Carson cut through the Hunters with ease, his gun flashing bright in the dark red emergency lighting. Worry about Malia drained from his mind. He couldn't help her if he was dead. Fear for Sunny evaporated. She would never get a chance to recover if he fell. Awareness drained away from him and instinct took over entirely. The clip of his gun emptied and the slide locked back. He ejected the clip with a flick and sent it into the face of an attacker, then jammed his knife into the man's throat. He left it there as the enemy staggered and slid a new clip into the gun, then wrenched the blade free and moved on to the next.<br/><br/>Despite his speed and ferocity he still took injuries, cuts and scrapes and stab injuries that he couldn't counter quickly enough. He fought them back through the doors that had once stood closed, where he was joined by other fighters. Together they held the line, fighting back the Vanguard, all of the Hunters either dead or too injured to move. Carson stood shoulder to shoulder alongside the Runners he had trained, wordless and breathless as they fought. He began to feel his injuries. He began to realize, slowly and horribly, that there were just too many of them. He staggered back from the front as fresh Runners joined the fray, taking a breather as he leaned against the wall. Luke wound up next to him, and the two men exchanged a glance.<br/><br/>"There's no back way out, is there?" Luke asked, and Carson shook his head. "Didn't think so. Seems like a bit of a design flaw, huh?"<br/><br/>"Yeah. At a time like this it sure does." The Strider wiped blood from his face and checked his pistol. He'd lost his knife somewhere, and had replaced it with a longer, thinner blade from one of the Hunters. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry I wasn't kinder with you. With all of you."<br/><br/>"Yeah? Me too." Luke smirked at him. "Don't sweat it too much... you were always an asshole, Cars. You just wanted us to survive."<br/><br/>"For all the good that did." Carson stood back upright despite the injuries that screamed in protest and looked out over the combat, which had sunk into a lull as both sides drew back. He could see down the hall and into the motor pool, and the doors that still stood open. Just beyond he could see a single figure standing in the fading sunlight. The man was tall and broad, and wore simple metal armor beneath a long coat. Carson felt a lurch in his gut, numbed by his exhaustion and pain, but the shock was there all the same. If Sarah had been his sister, then it only stood to reason that at least one parent was alive... and of the two it had to be his father.<br/><br/>Edward Stark folded his arms as more soldiers poured in past him on either side, surging down the hall. Carson took a deep breath and wished he had his rifle. At least then he could take the man down with him, answers be damned. He glanced at Luke and gripped his weapons tight. "Time to go. Let's give them something to remember us by." The two of them prepared to face the final charge, lining up behind their fellows, ready to die. Though... was it just his imagination, or was something happening outside...?<br/><br/>Carson looked past the Vanguard. Edward was gone. Gunfire echoed down the hallway. The Vanguard had stopped in their charge, and as he watched a dozen figures stepped across the doorway, weapons lifted and ready. They fired in staggered bursts, half of them emptying their weapons while the other half reloaded. The soldiers between them and the door began to panic, and Carson lifted his stolen knife. "FORWARD! CHARGE THEM NOW!" The Runners around him roared in response and surged ahead, slamming with renewed energy and drive into the Vanguard forces. As suddenly as it had all begun it ended, the remnants of the attackers that had been trapped all slain within minutes.<br/><br/>In the wake of the battle Carson was quick to take a count of the death toll. Forty-seven of his Runners had been injured, and twenty-two more had been killed. Of the Hunters and the Vanguard, eighteen of the former lay dead, and well over a hundred of the foot soldiers had perished.<br/><br/>Sarah and Max had both perished on the Vanguard's side. Letto was found slumped against the wall in the entry hall he had died defending.<br/><br/>Their saviors proved to be a contingent of Striders; twenty of them, eight of which were still out hunting down Edward and the rest of his army. Carson thanked them, but his only concern was Malia. He found her holding Max's body and sank down next to her, grunting against the strain of the cuts and scrapes. None of his injuries were too serious, and aside from a cut on her cheek and some blood on a bandage around her leg she looked mostly unhurt. For a moment all he wanted to do was sit there, though he did reach out to take her hand. "It's over for now," he murmured after a while. "Somehow we made it. Striders came to help."