkyrie replied. "Priestess is here, you're all right!"
"No, Val…I'm dying…I'm done." Her face twisted into a painful grimace. "But we got the O! Gamma got the O…you put that on my grave, Valkyrie."
"Don't die, Boudicca! Don't leave me!"
Gamma One's eyes turned up to the sky. The color was fading from her twitching, frightened face. Her lips moved. "Forming a new squad, Val…" she whispered throatily. "I'll save you…number two." And then she shuddered and the life ran right out of her, and Priestess kept banging away on the biotic charger, but it made no difference—another immortal was dead.
"Priestess! Medic! Medic! It's One!" Coolhand was calling for help—it was for Beta One. Priestess leaped to her feet and disappeared into the dark. Snow Leopard! I gritted my teeth. This was not going to be easy.
"Are you all right, Valkyrie?" I asked.
Valkyrie did not move. She silently held Boudicca in her arms, and said not a word. I made the sign of the Legion over Boudicca, and then over Valkyrie, and then I left them, to see about Snow Leopard.
I found him in Coolhand's arms, with Priestess working frantically on him. They had unlinked his upper armor. It was red with blood. Horrible sucking chest wounds, blood spurting everywhere. It looked as if he had lost an arm as well. His visor open, pale face, his eyes blinking—he was as pale as death, gasping for air.
"Is he going to make it, Priestess?"
"Shut down—hand me a fleshpad. The breather!"
I could see, behind his visor, Coolhand shaking and crying silently. I prayed to the God of War for Snow Leopard's life. And all I could think was that he was a great warrior, and he was our One; and if the Gods let him die, I would curse the Gods, and believe in nothing, and face a future as dark as a black hole.
"Ten, Two…damn! Badass, Badboy, we're through here. Get us out. Big Kid, we've done it. Acknowledge, please." Coolhand had taken charge. Snow Leopard screamed, in sudden agony. Blood spurted all over my faceplate.
"There…" Priestess's armored fingers were digging in Snow Leopard's chest for something. The medpads were soaked in blood.
"Is he stable?"
"Badass, Badboy. Respond!"
An armored hand on my shoulder. It was Dragon. "Thinker, you'd better come here." I turned to follow him. Flames licked at our feet and the sky was dark with smoke. I did not want to see whatever it was Dragon had for me.
"Badass, Badboy. Scut! No response."
"Badass…kid…to pick up Badboy. Acknow…" Shot full of static. That had to be Big Kid, trying to relay our message to Badass. At least somebody was getting the word. A dark sky. Shadowy figures in A-suits, moving in slow motion around me like a dream. Something flaming, a charred pile of junk—the O. Dragon's heavy hand was still on my shoulder. He was guiding me somewhere.
"Badboy, Beta Two. Count off! One, wounded. Two, present—count off!"
"Three," I said mechanically.
"Four." A whisper. Merlin was alive!
"Five." Psycho! Bulletproof, the magnificent little maniac was bulletproof!
Silence. Silence, from Beta Six. The remnants of his psybloc were still falling, ghostly lights in the sky. And out of the smoke a vision appeared. It was Psycho, on his knees, cradling another trooper in his arms. I saw in an instant that it was Ironman. Smoke drifted slowly around the scene, and a faint halo of light illuminated them from behind. I sank to my knees and touched Ironman's helmet with the armored fingers of my good hand. His face was still and pale behind the visor, and his eyes were open. A ragged laser track ran through his armor from the neck down through his chest and left arm. The cenite armor was still smoking.
I couldn't speak. It was like a dream.
"Priestess…" I finally said. "Priestess."
"She's already been here," Psycho informed me. "He's gone. Ironman is gone."