They were closing in. They’d crossed the length of the room and if I had to guess, four of them were standing within fifteen feet of me, guns held high, where it would be that much harder for me to lunge for the weapon. He didn’t have perfect coordination of their movements, I had to assume, unless they were all doing the same thing, like when the crowd had turned their heads.

The old me would have dealt with this by blitzing them. Hit each hard, fast, before they had a chance to react. Some minor harm would have come to innocents, but the situation would be resolved.

The current me waited, staying silent, letting them get close. One to my left, one in the middle avenue of the kitchen, between the two rows of counter-islands, and one on the far right, furthest from me.

As I set my boot down on the floor, ready to move, Crystalclear volunteered his help. An explosion at the ceiling, a few feet behind the guy to my left.

He spun around, looking, and I took advantage, leaping over the counter, reaching for the gun he held aloft. I seized it and his hands, and pulled both to the ground, where the counters kept us out of sight of the other two.

They started to approach at a run, each around one end of the counter, so they’d catch me on both sides, and Crystalclear offered another blast between me and them. It took out the light fixture above, and cast the corner of the room into shadow, illuminated by periodic sparks.

It gave me a moment’s pause to think. I ignored the man I’d brought to the ground, as I held his hands and the gun. I didn’t even need my strength—only leverage and my body weight.

I couldn’t do anything to him that would put him down for good without risking hurting the real person. I couldn’t do anything to Kingdom Come, as much as the rule for dealing with masters said I should. He didn’t have a material body.

I used a burst of strength and tore the gun from the one man’s hands, sliding it along the floor so it went under one of the appliances. I’d gone high to go after the first one, so I went low as I went after the officer to my left, throwing myself around the counter, using a bit of flight to help keep up my speed as I went around the corner.

I tackled him to the ground, holding him as we went down to keep the impact from being too hard. I’d managed to get one hand around his wrist, and as he pulled his other hand away, gripping the gun, I seized that wrist too.