[center][@VitoftheVoid][@thewizardguy][@TechnoWizROK][/center]

The muffled sound of projectiles firing off registered to Orion only after the Knight shrieked. The shots that she sheltered from pinged off of his body with a metallic [i]shhnk,[/i] ricocheting to either side of him with no particular urgency. Another voice was on the scene not a moment later, but Orion had no chance to assess the threat. He jerked his hand back as if stung and released the Knight at the sudden burst of heat, which had turned his palm a dull, faintly glowing red.

A spray of steam, hot air, and dust grazed his body without the same immediate pain, but the heat of it was like an open oven door. There was a thunk as something landed near his feet, and it took only a second to realize it was a grenade. It took another two to process that this was [i]not[/i] the sort of open melee qualifier he was used to. 

Another one to say, [color=8C6868]"shit,"[/color] and the same second to realize that the stakes had escalated to the point where he had no clever quips left to make. There were three people, the past six seconds had become a blur, and there was a blinking grenade on the ground about to strike someone who could not run away. There was no winner, here. Just people who could die, or not die. 

An experienced soldier could have weighed his options in those short few breaths, and likely decided that the most beneficial course of action was to back up, let the others have their fight, and make off while there was a good chance to flee. Someone less used to fighting and taking risks may have just run out of being overwhelmed. 

Orion, however, was neither used to high stakes nor conditioned to flinch when afraid. 

So he did, as Mitch would lovingly call it, "some stupid, [i]stupid[/i] hero-complex shit," that clearly showed his "boneheaded determination to get killed for [i]literally[/i] nothing." 

He turned with amazing speed for someone of his weight, and in one move shoved the Knight forward onto the ground and dropped onto his elbows and knees above her as the grenade gave its last beep. The heat of her body was sweltering underneath him, but the split-second choice had not left him much opportunity to consider the consequences.