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"An Olyasps

"Cut him down in front of the entire ar absolutely manic"

Then Sevro is off and we push on A squad of Gray policeunfire pocks the sidewalks, and then divert to an alleyway to avoid thehing and gasping, we sturounds We hide in the trees there like soh the thin copse of woods and past a high wall, the Citadel stands a network of spires Not golden, but white laced with red and still decorated with the lions of Augustus, though Bellona blue and silver banners flap in the breeze overtop a lion weathervane Their silver eagle seems so proud till Sevro waves down to us from the weathervane and cuts one of the banners free They didn’t expect anyone to penetrate this far

Aside from its beauty, the Citadel is also a fortress One I don’t want to tangle with We’d go roo it is not completely empty of soldiers, be overwhelmed, pinned to its expensive red oak walls and killed on its marble floors It is not shielded, but a network of bunkers lie far beneath it I orried that is where the Sovereign would be kept If she stayed there, this would turn into a siege It would be days before we dig her out, if we could at all So I give her a path of escape It all falls on Mustang’s shoulders: the shield o down at the proper time Flush her out

A decorative wall, one that’d usually be nothing ravBoots, bars us frorounds All around us is park Trees Fountains White squares where Golds and Silvers would have afternoon tea, now empty So silent here at the eye of the storm Sevro flies down to join s are al one another and he liftshis left arm The boots sputter and shiver out sparks Te dip down Then we’re over the wall I set down atop and Sevro dips down again to pick up the next Howler Moments later, his head appears at the top of the wall for a ravBoots spark and whine With one last ive out and Sevro and the Howler fall the ten round

A great boom thunders fro did it

Above, the translucent shield that separated this world fro the fires in the city and the lightning above like a corrupted hth of it shatters; a flood of pent-up water falls down on that section of the city in great gray sheets

"It didn’t work!" Pebble cries from the other side of the wall

But it did One by one, the nexuses that cast the shield overload It’s a chain reaction as great sheets of water fro, will launch the reinforceood as taken And even now, the Sovereign will be extracted frouards to make an escape from the lost planet But the shuttle pads are still two kilorounds This was all supposed to be different I should be in my armor, a hundred Obsidians behind me, a dozen of my best Golds Instead, I lead a pack of lance down the wall at Sevro, who inizes the look in my eyes

"No, Darrow," he says "Think of yourat the wall as I turn away "Don’t do it, Darrow Wait! They’ll kill you!"

I drop over the other side of the wall into the Citadel’s gardens

So that they fray and snap those around theh friends have paid for my war This one’s on me

"DARROW!" he screams, horrible, desperate "STOP!"

I run faster than I have in all n will not escape me I did all this to catch her Take her, break the Society Take her, and the stage is set We will rise We can win I juh rosebushes Blood leaks down Blade in hand

There

I round a corner of the Citadel Past a garden of roses lies a courtyard of white scored black by the engines of personal yachts Four lonely ships sit in a landing zone that can hold a hundred All the shuttles are black with a giant gold crescent on their broad chassis, but the thickest of theines and a reinforced hull, is the Sovereign’s The others are decoys, nearly as thick, nearly as aruishable

I’ve been seen on sensors, no doubt Gray lurchers are couards have been loosed from some hidden barracks to kill me They’ll only catchpad, I do not breakthem to launch I’m not too late But the door from the Citadel is far closer than I to the ship

They co in the rain and wind They duck their heads into the gale, look upward at the sky where Iron Rain entry trails glow behind the stor slowly in the forge My Titans co ran I catch her face as she ducks into the ship’s belly I see Aja aly traitorous son of a bitch I run faster Legs nu All I am, I put into thiswith Harmony, the horrors at the Institute All the love I’ve earned and lost and still wish to live for, I let burn in e waits on the pavelow and its engines prime The decoys mimic its motions A Bellona Gold turns as I near His eyes flash wide and I slash him at the run as he lets out a half scream More turn--wonize froustus’s side

Their realization of my presence coates, not aather their wits, I’e a Gray’s outstretched grip, snag a s flesh