Sam

Sam ducked, the laser beam from the powered man glanced off his outermost layer of the rig. He leaped forward, his mind working faster than ever before as the liquid savagery flowed through his bloodstream. His reactions were quickened and the lactic acid in his muscles pushed away, allowing him to move faster. His acid shotgun spat two rounds of acid, but they sizzled only against the laser barrier. But they played another part, in grabbing his opponent’s attention, he cut the distance short. The multi barreled laser cannon was already spun up to battle speed, he shoved the muzzle forward, slow enough not to be stopped by the barrier, through and inside, the metal took little damage. With a squeeze of the trigger inside the gauntlet, the canon discharged. The superheated beams melted and burnt the man into a corpse.

Next victim.

Beth slammed her mace at someone, but the weapon was hindered by a woman’s fire barrier. The fire woman countered by throwing handfuls of liquid fire.

A lightning bolt from Milo’s storm struck at the fire woman’s barrier, but the barrier held fast.

Beth was in trouble. Beth had to be protected.

Firing any weapon too close to Beth was a potential problem.

Sam dodged and weaved through the battlefield and the lightning storm. Bolts of lightning struck at the powered enemies and the room was tinted in blue. Discharging his canon and committing rounds of acid whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Rahgon held a powered inside her mouth, but another threw beams and shards of ice, clattering against the scales. A third made passing fly bys from above, discharging some handheld weapons. It had to be done, Sam liked the dragons. He came close enough and activated the function. A series of clicks ran through the outermost layer of his rig, disconnecting from his weapons and moving the anchors to the next layer, and the layer shot out. The layer hugged the person with the ice power, hugged tightly and detonated. Raghon nodded in his direction, before clawing after the flying woman.

Five layers left.

Sam ran, the weight and force of his rig putting dents into the floor. He shoved another enemy to the side, right into the path of a lightning bolt, and he ejected a spinning saw blade into the powered person’s skull to finish the job. Plow forward.

Beth was on her back, the fire woman sprayed liquid fire over her. There was desperation in her eyes. The lightning bolts were not enough.

Sam leaped forward and spun around an incoming beam of acid. He reached with his gauntleted hands, through and inside the barrier of fire. His fingers grabbed his victim’s head and twisted it, and with a snap the fire woman’s neck was broken and her corpse fell to the side.

Sam offered a gauntlet to Beth and helped her to her feet.

“Thanks,” Beth said.

“Don’t mention it,” Sam said. He said nothing of why he needed her alive, if she took the save as a friendly action then so be it.

Sam turned away and scanned the field of battle. Elzrig spun through the air, struggling against two other fliers and a group of combat suits. Laser cannon spewed beams after the smaller dragon.

“Claire! Into the air,” Sam said.

“I am stuck,” Claire said.

A lightning bolt and a black cloud crashed into the ceiling again. Captain Milo and Saif were locked in their battle. Sam would have to wait before enacting his plan.

An invisible force grabbed and started turning his head and helmet to the side, his neck strained but was not snapped, his rig protected him.

Tom.

A lightning bolt thundered at Tom, but the merged tendrils were deflected to the side by the boy’s telekinetic power.

Beth grabbed at the boy and they struggled across the field. The pressure on Sam’s neck vanished.

Telekinesis against super strength. An even fight, but Beth held back, wanting to simply disable the boy and not kill him. A mistake.

Elzrig still struggled in the air.

“Claire, come on!” Sam said, but there was no response. He ran through the battlefield again, weaving and dodging through the carnage.

An enemy grabbed Sam’s rig and tried pinning him down. But he aligned a gauntlet, a pipe extending from inside it and sprayed the paste across the enemy’s face. The paste became adhesive before solidifying and finally detonating. The powered man’s skull turned into a mix of shattered cranium and burnt flesh. Sam got moving again.

Claire’s sword was stuck inside somebody’s chest, but said somebody was not dead and the two of them struggled to come on top, to outlast each other. Sam grabbed Claire’s legs, spun and threw her into the air, towards Elzrig. The flight module of her rig kicked in and she flew as a missile through the air. With her sword extended forward she sliced into the two powered fliers, cutting them into pieces.

Sam turned, Yuri was yelling for help, waving and discharging his lightning rod, he was battling a man with acid powers. Simon. Yuri was of no consequence to the plan, thus Sam turned his attention elsewhere. Also, Sam had never liked the Russian. Weaving into the battle again.

Saif and Milo were fighting up on the platform again. In one moment two human forms battled, the next a lightning bolt and black cloud struck together. Lightning bolts thundered from the sphere in the ceiling, striking at Saif, but did little to no damage. This was Sam’s moment and for the void bomb up his sleeve to enact its purpose.

Sam moved into position, navigating through the chaotic battle. His acid shotgun splashed three rounds across the face of an unfortunate and worn out combatant, who’s barrier had started to fail while fighting against Rahgon.

Sam caught the scent. Charred ash. Something was inside his rig! The displays vanished as his vision blurred. He crashed into something and tumbled along the floor. The thing inside his rig slid along and over his skin, it was not a fluid or something solid, it felt like smoke. The smoke pushed into his mouth, filling it with the taste of ash. Even with cybernetics augmenting him, breathing grew difficult.