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Doran

Doran let out an alarmed squawk as a section of the school's roof collapsed uncomfortably close to him, the explosions rocking through the abused structure and stressing parts of it beyond their capability. It took a few moments of clawing through fresh rubble before he was able to finally rendezvous with the rest of his team, scrabbling over a broken wall and trotting toward the assembled Guardians.

"What on Earth was-" he started to ask, when he saw the wolf collapse. "Shit, Wilkins!" he broke into a run, diving to Wilkins' side as quickly as he could and starting to check over his body. "Casper, help me out here. How bad is it?"

Doran's Ghost materialized and scanned the downed Guardian, not answering immediately.

Allen

The wine of an arc rail gun charging snapped Allen out of his state of blind panic. "Cody, Take my six! We gotta buy Doran Time!" Without a look behind him, Allen dived off the roof of the building, an arc lance round striking the place he was just a moment ago. Xyan paused long enough to say, "Get him in cover and keep working. If Korey dies.... Don't let it happen!" With that, he fired his jetpack and launched off the roof, a spray of bullets getting absorbed in his shield.

Allen, meanwhile, was working on taking out the sniper that nearly shot him. Revolver in hand, he spotted the glint of the fallen weapon scope and with a small prayer fired a burst of rounds down range at it. The glint of the scope disappeared and he swore he saw the spray of alien blood on the wall behind it.

Xyan, with his rocket in hand, took aim at an approaching Fallen skiff and let loose both tubes of the launcher. The craft shuddered and groaned as it crashed down, raising a small dust cloud.

Doran

Doran ducked his head as the rail gun round snapped through the air not far from any of them, frowning and crouching over Wilkins' body. "Can we at least move him?" he growled at his Ghost.

Casper gave a brief shake, stirring itself from the concentration of scanning the wolf's body. "Yes, if we're careful about it. He's got a lot of internal injuries, mostly from concussive force. His armor took the worst of the burns at least."

"Small miracles," the dragon muttered, carefully wrapping his arms around Korey's shoulders and dragging him deeper into the broken room, pulling him behind a low wall to try and keep him out of enemy fire. He then sat crosslegged beside the wolf and rested his gloved hands on his chest, bowing his head and closing his eyes.

Healing an injured Guardian involved a mix of medical knowledge and willpower. The Light was the strongest tool for healing a fellow Guardian, but medical understanding was still required to know how best to use that tool. Doran had moderate reserves of both, but the intense Fallen presence in the area had brought in too much of the Darkness to make things easy. On casual patrols one's Ghost could bring any Guardian back even from death, but when and where the Darkness was too strong things became a lot more involved.

So the dragon gritted his teeth and focused, pouring his reserves of Light into his comrade and probing for the worst injuries so he could set about healing them. He only hoped Cody and Allen could hold the Fallen off for long enough.

Allen

Meanwhile, both Allen and Cody were making progress. Xyan had more or less leveled any fallen between him and the main platform they were using for a sniper nest, while Allen had climbed into the former fallen sniper position opposite of Xyan

A glimmer of movement behind Xyans position caught Allen's attention as he checked in on his allies progress. "Cody, Watch your six!" The words were no sooner out of his mouth when Xyan pulled a one eighty, assault rifle leveled and unloading. The Fallen Vandals approaching him, normally cloaked under their light bending shields, fell back as the cloaks broke from the sustained fire of the AR.

While this was going on, Allen double jumped up to the sniper platform he was under, signalling Jake to swap his fusion rifle for a sniper rifle. The ghost quickly pulled out one of his favorites, a New Monarchy classic with arc charged rounds. Taking aim, he relayed to Xyan that two Fallen Captains blade wielders were on guard with the snipers. "On my go, rush them. I'll snipe their shields off, and you ground pound them to the void!" He pulled the bolt back on his rifle and took two shots in quick succession.

As the Captains shields fell, Xyan Jet Packed up above the platform, hoping to maximize the damage his Fist of Havoc could do. At the apex of his jump, he charged up his arms, visible static arcing off his armor as he quickly plummeted, slamming his arms to the ground. The slam rocked the platform, and the arc shockwave electrocuted most of the Fallen, leaving two stunned and injured Captains. Quick with his weapon, four shotgun shells peppered the remaining two targets.

Allen scanned the area, noting the sudden lack of fallen skiffs. "Think they're done?" He asked the group. "I hope so." Xyan replied, jetting over to him, "We've got our work cut out if they keep coming.

Allen nodded, and shouldered his rifle. "Right, regroup with Doran. I hope he's made progress. If not, we can lend our light to help." They both took off from the platform, heading back to Doran and Wilkins.

Doran

Doran was barely aware of the ongoing battle around him anymore. All of his focus was poured into healing Wilkins. He couldn't waste time worrying over the Fallen; he had no choice but to trust Allen and Cody to keep him covered, and trust them he did.

The wolf needed all his attention. The dragon's eyes were closed and his body relaxed, his mind sunk into a deep trance to try and channel every fragment of Light he had within him. Wilkins was in rough shape but he was alive, and Doran intended to keep him that way.

It wasn't going to be easy. Doran located the worst injuries one by one and worked to heal them while balancing the wolf's overall system; healing one injury too fast could cause an imbalance that would shock his system and make things even worse, so it was a delicate process. Under normal circumstances it went a lot faster, but the Darkness brought by so many Fallen muddled the process like working through a thick fog or trying to sew wearing heavy gloves. It could be done, but it took time and concentration. If he were being actively shot at it might not have been possible, but Allen and Xyan were giving him what he needed. The process was slow, but it was progressing. The wolf's light was faint but beginning to burn more steadily.

Allen

Allen jumped and blinked back up to Xyan. "Just got word from the replacement team," He said, shaking the blood and alien bits from his armor plating, "They've set up an FOB in orbit. If Doran says Wilkins is ready to move, we can relocate his ghost there and get him healed up quick."

Allen smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks for that," He said, and offered a gloved hand. "Cody, I think you've earned the right to head up and take him to orbit. You've earned the respite from combat." He then looked at Doran. "What's his status?"

Doran

Doran sighed and leaned back, resting against the low wall he'd dragged Wilkins behind and taking a few breaths. "He's still quite weak, and will probably be unconscious for a bit longer. But he's stable. If that team in orbit can lend him a bit more of their light, he should recover smoothly from here on." Behind his visor, he blinked and shook his head a bit, weary from the healing. "Thanks for keeping them off me, you two. Made the difference."

Xyan's shoulders heaved in a quiet sigh, relieved to hear the news about Wilkins. He then turned to Allen to answer him. "If you're sure. Sounds like the replacement teams are on the way down, and the Fallen are backing off. If you and Doran can get on without me for a bit, I'll transmat up with Korey and keep an eye on him." He stared down at the unconscious wolf, keeping his emotions carefully guarded. After a moment he turned to Doran and gave him a brief nod. "Thanks for not letting the bastard die on me."

Doran just returned the nod, recognizing the depth of emotion left unspoken. "Anytime, Cody. Just try to keep him out of trouble." He gave a small grin, then stood up and stepped back a few paces. Xyan took his place beside Wilkins, and a moment later the two vanished in a transmat beam, transferred to one of the small frigates holding station in orbit above them.

Allen

Allen Sighed and watched the two go before giving a good nod to Doran. "Quick thinking on your part, man." He said, shaking a bit at the close call. He then smiled weakly, saying, "Come on, we can't exactly let the new replacements think we're crappy caretakers. Let's try to improve what we can before they get down here. Repair any damage we can and fortify it as well."