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Encke?

He heard the exhaustion in her voice before she clarified why it was there, and he was already following the ping on his map before he really processed what she said. He'd have time to think about that on the way. He'd have time to think about that once he was certain that Pendour was okay, and he didn't have to kick someone's a** straight to the moon--

It processed halfway through his steps that she had said him in particular, and the implication behind using a pronoun like that was that it was someone he should know. Right? Unless she was wiped so much to exhaustion that even clarifying that was a distant memory, but perhaps he could put together the context clues. Her hand hurt. She gave him her energy. He had drained her to exhaustion, whoever it was...

No.

Encke sucked in a hissed breath as he broke the rest of the way.

When he saw Pendour collapsed in the snow, he squatted down next to her and quickly started eyeballing for any injuries that looked grievous, or if her body looked offset in any way. Wasn't supposed to lift someone with a broken neck, after all. Might be more deadly.

She was definitely breathing, at least. Good start. He should probably get her somewhere safer.

"Pen?"

He called her gently to see if she was even able to be stirred, first.

And when that didn't work, he carefully picked up her other hand, the one that didn't look injured, and pushed from his own energy reserves, aiming to get her enough to at least be conscious.

Alright, so she could move alright...

And wince just as fast. He wasn't as good with first aid as his literally certified husband, but Encke knew some things. "Don't worry about it," he murmured in response to her first apology, glancing over the way her hand was blistering. Encke wasn't sure what he could specifically do about those with what he had on him -- though his magic had shifted and expanded in the last few months, and that may have had utility.

As she said it wasn't his fault, as she clarified what he was doing, Encke let out a shaky breath, but his focus seemed divided. As he lifted his hands to hold them over her hand, he offered quietly, "No need to apologize. I honestly would have done the same if it got him to leave a basic alone..."

Alternatively, he would have socked him.

Kicked him, electrocuted him, whatever it took.

No point on focusing on violence. That wouldn't help Pendour feel better, and it certainly wouldn't help the way his stomach was flopping that his best friend had crossed paths with Faustite and had been hurt by him. Just like so many others, she could have been two steps from dead--

He squeezed her hand in turn.

"Does that feel any better? Plasma gave me some healing abilities, evidently." And somehow, that was a bit funny. "The blisters track with it being Faustite. He's a firepit." Literally.

"Pretty recent development," which was true. It had happened right around the time his powers realigned, and he hadn't ended up hurting Albireo in the process of trying to help on Kerberos' homeworld. "Think my comet decided to give me something to make up for damaging my allies for all those years. Which, my other magic doesn't do that anymore either."

The other magic, his more innately violent magic which he knew she'd rather him not have to use at all -- but at least if he did, and if she was nearby, he would no longer add to the scars on her hand. Her hand, which looked so much better now--

Fire in his ribs.

That was definitely Faustite.

Why couldn't Faustite stay away from him? Stay away from his friends and family? Disappear? Something other than continuously antagonizing them, brutalizing them, killing them, bringing up traumatic memories that Pendour didn't want and Encke didn't want her to have to be reminded of--

"Not your fault," because it wasn't.

He hugged her a bit closer with one arm as he left the other hand intertwined with hers.

"Someone else deciding to be an a*****e and injure you isn't your fault. Don't listen to his bullshit."

Faustite was full of it, evidently.

"Do you want me to take you back to your house?" Encke didn't even hesitate to offer her help in response to her unasked request, shifting in such a way he could lift her off the ground if needed. They were pretty similar in height--she was slightly taller--but not enough to leave him off-balance. And he was strong anyway, considering a lot of factors-- "Or would you rather come to mine? You know Luke and Safira never mind."

And had, in fact, started offering their house to a lot of people even more than temporarily. (Especially aliens, much to Encke's amusement. There were three aliens now who regularly stayed at their house, four if Viatrix counted--)

He knew the news would be a bit of a mixed bag and wasn't necessarily surprised by her response, but he responded with a relieved, "It is, actually," because it meant he was doing less damage. It meant that he didn't damage those who weren't causing active harm. It meant he could even help heal the damage caused by others, and heal it even better than his energy transfer could do. He could restore. He could help people recover after battles.

And it felt good.

Encke had never expected to be a healer with a power source like plasma, but he supposed he should have known better. They were all alive because of big balls of plasma floating around in space.

"Yeah, of course! Just hang on a moment." He opened up his civilian phone to let Safira--Luke was still "at work," he was fairly sure--know that he was coming home with Sadie, just so she was aware, and then disappeared it just as fast. Encke cracked his knuckles, shifted again, and then carefully lifted Pendour off the ground in a sort of bridal carry. Kept her head cushioned, kept her legs from dangling, and it worked the best for their height similarities. "Let me know if you're comfortable there?"

Which bedroom should he take Sadie to? Probably one of the ones in the basement. The basement had been finished well enough to functionally be the third floor at this point (and Viatrix finally had her own lab area, which she was ecstatic about, unfortunately for Encke).

"Probably got at least a bit of a walk ahead of us, but I can move pretty fast. Shouldn't take too long. Don't need to talk if you don't want to, but don't mind if I babble a bit."

He did sometimes babble a bit--

Pendour was Sadie, now, and in more normal circumstances he would become Ignacio, but he was trying to get her Home quickly. He was fast as a civilian, much faster than normal due to both his own inclinations to running and magic, but he was faster as an eternal.

For one, he could jump.

He was careful to not jostle her, though, letting her be snuggled up to him as he moved her. "The beds are nice back at the house." He chuckled warmly. "I think you'll fall asleep pretty quick when we get back."

Maybe he could get her some nice pillows to snuggle up to ...

His brain off tracked for a moment when she mentioned Faustite, and he made sure his breath was even before he approached answering it. An honest conversation, now that she was also involved with the man he desperately wanted no one near. What was he going to do to Pendour? What was he going to do to Nectaris? What was he going to do with--

"He's in very deep," murmured Encke, finally. "In deep enough that he's murdered uncountable people. I don't know at what point it stops mattering, because they're doing too much damage, you know? Ending too many others."

Ending Basiluzzo, for one.

"Is preventative action better? It's a hard balance. I'm not convinced he'd ever leave."

The little shoulder massage was admittedly both soothing and grounding, and it helped remind him where he was before his mind wandered off and lept off a cliff of panic.

It didn't quite entirely dispel the tightness, but it did make it easier for him to continue operating through it. Reminded him of the days that Richard was finally comfortable enough to try and ground him through physical touch; his mind reminded him that had required him to be comfortable with it too, and when he had been too deep in those panics--

Kill him and they'll just make another.

And there was truth to that. He heard it, and the operation of the Negaverse, and how they had endlessly kept putting new people into the war--how quickly they had recovered after they had recovered starseeds from the Negaverse with the help of Caedus--spoke for itself there. They probably would replace Faustite. They might even mine from his team for it. That Albite, for one, the husband who Nectaris needed to stay away from, who would probably swear vengeance.

They didn't have the history, though, that Faustite did. He was established. He had been in this s**t for ... judging based on his own experience, at least four years. Five? Time was a blur.

He understood her position, and would never try to push her away from it. He had meant what he said when he said they needed people like her. Yet, he could also see where people like Anser had their own uses in a battle like this. "There's no real ideal answer, is there?" Encke's fingers tapped lightly against Pendour's side as he carried her. "Nothing that eliminates all loss. If we kill him and they make another, all we have is a temporary reprieve. If we don't, how many more bodies will he leave in his wake? How many more will die, leaving dreams unfulfilled, breaking apart families, and shattering friendships? How many more will be torn from the cycle?"

How many had he directly caused by helping Faustite sleep?

"I'm not saying kindness doesn't matter, and I won't stop you. Meant what I said." He swallowed around that, because a part of him desperately wanted to, just in the same way he desperately wanted to stop Nectaris, and Basiluzzo, even if his way was violence versus kindness, and, "I just personally struggle with continuing to wait for him to act before I try to disrupt it. I never want to see Basiluzzo's neck under his foot again."

He turned a corner, felt out for auras, and kept moving when he didn't feel any.

Something changed in the way she was responding when he spilled everything that he had been thinking about in relation to Faustite, not only the way he worried about Nectaris, but also in the way he worried about the lives that had almost been lost to him. She cited Basi's neck directly, and it both comforted him to hear her understanding, but also worried a bit for her saying she'd worry for him. What was she planning? What did she want to do?

"Think there's a way to get out of this situation without further pain?" His gaze was in front of him, but his expression communicated his uncertainty and worry. What if Pendour got herself in the way of Faustite, again, and this time he came upon him to find her neck under his foot? What if he got there when her neck had already been crushed, especially since she didn't have something else to distract him with? Energy reserves, perhaps, but--

Encke couldn't quite hide his concern when he continued, with a quiet, vague laugh, "You know me and breathing. Good at it for acting exercises, but it's a bit harder when it comes to..." This. He could channel it. He could tap into it. It had been a bit harder since that night had almost backfired and since his chest had gotten dug into.

Every time he thought about it, his chest stung just a little bit.

"Try not to get too close to him, alright? I don't want him to hurt you, either." His fingers tapped against her side. "Watch out for yourself too, or I might have to come to your house just to make sure you're taking care of yourself."

There was something jovial in the way he said that even if it was forced. One of the first lessons of acting had been faking it until he made it.