Still blocks hits when weakened

I flew for the crack. Into that morass where powers were so much weaker.

To find the people who were supposed to destroy key parts of the infrastructure.

Men and women in winter clothes and Patrol outfits were hurrying along this landscape of red crystal, dusted with snow from high above. They were gathering at strategic points. Two of the points we'd wanted to hit were close to our starting point. Just had to get the necessary people down here. Tinker tanks flanked the group, trundling along, turrets sweeping around nervously, looking for a target to shoot. Automated.

***

When she wasn't on the surface, she was down here, doing this. I flew over, struggling to move through the air, to navigate. I had my forcefield and it felt thin, even though it was so thin as to be unnoticeable normally.

I wasn't sure I trusted it against Skadi, but I'd asked people to fight here and I couldn't stand back.

I used flight to bound forward and help guide my running more than I flew on my own. I tried to get some air, raised up my forcefield, and used my aura.

My forcefield has always been something that took one good hit and then took a bit to recharge. Here's hoping it still takes one good hit, and the recharge is what suffers from my being down here.

She swatted me, not even with the blade, and sent me careening.

Flight helped kill the worst of my momentum, but the landing was still a hard one.

I looked back, and she was gone.

- Infared 19.1