A loud [i]boom[/i] sounded, heralding the arrival of another skiff. It floated in the air to the west, far out of range as it lowered to the ground to drop off troops. The Devils weren’t risking any more skiffs after the survivors had shot two down with shoulder mounted launchers, with another also taken down by his Light. What were they planning? The survivors bunkered down across the bridge, aiming down the street in silence as they waited. Another [i]boom[/i] sounded, then another. Skiffs broke high speed flight and slowed to land out of sight behind the ruined buildings. A few minutes later there was a boom behind them on the bridge and another fallen ship lowered itself to the cover of buildings on their rear flank to the east. That wasn’t good. More orders were shouted. He wanted to charge into the bulk of the Fallen, but with Bishop busy learning the skiffs controls, that didn’t seem wise. “Bishop?” He asked in his helmet. The Ghosts voice sounded over their personal radio link. [i]“Little busy here.”[/i] “We’re running out of time! How much longer is it going to be?” [i]“Well, seeing as I don’t have the faintest clue on how to fly this thing,”[/i] Bishop paused in consideration.[i] “I have no idea.”[/i] Ralis cursed to himself. “We’re surrounded by Fallen, I want to help fight but you’re not with me.” [i]“Then fight, but don’t be reckless. This ship doesn’t get off the ground without me. I’m glad those Fallen turned this thing on because I might not have gotten that far.”[/i] Frustrated, he grabbed Victors arm to get the man’s attention. “Bishop needs more time. We’ll have to hold. What do you want me to do?” Before the man could answer, red flying drones with orange lights appeared over the rooftops on the western side, flying towards the bridge like arrows. The survivors began to fill the air with tracers at what Bishop had called shanks. The drones returned fire and their blue energy bolts pelted the bridge. One bolt found its mark and a man screamed as it struck him. The shanks crumbled from the air when hit just a few times, exploding on their way down and raining down flaming remains. “Their feeling us out, probing.” Victor said to the titan. “I’ll have Theo and the marksmen harass and cover the rear. The majority of them are to the west so that’s where ours will be as well. Help them.” After the last of the Shanks were shot down, he was handed a rifle by a wounded solider shortly afterwards by Victors command with only the briefest explanation of how to use it. It could fire in full auto or single burst and had a thirty-two round magazine size. With the longer reaching weapon in hand, he moved down the bridge towards the western end and heard the Fallen cry out down the road. It was risky being at the front, but he could take a few hits before hiding. They couldn’t. He strode passed the hunkered down survivors that looked at him anxiously. Ralis stood at the entrance of the bridge and gazed down the road as all sound, save for the hum of their skiff, seemed to vanish. Nothing happened for much longer than he liked. Then the devils charged. The Fallen came roaring into view down the road in alarming numbers much larger than from the manor. Some appeared on the rooftops to his sides as more shanks floated into view. His first instinct at the sight was to run before the surging horde, but he stopped himself at the first step backwards he had taken. If he ran, the others would break. With that in mind, Ralis did something even he thought foolish. He ran. Towards the Fallen. He hurled his Light towards the devils charging from the street with a roar that was followed by a bright flash. Victor’s men roared as well as they fired into the Fallen. He Lifted upwards to the buildings and greeted the surprised vandals he met atop the roof with a spray of bullets. One struggled on the ground and he brought his boot forcefully down on the creature to still it permanently. Another pack of Fallen across fired at him, making his shields flicker. He went to a knee as Theo had showed him and toggled the rifle to single shot. He missed a great deal of shots but his shields won out in the exchange against the vandals that fell lifelessly from the roof. He ejected the empty clip and awkwardly slammed a new one in place just in time to shoot a passing shank down. More Fallen began to climb up the sides of buildings towards him as the rest surged down the street. The last rocket Victors men had raced out from the bridge and slammed into the horde. His ears rung loudly as the force of the explosion shook him. He added to the chaos and flung another ball of his Light down into the ranks. [i]“I’m making progress.”[/i] Bishop radioed. [i]“Weapons are almost online, engines are warming up. A few more minutes I think.” [/i] “Don’t tell me, tell Victor.” He snapped, firing down at a dreg close to pulling itself to him. [i]“Right.”[/i] Ralis hoped the others were okay. He stole a glance at the bridge as he took cover to reload. The devils on the other side hadn’t made much progress against Theo’s team and that brought a brief moment of solace to the titan. That was shattered as a captain flung itself up next to him, shrapnel launcher glowing angrily. He let the rifle fall and hang from its strap as he drew the shotgun. A blast from the launcher grazed his shields and he returned with a blast of his own weapon, breaking the captains blue radiance. It recoiled from the force and couldn’t recover before he pumped another shell and fired into its chest. Another dreg that climbed over met the same fate. The devils seemed endless. Ralis felt his Light build back up again and hurled another blast of Light down for good measure. The roof granted him a fair amount of safety while still drawing an equal amount of attention. It was hard to ignore a Zeus seeming figure hurling bolts like lightning down at you. Through the chaos he began to hear something loud coming down the road. Bishop suddenly cried out in success, [i]“Almost done! Ral, get back here now.”[/i] “Okay.” He started hesitantly. “They’ve got something big coming. I can hear it.” [i]“Walker!”[/i] his Ghost cried in alarm. “A what?” Bishop groaned. [i]“Tank! It’s a tank for them! Get back here now!”[/i] The survivors began to pull back towards the skiff, some firing to cover the retreat. The noise like heavy steps grew louder and he could begin to feel soft tremors. Soon a six legged mechanical monstrosity appeared around the corner, colored like the shanks with a similar glowing light pattern at the front as well. At the bottom of the machines ‘head’ was what looked like a gatling gun. It was small compared to the main canon it carried on its back that sported a rocket pod on the side. The walker would blow the skiff to pieces if they waited on him to get back to flee. “Bishop, you’ll need to leave without me.” He said solemnly. [i]“What!?”[/i] “That thing is going to shoot you down. Load everyone up and get the -blam!- out of here, now!” [i]“Not without you.”[/i] Bishop said defiantly. Ralis gritted his teeth in the helmet. “Do it. I’m not risking their lives for me.” That seemed to baffle the Ghost. [i]“You’re more important than them! You’re my guardian, I can’t leave you! You’re priceless, we need you.” [/i] “Don’t you dare value me more over them! I don’t care what I am, they’re important too! They’re what we fight for. I won’t lose my humanity thinking like that. The City could use all of them much better than me.” The walker opened compartments on its sides and spewed forth a squadron of shanks into the air. He fired at the drones and shot a few down. Weapons along the spider like tank began to glow blue as they charged and Ralis shot at the thing to get its attention. The gatling gun angled towards him and began to fire a swarm of blue arc energy at him. Ralis had to Lift to another roof to avoid the collapse of the one he had previously stood on. [i]“Please, Ral.”[/i] Bishop pleaded. “Leave! Find another guardian if you can, but get them the hell out of here!” he cried out, shooting down another shank. A red targeting line appeared from above the walker’s main cannon and pointed directly at the skiff with the survivors still climbing aboard. Ralis frantically willed another unstable charge of his Light and hurled it at the tank like he did with the Fallen ship. It bounced off the top of the tank and detonated, sending a brief wave of arc energy coursing through its systems. The targeting laser lowered as the walker shook violently and stumbled, firing a shot from its cannon much lower than intended and hitting the devils in front of it. “I’ve got you covered, Bishop! I’m turning off our radio, get out now!” [i]-Radio: Mute[/i] appeared in his helmet display before the Ghost could protest. The now loaded skiff raised its ramp and floated slowly in the air. A red line attempted to track the craft but it flew forward with a loud [i]boom[/i] and raced out of sight. Ralis watched with a sad smile. Ideally he could escape the dead zone, find a way to the city and meet them all again. First he had to survive and without his Ghost, that seemed an impossible task. He turned too late to see the walkers red laser looking right at the building he was atop. The titan tried to Lift up in time but was caught in the blast that flung him spiraling into the air, shields barely holding. He fell into the streets, landing hard as alarms in his suit sounded. Groggily he rose to his feet with the walker no more than ten yards away, guns aimed right at him. Fallen swarmed around him from every side, howling as they approached. There he stood, surrounded by devils and alone. A light surrounded by darkness. A flame in the night. He had accepted death before, strangely enough he was used to it now. One more death was all he had now and at least he could die knowing he had helped those in need.