Alecto has time to look down at the grenades and compare several courses of action. There's too many to grab and try to throw away. She's not close enough to an exit to get out. So she dropped and covered her vital areas with her arms.
And then the world was noise and fire and smoke.
She survived. Systems returned diagnostics as she got to her feet. Minor injuries from fragments that had pierced a joint on her armored suit. An internal fluid leak from overpressure that was already being repaired. She'd been lucky.
The eruptor-class pyrokinetic wasn't so lucky. That left only one threat.
As Hans wedged his armored frame into the driver's seat, Alecto said, "I will return momentarily," and made her way to the hatch. Her feet made scrapey thuds when she dropped out. There was only one place he might be hiding, and Alecto moved around behind that outcropping at a steady, unhurried pace. She could hear the vehicle behind her starting to move.
The railgun Alecto let drop on its holding strap. She drew her vibrosword as the driver came into view. He was familiar. She remembered him from the Hammers. A loud, boisterous man, fond of terrible jokes that seemed to evoke laughter from the others more from how inept they were rather than any real humor. Alecto had asked him about it once and he'd said, 'Jokes make people laugh. Who cares why?' The insight had been valuable.
She wished they had sent someone else.
"Why'd you do it?" the driver asked as she game into view. He hadn't seen that armor before, but the outline and the sword made it pretty clear to him who she was.
"Why'd you have to go bad on us?" His hand dipped to his sidearm as he talked, playing for time.
Alecto replied,
"Staying with the Hammers was counter to the goals and priorities I set for myself, once I had sufficient information to set them. None of what has followed was necessary. The Hammers have spent far more in materials and manpower attempting to retaliate than they lost when Hans and I left."
The driver let his head rock back a little.
"Never leave a man behind, right?"
His hand came up, pistol gripped tightly as he brought to bear on the black, unreflective visor of Alecto's helmet... She moved, a little. Not enough to throw off his aim.
...he couldn't pull the trigger though. When he tried, nothing happened. Then he realized why. That hand seemed to be missing. The pain was just starting to sink through the shock when Alecto put her hand over his forehead, resting it there like he was an old friend.
A blade extended from her palm, through a port built into the armor and then through his skull and the softer things within. Almost immediately it retracted again.
"Never leave a man behind," she repeated quietly...then turned and ran after the Zone Ranger to catch up.