The prickling feeling in his skin, his fins flattening against his neck, the various parts of his body that shouldn't be there pumping bile and hate and adrenaline - those are his first warning, without fail. His second warning is the sharp crackle of static in the back of his mind, Sollux's voice conveying information faster than any voice or language could possibly convey, and so by the time Jade speaks he's already completely ready for what's going to happen.

"I'm fine with the one you gave me last time," he says far more coolly than he feels he really can, and before he's even finished that sentence he is back, swinging from behind her in a blow he know will miss. He just watched it, after all.

Time slows to an absolute crawl. He can see every tiny movement he makes, every flicker of electricity bridging through Jade. He can see the air being cut through, rushing to fill its own gap.

He will not let anyone die. Not him, not his friends, not the resistance, and least of all Jade.