The hook did catch his hand. I used my strength for a bit more oomph, and it pulled him slightly off balance. I was immediately on top of him.

He elbowed me aside. An eyeblink later, and he might have hit me without the wretch protecting me.

Can’t let him do that, I thought. Another lesson to etch in.

Can’t let him block. Time the hook-swings now that the hook is free again. Can’t let him hit me.

My senses were just a little bit sharper, my focus at its limits because anything less than perfect meant he got the upper hand, and it meant feeling that pit-of-the-stomach self-loathing and disappointment. It meant feeling like I had once upon a time, not measuring up to a family that was superhuman, just for a simple missed swing.

Somewhere in the midst of it, I felt like I had his number. He swung hard and blocked harder and I didn’t care because I could hit him low while he was defending himself up-top. I hit him with strength that I could have used to lift up a truck, and then I did it a few more times.

I created an opening, drove him onto uneven footing where there was only flesh beneath him, and then flew to the opening. The Wretch expanded in the opening, tearing it wide. He reached up and I flew away before he could grab me.

Precipice was throwing out blades, catching Lord of Loss in the legs. One stumble severed a leg, and it gave me an opportunity to redouble my efforts, focusing on the offense, sacrificing defense.

Finally, the villain toppled. Finally, the hand fell away and I could access that opening I had created, that he had only partially repaired.

Into the cavity, to where the glowing figure was protected by a spider web of slats and segments. Some were threading out, repairing the shell. Others turned inward. I was the girl in the box, as the magician thrust swords inside.

The first one cut me. No.

The second glanced off of my armor at my chest. The third did much the same, at my leg.

The third, too, cut me. No!

The fourth, I avoided.

I flew in, punching past a webwork of calcified steel slats, losing ground as they constricted around me. As I felt my forcefield return, I pushed out with the Wretch, to expand the slats around me and give myself a way out. I reached the glowing figure.

As I grabbed him by the neck, the body that was Lord of Loss stopped. The life went out of it, and the light of the body in the center dimmed.