Last spark from the ashes

"Lucifer?" Clearly Blaze doesn't have the same fear of the name, though she might re-evaluate when she sees Nike flinch. "As in ancient mythology- okay, stupid question..."

She shuts up and listens, instead, attention held by Nike's building distress. And it's not a predicament she can instantly grasp, with a less visceral grasp of the cosmic power involved. With all the cavalier bravery of the immortal on her side.

But the quiet terror in Nike's voice, her description of helplessness in the face of overwhelming destruction, strikes at a shard of something deep within her and resonates, aches like long-buried shrapnel. And another part of her, bright and closer to the surface, responds without thinking to lean forward and close her hands on the angel's arms.

"Hey. Hey, the Nexus was still there when I left, so you must have handled it." There's a flicker of heat in her voice, a touch of the anger starting to smolder within. "Did he hurt you?"