I am honestly surprised. Things are actually going to plan and things are going well. The room that Jade transported us to was empty. Roxy successfully shielded us until Dirk and AR shut down all sensors and alarms. It only took Rose and Terezi about a minute to See our path through the ship. They gave us a seventy-five percent clearance and ninety percent stability. Those are good odds.

Karkat and I take the lead, breaking down the doors and taking out any drones that happen to be in the next room. Roxy keeps us cloaked as much as possible with Dirk as her personal protector. Jake gives us long range cover fire from his position covering Jane, our field medic. Kanaya is paired with Terezi and John with Rose as they keep us updated to any changes to our path. Jade keeps us aware of our location in the ship with her god-tier precision.

We tear a swath of destruction through the belly of the red ship. Bro chimes in with suggestions and compliments.

That panel over there.

Looks important.

It probably be good to destroy.

Nice headshot.

Now take out two at a time.

That's one way to do that.

That door is too thick to take out.

AR could probably open it.

You're pretty good at this time shit.

Use the void to flank this group.

Sweet moves dude.

"This next room has active drones. Be careful," Rose calls out.

"Something doesn't smell right," Terezi chimes in.

"Nothing we can't handle, guys. I'm not even breaking a sweat. We are gods at assaulting the castle. Though honestly I'm expecting a toadstool to be sitting at the end of the level. The princess is in another castle," I mimic in a falsetto.

"She's not a princess, you fucking moron. She's the Empress," Karkat grumbles at me as we brace on either side of the door.

"Are you telling me that you didn't have a Troll Mario on Alternia?"

"We did, you culturally insensitive prick. He never says anything like that though."

"He didn't say it. Those fucking toadstools did. Hey, Big Bad Wolf, blow this door down!"

Karkat's inane reply was drowned out by John whipping up enough wind to blast the doors off their hinges. Karkat and I duck through the doorway ready to take out the drones. Our momentum dies out about half way through the room as we realize it's empty. I turn back to the door.

"Guys? Something's wrong with your Sight. And I'm not referring to your synthesia, Rezi."

"UP!" the Seers yell together, at the same time I see two words on the shades.

Look up.

My head snaps up and I see a large red body falling towards us. I don't have time to drop my turntables out of inventory before the impact.

I'm knocked to the floor, pinned briefly by the heavy weight. It is lifted off briefly by a gust of wind and I roll to my feet. I look around and catch glimpses of all the fighters turning robots into scraps. Everything is brighter though and my head hurts. The room is swiftly becoming a mess of red paint, sparking wires, and drifting smoke. I am still a bit disoriented as my eyes catch angles of black.

My heart drops out of my chest as I fall to my knees. My hands are shaking as I scoop up the shards of plastic. One triangle of the lens is still whole but the other half is completely shattered. The frames are also broken; the wires barely holding the pieces together. I can't breathe as I cradle the shades, as I cradle what was left of Bro. I scream as I read the last words slowly crawl across the remainder of the screen.

I'll be

right here

We'll talk

later okay ?