I lunged too. Wretch active, I tore the flexible pipe out of the ground, flying along it, so the Wretch skimmed along its length, raising it up. The hump wasn’t just a speed bump, but earth covering the pipe that had been set in a shallow trench and then covered. Water or power to the Lyme Center.

A tripwire for my quarry.

The tinker grazed the pipe, and the tinker conducted across it, stretching out ten or fifteen feet to the left, and an equal distance to the right. I knew Shadow Stalker had trouble with electricity running through walls, with rain and even things as simple as smoke thick in the air. I knew Velocity had his own issues, a reduced ability to affect the world, to the point that mundane obstacles and barriers like closed doors could hamper him. Other breakers had their difficulties. The uncommon hazards.

I dropped the Wretch, which let me easily drop the pipe. While he was disoriented, I was free to fly in. I smacked into his midpoint, and the Wretch helped to scatter him again.

Inside the building, the power flickered and died. All was black for a long moment, the only real light was cast by the tinker.

I reached out and the Wretch found a grip at one of the arm-rings. I let the Wretch break it, and the tinker’s arm snapped back into reality, with ripple effects of real-self tinker appearing across his body.

He dropped to his knees, in apparent surrender. I remained stock still.

“We should go!” Sveta called out. “Rain’s already going!”

To my left, the lights were coming back on. A backup generator had come on, or the break in power had been a temporary disruption in the line more than an outright shutdown. I could see Love Lost on her feet. The claws had dropped out of one of her sleeves, a wire and rod framework that tipped each finger with a two-inch claw. Her other hand was pressing the mouthgear down over the lower half of her face.

We should go.

It was good that Rain was getting out of here. It was harder for him to move.

We backtracked, moving faster than Love Lost could easily chase. Back to the truck, where the engine was still running. Rain was approaching it.

Byron, Swansong and Lookout were there. Lookout was in costume, and wore a jacket and pads along her legs, along with her bodysuit. Swansong looked like she should be cold, but wasn’t.

“Love Lost is coming,” I said.

“We outnumber her,” Ashley said.

“Not if she has half this settlement working for her,” I said. “Let’s disable the gun and regroup.”

“I can blast it,” Rain said. “Except it could blow up, apparently.”

“Let me,” Lookout said. “A gun like this has to have targeting, and I can work with targeting.”

“I have tinker notes,” I said.