A chunk of masonry tumbled down the side of a huge pile of rubble, the fleeting movement in the silent wasteland instantly drawing Rachel's attention. Dana's black hole had sucked away all the dust that had been kicked up when Alyssa flattened the city block, which gave the brunette a crystal-clear view of the emerging automaton. She aimed her Tachyon rifle at the floundering thrall, centring the crosshairs on its dusty chestplate as it finally managed to break free of the demolished building.
Despite being buried under thousands of tons of debris, this wasn't the first robotic trooper that had survived the devastation. It had taken a couple of minutes for the first to appear, then several more had torn themselves free of the shattered ruins. Fortunately for the brunette, they'd emerged individually rather than as a group, so it had been easy to pick them off one at a time.
Rachel was about to squeeze the trigger, when the synthetic soldier seemed to freeze, its arms and legs locking in position. The robot pitched over to land on its face, then lay perfectly still, its limbs held in the same awkward pose. She zoomed in using her Paragon suit's HUD and searched for any sign of moment, but it was completely rigid, almost as if rigor mortis had set in.
*Incoming friendlies!*
When she heard Alyssa's telepathic voice, Rachel slid down the Raptor's wing and rushed over to meet her friends as they hurried towards the crash site. Alyssa and Helene were both unscathed, but the third girl in the group drew her full attention. Irillith was unconscious and being carried by floating telekinetic hands, her armour covered in a patchwork of impact craters. The white plating had turned almost black with scorch marks, indicating she'd been shot from all directions.
"How badly is she hurt?" Rachel asked with concern as she ran up to check on Irillith.
"She's taken a few nasty hits, but I don't think any are life threatening," Alyssa explained, while carefully placing the wounded Maliri on the ground. "Can I leave her with you? Dana's been hurt too and I thought it would be easier to bring everyone here, rather than try to take all of you down to them."
"Go... I'll take care of her," the young Doctor agreed, shooing her matriarch away.
Alyssa turned to face Helene. "Stay here with Rachel for a minute. I'll be right back."
Her teal-hued companion nodded. "Okay, see you soon."
Activating flight mode, Alyssa launched herself into the air, borne aloft by her Paragon suit's thrusters. From her elevated vantage point, she did a quick visual sweep of the ground, looking for any sign of more robotic troops. A squad of synthetic thralls caught her eye as she swooped overhead and Alyssa craned her neck around to watch them as she soared towards the temple. They were gathered behind the closest mound of rubble and looked like they'd been preparing to launch an attack, but all five had tipped over, legs and arms pointing stiffly towards the sky.
*What happened with that last robot?* she asked the brunette. *I heard your thoughts; it sounded like it suddenly fell over?*
*It just locked up... like it had malfunctioned,* Rachel replied.
*Hmm, interesting... and how's Irillith?*
*I've just finished scanning her. The inner layer of Irillith's armour saved her life; she suffered several moderate gunshot wounds and was badly bruised from being hit at close-range. I'm just healing those injuries now and she'll be fully recovered by the time she awakens.*
*What about the effects of the Mists?* Alyssa asked with concern. *Any long term damage?*
*There was significant trauma to her amygdala from massive overstimulation, which tracks with the autopsy reports we retrieved from Valada's archive.* There was a brief pause, then Rachel added hesitantly, *Irillith's brain activity seems relatively normal now though... it's almost as if she's having a relaxing afternoon nap, not teetering on the edge of insanity. Based on her level of exposure, she should be hyperactive and raving incoherently at this stage.*
*Helene managed to calm Irillith down and put her to sleep. Have a chat with her, she might be able to explain exactly what she did.*
*Alright, will do.*
Alyssa had nearly reached the pyramid and from her position flying high above the ground, she could see the shocking extent of the destruction Dana had unleashed. An enormous sinkhole had opened up in the ground to the north and swallowed the huge building almost in its entirety. The black hole had sucked in the bulk of the ancient edifice, gouging a massive pit in the surface of Kythshara.
Descending into the gaping hole, Alyssa could see open tunnels in the side of the crevasse, the passageways exposed by the inexorable pull of the singularity. Hundreds of tons of rock had been torn from the cliff face, exposing the subterranean base and making it look like gleaming fossils embedded in the cavern's flanks. Some of those corridors had been partially ripped away and Alyssa saw more Mael'nerak murals, like those on the wall that had briefly blocked her rescue of Irillith.
She zoomed in on the shattered maze as she floated past, studying a section of the wall that had been torn open. Inside were robotic figures slumped in haphazard piles, their weapons still clenched in their mechanical grip. With the question of what had ambushed Irillith finally answered, she dropped lower, searching for John and the girls.
The shoulder lamps from her suit reflected off glinting shapes in the darkness, shapes which quickly became identifiable as her missing friends. Alyssa dropped the final distance and fell into John's arms, hugging him fiercely.
"I knew it was a big mistake letting you go running off alone!" she declared half-seriously, despite her beaming grin of relief.
"You were right," he admitted, hugging her back.
Pulling off her helmet, she gave him a heated kiss before turning to smile at Tashana. "I'm so glad you're okay. We got to Irillith just in time and I think she's going to be alright."
"Thank you," the Maliri said, the worried look on her face starting to ease.
"How's Sparks?" the blonde asked, crouching beside her friend.
"She's still unconscious, but her pulse is steady and she's breathing okay," John replied, kneeling down to scoop the redhead up into his arms.
Alyssa made a quick gesture and a dozen telekinetic hands surrounded them. "I know your Paragon suits are wrecked; I'll just carry you back to Rachel."
He nodded his assent, then they rose into the air beside Alyssa. John and Tashana were quiet as they soared skyward, their gaze sweeping over the walls of the massive room that Dana had emptied so efficiently. They both noticed the exposed tunnels as they ascended, with John in particular staring at the concealed machinery in fascination.
"The walls were able to rotate and altered the layout of the corridors," Alyssa explained, seeing his quizzical expression. "There were also robot thralls hidden inside."
John frowned in confusion. "I looked through the walls, but I didn't notice them at all."
"Mael'nerak had to have anticipated you doing that. He probably had the robots stored in pieces until it was time to attack, so a Progenitor wouldn't recognise them as a threat."
"He basically turned Kythshara into a lethal Progenitor trap," he stated, turning to look at the blonde for her opinion.
