[h1]Katrina Meyer[/h1]

It was like she was watching a play at a great distance- the sounds were tinny, the claws and teeth of the grit charging through the door seemed far-away and fake, poor special effects from a low quality movie.  

[quote]"C'mon, twerps, let's go!" the robot hollered in a very human voice. A rune was etched into its chest -- this robot was enchanted. "Is this everyone? Move it! Comin' through! Go down, go down down down! I'll take this guy, run faster!"[/quote]

Lurched back into the present, Kat continued her descent down the stairs, looking behind her to make sure everyone was following. She'd barely had time to get a look at the robot but had picked up the sigil, and recognised the make as a high-quality royal servant. It was unlikely to last long against the oncoming grit, but it stood a hell of a lot of a better chance than any of them.

The robot shouted some directions at Vincent, who had just caught up with her as they fled down the stairs. She hadn't really seen much of the oncoming grit and battle upstairs, but looking up noted a hazy smoke which seemed to be flowing not up but [i]out[/i] of the landing and back towards the hall.

[quote=@drewccapp]He looked over at Kat, who he had just caught up with. "I'm with you."[/quote]

Hearing Vincent's words, Kat turned back towards him. She found herself smirking, without really having thought about it.

"Glad to hear it. Try to keep up!"

She increased her speed- half running, half sliding down the stairs, flinging herself round the banister as they rounded corners.

[quote]< "There should be a teleport sigil waiting for you on the other side of the armory," > the queen's voice said through the robot head in Kat's arms. < "It'll bring you directly to the palace." >[/quote]

"Got it." Kat barked, and moments later  they burst through the door into the armoury to see, for what felt like the first time in hours, an outer landing and beyond it, Periphery.

[i]One step closer to finding you.[/i] Kat thought as she stopped, trying to catch her breath, reaching into her jacket pocket and squeezing her Tech-Specs. [i]Please be safe.[/i]

There wasn't much time for rest- the royal guard bot had been pretty clear that they didn't have time to waste. Looking around, Kat disregarded the body armour pretty quickly- it was only going to weigh her down, and her bag with all the miscellaneous implants was already getting quite heavy- and went to the weapons rack. She wasn't much of a shot, but noticed that  the rifle models had what looked assisted aiming modules installed. It was probably only going to upgrade her from an appalling shot to a poor one, but those were still odds she was willing to take. Grabbing a laser rifle off the shelf, she slung it over her back along with an extra battery pack which she stuffed into her bag.

Vincent was by the teleportation sigil, examining it and the city beyond. Stepping out beside him, Kat took in the damage that had been done. The city itself was eerily silent, with only the resounding crashes of the Grit's assault on the wall as background noise. The sky was split half night, half day- something out of a nightmare, something that made Kat's stomach clench into worried knots.

[i]You could almost convince yourself everyone was sleeping.[/i] She mused. [i]Except for the knowledge that Periphery never sleeps.[/i]

Vincent turned to her. "Everyone else go first, I'll make sure that the sigil stays operating."

Kat looked at him sideways, biting back the obvious question- she'd used teleportation sigils before,  and as far as she was aware they didn't tend to be that unstable. Then again, magic was hardly her area of expertise. She'd noticed Vincent seemed to be reacting to this in a way completely alien to her own reaction- not that that was a reason to distrust him, he'd been nothing but helpful to the rest of them. However, it was undoubtable that something was going on with him that she had failed to understand, maybe couldn't understand. It was a sad thought, and made her feel suddenly quite alone.

"Ah, you're giving me a head start then? Well, thanks for that."

She started towards the portal but before going through hesitated and looked over her shoulder back at Vincent. She was still holding onto the robot head, but it was rapidly losing power and unlikely to last much longer. Part of her wanted to leave it on this side in case Vincent needed to get in contact with them. However, given his discussion with the Queen earlier it was unlikely he would use it.

"Make sure you stay safe, Vincent. I'll see you later."

Giving Moth an encouraging smile, Kat stepped through into the liquid metal of the portal.