“Screw it,” Sam says, making the decision for me. He takes out Five’s wrist-mounted blade, extends it and slashes through Five’s bonds. “All hands on deck.”

I glance back at the monster. Nine jabs his remaining metal pole into the side of the beast’s neck over and over. I can see some black blood spilling out, but he’s definitely not doing much damage. Then, shrieking, the monster swats at him again. This time, he clips Nine a little, and he’s forced to retreat down the monster’s back.

Above the Hunter’s bellowing, I hear the familiar whup-whup-whup of helicopters. A pair of sleek Black Hawks just took off from the Brooklyn Bridge and are on their way. So, Agent Walker’s not totally useless after all.

“Can I have that back?” Five asks Sam, holding a hand out for his weapon.

“No,” I say, putting myself in between the two of them. “You said you could help. Go help.”

Five sighs. “Fine. I’ll do it the hard way.” He floats a few feet off the ground, then looks at me. “All right, John. Light me on fire.”

“What?”

“Light me on fire!” he shouts.

I don’t need much more convincing to hurt Five. I let my Lumen go and lob a small fireball at him. He lets it hit him and immediately his skin is covered in flames.

“Thanks,” he says, and streaks off towards the Hunter, our very own flaming missile.

I crouch down next to Daniela and press my hands against her head. I let my healing Legacy flow, hoping that will help ease her pain. It’s not really my healing Legacy, though, is it? It’s Ximic, and healing is just the one Legacy I’ve gotten really good at copying. It doesn’t help Daniela, but something does happen when the energy flows between us. Suddenly, I can sense exactly what’s happening inside her.

I can feel it too. A pressure behind the eyes. A heavy weight that feels like it’s trying to punch through my face.

“It’s tearing me apart!” Daniela screams.

“Agh, I know! I feel it too!” I reply, holding the sides of my head like my cranium might split apart.

Meanwhile, Five, pure velocity and white-hot heat, flies himself right into one of the Hunter’s eyes. There’s a sick puckering sound and the monster screams louder than ever. A moment later, a hole explodes through the back of its head and out comes Five. He holds something aloft. It must be one of the Loric pendants.

“Holy shit,” Sam says. “That was nasty, but it worked.”