An object landed in his lap, triggering a brief jolt of awareness. His junction drive. Whoever that fluffy sensation had belonged to had come through. In a series of motions so drilled into him as to be instinctual, Duncan strapped the drive to his arm and keyed the startup button. Within seconds he felt the presence of Artio resurface from the back of his mind like a force of nature, filling him with vigour once again. The GF didn't heal any his wounds but with the resilience of Artio's junctions, Duncan no longer felt any pain. He rose to his feet, for the first time actually seeing what was going on around him. The only one actively attacking the Galbadians was the unknown SeeD and Syrus' attempt to diffuse the situation had failed. Casting an eye toward the frozen Eika, Duncan was at a loss to why she had been sealed in the first place. Even if she did manage to take down the tower, which was highly unlikely, that could only have been a good thing for them. The SeeDs could have escaped easily and the majority of the soldiers would have perished in the collapse. [i]If we have the time, I think we'll do just that after we wrap things up here.[/i] He didn't see Charlotte or Xerox but the presence of the ginger suggested that they were close; come to think of it, he would have to thank the moomba later although it would be grudgingly. In the meantime however, Rue was pinned and that Duncan could do something about.

Taking advantage of the fact that none of the Galbadians had noticed him yet, Duncan focussed on Artio in his mind, summoning her to fight. As an experienced SeeD he had a significant advantage over the candidates in this department; years of working with Artio had forged a deep understanding between them, effectively slashing the time it took to summon her to a third. Seconds later he relinquished control and the great bear manifested with a bestial roar. She bounded forward, leaping over Rue to engage the soldiers attacking him, foot long claws slashing through the air.

---

God only knew how it happened, but Kein had once again fallen behind. To be fair, Eika hadn't set an easy pace and the others had sprinted past without a care for his injured leg. By the time he arrived at the scene, flashes of magic could be seen from the top of the tower and a squad of beat up looking Galbadians were gathering near the entrance, ready to storm the building. [i]They must have blown past these guys,[/i] he thought grimly. [i]It'll be a mess if they hit the others in the back.[/i] Decision made, Kein forged ahead, charging the squad's exposed flank. One injured soldier was down before the others knew what hit them, a deft slash removing one leg by the knee. But he had lost the element of surprise and Kein soon found himself on the defensive, blocking a steady stream of attacks while back-pedalling toward the cliff face. In hindsight, perhaps taking a full squad head-on hadn't been his best idea ever; he prayed that his actions had at least prevented those upstairs from being stabbed in the back.