POTENTIAL 0

[i]Wumph.[/i] That’s the overwhelming sound-sensation of a wing-harness’s gravs being activated for a chicken-hop, as practiced paratroopers call it. Sara soars up in an arc, sunlight cutting through the smoke to gleam on her shining stained-glass flight suit, her aviators cracked and her hair a frizzled mess. She doesn’t bother to show off. She’s hurting and furious (you used a [i]child[/i]) and she’s focusing all of her power on one very specific point.

She twists her wrists in Command Mode, the safeties already shut down, and she rockets straight down at Maria, all of her weight and momentum brought to bear on her heel. This is going to hurt, but it’ll hurt Maria more. Probably.

Contact.

Pain ripples up @SARAHPHIM’s spine. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. If Maria had seen her coming, she would have set herself to Fortification and let @SARAHPHIM snap her leg on that invincible sternum like a twig. But she’s off-balance and has a brave Admiral clinging to her face. Everyone panics when their air supply is compromised.

She launches herself off Maria into a very challenging backflip, wing gravs having reset to Cruise due to the impact, and upside-down— as Maria topples like a hobbled Titan— she sends a shearing, dangerously high-powered scythe through Maria’s shoulder. It’s vicious and, if it had been aimed somewhere more vital, might have killed Maria outright. Tigers aren’t tame cats, after all, and that moment of raw but controlled viciousness is the kind of thing that makes her fans go wild.

But she didn’t do it to be vicious. Just the opposite.

She did it so that Amy Bentham’s skull didn’t hit the ground hard enough to risk killing her. Clutched tight to Maria’s side, she would have hit the ground with horrifying force, the weight of Maria bringing her straight down at high speed and the tight hold not allowing her to roll with the fall at all. Instead, she’s knocked aside, that arm still locked around her as she tumbles. She’ll be covered in soot when she gets up, but as the arm goes into power saving mode, she’ll be able to heave it off of her.

Sara lands hard and her leg gives out under her, leaving her in an awkward half sprawl. “Run, squirt! [i]Go![/i]” She glances over at Amy and sees a moment of hesitation, and grasps at straws. “I [i]promise[/i] I’ll save the bear! Now [i]fucking scram![/i]”

There’s honest desperation in her voice as it cracks. It’s an Afraid Adult Voice, because she knows she only blew off one arm, needing to get it [i]perfect[/i] to save the kid’s life. She did [i]not[/i] eliminate the rifle.

She made her choice.

[[b]9,[/b] but because I have Influence on Amy, that’s a [b]10.[/b] Clearing Angry.]