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[center][h2]Above Lost Haven, Maine[/h2][/center]

Leanna gritted her teeth as she finally came close enough to make out the major details of what she could now clearly see was a full scale assault on the city. She was suddenly very grateful to have had the foresight to have been exercising her powers as much as possible since the Hounds attacks a few weeks ago. Hopefully it would be enough to make her a lasting combatant. As she streaked into the city's airspace, she tried to find any semblance of organised resistance, but it seemed to be just knots of chaotic melee. She didn't even see Icon, who she assumed was the one to have saved the city from the meteor.
[color=c71585][i]Well, no use crying now. Time to make a difference[/i][/color]

Seeing as how the entire city was already embattled, she disregarded her normal flight rules. She had circled at low speed for a bit while she got a sense of the situation, but now she accelerated to a hefty proportion of her full speed, straight at some sort of landing craft coming down towards the city centre. Her signature energy trail extending out behind her, she spread her “wings” out into a wide arc and fired a wide beam into the side of the thing, noting it withstood it quite a bit better than she expected. Not slowing down, she changed her tactic slightly, forming a spike of the energy in front of her. This had the consequence of blocking her own vision, but on the plus side, she knew where her target was, and at this speed and range she could hardly miss. Several beams of reciprocating fire flashed past her before she slammed into the vehicle like a missile. She caught a flash of the inside, not enough for an sort of detail, before she was through the other side. Looking back, she grinned as the thing exploded into fragments small enough to cause no further damage to the city below.

[color=c71585][i]Well, that's tactics settled. Now for--[/i][/color]

Her little triumph was short lived, as a bolt from some sort of weapon smashed into her leg, sending her spinning for a second. She grimaced at her own stupidity, corrected her flight pattern, and noted that several of the airborne fighter-jet-things were heading for her. A quick shot of her own glanced off some sort of shielding for a moment before it tore and popped like a bubble, though the fighter itself seemed undamaged.

[color=c71585]”Oh, you poor bastards are using [i]hardlight[/i] shields? Heh, alright then.”[/color]

Several shots back from the three who were now gunning for screamed past, so she dropped a hundred feet, noting they had only slight difficulty in keeping up with the maneuver at the range they were at. In the back of her mind, as she tried looping under them and watching their trajectories, she did a few quick calculations and smiled. Shields weak to her own attacks and not as maneuverable as her? 

To test this theory, she airbraked as quick as she could. She had been warned by her doctor to [i]not[/i] pull this specific move as much as possible, given her migraines and what pulling Gs might do to her, but she only got a light throb in her temples, a bit of blurred vision, and the stinging on her calf where that first shot had hit her. The lead of the trio streaked past her, making a turn to try and get her back in its sights. The second flew past, and she accelerated again and grabbed the third by the shields, hands encased in her own light-breaking energy. The air was filled with rushing wind and a screaming as the shield was torn and ripped, broken down at whatever level her powers worked. She had no time for scientific curiosity, though. As the shield broke, she reached down and in, grabbing the fuselage this time, and airbraked again. She couldn't see the pilot, since what she [i]assumed[/i] was the windshield was darkened. The move had the desired effect, though. Her hand, gloved in blackness, tore through the fuselage, though it put up a good fight, resisting enough that she was reminded of tank armour, though this was looking as paper-thin as most fighters skins on Earth.

Gripping before she went all the way through, she slammed three quick finger-wide bolts into the engine area, punching holes through what must have been vital parts as the propulsion sputtered and died. Keeping her grip, she unwittingly mimicked Icon's moves earlier, spinning twice with herself as a pivot and slinging the vehicle out and away from the city below. Shots flying by her reminded her to only watch long enough to confirm the safety of buildings before resuming dogfighting. There were noticeably more, now. It seemed the invaders didn't like someone breaking their toys.

Focusing on dodging for now, she reached up to her right ear and pressed a finger to the transmit button on her old earpiece. She hoped the frequency was correct for her old compatriots.

[color=c71585]”I don't know who's still up and I don't know what the ground situation is,”[/color] she said across her old STRIKE radio waves, [color=c71585]”but this is Blacklight. I seem to have garnered some attention in the airspace that I can handle, so I can be a distraction. Don't know how much covering fire I can provide yet. Anyone hear me?”[/color]

She supposed she was visible enough as it was that even if no one heard that, someone might notice she was up here. For now, she turned back onto the attack, diving and circling and making a nuisance of herself, hopefully enough to buy some time for those doing the important work down on the ground. As it was, darting around fighters and caught in rapid fire exchanges, the old exhilaration of combatting evil returned, and she found herself humming music from Top Gun to herself and she took another transport craft out of the sky.

Soon enough, she realised a major mistake she had made. Her own shots were always targetted from below, to avoid stray shots hurting anyone below. The enemy, of course, made no such considerations, and there was no way to catch as many blasts as were flying at her. She considered several options, but she knew her reserves would not last long were she to try to do anything like shielding the city below. And while her efforts were definitely occupying a significant portion of the enemy, it wasn't [i]all[/i] of them, in fact not even a third, as of yet. But she was badly out of practise with battlefield tactics. She could only hope someone on the ground could think up something good, and soon.