Lucas stepped over the twitching remains of the beast, slick with ichor, and turned toward Ava.
His coat was scorched at the hem. His shirt was shredded, exposing part of the biosuit underneath —which was smoking.
And his blade?
Cracked down the middle, half-melted, edge ruined.
He held it up and gave it a dramatic little twirl before it snapped with a soft metallic ping.
"So… good news: I'm still pretty." He looked at her expectantly. "Bad news: all my gear dead."
Ava didn't react. She just walked up, scanning his gear with a practiced eye.
"Your suit just overheating on the left flank."
Lucas looked down at the rising curl of black.
"Yeah, I was hoping that was just flair."
She crouched to examine the exposed energy core node under his ribs, her fingers quick, already reaching into her pack.
"Look at the smoke. Your knife's toast. Bracer's holding but it's twitchy. Core seal's degraded. No wonder everything's snapping."
"I use the good stuff."
