“She did,” Win said. He looked back at us with metal eyes that had holes in the surface, each hole rimmed with glowing circuit patterns in gold. “Tac radar says we’ve got people coming from both directions. Group of five ahead, they’re finding hiding spots, and weirdly heavy footsteps coming from behind.”

He pulled a gun out. It changed configuration, locking into position over his hand.

I was closer to the rear than the front. It took a bit of flying acrobatics to get the gun turned around, but I pointed it the way we’d come. Win crouched below me, pointing the same way.

“Weirdly heavy means brute?” I asked.

“No idea.”

I changed the setting on my gun, narrowing the beam from the last setting I’d had it on. Below me, Caryatid had caught up, and crouched a bit, taking on her breaker form. She was a good person to have in the way of any stampeding heavy hiter.

“It gets between the worlds,” the voice on the speaker said. There was a feedback squeal.

Behind me, Damsel used her power, tearing into a wall, before hurling herself through the hole. I heard the follow-up shots.

“Pew, pew, pew,” Finale said, her voice quiet. “Pew.”

The fight in the other hallway unfolded in the same moment the figure in our hallway made his appearance. I almost pulled the trigger on seeing the monstrous face, then pulled back. “No!”

Win had already pulled the trigger. A sphere of glowing blue energy soared down the hallway, catching the figure in the lower body. The gun reconfigured, loading for another shot, taking on a red glow in the gloom.

“Shit,” I said.

“We know it?”

“We know him,” I said. I flew back a short bit to look down the other hallway, and saw the fighting was ongoing. Nothing I could address with my gun.

“All five are down,” Win said. “Four unconscious, one off radar, maybe dead… and then this guy.”

Caryatid dropped her form immediately, going to Finale’s side. I set my gun down and down the hall to our fallen straggler. Torso lay on the floor of the hallway, hands cupping his groin.

“It’s Torso. One of Deathchester’s people. What did you shoot him with?” I asked.

“Concussive forceball. I figured it’d either put him on the floor or slow him down long enough for something more serious… I’m sorry, man.”

Torso lifted his head off the floor, then thunked it back down.

“He’ll be alright!” Gibbet crowed, her voice muffled by the hangman’s hood she wore. She was catching up behind Win. “Come on, Torso. Took you long enough to show up, you loser.”

Torso thunked his head against the floor again.

Sidepiece spoke from the end of the hallway, “You’re so inconvenient. You’d better headbutt that fucking Endbringer that’s screaming at us right now and make it worth it to bring you along.”