A large wall of earth and concrete rose from the ground ahead of us at the shouted warning, blocking shrapnel from the exploding hover-jet and buying us a couple of minutes to get our shit in gear. It must have been one or more of the Earth Sprites, and I thanked my lucky stars that a veritable swarm of Fairies had been hovering within my teleportation range in places where it was awkward to fit full-sized people. There were close to fifty of them, a mix of various Sprites and Pixies, and that was probably practically every Fairy connected to the First Response teams.

I was also very glad that Rio still had streets covered in concrete, rather than the more durable plascrete that newer cities and those destroyed during Incursions used, because otherwise, we might have been screwed. Earth Sprites can’t manipulate plascrete like they can rock, earth, and old-fashioned concrete, and right now they were putting up more walls to try to slow the Titans’ advance. Unfortunately, our adversaries were blowing those walls apart as quickly as they were being built, and we weren’t in the best situation here.

I had teleported us too close to the advancing line of Titans, not that I had much choice in where I brought us. Besides my team and the swarm of Pixies and Sprites, I had managed to bring three Gryphons, their riders, and a couple of field medics. That wasn’t going to be enough to get a handle on this situation; I needed to go back for more people, but I couldn’t risk it when I would just be dropping them in a meat grinder if I brought them to this spot. We needed to get some distance from the front line and out of the way of the experienced fighters among us.

One of the Gryphon riders, a blond Elvish-looking man, seemed to be of the same mind as he pointed in the opposite direction of the approaching Titans and ordered, “You trainees and medics shouldn’t be this close to an active combat zone, you need to find a more secure location for an LZ and the medical tents! We’ll harry them and try to hold them here until you can get set up and deliver reinforcements! Go!”

He barely finished giving the order before the entire group of Fairies and all three Gryphons took to the air to pester the Titans, even as another earthen wall rose to cover our escape. Fuck, this wasn’t going as planned. We were way too close to the active combat zone. I didn’t like leaving so few people to cover our escape while we ran, but he was right.

These people were used to fighting Titans, and there were a lot of Fairies among them, who were small enough and quick and agile enough in the air to avoid most attacks. They could do this, at least for a little while, and the sooner we found a better spot, the sooner I could start bringing in reinforcements. I needed to worry about the people with me now and finding a secure spot so we could do our jobs.

“You heard him; move it, people!” I called out, using my voice projection app to be heard even as I started flying down the street with haste. “Kelly, cover the rear, and Poppy, ride on her shoulder and watch our backs! If anything dangerous comes our way, I want you to tell Kelly so she can intercept it and keep everyone safe! I’m going to get a bird’s eye view and try to find us a good spot!”

I could have asked Moonlight to make herself appear, but she was the biggest target of us all, and there was no purpose to it right now except if someone needed to ride her. It would take time that we probably didn’t have after she appeared for whoever rode her to get mounted, and we were probably better off making a run for it. Our training over the past weeks had helped build up our stamina, and the combat medics were probably both in better shape than us since they were working with the first response teams.

As I took to the air to get above the rooftops and get a better view of the situation, Ainslee took the lead in running down the street below, followed by the two combat medics, and then Karen, with Kelly and Poppy bringing up the rear as I’d ordered. Thankfully, it looked like the Titans behind us were more interested in trying to deal with our fighting forces, who were now harrying them from the air, than attacking those of us who were retreating. There were a plethora of bright energy beams and explosions in the area, as well as various elemental attacks, and our fliers had positioned themselves so that the Titans were frantically firing almost everywhere except down this street.

Beyond them was the usual chaos of an Incursion spread over a wide area, an area that was only growing as the Titans made their way outward in all directions from the Breach. Buildings were either burning or completely collapsed, spires of smoke were so prevalent that they nearly blocked out the early morning light, and I could hear screaming people in the distance. It was almost enough to send me plummeting back to the ground in a panic.

No, I couldn’t focus on all of that. This was the reality of the war with the Titans, I knew that, I had survived it before, and I would again as long as I was smart. I couldn’t do anything for those people screaming, at least, not right now. The best thing that I could do for the people of this city was to find a place to bring in reinforcements as soon as possible. The sooner I did that, the more people we could save.

With that in mind, I flew as fast as I could away from the current boundary of the Incursion, using the mountain with the giant statue in the distance to orient myself as I scanned the ground below for some place that would be easily defensible, or safe from the falling debris of buildings, if the Titans should get that far. Then I saw it, far in the distance, a large open area with a lot of greenery along the shoreline that looked like it might be some sort of park.

Now that I was oriented, I returned to the others. Flying alone could be dangerous for someone my size, and I was probably lucky that a hawk or something hadn’t tried to eat me for lunch. The others were still running, and increasing the gap between them and the Titans, or at least the ones directly behind us. The problem was that the Titans spread out omnidirectionally from a Breach, and the people keeping them off our backs were only making a small dent in the wall of advancing alien mechs.

Even if those behind us didn’t catch up to us, it wasn’t a guarantee that other Titans wouldn’t. Then, almost as if such negative thoughts were responsible, the building ahead of us and to the right collapsed, and a Titan appeared before us, its weapons already glowing and ready to fire. “Kelly, Cover! Everyone else, hit it with everything you’ve got to take down its energy shield and then breakdown strats, you know the drill by now!”

I issued the orders as soon as the metal behemoth appeared, and my sister rushed past me to place herself between the rest of us and the emerging beam of red light and sizzling heat, while the rest of us unloaded on it. Ainslee and both of the combat medics with us opened fire with their Punishers, unleashing bursts of violet energy, and Karen let loose with her acid beam. As for Poppy and me, we both created some of our respective elements, hitting it with a large fireball and a high-pressure water blast, respectively.

That took out a significant chunk of my energy, and Poppy looked similarly drained, but we were both still getting used to creating our elements from thin air, and it would probably be a while before we mastered it. On the positive side, though, the fact that Karen’s acid beam was starting to melt the armor of the Titan meant that we had managed to take down its shield. Everyone knew what that meant, and my team members immediately switched to our breakdown strategy for a lone Titan.

While Kelly continued to stand in the way of its weapon fire, Poppy got into its face, or rather the sensor eye, and hit it with another burst of fire to blind it. Meanwhile, Karen was focusing her acid beam on the Titan’s weapon emplacements one by one to take them out of commission, and the moment that Poppy blinded it, Ainslee summoned a massive magic-plasma sword and started taking its legs out from under it. We took it down in minutes, and as soon as we had, we continued on our way as quickly as we could manage.

There was no use doing anything else to it now that it was disabled; the Titans didn’t have pilots to capture and interrogate, and now it was effectively nothing more than a hunk of dead alien metal. We had more important matters to attend to. “I think I found a spot ahead while I was up high,” I told the others before we continued on our way. “Moonlight, I need you to take me ahead. We’ll stay in touch via comms, and then I’ll come back to teleport the rest of you there before going for reinforcements. Keep making your way down this street and try to stay ahead of any other Titans that appear. Use the same tactics, Poppy will watch behind so Kelly can guard the rear.”

Moonlight appeared at my summons even as the others acknowledged the orders. I had been reluctant to call upon my Unicorn companion, but in this situation, it made sense for two reasons. Firstly, I was a lot more tired than I was ready to admit after summoning that water blast, and I needed to conserve my energy for teleporting. Second, Moonlight could move fast, and even faster when she was ethereal and didn’t have to worry about obstacles or being shot at.

“Okay, Moonlight, by the shore up ahead of us, there’s some greenery that looks like it should be a park, and I think it’ll be far enough from the expanding front line of the enemy to be out of the combat zone when the Titans have to turn around and head back to the Breach. Please, get me there as soon as you can,” I told her mentally as I settled onto her head behind her horn and grabbed hold of some of the hair in her mane so I wouldn’t lose my grip on her. I wasn’t sure whether that could happen or not while she was making us both ethereal, and what would happen if it did, but I wasn’t about to risk it.

-Yes, my Maiden, I shall run like the wind,- she promised. A moment later, we faded from sight and were moving so fast that the buildings, side streets, and people running to the nearest shelters were a blur. I barely even noticed when we passed through vehicles, buildings, and such after the first time scared me half to death. Moonlight assured me that we would come to no harm while in this state and just kept running forward as quickly as she was able.

It was too quiet; I hadn’t heard anything from the others over comms since we left. It had only been a few minutes going by my internal clock, but that concern brought up the thought, “Will my comm crown even work when we’re ethereal like this?” It was something we should have tested, and I felt bad about not doing so before. What if the others were in trouble right now and I had no idea?

I was just starting to have a small panic attack about that when we arrived at the park I had spotted from the air, and Moonlight stopped at a soccer field that seemed to be part of the park. That was good. We would need open space for the injured to be treated, and it would make bringing in reinforcements easier for me as well. We were also well out of the fighting here, and hopefully, the front lines of the Incursion wouldn’t spread this far.

As soon as Moonlight and I were once again solid, my comms lit up. -= Keep moving, everyone, =- Ainslee’s voice called out, -= We can’t let them get us in a pincer attack! =-

-= Fuck… where the hell… is Lily, =- Karen huffed, breathing heavily.

Fuck was right, that didn’t sound good, and how did they get into such a situation in less than five minutes? The answer came easily, “Because we’re in a damn Incursion Zone, idiot,” I chided myself before promising the others, “I’m on my way, we had a comms issue, get ready for a teleport.” Then I quickly took in my surroundings and committed them to memory before focusing my thoughts on Ainslee and activating my teleportation ability to take me to where she was.

When I appeared, the others were running as buildings to either side of the street behind them were being demolished by a pair of Titans that kept firing their weapons. Kelly was hanging back to draw their fire and had just tossed some grenades at them when I arrived and called for everyone to gather around me. “Thank fuck,” Karen wheezed. “Bastards came… from side streets… attacked from both sides.”

“Kelly, move it!” I called out to my sister, “I’ll be ready to ‘port as soon as you’re in range.” I was already starting to mentally tag my teammates and the pair of combat medics. Kelly was still a good fifteen feet outside of my range, but I tagged her as well so I could use my ability to get us out of there the second that she was in range. I was already mentally primed to teleport and straining myself to keep it at the ready, and the destination firmly in my mind, while keeping everyone tagged.

“Go! I’ll be fine, they can’t hurt me!” Kelly shouted back.

I didn’t care if they could hurt her or not; I was not going to leave my sister behind. I had lost her once already, and there was no way I was going to risk that again, no matter how small that risk might be. “I said move it; that’s an order!” I snapped a little more aggressively than I wanted to. The strain of keeping the teleport primed while not initiating it was starting to get to me; it was like something inside of me was being stretched far beyond my limits, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold it.

That was when that strained something inside of me snapped; I couldn’t hold my ability back anymore, and it activated. Sort of. A sphere of light surrounded those of us in my range, around twenty feet in diameter, but we hadn’t gone anywhere, and I could still feel mana being drawn from me to fuel the ability. Outside of the sphere and in front of me, I could still see my sister trying to make her way toward us while holding off alien weapons fire, but when everyone around me gasped as one, I turned my attention to what they all seemed to be staring at behind me, and I gasped as well.

While one side of the sphere was still in the location we had been in and I could still see my sister and the Titans, the opposite side seemed to be the soccer field that I had been ready to take us to. “What the hell is going on?” Ainslee murmured beside me.

“I don’t know, but run out the side of the soccer field!” I shouted to everyone. It was a guess at best, and I needed to try to hold whatever was happening in place until Kelly could get to safety with the rest of us. Kelly, who was now following the order I’d given, ran into the sphere ahead of Titans’ weapons fire, snatched me up in a hand without stopping, and dove out the other side after the others. As soon as we left the strange, golden sphere, it vanished, and I felt the pull on my mana cease.

“What the fuck was that?” Karen asked, reiterating Ainslee’s confusion of a moment earlier as she looked around the soccer field we were now all standing in.