Breathing hard, wincing, I pulled off the decorations at my shoulders. My coat. Fuck. I shrugged it off, knowing I’d pay for it later.

There were five capes who hadn’t been flung. Five capes who’d done the sensible thing and worn bodysuits instead of armor, to get the most bang for their buck when it came to the Manton effect. One provided a circle-shaped shield of water to try and provide some cover for the rest. A bit of pipe from one of the piles of debris speared at him, and stopped partway inside the shield, the jagged end a short distance from his face. The water was pressurized or moving at high speeds, and the spear bobbed, bounced, and vibrated as it held position.

One of the twenty capes around the Simurgh and Mathers Giant reached out, flinging a dart below the shield. It landed between the shield cape’s feet.

The dart whipped around, thin and flexible, one end still rooted in the ground. The cape producing the shield reacted, stepping back, and his leg separated at the ankle, again a few inches up at the calf. He stumbled, and his other foot came off mid-calf. Only the fact that someone caught him kept him from slipping on the blood that gushed out, and kept him upright, so he could maintain the shield.

Fuck. They needed help, and I needed backup if I was going to stop the Mathers Giant.

I disengaged from my forcefield, sending it out.

The Simurgh turned, and I had to assume she was moving away from the Mathers Giant. Her wings shifted.

I looked. Behind them, chunks of rubble were moving.

“Behind you! Duck!” I called out. The Fragile One reached out.

The cape supporting the footless water-shield user turned, but didn’t duck. A chunk of concrete no bigger than my fist flew past the Fragile One, dropping mid-air to avoid the reaching hand, and caught the supporting cape in the cheek. They collapsed, and the water shield cape fell, his chin meeting the pipe that was transfixed in the shield. It speared through, only stopping, presumably, when it met the top of his skull.

I was hyperaware of every last detail around me. I sent my forcefield in, low to the ground, nigh-invisible, with the aim of breaking legs and disabling the renegade capes and drawing attention away from the remaining capes.

Someone hit the Fragile One, and she disappeared. The interval before she appeared around me felt a fraction longer, but I wasn’t sure I was processing that right.

“Come on,” I murmured, as I sent her out again. I needed a distraction, something that would let me slip by.

“You’ll melt.”