They navigated the crowd, Fallen moving out of their way, our guys and the violent capes frozen in place.

Valefor was far enough away from me that I could barely hear him. He stood in front of Damsel.

Her power flared. She stumbled.

The woman with Valefor said something.

“Stop,” Valefor said. “Don’t do that again. Move your hand.”

She pulled her hand away from her forearm. There was a hole where she had dug her thumb in under the skin.

We’d talked about this, but not—not quite like this.

“You—” Valefor started.

The power flared again. She stumbled, spell broken, and then brought her good hand around, toward Valefor.

The woman in black paint let go of Valefor and caught Damsel’s wrist, forcing it upward. The power shot well over their heads, and Damsel fell.

“Cease,” Valefor said. “Let’s distract you. Kill your friends.”

Damsel wheeled around, turning toward Nailbiter and Sidepiece. Then she hesitated, looking up at me.

The woman in black paint moved, lunging to intercept another attacker.

Chris, leaping in. The woman in black kept him from getting his talons on Valefor. He was a spiral twist of feather and scaly talonflesh, with eyes and hard ridges in the mix. His spindly talons raked and grabbed, but the woman in black was fast, strong, and possibly a precog.

He’d picked this form with masters in mind. Capes that controlled people. He hadn’t been willing to say just how or why it helped, only that he was unsure how well it would work.

At the time, I’d told myself he’d be kept back and out of the way, so it barely mattered, especially if we couldn’t be certain how reliable it was.

Chris got two of his four talons on Damsel, and he tossed her. She used her power while mid-air, and landed roughly on her feet, one hand touching the ground. Her injured arm hung limp.

The arm sparked and she fell.

Fallen pushed past our people to help Valefor, as Introspection Chris tried to reach around the woman in black and scratch him. Powers came to bear: red smoke, a snake that looked like it was made of intestine and barbed wire, sprouting spikes that crackled with electricity—Introspection Chris disengaged and leaped back as the Fallen came rushing at him.

Him was really a quirky word to use when he had this form.

There were two with enhanced speed, and the barbed intestine snake had reach. He wasn’t that fast in this form, even if he was faster than a normal human might have been. The speedy Fallen tackled him. The snake caught his leg.

I flew a little closer, unconsciously, wanting to keep an eye on things, make sure he was okay. Mrs. Yamada had charged me with their care.