She doubles the pace for a moment, once she's steady again, "Désolé. I am fine. Maybe, let us see what the situation is like at the portal." She would really love to kill that boss, though have the video games been a bad influence on her? Maybe.

They’re a good influence, you run away from dungeon bosses until you figure out the trick to killing them.  Then you murder them to death.

”Maybe I should be carrying you, hm?”

The next cluster of victims is just a little ways ahead.  The DRT ops are currently explaining that they need to move, here’s some hiking sneakers and socks, no, it doesn’t matter how much you like your dress boots.  Leave them and claim them on a dungeon insurance claim.

"I'm okay," she repeats. "Should we clear more space for them?" She gestures towards the victims. She's inclined to leave the actual chivvying to the DRT, but they can help in their own way, perhaps? 

“Yeah.  We have enough space that it’s not actually urgent, just.  It’s gonna be a long day.”  Time to turn around and with some help from the DRT, Whack some Crabs.

Whack and smash and fling and whack and smash and fling and whack and smash and- 

Any sign of the core?

There is no core.

Only crab.

Of course. 

She applies herself to reducing the amount of crab, then. 

Lol

And so passes the next three hours.  No underground signs of the core, but many underground signs of Crab.  This group of abductees has been saved.  They’re approaching the portal and the Dirties want to know if their esper support has another three and a half hours in them.  Some of the ops are going to take a break, but one DRT op is much like another.  Espers are less interchangeable.

Sara can keep going. She's been running her endurance this whole time, but Tim sharing his power means it's only been on low level, so it hasn't been too expensive. 

She'll need a break after the next run, though. 

Tim has no endorsed envy of other powersets.  Right now, he’s seethingly jealous of Sara’s ability to Just Keep Going.

He might take a ride in a rickshaw in the middle of a circuit.  But for now, he’s fine and can do at least one more lap around the island.  Crabwhackin’ along.

The handoff goes pretty smoothly.  The new victims appear.  The replacement Dirties hop out of the portal and Tim gets to extend his power to them as they enter, and the victims and tagging-out Dirties as they flee.  It’s all fine!

Until a victim trips.

Merde. 

"Tim!" She points out the victim with her next crab fling. "They're down!" 

The thing about the Crab Dungeon that humanity hasn’t quite grasped yet is that it doesn’t really want to kill people.  It does!  But it feeds on a diet of struggling to survive. And crabs.

When someone trips and falls into a mass of crabs, they don’t get sliced apart.  They’re pinched by crusher claws that shake.  It’s possible for a human being to pick themselves up fast enough to eacape.

A healthy mid-forties man with a diet problem and a heart condition and a very recently rolled ankle is not, actually, capable of standing up on his own.

“¡Hijo de puta!”  Fast as thought, Tim’s power extends to the downed man.  “Let’s grab him, cover us!”  Tim draws his pistol and tries to at least reduce the number of crabs.

Instead of 5.56 NATO, his pistol is loaded with shotshell today.  Extravagant?  Not exactly, it was originally intended as anti-drone ordnance.

They have less fancy ammunition, but automatic shotguns can kill crabs.  Now they just need someone to grab the poor guy.

Sara needs a goddamn broom. But her shotgun will have to do, so she draws it and begins firing as she advances through the crabs towards the victim, clearing what she can and ignoring any crusher claws that attach themselves to her. She can endure it, where the man only has as much time as Tim can give him. 

She has to stop firing when they get close, of course. At that point it's just a matter of wading through and getting him off the ground, ignoring the crabs for now. 

He’s not heavy, and Sara probably notices that her endurance isn’t being used all that much.  She almost certainly notices that the weight of seventeen crabs climbing her thighs isn’t actually particularly noticeable.  And when she gets to the fallen man, her partner is only a few steps behind her.

“Get the legs, I’ll support his neck!  Sir, you’re okay, they can’t hurt you!  Just hold still!”

She doesn't really notice at the time, busy following that plan and then brushing crabs off him as she is able. 

"We have you, Monsieur! We will get you out of here!" 

With Tim’s strength surging through her, ‘brushing crabs off’ might turn into ‘ripping their bodies from their claws’.

The man is COVERED.  There are easily four dozen crabs she can see, pinching all of his everything from his face and eyes to tearing his shoes and pants apart.  The jeans are holding up well, but the sneakers are being slowly shredded.

If tearing their bodies from their claws is what she can do, then she will do it! While they slowly carry him towards the edge of the crabrwave so they can eventually get him on a rickshaw. The claws can be pulled off once there is nothing directing them. 

Yeah, let’s get this guy closer to the Dirties and cleaned up of crabs.  Just hustle a hundred and fifty feet carrying half of a 221lb man while using a fatiguing power on two people, one of whom is.  Having Problems.

During the Decrabbing, Tim speaks up.  “I think he’s got something wrong with him.  He’s got something going on with his heart.”  Tim doesn’t so much sweep crabs aside as crush any he encounters with his bare hands.

"Merde. Heart attack? Let DRT know?" 

At this point she isn't sure if she is going to want a pile of crabcakes for revenge after this, or to never see a crab again. Regardless, crab squishing and tearing will continue until further notice.