More heroes were disappearing. A member of Prancer’s group threw something into the midst of their group, and that something exploded. The explosions repeated, one after another, at steady intervals.

The other—

From our first briefing on them, we’d know they had a guy who could appear at our most vulnerable point and catch us off guard.

I turned away from the spectacle in front of me, looking for the one who might be coming after the ones who’d gotten Mama Mathers and Valefor. Behind us, to the sides—

In the midst of us.

Secondhand looked average, with flat, opaque goggles and a flat top cap, but he flickered intensely with afterimages and suggestions of places he might be in the future. The images were violent enough he looked ready to burst, and he was right in the middle of our group. I swung a punch, and he moved with enhanced speed, ducking it.

The quick movement pushed him over the brink, or so it seemed. He detonated, and everything moved like it was slow motion, as I was thrown off my feet, the wind knocked out of my lungs. Others were shoved back and away from him too. My skin felt like it was tearing apart, because the slow motion was real, and different parts of me were slowed, while others weren’t. My lower body was more affected, as was the part of me closer to the front.

It hit everyone except for Mama Mathers, who Secondhand zipped over to, to catch out of mid-air, and Valefor, who blurred, hair moving slightly, but the rest of him remained unaffected.

That would be Final Hour. The targeted slow-motion, granting a kind of protection.

I used my flight to keep myself from being thrown back too much, canceling out the inertia and then flying toward them. I didn’t have long, and with them this coordinated, they’d dogpile me in an instant.

I went straight for Valefor.

He was still protected as I brought the Wretch out. When I punched him, I could feel the Wretch meet that invisible barrier. I could see, in slow motion through both the expulsion of Secondhand’s detonation and Last Minute’s protective effect, the destruction of Valefor’s lower face as the Wretch passed through the barrier.

I couldn’t bring myself to kill, even now. I canceled out my power of my own volition, when it was clear that I’d destroyed his jaw.

As one, the hostages we’d rescued were taking action. They moved in near-unison, some reacting to the movements of others by taking up the call. They climbed to their feet, and they reached for us, clutching. Their expressions weren’t the ones they’d worn a moment ago.