The suit hanged limp off a heavy lift dolly, forced to lay on its side by the sword still impaled through it. The day had started for the rest of the city, the night’s events now morning news. And the morning’s events a final cap to the ordeal. The fog had been chased away by the morning sun, but cold rain was set to take its place before any warmth could be had. A dour was setting in too poignantly. The roadway was closed off, too broken and torn asunder to allow traffic, plus the military needed space to pack up their roadblock and clear out. A few ancillary heroes milled about in their stead, making sure that this was well and truly over.

And yet Aegis hanged still off the edge of the dolly, watching the suit lay completely motionless in its death. A vain hope that it would shift, that the chest would heave despite the obvious obstruction, that Seth was alive. There were too many questions left unanswered, too much wasted potential, and too much hate expressed to just leave this all so suddenly. But that hope was kept low, deep beneath the air of duty and preparedness. He was her student after all, she had to be here to be sure it was over. So she kept a hand on the dolly, but raised her head to the slowly repairing battlefield.

Work crews were coming through the bollard walled side streets, tarmac grinders and spreaders, steamrollers, lineman for the powerlines and streetlights, and sweepers for the debris. Like trained choreography, they pulled in with set purpose, began repairing the damage they’ve undone countless times. A few supers among them set about the heavy lifting, putting street lights back up or righting collapsed facades strewn about, running high yield lines with bare hands and cooking asphalt back to a baser state. Aegis watched them with little thought, another prepared dance she was in the way of yet again.

But a vibration on her hand snapped her dimmed focus back, her vain hope rising to the surface as she turned back to the suit. That same hope hanging off her face as it deflated into disappointment at Buster as she struggled with the suit's helmet. Her fingers were digging what purchase they could find from the jagged outline of the helmet’s maw. Muscles tensing in strain, desperate to open it up. An awkward pause stopped her struggles as Aegis’ disappointment became known. She pulled her hands away and shrugged.

“Well how else am I gonna get my sword back?”

Aegis put her other hand squarely in her face, wiping away her rising response to the indignity.

“Just wait for Techno to get down here, he’ll have…”

Buster practically rolled her whole head.

“You think he’s going to have an answer for this? We still don’t have anything on that stupid orb of his. And I’m not going to sit around unarmed while he wastes my time studying rather than doing something.”

Aegis deflated further as Buster walked away toward one of the work trucks pulling in to offload equipment, coincidentally passing Technomancer’s scowling face as he walked in from the offloading area down the street. too loud too much too much. She shrugged as they passed, a clear message that the truth hurts. Techno just kept walking, his scowl deepened slightly by proximity. Almost immediately he set about scanning the suit, no condolences given, no sympathies expressed. Support arms coming about and producing close quarters scanners and sample taking equipment. Laser bores, high intensity spectrograms, magnetic sensors, and density radars. He wanted to know everything he could while he had the chance. He missed doing a thorough material scan during the graduation and didn’t want to let this slip by again. Aegis watched his support arms tap, beam, and stare at the suit, following every contour and edge of the plates. The beams doing little to the rehardened surface, just splattering like a blowtorch against a steel wall. She could feel the density sensor tap away, trying to find a weak point. Techno’s expression remained locked in study. He wasn’t disappointed with the lack of result, but he had something keeping him at bay. A pass over the helmet did little for his demeanor, but a sudden stop signaled he had resolved to something. He pulled his visor up, the inner screens and readouts faded over his forehead as he looked up at Aegis.

“I still can’t find the records Para was supposed to make on him, all I have are ancillary incident reports from the automated reporting systems.”

He seemed to glare knowingly at Aegis, at the secret she had left out of her preliminary on Seth. How he shattered the laceroid sphere… and put it back together again. Aegis kept her reaction minimal, but felt like this wasn’t an interrogation on official grounds.

“Those reports show a few things that line up worryingly with what I’m seeing here.”

He turned to the suit, a spiteful look on his face. Not so much at its wielder but at the implication that he was beaten to the metaphorical and literal punch. Such inscrutable alloys and magnificent structures must be easily discernible for one who has spent a decade locked in study.

“You want to at least tell me what we’ve dealt with before I have to go to the trouble of breaking open another unbreakable object?”

Aegis wavered, her trust in Techno was good, but this felt like it was going to cause more of an uproar than this situation needed right now. She shook her head, she had to say something at least. What more was there to say?

“I-”

But the sudden clang of metal on metal between them stopped her resolved admission. Buster had come back with little regard for the conversation at hand, and crowbar in hand to jam into the maw’s edge.

“Why don’t I just show you what we caught!?”

With a massive downward push, the crowbar bent with immense concern over its structural integrity. Her wild and determined smile showing no unease at the possibility it was about to get struck by a snapping crowbar. It was clear something was about to snap, both heroes shielded back as the sound of cracking metal crescendoed into a shower of sparks. Aegis pulled the reflexive arm from her eyes as the quiet hum of road work continued without so much as a cry of pain or thud of an unconscious Buster hitting the ground. She was fine, better than fine, she was fucking ecstatic. Yay you did it!!

“Ha!! Told you I could do it!”

Aegis tried to wipe away her reaction at Buster’s indignation again, but realized she had pulled her arm away from the dolly and instead felt disappointment in herself. She looked at the other heroes moving to see what had become of the monster they had been fighting, what truths could be gleaned from beneath all that metal and power. Her disgust in herself leaving little reason to shy away from facing the reality that was before her. She joined them in peering over the visor and into the dark void that had terrified everyone, that had been the death of one too many.

The dim light from the clouded sun required little adjustment. The void rendered shallow… way too shallow. The heroes looked on, slowly coming to realize just what they were looking at. The gravity of it contorting their faces despite their best efforts to stay composed. Techno went wide eyed in shock, his scowl deepening at the implications. Buster’s smile melted as her expression turned to bristling fury at the truth. And Aegis’ sadness faded a little as she stared in, her vain hope finding a foothold in reality.

Because the suit was empty.

A shed skin to delay the hunters, to fool their sense of pride or give them another trophy to showcase. Whatever its use though, it had one clear and concise message. Seth was still alive. And so am I... Buster rose up from her hunched peering, her feelings at the reality clear for everyone to see. All balled up fists, gritted teeth, and the only way left to let it all out. By slamming down on the already overweight dolly and breaking it half.

“SON OF A BITCH!!!!”

End