Malloryn pressed tentative fingerprints to a dimple in the back plate of Kincaid's mech-suit. "They're not using Firebolts."
"Aye," Kincaid panted, as gunfire sparked above them on the walkways that circled the factory. "Not yet." The filtration device under the vat was keeping them safe, but he could feel the metal of the suit pressing uncomfortably against his skin where bullets had impacted. "They're using those new armor-piercers." Designed to send shrapnel through a blue blood's body so they caused as much damage as possible, clearly the bullets weren't quite strong enough to penetrate sheet metal.
Or maybe he'd been lucky.
"You saved my life," Malloryn blurted, and it was the first time Kincaid had ever seen the duke look close to ruffled.
Kincaid hauled the duke onto his knees. "I'm going to hold it over your head forever too."
There was the duke again, that icy gaze locking on him. "I might just let you, if we get out of this alive."
Holding his hands out, Malloryn ejected the pistols that were hidden inside his sleeves, and they swiveled into his palms. "Ulbricht's mine."
"That's the sort of thinking that gets people killed," Kincaid pointed out. "This isn't a duel, Your Grace, and we've got ladies in here. If I see him, I'll shoot him."
"Fair call." The duke pressed a pair of fingers to the auditory device in his ear. "Status, please."
Static buzzed in Kincaid's matching earpiece.
"I've got Ava," Charlie replied. "We're hiding under the filtration device opposite you. There's a gunman pinning us down."
Pistol fire bloomed above them, then Gemma strode along the mesh walkway, firing dramatically from two pistols. A man in black cried out, then tumbled off the walkway, slamming into the middle of the factory floor. "One sniper down," Gemma said, and then sprinted into the shadows above as return fire pinged off the mesh under her feet.
"Jack here," growled the taciturn man. "I'm hit."
"Ingrid and I are keeping an eye on him," Byrnes echoed. "Flesh wound only, but it will keep one of us out of action. He's not a blue blood, and Debney will wring my neck if he dies."
Kincaid frowned, looking around. "What's that sound?"
"What sound?" Malloryn murmured, focusing on the rest of the group.
What the hell was it? "It's almost like a... a clock-"
"Anytime you want to join my party, Malloryn," Ulbricht called, his voice echoing through the factory. Laughter followed his words. "I'm told the fireworks display is going to be the event of the year."
Fireworks-?
Shit.
"Move!" Malloryn screamed at him, shoving him out into the open.
Muscles ached in Kincaid's thighs as he pushed himself into a sprint, following Malloryn. Every second stretched out-
-and then a massive roar went up behind him, the force punching him in the back and sending him head over heels. His knees jarred against his mech-suit as he hit the ground, heat searing across his back and something wet splattering all over him. His lungs sucked in dry air. Jaysus. He was frigging boiling inside the suit.
Malloryn slapped at his back, and some part of Kincaid's mind distantly realized he'd been on fire.
"Looks like we're even," Malloryn said, dragging him to his feet. "Can you move?"
"I'll have to," he croaked.
There was blood spattered all over the duke's face, and ash darkened his coppery brown hair. Kincaid threw a glance over his shoulder. The vat was gone. Just gone. Smoke and flames boiled out from the ruined filtration device, and blood steamed in patches on the floor.
"He must have some sort of remote detonator," Malloryn observed. "He's blowing them up, not poisoning them."
But how many charges had Ulbricht set?
Pistol fire pinged off Kincaid's shoulder armor.
"Keep moving!" the duke barked, and then they were running through black clouds of smoke.
Starfire bursts in the darkness indicated pistols firing at them. Something hit Kincaid, throwing him off balance. Another bullet ripped into the chest-plate, hammering a punch into his ribs. His mech hand shattered as he flung it up to protect his face, and Kincaid had the sudden sensation someone had actually shot him, as Malloryn drove him under cover with Ava and Charlie.
"Covering you!" Charlie called, firing over his shoulder and momentarily silencing their opponents.
Kincaid slumped on his back, sucking in lungfuls of air.
"Are you all right?" Ava demanded, touching his shoulder.