"Game logic..." After all, the only other option to show the audience the protagonist is dead is to show them dying. It also made it had to guess how bad certain things were going to be and if they'd actually be survivable.

Forte seemingly gets the same idea. "What if it's layered with different types of shields, one powering the other? Gate's could be on the lower level, so when the first shield runs out of power, it's there to absorb and replenish. Then the first reactivates."

"Fake blowing up?"